No time, no center forward
At Bayern, Tuchel has more than one problem
By Sebastian Schneider
04/12/2023, 8:16 p.m
Despite the clear bankruptcy against Manchester City, Thomas Tuchel “fell in love” with his team. The game shows that the Bayern coach still has a lot of work ahead of him – and also inherited a key problem from his predecessor.
Even the UEFA live ticker couldn’t resist. “A penny for Julian Nagelsmann’s thoughts,” it said towards the end of Bayern’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester City in the first leg of the quarter-finals in the Champions League. The laughs were on the part of UEFA. It would be really interesting to get an insight into the mind of the 35-year-old, who was surprisingly released three weeks ago. Did Nagelsmann see the game? If yes, how and where?
Anyway, for FC Bayern these questions are irrelevant. Because when the UEFA live ticker began to mock in the 82nd minute, the Munich team faced a much more pressing problem than the tip against the bosses. At this point, the German record champions had already conceded the three goals that endangered the next goal of the season after the end of the cup last week. First it was City’s dream goal Rodri (27′), then followed the fatal mistake by Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano, which Bernardo Silva converted to make it 2-0 (70′), and finally Erling Haaland’s goal (76′). ).
One person in particular didn’t really want to accept the result: Thomas Tuchel! The new Bayern coach was even “in love with his team,” he claimed. He doesn’t see the result at all. “We were punished in phases where we were absolutely the better team, where we had the momentum on our side,” he said on “Prime Video” and emphasized: “There was more to it.” His purposeful optimism does not rule out a miracle in the second leg next week. “It’s a very bitter result,” he said, “we have to digest that first.” But: “Football is football, nothing is given away.”
The panic of the FCB
Only the “shock in love” Tuchel had to see that his team had collapsed completely after the 70th minute and also the statistics does not support his thesis (City had the better chances). Two years ago he signed on at Chelsea in the middle of the season and immediately won the premier class. It probably won’t happen again this time unless there’s a miracle in the second leg. Not even three weeks ago, Tuchel replaced Nagelsmann, who was surprisingly released. It goes in quick succession: league summit against Dortmund, cup quarter-finals against Freiburg, the giant duel against City. Tuchel should protect Bayern’s title chances – Bundesliga, DFB Cup, premier class – with practically no preparation time. That didn’t work.
In addition, Tuchel’s new club has had extremely weak nerves, at least since captain Manuel Neuer’s skiing accident. With the surprising sacking of Nagelsmann, they then pressed the panic button. The hoped-for coaching effect, which was actually supposed to solve blockages, not only failed to materialize, but turned into the opposite: this was recently shown by the jubilant posse around Joshua Kimmich. After the narrow 1-0 league win over Freiburg at the weekend, he clenched his fists towards the Freiburg curve in triumph.
The action and the criticism of it not only distracted from their own performance, they also offered an insight into Kimmich’s inner life. “Perhaps the pressure was so great that he did it,” analyzed Freiburg coach Christian Streich. “We didn’t run into the Bayern curve after our win, if I remember correctly. But maybe it will be something else with Bayern because they lose so seldom.”
And the rest of Bayern’s stars don’t really seem liberated either. Even before the Freiburg game, Tuchel admitted that the 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund and taking the lead in the table was followed immediately by defeat in the cup. At the same time, he also noted, “I refuse to make a pattern out of it.” With Leon Goretzka, Sadio Mané, Serge Gnabry and Kimmich, numerous top performers are currently not playing their best season. Only Leroy Sané, who also became dangerous again and again against City, seems to have found a new role under the new coach. Whereby he is now the focus of the reports of beatings in the Bayern cabin, Sadio Mané is said to have hit him in the face.
Five right-backs, one center forward
The real showpiece of this Bayern season also shows its weaknesses – the squad. Tuchel can do relatively little for this, it is the responsibility of sports director Hasan Salihamidžić. A month ago he was praised for his squad. “If everyone is fit, this is now the Bayern squad with the best overall quality of all time,” said record national player Lothar Matthäus at the time. At the latest against City it becomes apparent that there are now problems across the board.
Of course, Munich have a total of five right-backs in João Cancelo, Benjamin Pavard, Noussair Mazraoui, Josip Stanisic and Bouna Sarr, but things are still getting thin in the center of the attack. There is no alternative behind Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, 17-year-old Mathys Tel still needs some time. There is no one else to replace the role of the departed Robert Lewandowski.
All these Bayern construction sites
Because Choupo-Moting is now also injured, Tuchel made do with Gnabry against City. That had two disadvantages: not only does it make Munich’s game more predictable, because crosses are no longer an option, but also less dangerous. More than half of them twelve shots on goal gave Bayern outside of the sixteen. It’s not effective against Ederson, one of the best goalkeepers in the world. And Gnabry remained harmless.
Meanwhile, there is a very different picture of Man City and its owners from Abu Dhabi. They recently won ten games in a row. Coach Pep Guardiola has not only known and directed his team for years, but also plans the squad. The gap in the center of the attack is filled with Tormonster Haaland, currently the best attacker in the world – Bayern could not afford it. Behind them are outstanding midfielders like Kevin de Bruyne, İlkay Gündoğan and David Silva. Even winger Jack Grealish remained inconspicuous offensively against Bayern except for the preparatory work to make it 2-0, but threw himself into every defensive duel.
Meanwhile, the “shock in love” Tuchel with Bayern is still in the getting-to-know phase. Not only is a classic center forward missing, but also a real six. Someone who intercepts attacks like City Rodri or the converted central defender John Stones before their own back line. The German national team recently showed that this is not necessarily the strength of the duo Kimmich and Goretzka. In addition, there is now a goalkeeper discussion about Yann Sommer on the horizon. His performance in Manchester was unconvincing. There are many tasks for Tuchel. The UEFA ticker, on the other hand, has to find something new – he has been sacked by the European Football Association.