Van Bommel regrets Bayern’s ‘lost year’ under Klinsmann

With his team set to face Werder Bremen in Saturday’s German Cup final, Bayern Munich captain Mark van Bommel says his side suffered a ‘lost year’ under ex-coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Bayern have enjoyed a remarkable season under coach Louis van Gaal having already won the Bundesliga title and reached both this weekend’s German Cup final and the Champions League final in Madrid next Saturday.

Van Gaal took over last July after Klinsmann was sacked by the German giants in April 2009 after only ten months in charge following a string of poor results.

Having signed Arjen Robben from Real Madrid last August, Bayern have dominated German football this season, but Van Bommel says Bayern’s time under Klinsmann, who guided Germany to third at the last World Cup, was wasted.

“You can see it for youself today: the time with Klinsmann was an experiment and it wasn’t good,” the Dutch captain told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Van Bommel attributes Bayern’s success to new coach Van Gaal, who has had a dramatic reversal in fortunes this season, having taken his side from seventh in the league last November to the verge of the Champions League title in May.

“I knew what he can do and if you talk to any player who has been coached by him, they all think positively of Van Gaal,” said the 33-year-old.

Van Bommel says that at the start of the season, every Bayern player quickly understood Van Gaal knew exactly what he was doing as head coach, something his predecessor Klinsmann failed to achieve.

“From day one, we have known what to do if we are in possession and also when we don’t, and at some point that renders results and has paid off in the end.”

Van Bommel said he felt Klinsmann, who was coaching a domestic team for the first time during his time in Munich, had little substance as a trainer.

“A coach must be able to explain why he does things and if he can’t, he needs to ask why is he a coach?,” said the Dutchman.

“Nowadays, you can’t just lead a side through working on their fitness and motivation, that works once or twice in a season, but not over the year.”