Thomas Tuchel went from hero to zero over the course of his first two games in charge at Bayern Munich. No, it’s hardly the end of the world, but Bayern looked poor and uninspired in their DFB-Pokal quarter-final defeat to SC Freiburg, and Bild hammered the new head coach with a ‘5’ while handing his counterpart Christian Streich top honors.
Full ratings below:
Göz Atın
- This was genuinely an anonymous performance out of the full-backs. Bayern were really missing the dynamism of Alphonso Davies on the left.
- Leroy Sané had a fine game in my eyes, but often missed out by the finest of margins. Sometimes you could fault him for not pulling the trigger a split-second sooner. Other times he would make a blistering run or a gorgeous, defense-splitting pass: only to either not receive the ball or not have his teammate be in the right position.
- Sané also won the corner that led to the team’s only goal by purposefully kicking it into an opposition player. But he only did that when he noticed that, having gotten past everybody, there weren’t any options inside the box for him to cross to.
- That was maybe the most puzzling feature of Bayern’s attack. Often a teasing, testing ball would float in but the far post would be vacant. New final third automatisms in need of work?
- The center-backs, Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upamecano, threw themselves forward quite a lot, with Kimmich and the full-backs offering cover. It was interesting to see Upamecano fly up the pitch like he was the No. 10 in transition…but then, he didn’t produce an incisive pass like a No. 10 would.
If there’s any good news to all this, it’s that Bayern can literally say “we go again” — when they face this same Freiburg team, again, on Saturday in the Bundesliga.
Want more discussion on Bayern Munich’s latest DFB-Pokal debacle? Check out our Postgame Podcast! Listen on Spotify or on the player below:
As always, we appreciate all your support!