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Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel said the match against unbeaten league leaders Bayer Leverkusen was a game in which they “pushed down their pants and put their cards on the table”. However, Saturday’s big announcement turned out to be a truly disappointing spectacle rather than the expected display of valor.
His Bayern side had little front line and was dangerously exposed at the back. Their hand was 7 deuces, his two worst cards in poker. And, coincidentally, the same man who summed up their helpless misery better than 1,000 words were two numbers. That was all for just 0.27 expected goals in a 3-0 loss. They managed to win the most important match of the domestic season.
It was almost unbelievable to see a serial champion defeated in a match of this magnitude. For 11 years in a row, they have always shown up when it mattered against their closest opponents at the time, but their defeat at BayArena was the previous year’s loss to Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund in the 2012 DFB Pokal final. It reminded me of the 5-2 defeat. Their hegemony has begun.
In the league, you would have to go all the way back to 2009, when they humiliated eventual champions Wolfsburg 5-1 away, to find such a one-sided title game.
As expected, the post-mortem zoomed in on Tuchel’s surprising 3-4-3 formation, which he had been practicing for a week behind the gray curtains at the Zabener Strasse training ground.
The unfamiliar set-up, introduced for the first time this season, was designed to mirror Leverkusen, with right-footed Sascha Boj to be placed on the left to deal with the pacey Jeremy Frimpong.
Tuchel has also chosen a different system for Xabi Alonso, moving from relying on wing-backs to a hybrid four- or five-man system with Josip, a more defensive-minded player on loan from Bayern. I never expected it to happen. Stanisic instead of Frimpong.
Boy never played on the “wrong side” in the last four years. And acting to counteract an opponent’s strengths rather than ruthlessly exploiting their weaknesses is not Munich’s traditional approach.
Still, Tuchel had a point in claiming that it was “too controversial” to attribute everything to formation. Bayern started well and controlled the game for at least 10 minutes, but a series of mistakes and mishaps that had little to do with their system opened the door for the home side to take the lead. But the lack of any reaction after Stanisic’s goal in the 18th minute proved this was much deeper than that.
“A team like ours should be able to adapt to the new system,” second-half substitute Joshua Kimmich was quite right in insisting. Thomas Muller agreed, bellowing that the players were “missing the ball” to play with the freedom and guile they routinely display in training.
“I don’t need to give an opinion to the manager. It’s not a tactical issue,” the 34-year-old said. “We had enough international-level players. But I’m talking about decision-making on the ball, playing with intelligence, making runs and understanding the situation. It’s okay to feel pressure, but you have to turn that pressure into energy.”
Additionally, he criticized the team for making too many safe passes that did not advance the ball. “We’re overcomplicating things,” he said.
Müller’s notable intervention nicely illustrated the problem, but it fell short of explaining it. Why doesn’t a player this good play with more fluidity and certainty? Is it because, as some suspect, many players lost their hunger after the championship? ? This malaise is certainly not new, with low energy and disarray affecting Bayern’s possession game long before Tuchel’s arrival last March.
However, managers should also have a certain responsibility. This is not the first time Tuchel has blamed his players’ inability to beat the team on Saturday for their attacking problems. One of his guiding principles in his tactical ideas, influenced by Josep Guardiola, is to isolate defenders in one-on-one situations.
That should be a promising strategy, as Bayern’s players are clearly better than their Bundesliga rivals. However, injuries to Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman have reduced their overall impact on the side, while Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala, like everyone else, have lost their momentum since the winter break.
Too many players struggle with their form to play with the kind of personality and presence you would expect from an experienced Bayern starter, while an outspoken and critical manager also criticizes their I haven’t put in much effort to strengthen my confidence. Take a look at the midfield duo of Leon Goretzka and Kimmich. They have both been weakened by the former Chelsea manager’s public calls for a specialist holding midfielder.
But worst of all, Tuchelball appears to have no option for a collective retreat. Because it is premised on individualism, it cannot function properly if many of the individuals in question seem preoccupied with their own shortcomings.
Against Leverkusen, Bayern were so incredibly straightforward going forward that you wondered if Harry Kane’s goal was just a mirage of their previous attacking ability.
This situation cannot be tolerated for long in the Bavarian capital. The last Bayern Munich manager, Julian Nagelsmann, was sacked five days after Alonso’s away defeat to Leverkusen.
Tuchel’s situation is not as bleak as his predecessor’s 11 months ago. Not yet anyway. But Bayern will need a strong showing in the Champions League to soften the shock of their most un-Bayern performance in 15 years in a potential title-clincher. If he can’t quickly inject confidence into a lackluster team, the inevitable upheaval this summer may not be limited to just the team.
(Top photo: Stefan Matzke – sampics/Corbis via Getty Images)
