Müller: "They’re tight, nasty matches"

For any Bavarian, the regional derby between Bayern Munich and Franconian side 1. FC Nürnberg on Saturday (kick-off 15:30, live on Sky) is a special occasion. Even more so for Thomas Müller, who is not only a full-blooded Bavarian, but a Bayern man through and through. On DFB.de, the 23-year-old 42-time Germany international talks about Bayern’s start to the season and the changes coach Pep Guardiola is implementing.

Question: Mr. Müller, Bayern were able to train uninterrupted this week. Was that important in terms of taking on board the alterations the coach is making?

Thomas Müller: It’s important to have a few training sessions in a row as it means you can concentrate on improving team tactics. I think we’ve been able to make the most of that chance so far.

Question: Do you feel more comfortable going into a game if everyone’s trained together for a longer period of time, rather than after a break for international matches?

Müller: I don’t know. In our first game against Borussia Mönchengladbach you could see that they counter-attacked several times, even though we’d been training together for a long time previously. Obviously we don’t want to give our opponents five chances to score in each game and we know that wasn’t ideal. When we played away at Eintracht Frankfurt we controlled the game pretty well and didn’t give them as many scoring opportunities, despite the international match beforehand. My hope now is that after Saturday’s game against Nürnberg we won’t be saying 'we won, but...' Instead I hope it’ll just be: Bayern Munich won.

Question: Do the difficulties have anything to do with the ideas of new coach Pep Guardiola?

Müller: Everything still needs to click, but that’s not necessarily down to what the coach is asking us to do. It’s just a matter of getting used to playing with each other again. We’re also lining up a little bit differently. We can’t afford to make mistakes, but that’s not just down to our style of play, as individual mistakes can also lead to counter-attacks. On Saturday we just want to play well so that everyone’s happy. If that happens, we can be satisfied too.

Question: You have to admit that the new system is more attacking than last season?

Müller: Yes, of course. When you only play with one holding midfielder instead of two then it’s more attacking. As a result, we also have to close down our opponents more up front.

Question: Does that leave you more vulnerable at the back?

Müller: When you play with two holding midfielders, one of them normally plays a bit further back to provide cover. He can’t then get involved in attacks as much or put the opponent under pressure. It’s only a slight change in formation. Maybe it does leave us more open if we make mistakes, which is why we can’t afford to make any.

Question: As a player do you tend to find yourself wanting to switch back to the old system when the team isn’t playing so well, or in difficult spells like against Mönchengladbach?

Müller: If you win 3-1 like we did against Gladbach you can’t say it was a bad game. Things like that always happen. Last season we had an exceptional year, that wasn’t the norm and we can’t forget that. Everything’s still going to plan, we’ve played ok in two games, but there was room for improvement in terms of dominating our opponents. We just need to be careful to keep an eye on them when we’re in possession so that if we lose the ball, which can always happen, it doesn’t lead to a quick counter-attack.

Question: How do you rate Nürnberg?

Müller: In the past games against Nürnberg have always been very tight, nasty matches. Nürnberg are always an awkward opponent, they get stuck in physically, give it everything they’ve got and are dangerous at set-pieces. They’ll probably sit deep and hit lots of long balls forward, that’s what we can expect. In recent years we haven’t have too many problems against them at home and I hope we can continue that trend.

Recorded by dfb.de