Pep Guardiola toys with false nine for Bayern

Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola has said he is toying with the idea of playing some of his stars out of position as the new coach looks to find his preferred starting line-up at the European champions. Bayern, who arrived in their Lake Garda training camp in north Italy on Thursday, became the first German team to win the treble of Champions League, cup and league titles with a conventional 4-2-3-1 formation last season.Guardiola won 14 titles in four years as Barcelona coach, where he preferred a ‘false nine’ system of a lone striker who can drop into midfield, and took charge of Bayern last week in the build up to the new Bundesliga season starting on August 9.

‘We can play with real strikers and false nines. It also depends on the physical condition of the players as to which system I will choose,’ said Guardiola. ‘I’ve noticed the Bayern players are very, very smart. They have reached the Champions League final three times in four years, you don’t have to say more about that.’ Pep says he would want the team to score a lot.