“This is absolutely great”
This time Thomas Tuchel sticks the whip
By Till Erdenberger
08/19/2023 10:37 am
Even before the start of the season, Thomas Tuchel delivers a speech that will find its way into Bundesliga folklore. A few days after his tirade against his own team, there is little to complain about.
After the Supercup disaster against RB Leipzig (0: 3), Thomas Tuchel surprised with a merciless tirade against his own team: He was “consternated. The disappointment is huge. I have no solution. We played as if we were four weeks would not have trained. That’s frightening, “Tuchel complained after the capital false start of the season on Sky. “Nobody believes me. I don’t recognize anything.” Now, just six days later, the coach’s mood has turned – at least for now.
He liked the 4-0 (1-0) win at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga opener: “We all worked together and took a good first step,” said the 49-year-old. “We played a very solid game from start to finish, we didn’t have any ups and downs and we did our thing. For ten minutes in the second half there was a phase where we were a bit sloppy. But we have that in common persevered and stayed patient.” The whip that Tuchel verbally swooped down on his players immediately after the disappointment could get stuck this time.
“Get through it together”
Compared to the sobering performance in the Supercup, where FC Bayern not only wanted to win the first title of the season after the shaky to disappointing pre-season, but above all wanted to find their way back to the old things, they actually showed improvement: Tuchel’s ensemble acted faster, grippier, even if the pace was sometimes throttled too badly in the attack third. The counter-pressing also seemed more determined and better coordinated. In any case, the coach saw “in the end a good mix of ball control and quick attacks”. In a short phase at the beginning of the second half, FC Bayern wobbled, Werder missed three good chances to equalize in quick succession.
The quick opening goal by Leroy Sané (4th minute) visibly played into the structure, which did not perform well despite the “first step”, in which the newcomers Min-Jae Kim and Harry Kane, who were brought in for a total of over 150 million euros, celebrated their Bundesliga debut Cards. “I’m happy that we kept a clean sheet and took the lead, we haven’t had that for a long time and it’s good now.” Last Saturday, Tuchel was still surprised: “We have the wrong frequency as soon as we have something to lose. It’s no longer the same group.”
“Good is not enough” for Kane
Harry Kane was brought in at the last second to bring the group, which fought against itself so often last season and recently against Leipzig, at least back to the usual level, or even better to a new level. The world-class striker has been tasked with replacing top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who left for FC Barcelona last summer. After an adventurous journey to Leipzig, including signing the contract in the night, the captain of the English national team only made three ball contacts in just under half an hour. Now he decided with his second shot on goal a game that was surprising up to the 74th minute and unnecessarily open from Bayern’s point of view.
The goal was “a classic”, said the coach. “He leaves the option open for a long time that the goalkeeper doesn’t know which corner he’s shooting into.” Kane opted for the left corner, Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka had no chance. The playing scorer, who is much more involved in the build-up than his predecessor Lewandowski, had prepared the 1-0: “Good is not enough, he is absolutely top, human and also his presence and the way he trains. He immediately started with an assist and then shot in another one, it can go on like this,” said Tuchel enthusiastically about the performance of his striker – to whom he had apologized a few days earlier for the performance of his new team.
“We can do even better”
The midfield center, which was somewhat surprisingly combined from Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka after the impressions from the preparation, also got their share of Tuchel’s benevolence: “Kimmich and Goretzka took good care of each other today,” said the coach, who most recently had newcomer Konrad Laimer instead of Goretzka’s had given trust. Before the start of the season, Tuchel had longed for a “Holding Six”, i.e. a central midfielder whose work mainly takes place in front of his own penalty area. Because Declan Rice preferred to go from West Ham to Arsenal, Tuchel has to solve his problem with home remedies.
“The characteristic of our midfielders is that they move a lot, are on the ball a lot and make a lot of contacts. I’m more familiar with the fact that the game moves around the central midfielders. We still have to adapt to each other.” The interaction between Kimmich and Goretzka worked well against Werder Bremen, but there is still something to be done. “When we attack, we mustn’t become too offensive, but also make sure that we occupy the rest of the field well, but we can do that even more fluently and better.”