Matthäus slams James, defends coach, amid crisis at Bayern
Germany legend Lothar Matthäus has pointed the finger at James, the players and the club's sporting direction, and not coach Niko Kovac, for the current crisis at Bayern Munich.
Former German international Lothar Matthäus has harshly criticized Real Madrid loanee James Rodriguez following Bayern Munich’s embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Matthäus’ comments also come after reports in the German press that claimed the Colombian international had complained about not playing enough minutes under new coach Niko Kovac.
"James feels offended when he doesn’t start. Then he goes out and plays as if he were not part of the team," said the former Bayern player to Sky Germany.
Matthäus also criticised the players in general and the club's transfer policy, while also defending under-fire coach Niko Kovac.
"The players have to come down from their pedestals and assume that they have to be at the service of the club, at the service of FC Bayern. Bayern is a world-class club and the players should be happy to play for such a great team," he said.
Transfer policy the problem, not Kovac
Matthäus jumped to the defence of Kovac, saying that the Croatian coach now has to pay the price for the club’s sporting direction’s failure to bring in players in the summer.
"The coach thinks about football all day. He totally identifies with the club and he has to pay the price for the squad not being sufficiently reinforced in the summer," he said.
"Reinforcing the squad was forgotten, it should have been done faster. That's a mistake that those who have managed the team successfully have to assume for decades."
"There were players in the market who could have been a bet for the future. Maybe they could have signed Antoine Griezmann or Gareth Bale," he added.
On the other hand, Bayern, according to Matthäus, needlessly let go of some players like Juan Bernat, something that may come back to haunt them as injuries pile up.
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|
| Upcoming matches |
|---|