Tuchel denies system problems: “Better than against Dortmund”

The system was not a negative factor: Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel.

picture alliance/dpa

Thomas Tuchel frankly admitted that the cup defeat against SC Freiburg really bothered him. “I need a night to sleep on it,” said the new Bayern coach at the subsequent press conference on Tuesday evening. And: “We are athletes enough. Nobody wants to think about it, nobody wants to admit that losing is part of it. It’s super bitter to accept it again with every defeat.”

When Tuchel gets through the mental digestion process on Wednesday and starts preparing for the next game – appropriately on Saturday in Freiburg (3.30 p.m., LIVE! at kicker) – then the 49-year-old will try to get the good things out of Freiburg pull out cup game. Tuchel was aware shortly after the final whistle that there were some of them.

We don’t want to jump to conclusions and ask the system question from this game.

So he made it clear that the defeat had no tactical reasons. “We don’t want to draw any hasty conclusions and ask the system question from this game,” said Tuchel, who felt that for the moment it was simply the “wrong question”. “I found some of the processes better than against Dortmund,” said the coach, referring to his brilliant debut at FCB in the top game against BVB last Saturday evening.

Tuchel added: “I found the error rate in the game structure lower in the middle third and therefore I see no reason to reduce the defeat to the system.” In terms of tactical arrangement, Tuchel had hardly changed anything compared to the Dortmund game. Against the Black and Yellow he played 4-2-3-1 with Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka on the double six, against Freiburg Goretzka moved up a bit.

In terms of personnel, he only exchanged Alphonso Davies for Joao Cancelo in the four-man defense chain. In the run-up to the game, he had already made it clear that too much rotation would not help the situation.

“Behaviour” counts for Tuchel

What is more important to Tuchel in the final spurt of the title race and in the two knock-out games in the Champions League against Manchester City given the limited training opportunities: “It’s about behavior,” said Tuchel, meaning a team development process. “To develop a power and greed together and to keep it permanently, that’s a bit of the issue.”