Kompany plays with fire: where he faces 84 million national coaches

If you take the political debates as a yardstick, you can quickly get the impression that no one in Germany wants to work properly anymore. Senior politicians in particular repeatedly criticize the federal population’s lack of willingness to work overtime. What can be said against the warnings of Friedrich Merz and Christian Lindner is that almost the entire country actually has a great desire to work overtime. After all, 84 million national coaches still have the confidence to also take on the role of head coach of FC Bayern.

Accepting this double burden is of course logical, because very often when a problem concerning the German national team is raised, it also has to be clarified for the record champions. Is Manuel Neuer still a world-class goalkeeper? What to do with Leroy Sané’s sagging shoulders? But above all: where to go with Joshua Kimmich?

On this issue, all our Bundesbayern coaches have surprisingly agreed in recent months: Joshua Kimmich belongs at right-back. This general agreement even included the only two coaches paid for this position. At the end of last season, Thomas Tuchel played Kimmich almost exclusively on the right side of defense and Julian Nagelsmann also decided early on that the Bayern star would be his regular right-back for the European Championships.

Tuchel, Nagelsmann and the remaining 84 million were proven right thanks to Kimmich’s solid performances. It almost seemed as if the question of the position regarding the new DFB captain had finally been clarified. Two injuries to the right-back later, it is now – at least in Munich – about to become the number one talking point again as Vincent Kompany, despite all the obvious arguments, resists bringing Kimmich back to the fourth group.

Because it would actually be as simple as this: due to the failures of Josip Stanisic and Sacha Boey, Vincent Kompany’s two options for the right-back position are missing, so it is almost obvious to put the man there who has been working well for months and will continue to be used in the national team.

Kompany still positions Kimmich in midfield – and at a sometimes high price. It is not only Leon Goretzka who is currently looking down, but a certain €51 million buyer named Joao Palhinha is also starting to wonder why he was brought in. But what is even more important is that Kompany is also playing with fire on a purely sporting level.

The fact that FC Bayern have won every competitive game so far under the new coach somewhat masks the fact that a lot of things are still not working on the defensive side. With Sacha Boey at right-back, they were clearly too vulnerable in the opening game against VfL Wolfsburg and failed to keep a clean sheet in the 6-1 win against Kiel. But it was only in the Champions League that the risks Kompany was taking to keep Jo Kimmich in midfield became really clear.

The fact that the Bayern coach did not react to Sacha Boey’s defeat by transferring Kimmich had two rather dramatic consequences for the defensive line. Instead of Kimmich, Raphael Guerreiro took over on the right side of the defense, which was completely unknown to him. This meant that Guerreiro, who had always been impeccable there in recent times, had to be replaced at left-back by someone who is currently both in poor form and extremely unpopular with his own fans: who, from the point of view of many Bayern supporters, has long been with his boss Alphonso Davies, who is in Madrid.

Guerreiro and Davies happily participated in the nine-goal offensive run against Zagreb, but every time the hopelessly outplayed Croatians had a chance, it became clear: Dayot Upamecano and Minjae Kim are by no means the only ones in Bayern’s defense with coordination problems. If these difficulties worsen in the near future against stronger attacking opponents, Kompany should once again have all of Bayern’s part-time coaches on his neck. So why is he making himself so vulnerable on this issue?

In response, the Guardiola student can come up with various arguments depending on the match day. There were two against Freiburg, six against Holstein Kiel and even nine on Tuesday against Zagreb. Because despite all the defensive uncertainties, it currently seems clear: Bayern’s attacking machine is working just as well as in the best moments of Flick or Heynckes because it seems incredibly well coordinated despite the new coach. And Kimmich is obviously indispensable in the center as part of Bayern’s game control axis, which he forms with Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala and, to a certain extent, Manuel Neuer. The importance of this axis for Kompany was especially evident in the game against Freiburg, where they completely did without a right-back and only protected the right side against the ball with different players depending on the situation.

The recent flood of goals currently proves that Kompany is right to insist on his axis, but as soon as the attack cannot compensate for the current vulnerability of the defensive flanks during a match, a not insignificant portion of our 84 million national coaches are likely to do overtime again as the part-time Bavarians-Tainer feel called upon.