Bundesliga
A single nightmare: Bavarians are no longer themselves
Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller already has his sights set on the Champions League game against Arsenal. photo
© Tom Weller/dpa
The Champions League dress rehearsal on the Ostalb turns into a fiasco for the Munich team. Coach Tuchel should still stay and ensure the turnaround against Arsenal. But how?
After the bitter 2:3 disgrace at 1. FC Heidenheim, the mood in Munich is finally at rock bottom. The dress rehearsal for the premier class hit turned into a fiasco. According to the club bosses, coach Thomas Tuchel should stay and achieve another turnaround on the international football stage. The only question is how?
Eberl serves: “We should be ashamed”
The German record champions are heading towards the season finale. “This is not the Bayern Munich I knew,” said sports director Max Eberl after the defeat on the Ostalb that was no longer considered possible when Bayern were 2-0 ahead at half-time. Before the game, the 50-year-old politely fulfilled photo requests in the stands. In the interviews afterwards he dished out verbal blows. “We should all be a little ashamed,” said Eberl. “And we should make sure that we represent the Bavarian coat of arms in a more dignified manner relatively quickly.”
Ideally, right in London. It’s about keeping the last remaining title chance of the season alive. And also to restore your own reputation. At least in the national perception. Bayern are no longer spreading fear in the Bundesliga. The fact that promoted team Heidenheim did not care about keeping the result within limits after being 2-0 down on Saturday, but instead switched to a more offensive system in the second half, is significant – and alarming for the Munich team. “We took maximum risks,” said FCH coach Frank Schmidt. The outsider’s courage was rewarded.
Arsenal and Havertz in good shape
“The opponent now knows that if we score a goal, they will wobble,” said Eberl about his Bayern team. It was different for years. But this season the people of Munich are overriding their own laws. The self-image, the winning mentality, the almost unshakable belief in yourself – all of that has been lost. Instead, after conceding the first goal, Bayern get involved in a wild exchange of blows and end up getting knocked out themselves. Now maybe in the premier class too?
Bayern have long been a nightmare for Arsenal. They won the last three duels with the Londoners alone 5-1. But is that enough to intimidate the Premier League title contenders? Especially since this is “a little bit better in terms of football” than Heidenheim, as Eberl stated. The 3-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, in which German international Kai Havertz also scored a goal for Arsenal, underlined this. Instead of the hoped-for turnaround, there could be the next low blow.
Eberl’s criticism is aimed more at the players than the coach
We will give everything, assured veteran Müller. Important players such as Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sané or Kingsley Coman may return to the team. Tuchel will definitely sit on the bench, Eberl announced. “We’ve changed coaches all the time,” he explained. Tuchel’s speech to the team after the defeat against Borussia Dortmund (0-2) and before the game in Heidenheim was “extremely emotional”, reported the sports director. “Thomas put everything in this meeting room. Then if you get that back, it’s definitely not what Thomas deserved.”
However, it suggests that the coach, who is only leaving in the summer, will no longer be able to reach his players. Tuchel and Bayern are on a roll. The coach experiments and suddenly rebuilds half the defense. His sometimes lifeless team completely loses its line after the first setback.
Tuchel is running out of explanations
In the phase immediately after the break, they “gave away everything we had built up beforehand” and “completely stopped playing football,” complained Tuchel, who seemed increasingly perplexed and frustrated. He would have expected “a little more manliness,” said Eberl. “Everyone is always demanding, everyone wants, but actually on the pitch when it matters, that’s not how Bayern Munich is known.”
So Bayern might even gamble away more than just a lead in Heidenheim. Second place in the Bundesliga, for example. In the worst case scenario, even participation in the Champions League. “I would only resort to general criticism – if at all – when we really have nothing left to fight for,” warned offensive man Müller, with a view to the season so far and the last chance for the title in the premier class. What can now be saved must now be saved.