By Daily Sports on October 6, 2018

It’s fair to say that the early months of Niko Kovac’s time in charge at Bayern Munich haven’t gone as smoothly as he would have hoped, and the latest negative result has seen James Rodriguez sensationally blast his coach, claiming that he was no longer at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Kovac arrived in Bavaria in the summer after seeing his reputation rise following a stellar campaign with

Frankfurt in which he won the German Cup and was in line to qualify for the

Champions League until they fell away near the climax of the season.

In a report published by BILD, the Bayern midfielder, on loan from Real Madrid, launched a stinging attack on his new coach in the dressing room.

“We’re not at Frankfurt here,” he exclaimed.

This came after the former Porto playmaker didn’t play any part in the 1-1 draw with Augsburg before being left on the bench for the Champions League draw at home to a resurgent Ajax.

Bayern Munich aren’t a club that deal well with failure, and after stringing together three matches without victory the pressure on the Croatian coach is mounting.

Doubts over his suitability for such a pressurised position are also increasing amongst the playing staff at the Allianz Arena, and many are wondering if the German champions missed a trick by opting not to hire Julian Nagelsmann, who now has an agreement with RB Leipzig.

There are also whispers that a number of the players are unhappy with how Kovac only speaks to his coaching staff in Croatian rather than German.

Part of the supposed criteria when Bayern were searching for a Jupp Heynckes replacement was that they must speak German, and whilst Kovac does, this essentially defeats the purpose of such a wish.

Bayern Munich’s players aren’t stupid, they understand the need for elite level footballers to rest, however a number are said to be unhappy with the distribution of minutes thus far this term.

Several key players, including James, are seeing their time on the bench increase in comparison to their time on the pitch, and Saturday’s match against

Borussia Monchengladbach could well be decisive for Kovac.

•Adapted from a Marca.com report. Photo shows Bayern Munich midfielder James Rodrigue

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 6, 2018

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