Speechless bosses, subdued players and an angry coach who changes his pitch at FC Bayern within a few days. “We don’t have the sense that it’s burning! It’s high time that we as a team show a different spirit! It’s going like this!” Scolded Thomas Tuchel after the “worst game” of the actually so talented Munich football star ensemble his directing.
After the joyless 1-1 rumble against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, Tuchel was no longer “in love with his team”, just shocked.
Tuchel looks disillusioned after the draw
“It feels like a defeat,” moaned the 49-year-old, distraught and annoyed. And as a “lonely voice” in Munich’s stimulating spring climate, it didn’t appease him that Borussia Dortmund was unable to use the next assist from the German series champions in the Bundesliga title fight. The two-point lead over BVB remains intact.
After a turbulent week with the cabin clinch between Sadio Mané and Leroy Sané, Tuchel was much more plagued by bad premonitions about the necessary football miracle against Manchester City. “Sure, now we can say, okay, we’ll do all that on Wednesday,” said Tuchel to the supposedly simple order of a magical Champions League evening like the delivery service. “The task has definitely become difficult again,” he said rather about the race to catch up after the 0: 3 in the quarter-final first leg.
On Saturday evening, exactly three weeks after his performance, which was supported by rosy triple ambitions, Tuchel was back in the press room of the Allianz Arena and looked disillusioned. “That was a big step backwards,” he groaned. On Sunday, under a cloudy sky in Munich, he and his players around the pardoned star striker Mané busily signed autographs for the many fans during public training.
A performance “without energy, without intensity”
Tuchel also wanted to spark a belief in miracles against Hoffenheim in the Munich crowd. “It was the moment to go one step further, to win the game with a vengeance, but also to ignite an energy in the stadium, sparking fire and confidence. We missed a huge opportunity to put ourselves and our fans in a mood that will be necessary to believe in it at all,” said Tuchel.
He had expected “anger in the stomach” from his stars. What he got was a performance “without energy, without intensity”, as defender Matthijs de Ligt said. “After a 3-0 defeat during the week, you should actually think that you want to show a reaction. I can’t understand why we put in such a performance on the pitch,” said Joshua Kimmich sheepishly. Captain Thomas Müller spoke of a kind of relapse into “hibernation” after Benjamin Pavard’s opening goal. “We were shocked by our own performance,” admitted Müller. Hoffenheim’s rascal Andrej Kramaric punished Munich’s negligence with his free kick to make it 1-1.
Kahn: “Defend first place with all your might”
The bosses Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic, who were increasingly in need of explanation, left the Allianz Arena without speaking. CEO Kahn delivered it the morning after via Twitter: “Just one more point and the next setback for us! Results and performances like these cannot be our claim.” They will defend first place “with all their might,” added Kahn imploringly.
However, Tuchel’s long list of defects must be remedied as soon as possible. “It was too slow, too emotionless, it wasn’t dogged enough,” he chided the lackluster performance in game number five he directed. At the front, the ailing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who couldn’t train with the reservists on Sunday either, is missing. And something always goes wrong in the back. “It’s all about how, not what we played,” said Tuchel. The most important phase of the season is underway – and Bayern are literally throwing away their title options.
Tuchel had other plans, especially with a view to the second showdown with Manchester City, which easily won 3-1 against Leicester City in the Premier League in power-saving mode after two goals from super striker Erling Haaland: “The optimal course would have been: We have a top team performance and have a win that also takes our spectators with them, emotionalises them and awakens their belief.” The belief in a historic Bayern comeback in the premier class.
