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Carlo Ancelotti just told everyone the Bayern Munich lineup against Hamburg

Bayern Muenchen v Hertha BSC - Bundesliga Photo by Adam Pretty/Bongarts/Getty Images

Remember when the “mole” of yesteryear revealed the Bayern Munich lineup and Pep Guardiola lost his mind? Those days are completely gone now. After years of lineup secretism with Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti has adopted the exact opposite approach. He’s telling the opposition exactly who’s going to play.

In his press conference today, Ancelotti had the following so say about his lineup:

  • Jerome Boateng will be on the bench
  • Arjen Robben will be on the bench
  • Manuel Neuer, Robert Lewandowski, and Mats Hummels will start
  • Joshua Kimmich, Renato Sanches, and Kingsley Coman will likely start
  • Coman will likely spell Franck Ribery

Let’s break that down. Boateng being on the bench paired with Hummels starting means Javi Martinez is in at centerback again. Kimmich and Sanches starting means that one of Arturo Vidal or Thiago will play in the midfield while resting Robben and Ribery means Coman and Thomas Müller get the wide duty shifts.

The only positions that are under any sort of uncertainty are the fullbacks. Three of them are nearly equivalent talents and Juan Bernat is a very good player in his own right. Who starts there doesn’t matter much.

If it was ever possible, this is Don Carlo telling Bruno Laddadia, “Come at me bro”.

This isn’t restricted to just performances against the exceptionally poor likes of Hamburg, but most matches this season. Carlo Ancelotti has been extremely forthcoming during his Bayern Munich tenure about who’s going to play when asked. This has most frequently been focused on the defensive alignment of the team, but with each passing week Ancelotti drops more and more information in his press conferences.

Will Ancelotti drop enough information in the future for the likes of Martin Schmidt to pull one over on Bayern or is the quality at Ancelotti’s disposal so great that he doesn’t think it matters?

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