The beginning of Vincent Kompany’s competitive reign as Bayern Munich manager is right around the corner, and there have been plenty of positive signs from what we have seen from the preseason friendlies thus far. Now that both Harry Kane and Alphonso Davies have arrived back in Munich after extended holidays from their respective involvements in Euro 2024 and Copa America, Kompany pretty much has his full squad back just over two weeks before the first round DFB-Pokal trip to SSV Ulm.
The pair of latest returnees for Bayern should even be ready to be in the squad for the upcoming friendly against Tottenham in North London in what will be a homecoming for Kane. It will be one of Kompany’s last chances before the competitive season begins to look at his squad and try to brainstorm what he will want from the opening whistle come week one at VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.
Per information from Sport Bild (via @iMiaSanMia), Kompany is very much planning on utilizing more rotations this season for Bayern, at least more than the club would have been used to in previous season under Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann, and Hansi Flick. This, in theory, can help solve a number of different problems, but it is understood that one of the driving forces behind this is to do his best in his maiden season to help alleviate and frustrations from certain players boiling over with a lack of minutes. He does not want there to be any dissatisfaction in the squad where there does not need to be.
Of course, something like this is far easier said than done, especially at a club like Bayern, but Kompany will work to find a harmonious balance where he can rotate when and where he needs to without disrupting the eb and flow of the squad. Additionally, Bayern would certainly be hoping to, for a change of pace, have a season where they are not persistently hampered by injury problems. More frequent rotations could help in that department.
Manuel Neuer, Kim Min-jae, Dayot Upamecano, Leon Goretzka, Raphaël Guerreiro, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry, Sacha Boey, Bouna Sarr, Alphonso Davies, Aleksandar Pavlović, and Thomas Müller all struggled with various injury problems last season, causing them all to miss a handful of key matches across all competitions. Not to mention, Leroy Sané played a large chunk of the season with a pubic bone injury that he only recently got surgery to repair after his involvement with Germany at the EUROs. The right rotations and the right times could work wonders for helping Kompany and Bayern avoid a lot of different muscular injuries; a sort of necessary preventative maintenance, if you will.
It is not too far back in the memory banks, either, where there were squabbles with former manager Pep Guardiola and former team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, the latter of whom often felt pressured by the Spaniard to rush players back prematurely. While it was not under Guardiola’s watch a few seasons back, there were also question marks raised when Neuer came back too soon after a serious metatarsal injury.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s final list of players, who are up for sale? What about some insight on why Xavi Simons opted for RB Leipzig over Bayern and why Joshua Kimmich will use this season to gauge what the next move will be for his future? Good, then we have you covered with the latest edition of our Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show. You can get the podcast on Patreon, Spotify, or below: