Thomas Tuchel was happy about his boss’s job guarantee, but when he tried to whitewash the Munich “horror film” he made a remarkably sobering statement.
“It’s an art to be positive again in the next game,” said the coach of FC Bayern Munich after the 2:3 at VfL Bochum, the third competitive defeat in a row: “To broadcast that again, a few will do that small steps may be necessary.”
How many steps Tuchel can still take with Bayern has been more open than ever since Sunday. CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen’s commitment stands that Tuchel remains “a given”. Dreesen only gave this away after repeated requests.
The CEO initially said that he “doesn’t think anything of these monstrous statements of support for trainers” because “these oaths of loyalty are usually over after a week.” But that is “not an issue we are currently dealing with.” It was only afterwards, when asked specifically whether Tuchel would still be Bayern coach next week, that “it goes without saying” that is now unmistakably in the room.
Never-ending discussion
After the experience of current national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s leave of absence in March 2023, Bayern want to avoid a change of coach this season as much as possible. The question is whether this can be avoided in view of the worsening crisis.
In any case, Tuchel knows what to expect. Dreesen’s confession was “of course nice,” he said: “I doubt whether that helps prevent discussions from taking place.” And then he added to the journalists: “But that’s not a problem. You can do that. That’s the business.” The discussions about him and his job have been going on “for what feels like the whole season. Even when we won games.”
The Bayern coach seemed almost defiant when he added that he had “reached the point for a few weeks now where it no longer affects me.” Captain Manuel Neuer explained about the coaching question that “everything” had to be questioned. “It’s not about the coach. It’s easy to point the finger at others. We have to start with ourselves and take responsibility,” said the national goalkeeper.
Goretzka: “It makes you feel stupid”
President Herbert Hainer indicated on Sunday on “Magenta TV” how quickly it can happen. Shortly before the separation last year, he described Nagelsmann as a “long-term project” “because that’s what I wanted.” The next game, a 1-2 loss in Leverkusen, made the management team “think”. Nagelsmann had to go.
Tuchel now argued that the defeat of the relegation candidate was “not deserved”. He struggled with “Murphy’s Law” (“Whatever can go wrong, has gone wrong”). With the professionals it sounded a bit more striking. “We can now stand up and say that we got into the game well,” said Leon Goretzka after the defeat in his hometown: “But now you feel stupid. It feels like a horror film that just isn’t stops. It feels incredibly strange. The red cards are just flying in our faces.” Thomas Müller wrote on Instagram about a “week to forget”.
Neuer stated that we now had to look forward: “But you have to analyze the whole thing.” He “can’t remember a time when we lost three games in a row,” said the 37-year-old, who has been playing in Munich for almost 13 years. In 2015, Bayern even lost four competitive games in a row under Pep Guardiola. They were eliminated in the semi-finals of the cup and the Champions League, but they were already confirmed as champions.
Hopeless fight for the title
Bayern are now threatened with their first titleless season in twelve years. The Munich team are out of the cup, in the Champions League they lost the first leg of the round of 16 at Lazio Rome 0-1, and in the league they are now eight points behind the still unbeaten leaders Bayer Leverkusen. “I’m an optimist, but not a dreamer,” Dreesen admitted: “It’s going to be really difficult now.”
Goretzka responded to the question of whether there was still hope for the twelfth championship title in a row: “It’s difficult to answer yes right now. There’s no need to dream about it.” Tuchel also said that the title was “not that realistic right now. But last season we believed in it right to the end and were rewarded.”
Dayot Upamecano, who was sent off in the second game in a row, causing the decisive penalty in each game. Or Joshua Kimmich, who was so annoyed after his completely understandable substitution that, according to several media outlets, including the “Abendzeitung”, the “Sportbuzzer” portal and the “Bild” newspaper, he walked into the locker room with his assistant coach Zsolt Löw clashed.
All of this explains Tuchel’s analysis of why staying positive is an “art”. And that doesn’t give much hope at the moment. Him and FC Bayern.
