With two games remaining in the season, Bayern Munich leads the Bundesliga standings by two points at the moment. Since Bayern has won all three of its games thus far in their difficult Champions League group stage, it seems odd to hear so much criticism of them so early in the season.
Although Die Roten aren’t running at full speed, I think that their current situation—not having engaged top gear—is a favorable one. Although they have appeared formidable in the last third, their defense is just as weak. The Bavarian team has never had much luck keeping the score clean.
Die Roten has very high standards. They must play a visually appealing kind of football in order to win every game. When the team fails to meet any of these requirements, there is a lot of criticism. Not only has one former Bayern player criticized Thomas Tuchel specifically, but he has also criticized several of the team’s early-season performances.
In an extremely hostile RAMS Park in Istanbul, Bayern’s 1-3 away triumph did not excite Dietmar Hamann, who played in over 100 games for the team. Speaking to Sky (via BILD), Hamann maintained that individual genius was the reason Die Roten were saved in Turkey.
“FC Bayern’s 3-1 win in Istanbul involved a lot of piecemeal. Because of their individual class, they always find ways to win, but when it comes to the flow of the game and homogeneity, they leave a lot to be desired.
“Bayern had two very good opponents this season, Leipzig and Leverkusen, and they were inferior to both of them, even if they scored a point each. It won’t work in the long run and maybe in just ten days it won’t be enough in Dortmund.”
The evaluation of the game on Tuesday is difficult to contest; the host team had a nearly equal amount of possession (52–48), and although the Turkish team had 20 shots, only 4 of them were on target compared to Bayern’s 14 shots and 7 of them on target. Istanbul is not a friendly place for any international football team to play; if it’s not the most hostile, it’s definitely one of them.
Die Roten outpossessed Leverkusen and had more efforts on goal, but Exequiel Palacious’s penalty in the 94th minute sealed the draw. Subsequently, Bayern held a 66% possession advantage over Leipzig and only allowed Leipzig to muster two efforts on goal, both of which were scored by Die Roten Bullen.
It was therefore excessive to claim that Bayern was worse than either team. It’s far from a calamity, as Hamann is portraying it, to secure a 2-2 draw away in Leipzig and be pushed back 2-2 at home against a strong Leverkusen team in the 94th minute. I’ve always heard that a strong team is one that can win even when its members aren’t performing at their highest level.
Hamann holds off on criticizing Thomas Tuchel.
In addition to the results that are being questioned, Hamann is not thrilled with Tuchel’s coaching style or transfer strategy. Tuchel has faced criticism previously, but once more, I believe that some of the criticism is unjustified.
Bayern has shown themselves to be a touch vulnerable in the middle of the park on multiple occasions. There’s no indication that Tuchel hasn’t told Kimmich, Goretzka, and Laimer what’s expected of them when they play central midfield. Tuchel had warned Die Roten that they needed a true defensive midfielder to anchor the middle of the park.
Tuchel wanted a more conventional number six for a reason—he didn’t think the players he had available could handle the position, and thus far, that notion has proven to be accurate.