Thomas Tuchel joked about Uli Hoeneß’s much-admired performance on the training ground. “He actually just wanted to tell me who was playing at the weekend – I saw that straight away,” said the Munich coach with a mischievous smile.
The crisis after the end of the cup and Champions League, the setback in the championship fight and a lot of criticism for the executive floor was not visible to the 49-year-old two days before the performance against Bundesliga bottom Hertha BSC on Sunday (3.30 p.m. / DAZN). In just a month since his commitment, Tuchel had to put up with serious hits – and definitely wants to avoid further damage.
The Honorary President also builds on this. Hoeneß strolled onto the lawn on Säbener Straße on Wednesday, where the star ensemble tackled the final five tasks in the championship countdown after three days off after the 3-1 loss to FSV Mainz 05. Tuchel and Hoeneß exchanged gestures. “When two emotional people talk to each other on the football pitch, it can sometimes get emotional,” said Tuchel, explaining the scene and making it clear: “I won’t say anything about the content.”
“Now the goal must be to get 15 points”
But it’s no secret that the honorary president is suffering with his heart club these wild days. Hoeneß’ vote will largely depend on what the future of CEO Oliver Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic looks like. When asked whether Hoeneß had moved back into the front row, Tuchel countered with another joke. “Maybe he’ll be on the bench at the weekend – then I’d say he’s in the front row.”
Things were less relaxed on the training ground after the Mainz shock. In the fight for the Munich championship series, Tuchel increased the pressure on his disappointing stars in the Bundesliga against Hoffenheim (1-1) and Mainz. “If there is any advantage from the two results, it is that the situation is as clear as day,” said the 49-year-old a few hours before Dortmund’s appearance at VfL Bochum.
“The goal now has to be to get 15 points. If we continue to play like this, so unstable, then we won’t succeed,” said Tuchel. After the weekend Bremen (A), Schalke (H), Leipzig (H) and Cologne (A) are the other tasks. The eleventh championship title in a row is only possible if BVB makes a mistake on the home stretch. A season without a championship would not only be a “disaster” in the opinion of Kahn, who watched the training with concentration on Thursday.
Upamecano, Choupo-Moting und Davies fehlen
Dayot Upamecano, who has recently been particularly heavily criticized, cannot help to avert this. The central defender, despite a few mistakes, is out for around two weeks due to a torn muscle fiber, according to Tuchel. The injured Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Alphonso Davies will also be absent, injured Leon Goretzka (knee contusion) and Kingsley Coman (back blockage) had to target the final training session on Saturday. “We try to prepare ourselves as well as possible,” said captain Thomas Müller.
Tuchel inevitably has to rebuild his defensive line and continue to improvise in attack. In goal he continues to rely on the last wobbly Yann Sommer. “Yann is going through a phase in which he might play a little unluckily. It’s part of being a goalkeeper that you also have a bit of luck in the game,” said the coach, who was happy about the support of the honorary president.
Hoeneß would normally have found him in the buildings at that time, and then they chatted with each other for a quarter of an hour, revealed Tuchel. But this time he had to go out on the lawn earlier because of the structure of the exercise. “I would be ill-advised not to listen,” said the Bayern coach. Hoeneß simply wanted to absorb information, moods and opinions. The visits showed that he cares and that he is touched by the situation. “I can only rate that as positive.”
