Dieter Hoeness argues that Niko Kovac is the right man for Bayern Munich

In a recent interview with Sport1 previewing Bayern Munich’s Champions League clash with Ajax, Dieter Hoeness spoke about Niko Kovac, arguing that people need to give the Croatian time to prove himself at Bayern. There was a bevvy of potential candidates for the managerial position when Jupp Heynckes made it clear that he would retire at the end of last season, but Kovac fit the bill perfectly for what Uli Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were looking for at Bayern.

After winning his first seven competitive matches across competitions to start the 2018/2019 campaign, Kovac’s Bayern hit a speed-bump with the 1-1 draw to Augsburg and the 2-0 defeat to Hertha Berlin in the league. The two lackluster results have sparked suggestions that there’s unrest in the Bayern dressing room, but Hoeness thinks such suggestions are unwarranted. On the contrary, Hoeness feels that the minor setback are a great opportunity for Kovac to prove his worth in the face of adversity:

It wouldn’t have been reasonable to expect him to finish the season without a loss. It’s normal that you also suffer a setback now and then. That gives him the opportunity to show how he deals with a setback. As masterfully as he has done so far — the way he has moderated, rotated, and kept the top stars happy — he’s doing outstandingly. Now they’ll be challenged in the next few games to show that it was an anomaly.

Hoeness believes that, as a new coach, Kovac should get the benefit of the doubt, and people should give him plenty of time to get going at Bayern. Hoeness reminded everyone that both his brother Uli and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge decided to hire Kovac for the long-term success of the club, and that a lot of thought was put into the decision:

“They decided out of conviction and they also stand by this decision,” Hoeness said. Critics should give Kovac time to process his new experiences at Bayern. Hoeness was confident that Kovac is “smart enough to pull it off so that everyone is satisfied.”

Hoeness argues that Kovac’s spectacular success with Eintracht Frankfurt shows his potential.

Everyone said: how is he supposed to make it work with a multicultural group [of players]? But he did it outstandingly, and I’m confident he’ll do it at Bayern, too. Those are all Bayern players who have the “Mia san mia” in their blood now, and so I think he’ll definitely make it work.

Despite his call for some Leinen on Kovac’s behalf, Hoeness maintained that winning the Bundesliga title and competing on all other fronts is the bare minimum expectation. Anything less would most definitely be considered a disappointment:

He has to become champion. That’s how it is. I know it personally; I was with FC Bayern for eight years and we were champions five times. The three years in which we weren’t were blown seasons, although in 1982 we still won one title [i.e. the DFB Pokal].

Time for some feedback; we’d like to hear what everyone thinks: