Lothar Matthäus defends Joshua Kimmich’s standing at Bayern Munich after Eintracht Frankfurt mess

Lothar Matthäus thinks Joshua Kimmich is still the man to be Bayern Munich’s No. 6 even if coach Thomas Tuchel does not.

In a piece by Sky Sports journalist Adam Bate, the journalist captured the rationale of Matthäus and why the German thinks that Tuchel has botched the handling of the club’s central midfield situation.

“Bayern did not do a good job in the transfer [window]. Buying Harry Kane? OK, very good transfer. But generally, how they did their business was not Bayern like. It was not good. The communication in the club was not working well,” said Matthäus. “You can say as coach, ‘I need another No 6. I don’t see Kimmich in my system as a holding 6.’ That is okay. But this was going from day to day, headlines in the newspaper. How can I say as a coach 10 times that I want a holding 6. Kimmich is playing now as a holding 6. Kimmich did not like to listen to this every day. I cannot understand Thomas Tuchel. He could not stop it.”

“They were looking for a No. 6. Declan Rice goes to Arsenal. Then they were looking at another No. 6 (Editor’s Note: Fulham FC’s João Palhinha) but it was delayed.”

In the end, though. Matthäus thinks Tuchel is off-base on this one.

“There was a holding 6. His name was Kimmich. He is good enough to play this position. When he is playing two steps to the right or five steps too far towards the offence, then I have to talk with him. He is not stupid. He is smart. He would like to improve, he would like to win titles with this team. You have to communicate with the players,” Matthäus said.