Bayern Munich won't fix all their problems by firing Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel is rightfully under fire at Bayern Munich. But the coaching position at Bayern is just the tip of an iceberg of problems.
“In the second half, we lost our momentum and concentration, I don't know why,” Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel said when asked about Bayern Munich’s defeat to Lazio, before adding: “We did everything to lose this match—it was in our hands. At a certain point, we stopped believing. There were many individual mistakes."
It isn’t the first time this season that Tuchel admitted after a defeat that he couldn’t quite analyze his side’s shortcomings. But it wasn’t the only bizarre response by Tuchel following Wednesday’s Champions League defeat. After the match, Tuchel delivered a back-and-forth with Bild reporter Tobias Altschäffl in the post-game media conference.
Altschäffl asked: “Are you worried about your job as Bayern coach after this very weak performance?” To which Tuchel responded: “No.” The exchange continued with Altschäffl asking whether Tuchel thinks he is still the right coach for the club. The answer: “I would like to talk about the game.” But Altschäffl wouldn’t ease up asking again whether Tuchel was worried about his job. “I told you,” Tuchel said. “You asked a question, and I answered with no.”
Not satisfied, the Bild reporter tried one more time, but at that point, the press officer interrupted and went with the next question. The moment highlighted that FC Hollywood is going into overdrive mode with the media zeroing in on the head coach.
Without a doubt, at this very moment, the Bayern boss lacks a convincing argument as to why he should be allowed to continue navigating a season that now threatens to completely go off the rails. Sure, on the surface, not everything is lost. Bayern are only five points behind Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and, based on perceived quality in the squad, should be able to overcome a 1-0 deficit to Lazio in the return leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League.
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