Questions raised over Sammer
Bayern Munich legend Oliver Kahn has lashed out at the club's new director of sport Matthias Sammer, claiming his approach is likely to provoke conflict.
Former goalkeeper Kahn, who played for Bayern between 1994 and 2008, wrote of his concerns about Sammer - appointed this summer as a replacement for Christian Nerlinger - in his column for Bild.
"Sammer's massive presence on the training ground and his public comments on team tactics make him look like a second coach right now," he said. "The players must know who calls the shots.
"Interference with the coach's areas of responsibility contains a lot of potential for conflict. In times when things go wrong, that potential could be realised quickly."
Kahn, though, did have some words of praise for Sammer, saying he boasts a "winning mentality" and that his work could only be judged objectively in six months.
Kahn, who now works as a TV pundit, also expressed doubts about whether Bayern had overcome the disappointments of last season, when they were runners-up in the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League.
"I am a bit wary. From my own experience I know a loss in the Champions League final eats away your self-confidence," he said in reference to the 1999 defeat to Manchester United.
"It takes time to digest setbacks like this. Winning the cup match against Regensburg and the first league match against Fruth cannot be taken as a sign they have recovered."
Eintracht Frankfurt chairman Heribert Bruchhagen also criticised Sammer for his behaviour during training sessions on German football talk show Sky 90.
Bruchhagen said: "I have seen the pictures and I can imagine Heynckes is annoyed by it.
"Jupp Heynckes is the person of authority on the training ground. I have only been a coach in the third tier for five years, but if somebody had gesticulated in my back like Sammer, I would have told him: 'Listen, my friend. Get lost, go to your upstairs office and follow the session from wherever you want.'"
