Sport After Tuchel’s change
Sané’s next ego trip shows FC Bayern’s biggest problem
Status: 21.01.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Thomas Tuchel responded to the deficit against Bremen with personnel and tactical changes. Leroy Sané then made it clear on the pitch that he didn’t think much of it. After the defeat, the FC Bayern coach commented on his player’s behavior.
After just over an hour, Thomas Tuchel had seen enough. “That was clearly not enough. I didn’t feel that we were playing doggedly for victory here,” said the FC Bayern coach after the disillusioning 0-1 (0-0) against Werder Bremen: “We were extremely static, didn’t move at all, extremely bad emotional. There were an incredible number of ball losses, we allowed a lot of counterattacks, were sloppy in the duels and gave up structure.”
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So the head coach also tried a tactical change, resulting in a triple substitution. Tuchel took Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies and Raphael Guerreiro off the pitch in the 67th minute and instead tried Mathys Tel, Thomas Müller and Leon Goretzka. New personnel, combined with changes for the players remaining on the field. However, when Müller passed on the changes, more profound problems than weak duels and technical errors became apparent: a lack of team spirit, a lack of bite and a lack of strength of character.
Tuchel protects Sané
Müller instructed Leroy Sané, who showed his teammate, coach and spectator directly what he thought of the information, which also included Sané moving from the left to the right wing. The 28-year-old waved his hand and shook his head listlessly. Fatal images, especially since it wasn’t the first time that Sané attracted attention due to negativity. In any case, the effect of an emotional restart was already gone before the game was even released again.
Leroy Sané
Source: AP/Matthias Schrader
“I don’t think too highly of that,” Tuchel said later. The reaction didn’t go unnoticed by him either, but his gifted student’s amateurishly selfish behavior apparently won’t have any consequences. “Because I know him and I know that he always needs a minute or two to digest things that he doesn’t really like. I don’t want to get hung up on Leroy and his frustration for ten seconds. Leroy was frustrated because he obviously wanted to play it differently. He’s part of the team, yes. But that’s not the biggest drama,” said Tuchel mildly.
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But with his unnecessary action, Sané documented exactly what Müller meant after the end of the game when he put his finger in the gaping Bayern wound: “We were just too sluggish, simply without life in it. And by that I don’t mean shouting, grappling or doing any martial things with the cleats. It’s just about how much you see in a team that they need a goal, want a goal. Not through blah blah, but through body language. Of course it’s difficult against a block like that, but we were missing the joy of getting through it somehow.” Sané should feel addressed. Müller’s conclusion: “That was of course a big slap in the face for us. But we also helped with that.”
