The prolific striker was left on the bench last week as the German champion was defeated 1-0, but the incoming coach believes the right decision was made.
The prolific striker was left on the bench last week as the German champion was defeated 1-0, but the incoming coach believes the right decision was made.
Incoming Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti has backed current incumbent Pep Guardiola after his decision to drop Thomas Muller for the Champions League semifinal first leg against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
Munich was shot down by a single Saul Niguez goal at the Vicente Calderon, and Guardiola has been severely criticized in the wake of the defeat for opting to start with Robert Lewandowski alone up front.
Muller had scored eight goals in 10 Champions League games prior to the semifinals including two in the quarterfinals against Juventus. However, Ancelotti has declared that the coach knows best and described the Catalan as the ‘ideal’ man to make the big decisions.
“This happens to every coach when they make a decision,” Ancelotti told Goal. “Guardiola is the person who knows these players best, their physical condition and so on.
“Everybody is talking but Guardiola is the ideal person to make these decisions because he knows the players well. He decides with knowledge, there’s no doubt about that.”
Bayern faces the prospect of elimination at the semifinal stage for the third year in a row following defeats to Real Madrid in 2014 and Barcelona last year. Without an away goal, the team returns to the Allianz Arena in an attempt to break through against an Atleti team that has conceded only one goal in five knockout matches this season.
Ancelotti believes there is no secret to Diego Simeone’s effective style of play other than all the players working together in unison to fulfill their coach’s plans.
“There’s no key other than hard work,” Ancelotti said. "They work together all the time. They are always highly concentrated and in my opinion that’s the coach’s work.
“When we speak about attacking, usually that’s down to the creativity of the players but the coach can do much more for the team in defensive tasks. That’s team work. The coach’s mentality is fundamental to that."
“They have the best defensive organization," he continued. "We have to say that the Atletico defense is not only the responsibility of the defenders, it is the co-ordinated work of the whole team.”
Much has been made about the clash of styles between Guardiola’s Bayern and Simeone’s Atletico with Ancelotti stating that he prefers neither one nor the other. The Italian believes the best solution all depends on the qualities of the players.
“What they have in common is that are on everyone’s lips right now,” Ancelotti said. “Simeone bases his philosophy on great defensive work and Guardiola bases his philosophy on ball possession and control of the game.
“I think it depends on the player’s characteristics you have at your disposal. If you have quality players you must play quality football. If you have strong players you could find a more defensive solution.”
Source: goal.com
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