FC Bayern Munich
No titles, no coach, no Supercup: FCB at zero point
FC Bayern Munich is facing a major upheaval this summer. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The 2:4 against Hoffenheim is once again emblematic of Bayern’s season. Tuchel quotes Ancelotti as a farewell and Eberl quotes a very good friend. Captain Neuer calls for a fresh start. What about de Zerbi?
In the end, Thomas Tuchel ended up with the red and white bouquet of flowers that he didn’t actually want. At the end-of-season brunch of those who have arrived at zero point FC Bayern’s head coach and his coaching team were farewelled the day after the runner-up championship was given away at the internal end of the season in a luxury restaurant in Munich – after 14 turbulent months and a very late failed separation turnaround.
A club video showed Tuchel (“Without a title, you don’t need to hand over flowers”) hugging CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and sports director Christoph Freund. Max Eberl accompanied the “Servus Thomas” smiling and clapping. When looking for a coach, the sports director was unable to find a solution in this important position, even after the botched 2:4 at TSG Hoffenheim – after a 2:0 lead. Tuchel may have a new employer quicker than Bayern can find a successor for him.
Tuchel: “It’s a bad ending”
After the last chapter in his Bayern book, the 50-year-old didn’t want to be bothered with questions about his future. “Now let’s sleep in a few times and let this sink in before we think about what happens next,” said Tuchel.
What he experienced on the Bayern bench in the last 90 minutes against Hoffenheim had an impact over the Whitsun weekend. “This has happened so often, far too often. It’s a bad finish,” groaned Tuchel. The lightning lead by Mathys Tel and Alphonso Davies was followed by another total collapse on Saturday with four goals conceded.
Record player Müller just wants to “get out of the season”
“We struggled to show the necessary hunger, concentration and focus in the league,” summarized Tuchel. Only in the Champions League did the Munich stars around top scorer Harry Kane (36 goals) reliably deliver top-level performances.
“I want to get out of the season and start again in the summer,” said Thomas Müller, annoyed and frustrated, after his 473rd league game for FC Bayern. He is now the Bundesliga record player with goalkeeper legend Sepp Maier for the record champions. “There has to be a restart, also from our side, from the team. It is clear that things cannot continue like this,” said captain Manuel Neuer.
A completely different appearance on the pitch is necessary “for next season in order to be able to fully attack again”. A titleless 2012 was followed by the triple year of 2013.
Eberl’s double trouble: second place gone and no coach
The focus, however, is on Eberl, who mainly has to be responsible for and explain the previous series of bankruptcies, bad luck and mishaps in the coach search due to his position. In Sinsheim he was “extremely annoyed that we gave up second place and with it a possible chance of the Supercup at the beginning of the new season.” What bothers him is that “we can’t find a coach at the moment, which to some extent has to do with my work, which is what I’m most disappointed about. But it is what it is.”
In the ARD interview after the Hoffenheim game, Tuchel made it very clear between the lines that the planned 180-degree turnaround had not failed because of Eberl or Freund. “I didn’t have the feeling about Max. And neither about Christoph. And they are actually crucial,” said Tuchel. He didn’t want to reveal any details.
Tuchel’s Bayern advice: You have to go through thick and thin
Tuchel preferred to quote Real Madrid’s successful coach Carlo Ancelotti, who failed years ago at FC Bayern due to the special conditions in Munich. “It’s like Carlo Ancelotti said: Either you’re a unit, then you do it together and have to go through thick and thin because there are always troughs. Or it’s better to separate. And that’s why it’s under “We stuck to the decision made in February.”
And now? Eberl’s search continues. When it became known on Saturday that the Italian Roberto de Zerbi (44), who was also valued by Eberl, was leaving the English Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion, the next hot lead was obvious. “It shows how crazy this whole coaching search is and how we were supported the whole time,” reacted Eberl: “It was said that it was him. Then he committed himself to Brighton. Roberto de Zerbi has a great job in Brighton done, but it doesn’t mean anything to us.”
Clear denial about de Zerbi or a fib?
When asked by a reporter whether he could “vehemently disagree” if it was predicted that the new Bayern coach would be an Italian, Eberl also replied on ZDF’s “Sportstudio”: “Yes.” Clear statement. Or just a little fib? After all, we don’t want de Zerbi’s name to appear on the long Munich rejection list.
While Tuchel said goodbye to Ancelotti, Eberl quoted a very good friend on the coaching topic. “He always told me that the best comes last – and that’s how we approach it.” Eberl’s Whitsun message internally and externally is: “The season is over. We will find a coach, I’m 100 percent sure of that.”