FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Pre Season Friendly - Tottenham Hotspur v Bayern Munich - Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, Britain - August 10, 2024 Bayern Munich's coach Vincent Kompany at the end of the match. Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley/File Photo
(Reuters) - Bayern Munich's new manager Vincent Kompany said on Saturday that communication and honesty had been the important factors in his dealings with the players in the short time he has been at the Bundesliga club.
Kompany, who takes charge of his first league game with Bayern on Sunday, succeeded Thomas Tuchel after Bayern's disappointing third-place finish last season and has already been praised by several squad members, including experienced goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, for his communication skills.
"To state your opinion clearly doesn't mean that you say it in a personal way," Kompany told a press conference on Saturday ahead of the game at VfL Wolfsburg.
"I think it's important to adapt how you communicate to the player that you're facing; everyone's different.
"You have different generations, different coaches, different ages, everything comes into play but in the end I think players appreciate if they get the message that you have in mind."
Leon Goretzka is one player who has been told that he faces a lot of competition in midfield this season, but he seems determined to stick around and fight for his place, and Kompany said such directness must be the club's policy.
"We as a club have the role to be honest with the players because then we're going to earn respect, even though sometimes it might not be positive news," Kompany said.
"All I can say is that I haven't had one single player who was not showing complete intensity and they were all trying to really reach the maximum and Leon was one of those players."
One player who has left the club is Matthijs de Ligt who joined Manchester United, and Kompany was quick to deny media reports that he had told the player that he was his number one defender.
"I didn't say that because that would be completely stupid for me to say something like this," the Belgian said.
"It also wouldn't fit into what we are planning as a club with the squad -- to have two players for every position and to have competition for places."
Kompany's task is to win back the league title after they lost out to Bayer Leverkusen last season, denying Bayern their 12th consecutive success. That job begins at Wolfsburg, who are looking to improve on their 12th-place finish last time.
"I think they can reach a European place this year maybe, so we play against a strong opponent, a difficult away game, our first game," Kompany said.
"I'm looking forward to the first Bundesliga game, it's going to be a huge challenge."
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; editing by Clare Fallon)
