Thomas Tuchel lauds Jamal Musiala’s attitude at Bayern Munich amid dip in form

The second half of Jamal Musiala’s season with Bayern Munich hasn’t been quite as good as the first half of the season. The same could easily said for Bayern’s collective performances so far this season, but a lot has happened in a short span of time in the Rückrunde with the club deciding to replace Julian Nagelsmann with Thomas Tuchel just before the Champions League quarter-finals legs against Manchester City that Bayern inevitably lost out on. They were also knocked out of the DFB-Pokal at the hands of SC Freiburg under Tuchel’s watch and Musiala has not been impervious to the slump the club experienced as a whole.

Before the winter break for the World Cup in Qatar, Musiala had tallied 12 goals and 10 assists across all competitions, but in the second half of the season, he’s currently only tallied three goals and three assists. It’s not to say that goals and assists are the only metrics to judge overall performance levels, but the expectations of Musiala have been so high that there’s the external perception of underperforming in the second half of the season in what’s perhaps partially due to World Cup fatigue with Germany. After all, Hansi Flick has said the youngster was one player who did not deserve to be knocked out of the competition at the group stages for how well he played individually in what was another poor tournament showing from Die Mannschaft overall.

Despite the slight dip in form, Tuchel is very pleased with the positive attitude Musiala consistently maintains. He did, however, mention that there are parts of him game that do need improvements. “It’s a normal development for a young player with extreme potential. His game lacks a bit of clarity. The most important thing is his attitude, it’s special. He doesn’t look for excuses, he’s self-critical. Working with him is a gift,” Tuchel explained in the press conference ahead of the Bundesliga match at Werder Bremen (via @iMiaSanMia).

Lothar Matthäus recently expressed his opinion that Musiala is currently supplanting Thomas Muller in Bayern’s lineup as his versatility makes him a more useful player for Tuchel in his preferred 4-2-3-1 setup. Even without that sentiment, there’s no doubting that Musiala is a future of this club along with the core of players in the squad below the age of 25. He’s also shown the ability to work well under different managers, so it’s refreshing to hear that Tuchel admires his positive attitude. A harmonious relationship between the two will translate to positive performances on the pitch.