Julian Nagelsmann laughed loudly.

"Is it already Christmas today?", Said the Bayern coach, referring to the classic saying by Franz Beckenbauer when asked which trait he should definitely come up with in a portrait at the end of the first half.

"Life-affirming.

I'm actually always in a good mood, ”the 34-year-old finally replied.

Before the final game of the year for goal-hungry autumn champions FC Bayern against the ailing Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the new coach Florian Kohfeldt, who was under pressure, Nagelsmann again embodied the great joy with which he was actually at work every day in his first half of the year in Munich .

“Basically we played a very good first half of the season,” said Nagelsmann even before the ghost game on Friday evening (8.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga, on Sat.1 and DAZN).

Due to an “extreme damper” - the cracking 0: 5 in the DFB Cup against Borussia Mönchengladbach, which he did not explicitly mention - there was a “small shadow”, as he admitted: “But not in such a way that there was no more light to be seen is."

Eight clubs, including the first six from last season, changed coaches before this season.

While Kohfeldt's predecessors Mark van Bommel and Jesse Marsch at the former Nagelsmann club RB Leipzig had to vacate their new jobs quickly, other new men on the sidelines are also having a harder time than Nagelsmann - at least in phases.

Nagelsmann and the "dream job"

“The coach is the most important man in the club.

Regardless of whether things go well or badly, a coach can change the team, the players and himself, ”said Munich's veteran Thomas Müller.

"We can be absolutely satisfied with how things went with Julian in the first six months." Not all clubs with new coaches can say that: After four bankruptcies with 17 goals conceded, Adi Hütter from the Pokal conqueror Mönchengladbach is having a particularly difficult time.

Gerardo Seoane (Bayer Leverkusen), Oliver Glasner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Steffen Baumgart (1. FC Cologne) and Marco Rose (Borussia Dortmund) can look back on Christmas with more satisfaction.

However, they too - like Rose with the sobering premier league from BVB - did not succeed in everything as desired.

In Munich, the transition after the successful era from seven-title coach Hansi Flick to Nagelsmann is rated as successful.

"We haven't had a coach for a long time who had such a good impact on the team," praised Kingsley Coman, who was injured at the end of the first half, like Corentin Tolisso and Leon Goretzka.

The Munich-based company paid a high double-digit million sum, at which speculation already exceeded 20 million euros, to competitor Leipzig and paved the way for Nagelsmann to get his “dream job”.

40 points from 16 games are an impressive league result so far.

The top brand of Pep Guardiola when he started with 47 points Nagelsmann would also miss with a success against Wolfsburg.

The perfect six-win group stage in the Champions League also arouses Munich's title ambitions for the coming year.

The Wolfsburg-based company, which for three years only went uphill from relegation place to Europe's premier class stage, is currently a long way from such brands. Out of the Champions League, eliminated in the DFB Cup - and the league record of 20 points is also sobering. In the past few months, managing director Jörg Schmadtke and sports director Marcel Schäfer made serious strategic mistakes, especially when it came to the crucial coaching question. Glasner's departure to Frankfurt was a great loss. The obligation of the former Bayern captain van Bommel was a mistake. Successor Kohfeldt now has to struggle with the complete loss of footballing identity. "Florian Kohfeldt currently has to pay for things that he is not responsible for," said sports director Jörg Schmadtke.

But Nagelsmann also had to do that in Munich.

For example, when he was almost like a club spokesman and had to moderate sensitive topics such as Joshua Kimmich's hesitation to vaccinate or the annual general meeting with the Qatar debate that got out of hand.

All in all, that wasn't a problem for him.

"I was received exceptionally well," he stated, already in a mood of Christmas.

Nagelsmann meanwhile has no material wishes for Christmas presents.

“A few days on the slopes would be nice.

And play a little ice hockey.

A few days for me and the family, that's my Christmas wish, ”he said shortly before the festive season.

"And the end of the corona pandemic would be another wish.

I don't know if the Christ Child can serve there - unless the Christ Child has a lot of vaccine with him.

Maybe we'll make it then, ”said the 34-year-old.

Nagelsmann is looking forward to spending the holidays with the family after the Bundesliga game on Friday evening.

He used to travel a lot with his brother.

That usually resulted in an injury to the brother, he said.

His mother wished for more reflective days.

He is happy to see the extended family.

There is then weighted, reported the former acolyte.

Songs would then be sung by the Christmas tree.

“The most emotional is 'Silent Night, Holy Night'.

My tears always roll over me. "