The situation at Bayern is getting worse and worse. After losing to Mainz 05, the Allianz Arena team faced a throwaway season.
The defeat to Mainz 05 in the 29th round of the Bundesliga on April 22 was Bayern’s third defeat under Thomas Tuchel. The number is similar to when his predecessor Julian Nagelsmann was in power.
For the first time since October 2018, Bayern went through four consecutive matches without winning. Tuchel has only led the Bavarian team with 7 matches, but received 3 defeats. The results cannot please everyone.
Where is the prestige of Bayern?
At the Mewa Arena, Bayern took the lead thanks to a goal from Sadio Mane in the first half. In the past, every time the Bundesliga champions took the lead, they often won easily. But not this season. “Bayern had a disastrous second half,” said director Oliver Kahn.
First it was Ludovic Ajorque with a header from close range to equalize for Mainz 05. Then it was Leandro Barreiro’s turn to make it 2-1 and Aaron Martin closed Bayern with a dangerous finish on the left.
Bayern lost the match, losing the top spot to Borussia Dortmund, the team engulfed Frankfurt 4-0 a few hours later. In the press conference room, coach Tuchel could not hide his disappointment, saying that the players could not keep their concentration.
More alarmingly, the Bayern stars as described by coach Tuchel no longer have the energy to fight back when Mainz 05 presses. “I don’t know why. Right now, the situation is really difficult. Too many things happen in the team. We can’t fight back,” coach Tuchel said.
A month ago, the Bayern leadership fired Julian Nagelsmann and put their trust in Tuchel. At that time, the Allianz Arena home team still had a chance to win the treble. At this time, Bayern was eliminated from the German Cup, UEFA Champions League and was in danger of not being able to defend the Bundesliga title.
Speaking to Bild after the game, CEO Oliver Kahn defended Tuchel. He shared: “At the moment, Tuchel is the last person we discuss. He is just doing his best to move Bayern forward.”
This makes some sense. Tuchel is not at fault. Responsibility now belongs to CEO Kahn and CEO Hasan Salihamidzic.
German media recently reported that there was dissatisfaction within Bayern about Kahn’s ability to run. Experts also believe that the former Bayern goalkeeper is likely to be fired for not doing a good job.
In the midst of the storm of criticism, Kahn remained calm. He declared: “I have no problem with criticism. I have been through many things in my career and I know what it is to get when you don’t do well at Bayern.”
This season, Bayern still owns a strong squad, whose quality is superior to the rest even without striker Robert Lewandowski. However, they shot themselves in the foot because of the controversy in the dressing room, thereby creating conditions for Dortmund to break through.
Indeed, there is a feeling that the Bayern player himself no longer believes in his ability. It was like a needle hitting a balloon when Mainz 05 equalized. The atmosphere emanating from the way the defending champion Bundesliga is played is weakness and laxity. The picture is completely different from previous seasons.
The body language of the Bayern players says it all. This will make coach Tuchel worry. Bayern now has a strong mental decline.
“In the second half, suddenly it was 3-1 for Mainz 05. We didn’t have the energy to get back into the game. The third goal stunned the whole team. I was shocked. There was no explanation. right now,” striker Thomas Muller told Sky Germany.
The season still has 5 rounds to end. Bayern is also only 1 point behind Dortmund in the rankings. Everything has not yet gone out of control of the Allianz Arena team. However, how will coach Tuchel revive a team that is mentally exhausted? Or will this be the moment to see Dortmund rise and break Bayern’s dominance?
“There is no need to paint the situation”, Coach Tuchel confided. “We dropped too many points in the second half of the season. Bayern hardly had enough energy to play the full 90 minutes. The whole team needs to work harder in the near future. Regardless of the upcoming situation. Anyway, I will take responsibility”.
Who should be responsible?
Tuchel is not to blame for Bayern’s wobble. He has only been in charge for a month. This leader did not even have time to prepare for a new adventure. Everything came to the German military leader too suddenly.
Legendary Lothar Matthäus believes that Kahn and Salihamidžić are responsible. “It’s time for them to ask themselves: What did we do wrong,” Matthäus commented. “What’s not working here? Is the change of manager the right time? In the end, sacking Nagelsmann and replacing it with Tuchel did not bring anything. Especially after the defeat to Mainz 05, you can say that the plan The plans of Kahn and Salihamidžić cannot help the club”.
Matthäus is a pioneer critic of the Bayern leadership. The wave of protests against Kahn and Salihamidžić also gradually increased. On football forums, fans demanded that the two big bosses of Bayern be fired. They also pointed out 6 reasons why Bayern broke this season.
First, the management made the mistake of extending the contract with a salary increase for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, in the context that the Cameroon striker was 34 years old and was no longer worth selling later. Bayern should have spent money to buy a world-class striker instead of Lewandowski.
Next, Bayern fired Nagelsmann when the German military leader still had 3 years of contract left, meaning the management had to spend a huge amount of money to compensate the contract. Does Bayern hope any team that wants to recruit Nagelsmann before the summer 2023 transfer window will have to pay a certain undisclosed fee to them?
Unfortunately, no big club is negotiating with Nagelsmann at the moment.
Bayern also splurged on paying Tuchel’s salary, although only considering this military leader as a shorter solution. Bild revealed that Tuchel’s income is much higher than Nagelsmann’s. But here, the former Bayern coach has a very unpopular background with the leadership. Wherever he went, the 49-year-old leader also created disagreements with the big boss.
Fans also do not approve of Bayern paying a transfer fee to have the services of two assistant coaches. In the summer of 2023, Tuchel is likely to convince leaders to buy Joao Cancelo outright. This threatens the future of Noussair Mazraoui and Alphonso Davies.
Bayern is in chaos. Their performance declined. In the dressing room, a rift appeared with the conflict between Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane. Worth mentioning, that’s not the worst. Based on a series of scandals, no one knows what the future of the Bundesliga champions will be.