Thomas Tuchel launched an explosive tirade against his Bayern Munich stars after they suffered a dismal 1-0 defeat at home to Werder Bremen on Sunday.
The German giants have had a mixed season under the former Chelsea boss as, despite qualifying easily from their Champions League group, they now sit seven points behind Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga.
This means Bayern are in danger of missing out on the title for the first time since 2011/2012, having won it for eleven consecutive seasons.
Harry Kane’s 26 goals have helped Bayern through poor performances, but there was growing discontent around Tuchel before yesterday’s loss to their 14th-placed opponents.
And after the match, Tuchel went all out on Jose Mourinho and praised his players for their efforts and performances.
Thomas Tuchel launched an explosive tirade against his Bayern Munich stars on Sunday evening
Bayern are seven points behind Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga
The Bavarian team lost 1-0 at home to Werder Bremen, which is in fourteenth place, at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.
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“That is our responsibility,” he shouted after the match. ‘I’m also tired of saying that we are training well. Nobody believes that anymore.
‘I have been doing the job long enough to be able to assess whether the training was at the level we want. It’s been that way for weeks now.’
Reflecting on the performance against Bremen, Tuchel similarly took aim at his stars when he said: ‘It clearly wasn’t enough. For more than 70 minutes I didn’t feel like we were playing for the win. Afterwards I noticed it. Not until there.
‘We were extremely static in the first half. We lost a lot of possession, allowed a lot of counter-attacks and were sloppy in possession. Deserved defeat!’
He continued: ‘We didn’t play 70 minutes as a team that wanted to get a win, that was playing for the championship, that wanted to give an answer. We only did this for 20 minutes.
’20 minutes is not enough to achieve the goals we set for ourselves! That’s not what we’re signing up for here.
‘When you sign for a club like Bayern Munich, you sign 100 percent. That goes for the coach, that goes for the players. We didn’t deliver that today.
‘We played as if we had a ten-point lead and still had a Champions League match on Tuesday.’
Bayern are back in action on Wednesday when they take on a resurgent Union Berlin in their match, giving Tuchel’s side the chance to reduce their deficit to Leverkusen to four points.
And the 50-year-old called for improvement on his part. Tuchel added: “We will hold the team accountable. We have a chance to do better on Wednesday – and we must do better.
‘If you play for Bayern Munich and have a match on Sunday, you don’t have to be top on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but especially on Sunday. We certainly weren’t. We are clearly behind on our requirements!’
Bayern’s players were also critical of their own performances after the match, as Thomas Müller said: ‘We were far too slow, there was no life in it. We begged for the goal. That was a slap in the face, but it also helped us enormously.’
Müller’s words were echoed by Joshua Kimmich, but the midfielder appeared to put considerable pressure on Tuchel by appearing to criticize the coaching staff’s tactics.
He explained: ‘Generally you have to question the approach. You could see almost the entire game that we were too static. You don’t get the feeling that we know what it’s about!
‘Certainly with the situation in the rankings and now in the season, it is extremely important for us that we win every match. We have to radiate that, you have to notice that we are aggressive in the matches.’
Tuchel’s harsh words to his stars sounded like a Jose Mourinho tirade from years gone by
Midfielder Joshua Kimmich appeared to criticize Tuchel’s tactics by ‘questioning the approach’
Xabi Alonso is doing well at Bayer Leverkusen and has been linked with Tuchel’s replacement
Bayern’s defeat was only their second league defeat of the season. However, they also suffered an embarrassing cup exit to the third tier of Saarbrücken in the DFB-Pokal, while they were defeated 3–0 by RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup.
And BIL reported how scrutiny on Tuchel is increasing and warned that his future is far from secure at the club.
When he took over in March 2023, speculation ensued as to how he was waiting in the wings to replace predecessor Julian Nagelsmann given his availability.
And now Tuchel doesn’t just have a Xabi Alonso problem, as his Leverkusen side are well on their way to preventing Bayern from winning the Bundesliga for the twelfth time in a row.
There is also growing support in Munich for the former midfielder, who ended his career at Bayern, to one day take charge, with the Spaniard now waiting in the wings.
With Bayern also out of the DFB-Pokal, Tuchel needs his side to return to league form as he hopes for a strong performance against Lazio in the last 16 of the Champions League.