“You have to use your brain!”: Thomas Muller loves Nagelsmann’s hardcore training sessions at Bayern Munich

Coaching Bayern Munich means that everything you do will be scrutinized. Julian Nagelsmann found that out the hard way this season, when he suddenly came under fire in media for having training sessions that were “too demanding” for some players. As ridiculous as this might seem, the criticism seems to have gained some traction in the German media — highlighting the pathetic state of the discourse at the moment.

Enter Thomas Muller to be the voice of reason. Speaking to Tz following his contract extension, the Bayern legend was asked about the intensity of his coach’s training sessions. Being a supremely cerebral player and one of the hardest workers on the pitch in any given game, Muller responded with the answer you’d expect.

“Thank god the training is demanding. You develop further when there’s new input. Even if it takes time to assimilate everything. You have to be very focused during the sessions.”

Muller especially appreciates the mental side of training under Nagelsmann. “I’m really happy that the training sessions are not only physically intense, but that you also have to use your brain,” said the Raumdeuter. “Finding the right mix of repeating successful patterns - and being open to new solutions at the same time. That’s the goal, individually & as a team.”

As someone who is generally known as the coach’s right-hand-man, it’s good to see that Thomas Muller approves of Nagelsmann’s training methods. To be honest, the criticism carried no weight to begin with. Multimillionaire athletes can’t follow along in training? It sounds like a bad joke.

Of course, even the most complicated training session won’t help if the tactics aren’t up to par. It’s good to hear that Nagelsmann isn’t letting his players slack off like Ancelotti did back in the day, but there still needs to be improvement if Bayern are to be successful next season.