Julian Nagelsmann describes managing Bayern Munich from his kitchen “data center”

Julian Nagelsmann has missed Bayern Munich’s last two matches due to having tested positive for coronavirus last week ahead of the Champions League clash against SL Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal.

Nagelsmann also missed the 4-0 win over his former side, TSG Hoffenheim over the weekend. He had said he had a cold leading up to the Bayer Leverkusen match, but did not wind up testing positive until afterwards. For the interim, he’s been doing what he can from his hotel in Munich.

Thankfully, he’s already feeling much better already and has been able to stay busy and productive, as he told the press in his press conference ahead of Bayern’s 4-0 win over Hoffenheim (Sport Bild). “Given the circumstances, I am fine. It was the very first game against Benfica that I missed in my coaching career. This has never happened before. I just enjoy standing on the line and am there for the team,” he explained.

The match against Benfica in the Champions League was the first time in Nagelsmann’s managerial career that he was not able to stand on the touchline, which he admitted was a bit of an adjustment. Still, though, he was able to stay relatively calm and not let his emotions get the better of him despite not being entirely pleased with the way thing were going before Bayern had scored. “I was actually relatively calm in front of the TV, I tried to analyze it. It is the case that the emotions boil more when you are there live. On Wednesday I wasn’t that happy with the first 70 minutes, but still had a very good idea of ​​what and how we can do it better. What the guys did from the 70th onwards was of course extremely dominant and very strong,” he said.

Logistically, Nagelsmann had made his own studio-esque setup in his kitchen using a laptop, iPad and large screen. During the match, he communicated with his coaching staff via WhatsApp and telephone calls. “Communication was via WhatsApp and calls. But that worked very well. I was completely connected in the first half and connected all the time from the second to the 65th minute. I tried to influence things a little bit. Of course, then you always have the urge to write something, because of course you can sometimes see it better when you’re not on the sidelines. But you have to hold back a little. This is also a very important point for me, that the people who are then responsible - in this case now Dino (Toppmöller), Who was standing down there, and also Xaver (Zembrod) and the analysts - also transfer the necessary responsibility,” Nagelsmann explained.

Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images

He wasn’t used to make being able to shout his messages across to the players from the touchline, but he said his makeshift studio setup did give him a slightly different perspective on things that you wouldn’t get at the field level. This ultimately helped the preparations for the Hoffenheim match. “Nevertheless, I try to intervene and built such a small analysis center in isolation with a large screen, iPad, and laptop. I had every opportunity to access the scouting feed against Hoffenheim. So, I see it a little better and can still run Sky in parallel. It looks like a data center in the kitchen — mind you that I have a short way to tea,” he said.