Coach in the Bundesliga: The big burnout

This game can certainly be read as an appeal for at least one free weekend a month for coaches in the Bundesliga in the future. FC Bayern Munich's highly concentrated performance on Sunday evening in Freiburg was impressive. Sports director Max Eberl spoke of an “almost perfect away game”. Looking at trainer Vincent Kompany, who is currently in hospital, he happily stated: “It was a victory for Vinnie’s calm.” He can now see that what he gave to the team and the coaching staff works.

From Eberl's medical perspective, the guests could probably only have made the final phase a little more health-friendly. The reassuring 3-0 simply didn't want to fall due to Freiburg's Mio Backhaus' own inaccuracies and saves. Tom Bischof's own goal (82nd minute) once again caused extreme unrest and uncertainty in the ranks of the German champions, before Michael Olise was able to take advantage of a mistake by Backhaus to make it 3-1.

But none of that was a big issue in the review of the game. Certainly in the spirit of Eberl, who reminded us before the game that health is the most important thing in life. Football is perhaps only the second or third most important. Well, that pretty well described the pressure conditions and demands that are difficult to reconcile in the life of professional football.

The specific concern for Vincent Kompany, who collapsed on Friday after a viral illness while attending training for the club's second team, had to be taken to hospital and will be out for several weeks, was discussed afterwards under the Freiburg main stand. And in general there was the unusual question of what care should be given to trainers.

How much this topic is stirring up and alarming our own industry because of the Kompany case was easy to see in the Freiburg media room. The press conference had already ended and, on the one hand, Julian Schuster was urged to go home an hour after the end of the game in order to devote himself to studying the game on TV for the debriefing on Monday. On the other hand, he wanted to give a small group of journalists insights into the problems facing his profession. He lectured about the stresses of his job. And about the particular difficulties of balancing this job with family and children and still taking time to relax.

At some point, press spokesman Sascha Glunk intervened to finally send Schuster off work. However, he vehemently resisted it. "This is an opportunity to talk about it right now. That's why it's important to invest now." More than two years ago, Schuster took over as coach from Christian Streich, who felt completely burnt out at the age of 59 and has been taking a break ever since. The coach of the current third-placed team also has concerns that are sometimes deeply visible to everyone on the sidelines.

He had already freely admitted that evening that he sometimes didn't look good himself. He said he hasn't had a day off work since taking office. And there are phases in which there is no day off for weeks. It is reasonable to assume that Schuster has also ignored many health warnings. “Selfcare”, such as getting enough sleep, nutrition and exercise, is also discussed in trainer training. He gives his assistant coaches appropriate recommendations and tries to “change a certain culture a bit.”

However, Schuster doesn't give himself a good reference, also because "you're somewhat caught up in the processes." It's hard for him to imagine being able to exert so much energy in this position for twelve years in a row, as Streich did. However, the question of what should change for the better in the interests of the trainers could not be answered satisfactorily that evening. Schuster did not want to place responsibility solely on the club management. “It’s probably up to us sometimes.”

Otherwise, the functionality of trainers is only discussed based on sporting success as a yardstick. The immense pressure and need for speech that this creates was clearly noticeable on Sunday evening in Freiburg. One question of great interest after this memorable Bundesliga game was whether the Bayern coach had already commented on the game from the hospital.

Eberl reported immediately after the final whistle: "Thank God he didn't write. I don't know if he saw the game either." His deputy, Aaron Danks, was later able to provide more detailed information. After the game he received a message from Kompany with congratulations to the team.