Thursday 28 July 2016

David Alaba: 'Ambitious' Ancelotti has made a strong first impression

David Alaba: 'Ambitious' Ancelotti has made a strong first impression
The Roten defender says the team's new coach is easy to get along with, but also has made clear he'll be expecting a lot out of his squad this season

Bayern Munich left-back David Alaba says new manager Carlo Ancelotti has made a strong first impression at the Bundesliga club.
The 57-year-old, who arrived at the Bavarian club this summer, is renowned for his man management skills and Alaba has so far been impressed with what he's seen.
"He’s a really cool guy. I think he can get along really well with every single player, with young players but also with big players who have been here at the team for a long time," Alaba told Sportmasta. "I think he has a good hand for that.
"Also, I think he’s doing a great job with the young players too. You can see that he has a lot of experience with that. There are reasons that he’s become such a successful coach."

Ancelotti takes the reins from Pep Guardiola, who oversaw three Bundesliga titles while in charge of Bayern Munich. Guardiola has now moved to manage Manchester City in the Premier League, and former Milan, Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid boss Ancelotti, who has three Champions League titles and lifted three league trophies, has taken over at Bayern.
Alaba has been impressed with how Ancelotti takes time to work with indivudal players in training sessions and says the coach makes sure the player understands what he's being asked to do.
"You see that in training. I think Mr. Ancelotti is a coach who speaks to the players a lot, not only as a team but also with the individual player," he said. "He tries to talk to you and wants to make sure to explain to you what he wants you to do on the pitch. That’s important, and if you listen to it, you’re going to learn a lot."
In addition to that experience and understanding, Alaba said the 57-year-old manager also brings some joy to the team, though he also makes sure to communicate his desire for success.
"I think the first thing I’ve seen in this first week I’ve been here is that he loves his job, 100 percent. He’s very ambitious, he wants to win and we all know that he’s already won a lot of titles and he has a lot of experience," Alaba said. "He wants to share that experience with us so that we can be successful. I think he works very hard every single day in order to be successful at the end of the season.
"We want to do that together as a team, to follow our coach so we’ll also be successful. I think as a team we trust in him, [and] that’s important."
And while Alaba said that he prefers to get forward and be involved in attacking phases of play, he also knows that Bayern must continue to be consistent at the back if they are to add to its silverware collection. Still, Alaba, who scored once in the Bundesliga and once in the Champions League last campaign, has no doubt that Die Roten will continue to thrive going forward.
"First of all, we have to be good in the defense. If we have stability and stay strong in the defense, we can win a lot of titles this year," he said. "I think it’s not a secret that we’re very good in attack. We showed it in the past few years whether it be with Jupp Heynckes or Pep Guardiola and I think we’ll show it also this season."

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