Tuchel is badly tricked: FC Bayern only burns in great pain

FC Bayern clearly loses the top game in the Bundesliga. Against Bayer Leverkusen, the Munich team lacks their great ability to make a statement in important duels. The appearance raises big questions, including for the coach.

Where was FC Bayern? This FC Bayern, which always silences everyone when the verbal beatings get out of hand and a statement is overdue. Especially in a big duel. Where was this FC Bayern who had repeatedly attacked Borussia Dortmund in such moments, this challenger who so often retreated into his shell in intimidation and then shrugged his shoulder as if nothing could have been done anyway. He would have been needed again. After all, he was badly outplayed, despite scoring top points. But on this Saturday evening these Bavarians were nowhere to be seen. Against the still undefeated Bayer Leverkusen, an unimaginative collective staggered towards their fate. The top game of the Bundesliga was lost 0:3 (0:1). The Munich team is threatened with their first season without a title since 2012.

After the 21st matchday, the gap to the league leaders, the Werkself, is five points, which really has nothing of a company sports group, but rather offers hero football at the highest level. On the field and in the coaching zone, where Spanish super coach Xabi Alonso has created an invincible machine. Teams have failed to beat this team 31 times in a row. Of course, this evening of two worlds is not a preliminary decision in the fight for the trophy. But he raised the question: can an FC Bayern, which was so clearly dominated, really make up the gap against a Leverkusen in this condition. The popular opinion: probably not. However, no one raised the white flag for the record champions.

No eggs, no fun

Rather, they suddenly started burning after the lifeless performance. The eyes and voice of Thomas Müller, who was once again a substitute, were ablaze on the Sky microphone. He attacked his teammates mercilessly and missed balls and the fun of gaming. Everything is just mental. There was plenty of anger and bitterness. The fire in the catacombs was also blazing in Joshua Kimmich’s eyes when the emptiness disappeared from view after the final whistle. The fact that these two, of all people, who only came onto the field when their own team was 2-0 down, spoke reveals the record champions’ lack of leadership.

Over the 90 and a few minutes played, there was no sign of this emotionality as a source of strength. No fire, no flickering, not even a spark. The Munich people had been sunk without any passion. They stood perplexed in front of their fans, thanking them, while behind them Bayer Leverkusen raged like they had unleashed. Carnival, football, everything mixed together in a wild endorphin rush. Happiness and Alaaf (and camels instead of tennis balls for the DFL’s investor plans) here, perplexity and anger there.

The cards should have been put on the table, coach Thomas Tuchel had demanded. And the people of Munich obviously thought they had a good hand. But things turned out differently. As is often the case at the poker table. If it wasn’t necessarily the royal flush, which the team had played a few days earlier in the DFB Cup against VfB Stuttgart, it was still a straight flush that Leverkusen put on the table. And Bayern? Nothing but a bluff, they had nothing worth counting on their hand. They were duped.

Of all people, Stanisic

Tuchel had hidden the bluff in his lineup. Surprisingly, he not only changed the personnel (for example Matthijs de Ligt out), but also changed the system. Among other things, with new signing Eric Dier as head of defense. That’s a very remarkable note, when else did FC Bayern adapt to their opponents and not trust their own game? A mistake? Not for Tuchel. There is no evidence that it would have been better any other way. He would therefore act like that again, he said, who was the first Munich player to storm into the dressing room immediately after the final whistle. Wordlessly with the fiercest look.

With a chain of three central defenders and two full-backs, he wanted to contain the crazy pace on Bayer’s tracks. And he had probably taken into account that his footballers would have to deal with Jeremie Frimpong, the most spectacular wing in the league. He’s so fast that it’s a good idea to put a double bottom (second opponent) under the net (first opponent). But Frimpong didn’t play, Josip Stanisic did. He belongs to FC Bayern and is currently on loan to Bayer. He didn’t really understand why his parent club let him go, even though there were complaints that there was a lack of breadth in the squad. The Munich team have corrected this oversight and have just signed Sacha Boey. He came from Galatasaray for a hell of a lot of money, almost 30 million euros.

That’s a great value that he wasn’t able to demonstrate in his first game right from the start. In the duel with Stanisic he was mercilessly grilled. Meanwhile, he also gave the left rail player. A role he had obviously never played before. First he was boiled in the duels that the Frenchman led offensively and then in the 0-1 that Stanisic scored. Like spectators at a bowling alley, four Bayern players watched as the ball whizzed through the penalty area. Boey, as the last man in the chain, was also able to marvel at how his opponent powerfully knocked down all nine, in other words, he scored. Tuchel was stunned. He couldn’t understand such passivity in front of his own goal. “It’s not possible for the ball to roll past five players between the goalkeeper and the defense. That can happen if a player was pulled outwards.”

“You’ll never be German champions” – really?

That was the key scene for the Bayern coach. He saw the momentum that he previously sensed was on Munich’s side tipped. He later found the 0:3 score to be too high. It wasn’t really enough for a majority, even if his team initially looked visually superior and the hosts seemed a bit nervous. With the goal that was all history, Bayer remembered once again that they are the best team in the country. And they always tried to shine with their fine football. It wasn’t as impressive as against VfB Stuttgart, but it was still dominant enough to keep the enigmatically weak FC Bayern behind for the time being. Out of defiance, their frustrated fans who had traveled with them shouted the evergreen song to the elated Leverkusen team: “You will never be German champions.” Will it last beyond the summer?

Tuchel says: “I think if Leverkusen continues to play like this, we have no chance. We’ll be damned if we throw in the towel now.” But this shotgun called FC Bayern urgently needs major renovation. Hardly anything comes together. When Tuchel says that the team dominated the game, the statistics confirm him. But more ball possession and more duels won are worth nothing if nothing comes of it. Munich’s offensive game almost came to a complete standstill under the Bayer Kreuz. If Harry Kane had simply sneaked off the field at some point, it probably wouldn’t have been noticed. The Munich team didn’t get the superstar into the show at all, no crosses, no steep passes. Great things are always based on an idea. This didn’t exist. So you had to make do with a few small things.

Different with Leverkusen. The speed and joy of gaming combine to create an attractive and successful mix. Nathan Tella started the 2-0 with a one-two, the outstanding Alejandro Grimaldo slammed the ball past Manuel Neuer with full conviction. When the third goal was conceded, the captain was no longer in goal and had tried to put things right at the front. Frimpong stormed off and artfully smashed the game device from a long distance into the deserted goal for the final score. Neuer, who wasn’t always confident in the game, warned: “It was one of our worst performances on the most important day. Everyone has to have the fire in them and try to bring it onto the pitch. Anyone who hasn’t done that has to focus on their own Grab your nose.”

“We have a mentality in our game”

Tuchel did not have a proper explanation for this non-existence of all offensive efforts. “We couldn’t prevail,” he complained. In the one-on-one duels, the winner rarely or never came from Munich. Things look completely different in training. In the game, however, what has been worked out always falls apart, even if the results in the end concealed the laborious achievements. Not this time. This time it became apparent that this team lacked leadership figures. Of players who plaster their opponents with mia-nothing dia-nothing. Most players are fighting with themselves. Especially when Müller and Joshua Kimmich are on the bench. When they entered the pitch in the 60th minute, the game became more structured, but not more dangerous.

In the seething Müller, the anger engine drove into the red zone. “What I miss from us players – that’s why I say it publicly – is that we show much better approaches in training because we are courageous and play football freely. Now I’m partly missing the balls, to quote Oliver Kahn,” he scolded Sky. “We have a mentality in our game, especially with the ball. At Leverkusen you can see that they play freely and move well. We do that too, but not in the game when the pressure is there and that’s what I expect from us team and from FC Bayern always.” Tuchel is likely to be under the greatest pressure. For weeks he has had to justify the fact that the performances do not match FC Bayern’s standards. But now the points are still missing. Tuchel no longer needs to look for them, but rather for his team, for this FC Bayern, who so often provided great moments in big games. Otherwise it could get tight.