Tag: Julian Nagelsmann

Nagelsmann on withdrawing from Chelsea job: Who said I was ever a candidate?

The ex-Bayern manger attempted to distance himself from the entire operation

Amid reports he was no longer in the running for the Chelsea coaching job, Julian Nagelsmann suggested he may not have ever been a candidate in the first place.

After he was sacked by Bayern Munich last month, Nagelsmann has been mentioned as a candidate for the Chelsea job that is currently being occupied by Frank Lampard on a caretaker basis.

But multiple reports said on Friday that the 35-year-old was no longer in the running to take over at Stamford Bridge.

Nagelsmann is said to have pulled out of the talks himself, though some reports also stated that Chelsea received mixed feedback when doing its due diligence on the German manager.

In any case, Nagelsmann attempted to distance himself from the whole operation on Friday, telling Sky Germany somewhat cryptically: “To cancel something, you have to commit to something.”

Who will be the next Chelsea manager?

With Nagelsmann now out of the running, Chelsea has reportedly narrowed down its options to three choices: Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, former Tottenham and PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino, and one other unnamed candidate.

Whoever takes over at Stamford Bridge will have a major task on their hands. Chelsea is currently out of all cup competitions, mired in 11th place in the Premier League, and features a bloated squad that has seen even some team leaders questioning the club’s transfer strategy.

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Chelsea turn back time as Frank Lampard appointed caretaker manager

For a limited time only, Lampard is back at Stamford Bridge

They say you can’t go home again, but if you’re Frank Lampard, you can at least stop by for a prolonged visit.

The former England midfielder has been appointed Chelsea’s caretaker manager, returning to the club where he spent around 15 years as a player and coach.

“We are delighted to welcome Frank back to Stamford Bridge,” co-controlling owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali said in a statement.

“Frank is a Premier League Hall of Famer and a legend at this club. As we continue our thorough and exhaustive process for a permanent head coach, we want to provide the club and our fans with a clear and stable plan for the remainder of the season. We want to give ourselves every chance of success and Frank has all of the characteristics and qualities we need to drive us to the finish line.”

Chelsea found themselves with a managerial opening after dismissing Graham Potter just seven months after hiring him to replace Thomas Tuchel. It doesn’t take a particularly robust memory to recall that Tuchel was himself sacked back in September as Boehly seemed to believe that cleaning house was essential after buying the club last summer.

Lampard will be the fourth person to act as Chelsea’s manager this season, following Bruno Saltor’s one-game role as an interim boss saw the Blues and Liverpool battle to a scoreless draw on Tuesday.

Lampard will hold the role through the end of the season, with Chelsea reportedly considering a list of candidates that includes Julian Nagelsmann (jobless after being shockingly fired by Bayern Munich), Mauricio Pochettino, Sporting CP manager Rúben Amorim, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner and former Spain boss Luis Enrique.

Chelsea’s roughly one-and-a-half season run under Lampard from July 2019 to January 2021 was a decidedly mixed experience. In 2019-20, Lampard guided Chelsea to a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, an FA Cup final, and to advancement out of a potentially difficult Champions League group.

However, they were 33 points behind the Liverpool side that won the league, lost that FA Cup final to Arsenal, and crashed out of the League Cup (to Manchester United) and Champions League (after a 7-1 thrashing by Bayern Munich) earlier than the club had hoped.

The following season started off well enough, with just one Premier League loss in their first 11 matches and an emphatic first-place finish in their Champions League group. The wheels would fall off in December, though, with Chelsea taking just seven points from his final eight league matches in charge.

Lampard’s struggles would end up in sharp relief after his successor Thomas Tuchel would lead the Blues to a Champions League trophy and a climb back into the top four.

Opportunity for Pulisic

Chelsea were clearly hit-or-miss under Lampard, even if we’re being generous, but one player who thrived for at least part of his time in charge is Christian Pulisic.

In the 2019-20 season, his first following several seasons with Borussia Dortmund, Pulisic produced 11 goals and 10 assists. That made him Chelsea’s most prolific set-up man, and only Tammy Abraham scored more goals for the club.

That represents Pulisic’s best season as a professional, and his time in London since has largely been a pursuit of that kind of form and consistent place in a given manager’s team. Even under Lampard, it must be said that the 2020-21 campaign saw Pulisic score just two goals in 17 appearances across all competitions.

Still, a new manager is always an opportunity, and Pulisic will be looking to force his way back into more regular minutes. Whether his long-term future is with Chelsea or not, it’s a big moment for the U.S. men’s national team attacker.

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Bayern Munich chose chaos

Bayern don’t fit the profile of a club that would make a rash decision like this late in the season

Bayern Munich is having a pretty typical Bayern Munich season.

Yes, they are not leading the Bundesliga, but trail Borussia Dortmund by just a point and would overtake them with a win in Der Klassiker on April 1. Their +45 goal differential is nearly double the next best team, suggesting they have, despite their position in the table, been the best team in the Bundesliga this season.

Bayern have won eight of eight Champions League games to reach the quarterfinal, and are also in the last eight of the German cup. Pretty normal stuff from Germany’s only real power over the last decade.

None of that, however, stopped the Bavarians from sacking head coach Julian Nagelsmann on Friday, and replacing him with Thomas Tuchel.

Why? According to CEO Oliver Kahn, Bayern have dipped since the World Cup.

“After the World Cup we have played less successfully and less attractively,” Kahn said in a club announcement. “The big fluctuations in performance have cast doubt on our goals for this season, but also our goals for the future. That is why we have acted now.”

There were reportedly other reasons that Bayern didn’t spell out in their announcement.

The Athletic added: “Nagelsmann didn’t so much lose the dressing room as never really connect with it in the first place.”

Still, making a change at this juncture of a season that is still well on track has to qualify as a risk — but perhaps less so when Bayern had Tuchel available.

The Athletic said Tuchel told Bayern he would not wait until the offseason to take the job. Having lost out on Tuchel in 2018, when he chose PSG instead, Bayern were not prepared to let history repeat itself.

Nagelsmann, still just 35, will land on his feet after a mostly-successful stint that nearly lasted two seasons. But the manner of his exit will sting. Bayern may feel it was necessary, but the squad will have to respond to Tuchel quickly in order for the decision not to feel like a knee-jerk one.

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Nagelsmann, Davies looking forward to ‘new Bayern Munich’ after Lewandowski’s departure

Without Lewandowski, Nagelsmann has plans to play two up top

Bayern Munich took the field on a sweltering day in Washington, DC, training and signing autographs at Audi Field Tuesday evening ahead of a Wednesday friendly against D.C. United.

New addition Sadio Mané was well-received, and fans serenaded Thomas Müller, but the major topic of the day was someone nowhere near the District. In the stands, Robert Lewandowski jerseys were arguably the most popular kit choice, and in a press conference just before the session, head coach Julian Nagelsmann and Canada star Alphonso Davies were both asked about the towering striker, who only just departed for Barcelona.

Nagelsmann brought Lewandowski up himself in discussing one of Bayern’s new recruits, defender Matthijs de Ligt (who, despite having just flown in to join the team, could possibly play Wednesday).

“We have to compensate that we miss probably 40 goals next season,” Nagelsmann told a packed media room. “We have a lot of players who can score goals, but we also need defending players who can score goals and Matthijs also has the capability to do to this.”

“It’s devastating, him leaving the club. He was a big, big part of this team,” added Davies. “It’s tough to see him go, but we understand his decision and we have to address it and play without him now. So I’m sure we have quality on the pitch, we’re able to do it as well.”

Nagelsmann openly indicated that a leading possibility for Bayern’s adjustment without Lewandowski is to play with two forwards rather than a three-man front line with a lone center forward.

“One of the solutions to compensate the 40 goals, we have the idea sometimes to play with two strikers,” said Nagelsmann, who expressed a desire to have more of a set formation after admitting he changed the team from that angle too often in 2021-22. “This season, probably will be solution to play with two forwards.”

Nagelsmann, who said he was particularly pleased with how Bayern played out of a 3-5-2 formation last season, and Davies both highlighted the fact that it’s not just about formation, but what kind of service Bayern’s forwards get.

“I think we have a lot of players who could play forward and think it’s not that easy to defend it. They can move quickly behind, between the defense lines of the opponents, between the midfield and defense lines,” explained the second-year Bayern boss. “It’s not that easy to get man-on-man coverage against our forwards. So I think our movement will be very dangerous for the opponent’s goal.”

“Whoever plays up there, whether it’s Sadio or whoever it is, we try to feed them the ball,” said Davies. “Sadio, he’s not as big as Lewandowski, but he has the strength to hold up the ball, make plays. He’s definitely quicker than Lewy, so balls in behind, I think that’s a little bit new for for the wingers.”

Nagelsmann had a positive spin on losing Lewandowski, which centered on the fact that teams knew where Bayern was going to go in the attacking third, and that his team can be a bit less predictable this year.

“When play against Bayern Munich, you know that you try to solve the situation with Lewy, and when you get a good man-on-man coverage against Lewy, it was a bit easier to play against Bayern Munich. Now, it’s not that easy to find the best solution—when I talk about the opponents—to defend us,” said Nagelsmann.

“We’ll have a good solution for the future… I look forward to see the new Bayern Munich, after Lewy.”

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