He was a disaster! That’s what Uli Hoeneß should do now
Thomas Tuchel called after them at an internal club meeting, that’s what it says in the current one Sports picture. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that this report falls on the day that Tuchel is the top news in world football. He takes over the England national team.
Tuchel can be proud of that and ignore the usual stylish response from Tegernsee. However, it reminds us of this embarrassing chapter for all sides FC Bayernwhich ended in May after initial shock and subsequent trials and tribulations. And that left or increased some doubts about Tuchel.
Even before he moved to Munich in March 2023, it was not really clear how good coach Tuchel was. He was at Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea – but is he really part of the front row? Now we know less than before.
Tuchel had overestimated the club, but also himself. He wanted to dominate the Bundesliga, but under him Munich’s championship streak, which lasted more than ten years, collapsed. Bayern didn’t even finish second last season. Things would have gone wrong in 2023 without Jamal Musiala’s last-minute goal and Borussia Dortmund’s last-minute failure.
It wasn’t just the results that gave Tuchel a weak report card. Hardly any player developed further under him. The defense was disorganized, the storm attacked without a plan. In addition, he sometimes expressed himself cryptically, appeared like a know-it-all and was unconfident in constant arguments with TV experts like Didi Hamann.
Under his successor Vincent Kompany, the team’s fine-tuning may not be right yet, but it seems to be better managed again. Players like Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano finally seem to be making progress. Bayern are back at the top of the league.
He was quickly fired everywhere
You will get all of that too England have noticed. Of course, people there know Tuchel’s entire vita. He has experience at large locations. With Dortmund he won the cup, with Paris he reached the final of the Champions League, and with Bayern he almost reached the final. And of course you have in mind that Tuchel won the Champions League with Chelsea FC in 2021. After he had to leave soon after due to an investor’s whim, Chelsea plunged into mid-table. Many in England thought his dismissal was a mistake. He was missed.
What is striking, however, is that Tuchel (unlike Jürgen Klopp) was quickly fired everywhere after his early years in Mainz, despite his successes. After his first stop in Mainz, he didn’t stay anywhere for much longer than two years. However, strategic development work is only possible in the long term. This also raises another question: How big was his role at Chelsea, where he had only been at work for four months at the moment of triumph?
Tuchel still has to find the place where he fits. Now he is in England. There he is supposed to lead the old football nation to its former greatness. That in itself is a daunting task. It becomes even more complicated because his predecessor was anything but unsuccessful. In fact, Gareth Southgate was the most successful manager since the 1960s, when England, with light support from the sidelines, won their only title. Southgate was never eliminated before the quarter-finals, he reached the European Championship final twice in a row, and in July he lost 2-1 to the outstanding Spaniards in Berlin shortly before the end. None of his predecessors can boast such a record.
However, Southgate was criticized for his defensive style. They wanted him to play dominantly like Spain. The English squad has a high market value, but large sporting gaps. Traditionally, England has no more playmakers, like Toni Kroos or İlkay Gündoğan, than defenders who are familiar with modern game structure. Let alone a good goalie. With these players, much more than pragmatic football is hardly possible.
It’s like Brexit
He can now prove whether Thomas Tuchel can find an answer to this. One of the core competencies of a coach is to correctly assess the strengths and weaknesses of his footballers. That’s exactly what was wrong in Munich.
What makes matters worse is that English fans and media, spoiled by the Premier League, where stars from all over the world play, expect attractive football. Otherwise your mood will drop rapidly. It’s like Brexit: the country overestimates its resources and dreams of the old empire. Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello have already despaired of the high expectations, both of which failed to cope with the supposed super generation.
That means: Success alone won’t be enough for Tuchel, his football also has to be fun. So if he’s unlucky, he’ll do a good job and you’ll still be dissatisfied. It cannot be ruled out that the English will belatedly realize what they had in Southgate. They got their first idea of this in the 2-1 home defeat against Greece last Thursday.
In England things are also not as squeamish as in Germany. The Daily Mail welcomed Tuchel with the note: “We don’t need Thomas Tuchel, but a patriot.” Maybe Tuchel will soon want Didi Hamann back.
He was a disaster! That’s what Uli Hoeneß should do now
Thomas Tuchel called after them at an internal club meeting, that’s what it says in the current one Sports picture. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that this report falls on the day that Tuchel is the top news in world football. He takes over the England national team.
Tuchel can be proud of that and ignore the usual stylish response from Tegernsee. However, it reminds us of this embarrassing chapter for all sides FC Bayernwhich ended in May after initial shock and subsequent trials and tribulations. And that left or increased some doubts about Tuchel.
