betprepare.com

The Bavarians continue with a new coach

In the first six rounds Alexander Schmidt did not manage to convince the Munich board that he will be able to take the team back to the top league. That task now faces Friedhelm Funkel, who knows very well how it is done

Regardless of the season still being at the early stages, and the Munich players having a lot of time to make their premier league ambitions come true, following an awkward home loss to weak Sandhausen, the board lost patience and sacked the coach Alexander Schmidt. He will be replaced by the experienced (59) Friedhelm Funkel, who returns to work after a 17-month long leave of absence. His strongest argument was that he got promoted five times with five different clubs during his career. The agreement has been set until the summer of next year. 

- I am looking forward to the chance of working in such a great club as Munich 1860. The task I am facing is massive but we all have a common goal and that is promotion to the first league. I believe in this team's potential, that is why I did not insist on a firm contract -  said Funkel at his introduction. He said that under his guidance, the Bavarians will play offensively, regardless of having one or two attackers in the formation. 

Did he get a grip on the situation is a question that will be answered tonight. Regarding his squad, the league break did good for the experienced Bierofka to catch up with the rhythm of the rest of the team. The only one who didn't go with the team to Aalen is Stahl, but he should be back soon. 

- I hope the team will already show in Aalen some of the things we have been working on. Our emphasis was on duels, standard situations and plays without ball. Considering our high ambitions, we would like to return home with a victory - said Funkel. But he was in no way disrespectful of the home team: 

- They are a very compact team, they transform into attacking style very quickly and they use any hole in the opponents' defence. 

This went pretty well in Aalen's last two matches before the break. We could say that the break came at a bad time for Aalen, especially since they had no trouble with absences. However, the good atmosphere remained, and everybody in the club is convinced that they can take down another favorite, after doing the same to Kaiserslautern. 

- The arrival of a new coach often leads to changes in the starting team. Besides that, the 60ers openly say they want to return to the top league. All in all, we are faced with a hard job. But we filled up on self-confidence after the matches with Karslruhe and especially Kaiserslautern, so we can say that our goal is to beat Munich - the attacker Robert Lechleiter said optimistically. The sporting director Markus Schupp is optimistic as well: 

- Munich have a strong team, they recently got a new coach, we are facing a strong task. But not an impossible one, we are interested only in winning.

Coach Stefan Ruthenbeck took a more moderate tone. He revealed that he would prefer if the opposing team hadn't changed the coach:

- New coach automatically brings new ideas, so we cannot be sure how much we can rely on what we saw in their previous matches. So we will focus more on our own game in the preparation to the match.

Yes, I know Aalen is a strong team and that they destroyed Kaiserslautern in their last home game. What I don't understand is why they are declared slight favorites in a match against undoubtedly better Munich who is one of the main candidates for promotion. That is why I think it would be a sin not to play on the guests win, especially with very good odds. Even though they might have a difficult game, I find it hard to believe that their eventual success is paid almost triple. Especially in the situation where a new coach has arrived at the club, and every player will want to prove himself in order to keep his status in the locker room.