Former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann to get back to the “Real World”

Since last March, former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann has been free to do as much skiing and longboarding as he wants.

Everyday is an open book when you are getting paid €7 million per year to not work.

Not a bad gig if you can get it, eh?

Now, though, Nagelsmann is about to dip his toes back into the coaching water with the German national team. It should be noted that the aforementioned water is ice cold and features rapids — there is no assurance of a smooth ride for the 36-year-old.

Joachim Löw and Hansi Flick have not been able to navigate the waters since roughly 2016 and now it will be up to Nagelsmann to try and come up with a solution for a group that some would say lacks both talent and coachability.

An interesting look into those assessments came via “All or nothing: The German national team in Qatar”, the Amazon Prime documentary, which gave a painful insight into a group that was neither mature, nor successful as a collective. With each segment, you could see the uphill battle that Flick was up against (and just imagine the cuts they did not use).

“I didn’t watch it because firstly, I was in it and secondly I didn’t have time to watch it yet. The DFB has contracts and we have to accept that. Even if things don’t go well, we have to fulfill contracts,” Flick said before being sacked (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).

Flick’s decision to bypass that selection when perusing his streaming options is no surprise — he lived it once, which was more than enough.

Nagelsmann’s successor, Thomas Tuchel, who has watched Germany unravel from the outside looking in, thinks his predecessor at Bayern Munich will get the job done.

“Julian has the quality to do it. Why shouldn’t it be a good idea? The DFB has decided for him, he has decided to do it. The DFB can now look ahead positively,” Tuchel said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).

Now, Nagelsmann is going to attempt to right the ship like Tuchel seems to believe that he can, but the coach is likely going to quickly find out “what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.”

Everything from squad selection to tactics to player management is going to be scrutinized by the public, the media, and most importantly — the players.

Nagelsmann’s new job will not be easy.

A fresh outlook was required, though, and there was no better candidate to try and rebuild this once-great power into something by next summer’s EURO 2024 competition. If anything, Nagelsmann will bring his uniqueness and his off-kilter ideas to a team that needs…something, anything to help it even compete with even the most toothless of national teams these days.

It is not impossible, but there is much work to be done. Clearly, it is time to put away the skis and the longboard for the coming months.