#Tuchel #fighting #reputation
With a smile, Thomas Tuchel entered the crowded and therefore stuffy media center on Säbener Strasse on Friday afternoon. The current FC Bayern coach seemed surprised that so many reporters and camera teams had turned up.
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Even the experienced club spokesman Dieter Nickles admitted at the first reports: “I have never seen so many hands at once.”
Sure, there was something to discuss. It was the 50-year-old’s first public appearance since it was announced on Wednesday that Tuchel would only be Bayern coach until next summer. The interest was correspondingly great. And Tuchel had something to say.
Tuchel doesn’t want to be the scapegoat
Tuchel – this became abundantly clear during the 25-minute press conference – wanted to appear calm and sober, but a certain fire could always be felt in him.
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His core statement: “I don’t think I’m the only problem, but I’m responsible.”
Tuchel had apparently already formed this belief beforehand. He should repeat it several times in one way or another. His message was clear: the players also bear a large share of the blame for the record champions’ current sporting misery. Scapegoat coach? Not with me!
And his most important statement was directed towards the players.
When asked about the new freedom for the professionals, Tuchel turned the tables. “The decisions are now of course characterized by greater freedom for a coach. “You no longer need to weigh up your decisions and what long-term effects they will have,” said the coach, visibly enjoying the surprised faces in the room.
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It almost seemed like a threat to the professionals. Tuchel is obviously prepared to make extremely unpopular decisions – he no longer really has to justify them.
Later – when asked by a reporter – the coach even became loud. He whirled his hands in the air, his words almost falling over each other. “It definitely gives you a few percent of discretion where you can be a little more ruthless,” Tuchel explained. And his threat was now much more direct, sharper.
Do the bosses like Tuchel’s statements?
Sentences that will certainly make the Bayern bosses sit up and take notice. Is the current coach actually prepared to destroy traditional and established structures in the last weeks of his term in office?
Will Bayern fans soon see Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Müller and other deserving stars on the bench for weeks? Simply because Tuchel can do it and his successor has to start rebuilding from the summer?
Tuchel’s line-up against RB Leipzig on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m. in LIVETICKER) could be the first indication of which professionals he believes are on his side and who he sees in the critics’ faction.
Tuchel names deficits
Even if Tuchel’s hands are tied again due to the still considerable length of the injury list. “All season we haven’t even had the situation where players are really fighting for their place because they know this position is filled twice. “It’s the case that every player who comes into training is in the squad,” said Tuchel, combining this with a bitter diagnosis: “We all lack the bite, the doggedness, the energy.”
Also noticeable: Tuchel’s statements deviated slightly from the general language used in Wednesday’s press release. While the separation was described there as “the result of an amicable conversation,” Tuchel now says: “I’m not sure if there was an option for me to decide.” So is it more of an expulsion than an amicable separation?
Tuchel-PK will be remembered
There were remarkable words that were spoken on Säbener Strasse. Rarely has a Bayern coach had to declare his imminent and certain exit during a crisis. When it was clear from Jupp Heynckes in 2013 that he would leave the club and be replaced by Pep Guardiola, things were different. The record champions were not in a downward spiral at the time, the relationship with the team was considered intact and the players played for the coach.
In addition, Heynckes didn’t have to fight for his reputation like Tuchel does now. This is also why the 50-year-old presented himself with a mixture of self-criticism and self-confidence. Obviously nobody should think that he has suddenly become a worse coach in Munich.
“I’m disappointed in myself and how we’re playing at the moment,” said Tuchel when asked by SPORT1. He and his coaching team gave everything and would continue to do so. There wasn’t one rift; we work with the team, not at cross purposes.
This is probably where the truth lies. It seems as if Tuchel failed at FC Bayern not because of one big mistake, but because of 1,000 little things. Also – it seems – in the record champions’ environment.
Tuchel with a little media scolding
Because he didn’t want to leave the media’s consideration of his work uncommented. Even the word “hypocritical” was used when he explained that in Munich it matters whether the coach puts a Thomas Müller on the bench or a Raphael Guerreiro.
“You are the very first to make a complete difference. Who did he replace? Then special programs will be made for a week and written about for two weeks,” Tuchel talked himself almost into a rage, until he finally lost the thread with a smile and this memorable press conference was over.
Even if the outgoing Bayern coach certainly has a lot to say in the coming weeks.
