Jupp Heynckes taking Bayern Munich back to winning ways

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Jupp Heynckes was approached to replace Carlo Ancelotti after the Italian tactician was sacked on September 28.The sack came after Bayern Munich lost 3-0 to Paris St. Germain in their last Champions League clash. A couple of weeks later, Heynckes was installed as manager in his fourth stint at the Bavarian club.

His first stint with the club was between 1987 and 1991, his second stint was as caretaker manager in 2009, and his most successful and most recent (before his newest appointment) was between 2011 and 2013, when he won the treble in his final season. After the difficult times the club has had to face recently under Carlo Ancelotti, it made sense that the club decided to go for a safe bet in Heynckes. The German manager knows the club in and out having managed them at different periods, he also knows the current crop of players, especially the most important ones, and has shown already that he knows how to bring out the best in them. The results are already rolling in.

Since the 72-year old’s arrival at the club, he has overseen a run of six matches unbeaten in all competitions, which included four wins. Back at the top of the league, three points clear of the closest team, Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern now have a new spring in their step. According to the words of Franck Ribery, Heynckes has now “breathed new life” in to the club. One of the out of favour players under the last manager, it is easy to see why he would be happy to see his old manager back, besides the influence of the appointment on the pitch. Ribery believes that Heynckes has a special bond with his players and knows how to give them confidence and “weld” them together. Also besides Ribery, there are a couple of other players who are also obviously happy to see “Osram” back.

Thomas Müller was one of the biggest players that suffered under Ancelotti, he moved from being one of the biggest and most prolific players in the squad to being a marginalised member of the squad who was just one of many options. And this affected his form and productivity on the pitch. This may have been one of Ancelotti’s biggest mistakes, ostracising arguably Germany’s current most iconic footballer. Besides Thomas Müller, several other players also had some less than palatable experiences under the Italian; Thiago Alcantara, Kingsley Coman, James Rodriguez, and Javi Martinez. With the exception of Rodriguez, all three of these players were very productive members of the squad before the arrival of Ancelotti, but perhaps due to his style, they couldn’t reconnect with that part of them that could help the team tear opponents apart. Now they will all be itching to get back to their best form.

Heynckes inspires players to want to play for him, and having worked with most of the key players in the squad already, bringing out the best in them wouldn’t be an uphill task, and he is already doing that.