Eberl: It's a wise and important decision that we hired Kompany as our coach

FC Bayern is rushing from one impressive victory to the next this season. Praise is pouring in on Vincent Kompany from all sides - entirely deserved, according to Max Eberl and Stefan Effenberg.FC Bayern also wins confidently against Eintracht Frankfurt. Even sporting director Max Eberl is surprised at how well his team played.

As things stand, FC Bayern is the benchmark in Europe: the Munich club is the first in the top five leagues to win its first ten competitive games of the season. This is also a great credit to coach Vincent Kompany, who in his second season in Munich has done an outstanding job of managing the high-caliber squad and keeping them happy.

Praise is pouring in for Bayern and Kompany from all sides, but it wasn't long ago that the German record champions were ridiculed for their decision to hire Kompany, who was considered a kind of inexperienced stopgap solution after top candidates such as Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, and Ralf Rangnick reportedly turned down the job.

Bayern's sporting director Max Eberl, who came under fire for his decision a good year ago, is now laughing up his sleeve – even if he himself may not have seen Kompany as his first choice at the time.

“I think the decision 16 months ago to hire Vincent Kompany was a very, very important step,” said a cheerful Eberl after Saturday's confident 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt, referring to the positive developments under Kompany. “We had a very, very good hand in the end and found a coach who really fits FC Bayern like a glove, who has incredible intelligence, but above all has an understanding of soccer and can convey that to the team.”

All sunshine and roses at Bayern Munich

According to Stefan Effenberg, Bayern's offensive style of play paired with great control of the game demonstrates “Kompany's signature” as much as the Munich team's running performance this season. With an average of 122.7 kilometers this season, Bayern are in first place in the Bundesliga this season – much to the surprise of the SPORT1 expert.

“It's amazing that they've achieved this figure because they have the highest possession,” said Effenberg on SPORT1's Doppelpass. “Normally, you have the highest possession and less running. Now they have both, which is why they play this kind of football. It's rather unusual, but that's also Kompany's signature.”

Given the small squad, Effenberg believes that Kompany's load management and associated rotation – only Harry Kane and Luis Díaz have started every competitive game so far – will also be crucial to success this season.

“They will, of course, reach a phase, perhaps in the fall, late fall, where one or two players will be at their limit,” emphasized the former Bayern star. Then Kompany will have to manage that, because the squad is stretched to the limit. That will happen, it's quite normal, but they don't need to worry about that at the moment."

Effenberg: Kompany benefits from his playing past

According to Effenberg, the current success also has to do with Kompany's successful playing past – a clear advantage over his predecessors Thomas Tuchel and Nagelsmann, who do not have a great playing career to show for themselves.

“He played himself,” emphasized the 57-year-old. "He knows how a player feels when he's under pressure. He knows how players feel when they play every three days. He knows that because he played at the highest level, for the Belgian national team and as captain of Manchester City. He knows how it works. That gives him a huge advantage, and the players see that too."

Kompany is more firmly in the saddle than ever, and things are clearly moving in the right direction.

The bosses are completely satisfied, which is why, according to Effenberg, it's clear: “If you're the coach at Bayern Munich and the players accept and respect a coach like Kompany in this case, then that's a huge advantage. If you also have the support of the upper echelons, then you're untouchable as things stand today.”