Bayern Munich are coming off an impressive 2-0 victory over Atlético Madrid, but Aaron Danks is making sure nobody gets too comfortable ahead of Saturday’s trip to Mainz. The interim head coach knows exactly how difficult this fixture can be and is demanding another top-level performance from his team.
Danks is well aware of the problems Mainz have caused Bayern in recent seasons, including last year’s disastrous first half, when Bayern found themselves trailing 3-0 at the break. Danks knows Saturday
will require a completely different challenge from the one Bayern faced in Madrid.
“We’ve always had tough games against Mainz in recent years. Last year we were 3-0 down at halftime. We respect them; it’s a difficult place to play. He’s very competitive—we have to be at our highest level from the first minute. We have to work hard for everything. We already talked about that after the Atlético game: we have an important match on Saturday and we want to continue our run with a good result. But it won’t be easy, we know that,” Danks said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
As for Bayern Munich’s personnel situation, there are some encouraging developments, although Danks still has several decisions to make. Jamal Musiala has returned to group training but will not be ready for Saturday, while Aleksandar Pavlović completed the latest training session. Manuel Neuer and Jonas Urbig are also expected to train ahead of the match.
“Most players trained yesterday. Jamal rejoined the group for training, which was really positive. Obviously, the game’s too soon for him, but it’s nice to have him back on the grass with us. Aleks Pavlović completed the training session, but we take it day by day with him just to see if there’s any reaction. Manuel Neuer and Jonas Urbig will both train today—they’re both in a good place for the game. Obviously, there are a few that we have to consider in terms of resting them. Alphonso Davies in particular will be one that we have to manage now. He’s still not ready to play 90 minutes back to back to back to back, so we have to be careful with him. We’ll make those decisions as we go through the day today,” Danks stated.
One of the biggest questions concerns the left wing. With Serge Gnabry, Musiala, and Saibari unavailable, and Alphonso Davies still being carefully managed following his return, Bayern could have some creative decisions to make. Danks was asked who might fill the position if Davies is not ready to start or play significant minutes.
“We’ll look at it in training today. We’ll try a few different players there. It may be that Phonzy is fine and he can start, but with restricted minutes. But we’ll have options. We’ll have different players. You see, when we play, there’s lots of rotation, there’s lots of different movements, lots of our fullbacks end up in attacking positions. And at the moment we’ve got a good number of fullbacks fit and available to us, so there’ll be options for us. We’ll find solutions with different players to come into those areas. I don’t know who that will be at the moment. I’ll speak to the staff and go through it,” said Danks.
Away from Saturday’s immediate preparations, Danks also provided an encouraging update on Vincent Kompany. The Bayern head coach remains sidelined while recovering from his recent health problems, but Danks has been in regular contact with him and believes things are moving in the right direction.
“I’ve had a couple of really positive phone calls with Vince over recent days. He seems positive. He seems like he’s on a good road to recovery. There’s no set time, no set day, but obviously with the international break coming now, it’d be a good time to reflect and see how he is and when he’s available to return. We’re ready and we’re looking forward to welcoming him back as soon as possible,” Danks remarked.
There was similarly positive news regarding Musiala and Luis Díaz, although Bayern are not putting a firm return date on either player’s comeback. Both are expected to train next week, with the hope that they can rejoin the group after the international break.
“I think in terms of putting a game on it, or a date on it, it’s really difficult. What’s important is they’ll be in now next week. They’ll train next week. They’ll hopefully be back in for group training after the international break. It’s positive progress. But there’s no set date in terms of a game that they’ll be available for,” Danks said.
For now, Danks has plenty to sort out before Saturday’s trip, particularly with Bayern’s attacking options stretched and several players needing careful management. The objective, however, is straightforward: take the confidence from the Atlético victory into another difficult Bundesliga assignment and keep Bayern’s winning run going.
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