Bayern need better balance between defence and attack: Lahm

Bayern Munich must improve the balance between defence and attack for the second part of the Bundesliga season, captain Philipp Lahm said yesterday.
The champions have landed in Qatar for a winter training camp, which will run till January 11 at Aspire Zone.
Lahm, 33, said the team must allow fewer chances and create more themselves, a problem that was exposed in several matches in the past months although the team was at its best when it mattered.
“It must work out better although it always worked out very well at times in certain games,” Lahm said.
The captain was mainly referring to a 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig in a table topper on December 21, which allowed Bayern to go three points ahead of Leipzig into the winter break which runs until January 20 when they visit mid-table Freiburg.
“We wanted to send out a signal at the end of the year. It was the right signal at the right time. It is always important for us to enter the winter break in first place,” Lahm said.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has an all but full squad at his disposal at the camp until January 11 in Doha.
Only centre back Jerome Boateng remains in Munich as he recovers from chest surgery. Winger Kingsley Coman is in Qatar but will work individually on his return from a knee and ankle injury.
Munich meanwhile also welcomed back Hermann Gerland as first assistant coach to take the place of Paul Clement who has been appointed as new manager of Premier League bottom club Swansea.
Clement, 44, was Ancelotti’s assistant at Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Munich.
“Paul has been a professional, loyal and capable coach for us. We did not want to stand in his way of becoming a manager in the Premier League. We wish him all the best for the future,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in a statement.
Gerland, 62, was Bayern reserve team coach 2001-2009 and then assistant under Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola until last summer when he became a regular member of Ancelotti’s coaching staff.
Bayern said the decision to reinstate him as first assistant was made jointly by Ancelotti and the club board.