Despite their season collapsing after a third straight loss, Bayern Munich will not fire under-fire manager Thomas Tuchel.
After an unexpected 3-2 loss to midtable Bochum on Sunday, Harry Kane and company’s hopes of winning the Bundesliga for a record 12 times were dwindling as they fell eight points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Following a humiliating 3-0 loss in Leverkusen, Bayern suffered a terrible 1-0 loss away to Lazio in their Champions League round of 16 first leg on Wednesday.
Although Tuchel is now under fire, Bayern executives, who are known for being harsh with managers, think he can make things better. The former Chelsea manager isn’t considering stepping down, according to Sky Germany, and he won’t be dismissed this week, even if his team was reduced to 10 men when defender Dayot Upamecano was sent off for the second consecutive game.
Following the game, Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen threw his support behind the 50-year-old, stating, “I feel rubbish.” Big claims regarding the coach don’t hold much weight with me. We’re not thinking about this problem right now. Naturally, [Tuchel will take over next week].”
Despite England captain Kane’s late goal, which was his 29th of the season, a furious Tuchel maintains that his team was unlucky to lose. “I don’t believe that today’s loss was a just outcome. Many things went against us,” the beleaguered manager asserted.
“We dominated the game and had five or six obvious chances. Suddenly we were behind, but we didn’t give up until the last whistle. For a very long time, we were outnumbered. Unlike the last two, I think this loss was unjustified.
“Today, everything that could go wrong did. After the break, we might have lost a little steam, and Bochum took advantage of that to go really hot. All in all, our performance today differs from that of Leverkusen and Rome. We never gave up hope.”
Leon Goretzka, a midfielder, compared Bayern’s current play to “a horror movie that won’t end.” “Right now, everything is simply working against us. It seems so weird,” the Germany international continued.
“We can get back up and acknowledge that we had a strong start to the game. Indeed, we did. But if you restrict yourself to winning in the first thirty minutes, you do wind up feeling a little foolish today. In the end, we gave it everything.
“We’re not to blame for that; we lost a man.” We did everything we could to get one back, but the outcome defies easy explanations. We ultimately committed too many separate mistakes. In recent weeks, there have just been too many of them.”
The next time Bayern plays again is on Saturday when they play RB Leipzig. With Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen taking on relegation-threatened Mainz at home on Friday, Bayern may be 11 points behind the lead at the start of play.
