Bundesliga
“Inadequate”: Clap hits Bayern before Christmas
FC Bayern lost 5-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
In the long-distance duel with Leverkusen, a total failure puts FC Bayern in distress. The stars and coach Tuchel can hardly explain Frankfurt’s bankruptcy. Sports director Freund provides one approach.
After the memorable slap in Frankfurt, they were allowed to… Bayern stars can at least enjoy plenty of fan support as they deal with their frustration in the sunshine.
Wrapped up, coach Thomas Tuchel, who gave himself and his players the worst possible grade after the 5-1 defeat at Eintracht, signed autographs after training and stood still for selfies. The day before, children’s voices loudly cheered staggering players as “Super Bayern” – but in the second debacle of the season they were far from that.
“The entire team performance was inadequate and I count myself among them,” said Tuchel after the Bundesliga afternoon at Eintracht, which was marked by blatant misfires. After the worst defeat of his time in Munich, the head coach spoke in a calm tone and with maximum objectivity. Tuchel’s enormous frustration over the unexpected mistake in the middle of the title race was clear. In the stands, Honorary President Uli Hoeneß was one of 58,000 spectators who watched the one-sided spectacle with a grim expression.
Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-1 draw in the top game at VfB Stuttgart wasn’t much consolation either. Bayern, who have played one game less than the Rhenish league leaders, are four points behind.
Sports director sees an “attitude issue”
There were no laughing faces to be seen at the session on Sunday lunchtime and the day before the trip to the Champions League game at Manchester United on Säbener Straße, when Harry Kane, Manuel Neuer & Co. were high-fived or hugged by mascot Berni. Bayern had only lost three times this millennium in the Bundesliga by four goals.
After a “short night”, sports director Christoph Freund was still annoyed about the drastic drop in performance that had caught him and Tuchel off guard. “Of course that was nothing and bitter,” said Freund in the Sport1 one-two. The 46-year-old sees “basically an attitude issue if we don’t bring it to the pitch.” Proof: The Bayern stars ran ten kilometers less than the Eintracht players.
Memories of cup defeat
Freund criticized a pattern in the Munich mishap that reminded him of the embarrassing cup knockout at 1. FC Saarbrücken. “There has to be some reason and there has to be a reason why Bayern haven’t been in the final in Berlin in recent years,” said the Austrian. “We also lost against Saarbrücken. They did great, they were really aggressive, really willing and we weren’t that ready.”
It is a defeat that puts Bayern under additional pressure in the long-distance duel with leaders Bayer Leverkusen before the Christmas break. “The game plan dominates our reaction anyway. We can’t continue playing at this level under any circumstances,” warned Tuchel, whose team had by far their weakest and most flawed performance in a long time in their first league defeat of the season.
“Normally we play every three days”
The search for reasons was difficult in Frankfurt’s constant rain, as Bayern had had a generally strong autumn so far. The long break was given as one explanation after the Munich team recently did not play in the Bundesliga (canceled due to weather) and in the DFB Cup (eliminated in round two).
“That’s certainly one, even if that shouldn’t be an excuse. But it’s very unusual for us not to play for ten days. Normally we play every three days,” said national player Leon Goretzka on ZDF. The rhythm of the team around top striker Kane, who was pale this time, seemed broken. In addition, Bayern made an absurd series of individual mistakes around goalscorer Joshua Kimmich. The result of the lackluster performance was the goals conceded by Omar Marmoush, double goalscorer Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe, Hugo Larsson and Ansgar Knauff.
The Champions League game at Manchester United on Tuesday (9 p.m./Prime Video) is actually meaningless in terms of sport for the Munich group winners. But it now offers a quick chance for a mood booster. “We want to show that it was just a slip-up,” said Goretzka. Serge Gnabry cannot help due to a muscle tendon injury in the left adductor area. For him, the football year ended early.
Tuchel doesn’t want to “hit it”
There were consequences after previous similar claps. Twice – Jürgen Klinsmann in 2009 and Niko Kovac in 2019 – the coach was fired from his job at Säbener Straße shortly afterwards. That doesn’t threaten Tuchel this time, but with Frankfurt’s total loss, at least the importance of the year-end spurt against VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg has increased. Another mistake and Bayern could already fall far behind in the duel with Leverkusen.
“I have confidence in my team, even if this is a bitter setback for us. There’s no point in beating things up and talking things down now. We’re all in the same boat. We need exactly the virtues that we’ve failed to bring to the pitch.” said the 50-year-old Tuchel. Joker Thomas Müller, who was the only Munich player to answer the questions in the Frankfurt catacombs, spoke of the “anger engine” that now needs to be turned on.