Friday April 16, 2021
Bavaria tumbles from the Kahn summit
Flick’s desperate search for harmony
Needed by David
FC Bayern wants to end the coaching debate at a summit meeting. But Hansi Flick only talks to Oliver Kahn about “other things” and explains his love for harmony. He lost it in Munich – and he will probably never find it there again.
It was supposed to be a summit. When it comes to the word summit, there is always something epoch-making about it. The common observer and news reader naturally expects something great from such a summit. This is where the really important decisions are made. Well, there was also a very significant decision: Will coach Hansi Flick stay with FC Bayern or will he leave the club and take over the national team? The symbol of the mountain top fitted pretty well.
At the said summit, Oliver Kahn wanted to find out firsthand in which direction – club or DFB – Flick was really going. Perhaps he should also settle down a bit. Because the fact that Flick no longer cares so much about his sextuple Bayern has to do with the power struggle Zoff with sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. It’s about squad planning, dealing with proven leadership players (Jérôme Boateng) and general distribution of power and roles. In any case, the designated Bayern chairman intended to create a differentiated picture at the Flick summit. But it doesn’t seem to work at all. The summit turned out to be a little summit. At most. Maybe more: to a Flick-Hill, a small hill.
“I spoke to him briefly, but it was about other things,” said Flick at the press conference before the Saturday game at VfL Wolfsburg when asked about meeting Oliver Kahn. “It was about this week and the end in Paris.” That’s it. Not a meaningful decision. No clarity about the future of the coach. A Bayern-Hubbel maximum. Flick doesn’t want to put any pressure on himself, he added. The ongoing issue of changing or staying and the ongoing dispute with Salihamidzic will continue to occupy the German record champions this weekend.
The return of FC Hollywood?
But between the lines, Flick made the hill a little more peaked. However, less related to the meeting with Kahn than to the acute situation at FC Bayern. “I prefer the first,” replied the coach when asked whether he prefers harmony or friction. “If it works in harmony, the chance of success is more promising.” Well, Flick has probably not felt harmony, unity and a cozy atmosphere in Munich for a long time. He seems to like it more and more to swap this grueling alpha animal collection and ego grouping from the club for the cozy nest at the DFB. Of course, the media-experienced coach soon put into perspective that in life you would “never get everything one hundred percent” and “also have to accept conflicts”.
Nevertheless: If you want harmony, you shouldn’t be employed by FC Bayern. This sentence has almost always been valid in the history of the Bundesliga. Especially under Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Flick’s desperate search for harmony in Munich could turn into a hopeless one. The sextuple trainer will have become painfully aware of this in the past few months and soon he could see no other way out than saying goodbye. Ex-Bayern professional Markus Babbel even caught the legendary “FC Hollywood” of the 1990s in the “Bild” podcast in view of the dispute between Flick and Salihamidzic. “Harmful to the club”, Babbel called the Zoff. “You have the feeling that you are back in our time. Then I no longer understand the world.”
Flick himself had reignited the discussions about his possible change with irritating statements after the end of the Champions League on Tuesday. So a new FC Hollywood? That remains to be seen, but the triple harmony is long gone. The Bayern hill could definitely have prevented a possible mutation to the Hollywood club, had it only grown to a summit. The fact that there is still no calm in the club despite the Kahn-Flick meeting, after which clarity – maybe even harmony – should exist, could well be a disturbance that also plays a role in the final phase of the season. The players are already annoyed, especially Flick. Whether the defeat in the cup against Holstein Kiel and the elimination in the Champions League against PSG can only – but can be safely – speculated. After all, the coach himself said that without harmony, the chances of success were lower.
“You don’t sleep so well either”
Babbel is also “totally annoyed” by Flick’s “rumeierei”. His statements are all “so waxy” and he is “really on the pointer”. Flick will certainly be able to cope with Babbel’s exertions. What drives him more is the elimination from the premier class. “The end doesn’t go away so quickly for me, you don’t sleep so well either,” said the coach. For too long, however, the issue of coach and team shouldn’t be a burden, because a defeat in Wolfsburg in a victory for RB Leipzig over Hoffenheim – and the championship title, believed almost certainly, the only remaining title chance, would be in danger again. Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry, Niklas Süle and Leon Goretzka are also still out.
When it comes to sleep disorders, it is known that those who are annoyed a lot, who have no rest and cannot feel harmony usually sleep poorly. Perhaps a little clarity in the discussion about himself, Hansi Flick, would enable restful nights again. Or a change to the personal harmony oasis of the national team without Salihamidzic and Co. And when you sleep well, it is well known that climbing all kinds of peaks works best. Even if it’s just a hill.
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