Lothar Matthäus warns Julian Nagelsmann not to lose the Bayern Munich dressing room

During Bayern Munich’s winless run in the Bundesliga, different reports had surfaced that had claimed several players were unhappy with the way Julian Nagelsmann was managing the club. More specifically, his training methods and tactical decisions were being questioned and certain players had expressed their disdain for not getting the amount of minutes they would have liked. All par for the course at FC Hollywood, if you will.

Bayern was able to shake out of their rut, beating up on both Bayer Leverkusen and Viktoria Plzen after the international break, but surrendered a two-goal lead against Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker. Bayern left North-Rhine Westphalia licking their wounds, and taking as a souvenir a meme-worthy GIF of a very angry Oliver Kahn reacting to Anthony Modeste’s stoppage time equalizer.

After the 2-2 draw, Lothar Matthäus was rather critical of Bayern not being able to score a third goal to kill the match off — and he warned that Nagelsmann cannot lose his dressing room like previous Bayern managers have in the past. Usually, that story ends with a sacking, as history tells us.

“They forgot to score the third goal in the 70 minutes and in the last 20 minutes they just wanted to manage,” Matthäus said (via Az), in perhaps an indictment of Nagelsmann’s game management approach. “Bayern let themselves be pushed in at the back, stopped attacking, didn’t get into a duel anymore. That was absolutely not Bayern-like.”

Bayern’s front office has publicly voiced their collective opinion that they’re not interested in entertaining discussions about replacing Nagelsmann, but the thought itself looms larger and larger with each negative result. Bayern’s recent league record doesn’t exactly bode to well.

“Six Bundesliga games, one win — that’s not Bayern-like either. I think it’s been more than two decades since a result like this was last given,” Matthäus warned.

Leon Gortezka had been one player to speak up about wanting to play more, but there is also some growing concern with how little Nagelsmann is using new signings like Ryan Gravenberch and Mathys Tel. If Nagelsmann isn’t careful, Matthäus stressed, this could lead to growing unrest in the dressing room. “Something like that is of course observed and discussed in the dressing room. He has to be careful there, Julian. He mustn’t lose the cabin. Before the season, Julian says: I expect ten Bundesliga goals from Tel. Then he has to let him play,” he explained.