DFB Cup
Munich mentality questions after Ko-Triple
Thomas Müller was shocked after FC Bayern’s cup exit. photo
© Peter Kneffel/dpa
Thomas Tuchel is less than two weeks in office – and he already has to moderate the first title at FC Bayern. Leading player Kimmich speaks plain language. He sees the same shortcomings as a club legend.
After the cup shock, Oliver Kahn sat petrified in the VIP stand, Uli Hoeneß put down his blanket and the inconsolable Jamal Musiala tried to quickly escape the horror scenario after his penalty mishap.
The end of FC Bayern’s treble dreams a week and a half after the coach bang not only increased the pressure to succeed in the Bundesliga and Champions League, but also made it difficult for new coach Thomas Tuchel to start his Munich mission, which was already tricky. The ensemble around his record cup player Thomas Müller had to deal with frustration on the free Wednesday, which felt “absolutely shitty” for the captain.
Triple goal for Tuchel passé
Tuchel, whom the Bayern bosses had appointed to Julian Nagelsmann’s post because of “endangered goals for the season”, had to analyze the end of the fight for the first trophy after just a few days in office. “The first title is gone, yes,” said the contrite Tuchel after the last-minute horror in the 1-2 draw against SC Freiburg. “We win together and we lose together, but of course I’m responsible, nobody else,” said the 49-year-old. Tuchel smiled wryly. The Nagelsmann successor still has a lot of work ahead of him on the way to a permanent appearance of the bayern-like brand after the heaviest mood dampener so far in an up and down season in Munich.
“At the end of the day it just pisses me off the more titles we lose,” complained Joshua Kimmich, who had a hard time holding back his tears after the quarter-finals. A few days before the league test on Saturday in Freiburg and a week before the Champions League showdown against Manchester City, the international drew a questionable picture of the mentality of the Munich team in his plain language speech. “We have the feeling that it’s a tad too little. A tad too little passion, a little too little emotion,” said the 28-year-old. “It doesn’t really seem to motivate us when we lose titles.”
After two crushing second-round defeats in Kiel and Mönchengladbach, Bayern failed painfully for the third time in a row on the way to the DFB Cup final in Berlin. No one from Munich had wanted this knockout. Dayot Upamecano’s goal (19′) was far too little for Nicolas Höfler’s (27′) and Lucas Höler’s (90’+5’/penalty) goals despite the superiority in ball possession.
Setback before another Freiburg duel
Musiala especially had to nibble on it. The offensive artist crept off the field with a blank stare after his handball in a naive defensive action. When Freiburg’s euphoric coach Christian Streich wanted to give him something to take with him on the Katakombenweg, the national player simply turned away. To the annoyance of Streich, who called after him some untransmitted words. “He’s given us a lot of goals and points,” said teammate Leon Goretzka, consoling his saddest colleague in a difficult overall situation.
“The last few weeks have been very turbulent,” said the 28-year-old. “We want to win all the titles. That’s no longer possible in the DFB Cup. Now we want to win the other two.” In the championship, Munich are on course as leaders after the 4-2 show of power against Dortmund. In the premier class, an attack performance like that on Tuesday evening in the cup against Pep Guardiola and ManCity is also likely to end in the quarterfinals.
“It’s bitter for all of us, but it has nothing to do with the coach. It’s a process. He makes a very good impression and does a very good job,” said sports director Hasan Salihamidzic after the end of the fight for the pot. Bayern icon Bastian Schweinsteiger misses “biliousness” and “greediness” in the current team, and sometimes also a “bit of spite”. Tuchel agreed with the TV expert, who cited similar shortcomings as Kimmich, in the ARD interview. Despite the bankruptcy, Tuchel held on to the training-free Wednesday after a strenuous day. “Because the national players in particular have to sleep in their own beds again,” as the new coach said after only a few sessions with the team.
Kimmich demands more emotions
Kimmich quickly took a look at the next tasks and called for a defiant reaction. You have to bring the emotional “as soon as possible” back onto the pitch. “In general, a change of coach is always a bad sign for a team because we just didn’t perform well and didn’t win the games,” said Kimmich.
In addition, there is a lack of attacking power in the first year after Robert Lewandowski, despite a lot of goals this season in games like against Freiburg. “We have to put up with a few questions up front,” added Müller self-critically. “This joke, the last contact” was missing on the offensive. The team was not able to keep up “this energy or number of strokes” at times, said Salihamidzic. “We have people who can score very good goals. But of course we will sit down and see what we do on the transfer market.”