FC Bayern is threatened with embarrassment
What’s going on with Leroy Sané?
03/08/2022 10:17 am
In the first half of the season, Leroy Sané is one of the biggest attractions at FC Bayern – but the national player is currently only a substitute. What’s going on there? According to a media report, the 26-year-old is once again struggling with well-known attitude problems that were thought to have been overcome long ago.
If FC Bayern had played their Champions League game against RB Salzburg on Monday evening, Leroy Sané would have played from the start. That’s what coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Monday, when the media round before the round of 16 second leg took place. Will the 34-year-old decide again this Tuesday? Well, an interesting question. Because most recently, the coach had twice renounced the DFB player when nominating his starting eleven. Something like that can always be explained somehow, with load control, for example.
But with Sané things should, once again, be different. In training, he had recently not shown 100 percent commitment. This is reported by the “image”. The body language, which is a recurring theme for him as it was for Mesut Özil, is said to have not worked convincingly in preparation for the last games in the Bundesliga. In fact, the 26-year-old was only substituted on after a good 60 minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen. In the win against Eintracht, he converted his role as a man from the bench into good energy and scored the winning goal (1-0) just a few minutes after being substituted on.
Neglected defensive work?
In the first half of the season, the winger was one of the big attractions in FC Bayern’s game. All the doubts that always existed about him were suddenly gone. Sané, who wants to be a difference player himself, was now one. In addition to Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Müller. And also in the game against the ball, the left foot had a good grip and was successful. Also something that he was repeatedly accused of in the past. And maybe this past will catch up with him, because according to “Bild”, Nagelsmann should not have liked the behavior on the defensive in the past few weeks. Something that has already been a sporting undoing (i.e. bank) for him in the DFB team a few times.
However, the coach did not do that before the explosive game against the Austrians on the relevant topic. He almost only found enthusiastic words for his offensive player. “He’s a player I’m reluctant to do without because he has the quality that has won us games in the past. He’s an incredible player who can’t really be defended when he’s pushed to the limit,” said Nagelsmann. A small but unmistakable criticism that seems to confirm the media report – but also doesn’t rule out anything: “Of course he’s a candidate. I hope he’s in the best shape if he plays from the start.” The constitution is at least no longer that of the first half of the season. Sané is currently lacking in ease and effectiveness. In the past seven games he has only scored twice and has not prepared a goal. That was different in the first half of the season. In 34 competitive games this season, he has 13 goals and 13 assists. A very good rate.
Nagelsmann is under pressure
The turn to Sané in the first half of the season would see FC Bayern this Tuesday evening (from 9 p.m. in the live ticker at ntv.de) necessarily help. In the first leg, Munich were clearly the worse team for a long time. Only a late goal from Kingsley Coman saved the record champions (1:1). But the goal didn’t take the pressure off. “If things don’t go well,” the coach warned seriously, “it’s not a special season.” But his first in Bayern, who are used to success, a lost one. With the coach against the pressing machine from the city of Mozart, the entire management team is under scrutiny: For the new CEO Oliver Kahn, an early exit would be a disaster, and the purchasing policy of sports director Hasan Salihamidzic would also be critically questioned again. “Only” becoming champion for the tenth time in a row would be too little and not his “aspiration”, underlined Nagelsmann.
The drop is enormous, an out against a club from the ski nation, which is often ridiculed in football, would be an embarrassing novelty. “I’m not a doomsayer and I don’t assume that we’ll be eliminated,” Nagelsmann admitted. In order to prevent this, in addition to a concentrated defensive performance, which has been anything but given in the past few weeks, the offensive game must also be “modified”, as Thomas Müller now demanded. Robert Lewandowski, Nagelsmann admitted, doesn’t get enough balls. A Sané in the best shape could help.
