Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann might be a little sick of hearing the question on why Manchester City loanee was on the bench against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League earlier in the week.
Okay, maybe a lot sick of it, but bringing in Cancelo to play a part in high profile matches was part of the plan, right?
Maybe, but it depends on what formation is being run.
Nagelsmann did start Cancelo during the team’s 5-3 Bundesliga win over FC Augsburg on Saturday and the Portuguese star contributed Bayern Munich’s opening goal.
“I’ve already said that. We needed back three players for Paris and we needed to give other players rhythm in the two games before. And João is not a back 3 player. It’s simple,” Nagelsmann told Sport1 (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We could talk about it for 5 hours, but João has never played center-back in a back three. It’s simple to understand why he didn’t play. Today (Augsburg) he did well – as did Leroy and Serge. We made five changes on the lineup and when you win, you did everything right.”
That makes sense, but Nagelsmann did avoid what should have been a natural follow-up question: “Couldn’t you have used him as a wing-back in a back three against PSG?”
Either way, Nagelsmann is pushing all of the right buttons at the moment, so as the kids say, “Holl up, let him cook.”
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