Bayern was 'like the Wild West' in the years after Guardiola left for Man City

Thomas Muller insists life at Bayern Munich was like 'the Wild West' after the exit of Pep Guardiola as the players lost the direction drilled into them by the now-Manchester City manager.

Guardiola is a renowned disciplinarian and has been successful at every club he's managed, from Barcelona to Manchester City via Bayern.

During his time in the Bundesliga, the Bavarians won three straight Bundesliga titles, as well as two German Cups and a UEFA Super Cup.

When he left and Carlo Ancelotti took over, though, Muller insists things went south very quickly.

'For my game, structure is super important,' he told The Athletic. 'It has to be clockwork. I see myself as a cog. I can throw my qualities and playing characteristics into the mix and I can help the team improve that way. I will never be a player who picks up the ball outside his own box and goes past three men.

'When we manage to have stability, when we're in control of the build-up and the game, I find it easier to have a positive impact. We weren't able to do that in the years after Pep. It was a bit Wild West, at times.

'The control that we had stood for as FC Bayern was gone. There was sense that anything could happen. Maybe it was more entertaining that way for the spectators.'

Guardiola is also renowned for only spending a few years at a club, before taking a break to recharge his batteries, due to the significant stress involved in each of the roles.

That too is the case for the players, as Guardiola works them extremely hard to ensure his level of discipline is apparent at every club.

'To exert the kind of dominance we had under Guardiola for most of the time, you need to work extremely hard in training,' Muller continued. 'That's the problem. It's incredibly exhausting mentally.

'You need to repeat things — repeat, repeat, repeat, until they're second nature. For Pep, it was normal to push his players that much. Other coaches have different ways of working.

'I understand why some found our extreme dominance under Guardiola boring but that sort of total control can't be reproduced as a carbon copy. You can't say, "They've learnt all that stuff from Pep. They simply have to keep playing that way." That's not the issue. You have to work at it every single day.'

Bayern are now coached by Hansi Flick, who took over on an interim basis from Niko Kovac at the start of November.

During his time in charge of the club, Flick has impressed with 14 wins from 17 matches, taking Bayern back to the top of the Bundesliga.