Daily Schmankerl: Thomas Muller another coach for Bayern Munich; Bavarian Grass Works drama with Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp; BFW Fight Club returns (sort of)!; and MORE!

Coach Muller? (@dw_sports)

After suffering through a few coaches who didn’t quite understand his game to the fullest extent, Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller finally has a manager who grasps not only how to use him, but also how important he is to the squad overall on the pitch.

I mean, does Hansi Flick ever miss with his commentary?

Pain in the grass! (@TheEuropeanLad)

The tweets below were posted in yesterday’s comments to the Schmankerl (thanks Infinity Stones!), but why let a chance to squeeze in a tight grass story slip by?

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was unimpressed with Ajax’s alleged sloppy pitch. We had not previously known Klopp to see a pitch and moan, but he clearly hated seeing his players not be able to recognize that grass from a hole in the ground.

Ajax manager Erik ten Hag (remember the furor about getting him to manage Bayern Munich...seems like YEARS ago now), was not impressed with Klopp busting his grass and resented the implication that Ajax needed to get its grass into gear:

Is Klopp a true grassman or does he just dabble in grass play? Perhaps we will soon find out. Anfield...you will now have to put your grass on the line. Hopefully Klopp didn’t write a check your grass can’t cash.

BFW Fight Club: 3.Liga edition (Tz)

We love a good scrap around here and we would have been proud to watch a couple of 3.Liga coaches get down. In the fixture between and 1. FC Kaiserslautern things got a but heated and carried over to an altercation that occurred after the final whistle.

Michael Henke, a former assistant coach to Ottmar Hitzfeld at FC Bayern, who is currently the sporting director FC Ingolstadt “physically attacked” 1. FC Kaiserslautern coach Jeff Saibene.

If this is a physical assault, every single kid who sat behind me in second grade must do serious jail time for “assaulting” my seat! Anyway, here is the film:

I must have watched this 50 times and I came away with a few key points:

• This was a WEAK kick from Henke. From a footballer, I expect much more!
• AND...it was super lame that Henke did the kick and roll. He high-tailed it away from the scene like he just grabbed a purse. This point, however, is in contention as you’ll see below.
• Saibene was ready to “go.” I like that in a coach. He didn’t waste any time in trying to get at Henke. His players definitely respect him more after trying to fight through a couple of players to get at Henke.

In Henke’s defense, he later said it was a “friendly” kick and said that maybe Saibene “misunderstood something.” Saibene also backed off and said it was “harmless.”

I guess the major undertone of this story is now all I am thinking of former Toronto Blue Jays reliever Tom Henke...which makes no sense, but he we are.

Well...yeah, that sums it up (@dw_sports)

It’s a big DW day here apparently. Deutsche Welle’s Twitter account also nailed it when looking for a photo that captured Bayern Munich’s 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.

DeJong extends with Barca (kicker)

One-time Bayern Munich target Frenkie DeJong has extended his stay with the Catalan club:

In addition to ter Stegen, Piqué and Lenglet, Frenkie de Jong can also call a new contract with Barça his own. The numbers for him: term until summer 2026 as with Lenglet, exit clause at 100 million euros. The Dutchman came to the Spanish runner-up in 2019 and has always been in the starting line-up since his compatriot Ronald Koeman took over the job.

Griezmann unhappy at Barca? (Transfer Market Web)

Antoine Griezmann has not had the smoothest stay with FC Barcelona so far and thing do not appear to be getting better:

According to latest Spanish rumors, French international winger/forward Antoine Griezmann (29) is getting more and more unsatisfied with his fit-in troubles at Barcelona FC, which he joined in summer 2019, and might drive the club to put an end to it much before due time. Former Atletico Madrid star and WC 2018 front-row winner is still a market dream for many clubs, including Juventus, Inter Milan, PSG, and Manchester United.

Gotze with a screamer for PSV (@UCLonCBSSports)

(Beats dead horse)

I still think Mario Götze would have helped Bayern Munich this season (sigh):

Anyway, Götze seems to be fitting in nicely with PSV Eindhoven Good for him!