Right now, we can be sure of only one thing. Bayern Munich is coached by a German dude named Thomas. But are we talking about Thomas Muller or Thomas Tuchel? Read on and decide for yourself.
Ahead of the must-win game versus Hertha Berlin, journalist Archie Rhind-Tutt noticed something interesting during the warmup. While Muller wasn’t included in the starting XI this time, he was having an animated conversation with assistant coach Zsolt Low while the rest of the team warmed up. Just watching the video, it’s clear that they were talking about tactics.
So, being an incredible investigative journalist, Mr. Rhind-Tutt decided to ask Tuchel about it (via @archiert1):
Archie: Just finally, before the game, I saw one of your assistants, Zsolt Low, was having a chat with Thomas Muller, and it looked very tactical. Is Thomas somebody you’ve taken onto a more senior player role in terms of helping the team tactically?
Tuchel: Yeah, yeah, of course. There was some questions about the positioning when they are deep in their half, and Thomas is not shy to ask and to also give his opinion when we ask him, and of course we ask him.
He has so many games on a level that I don’t have and our coaching team does not have this kind of experience on the field so we do this with every team and of course we do it with Thomas.
Archie: But you’ve got a Champions League under your belt, Thomas. *laughs*
Tuchel: Yeah but he’s a player and sometimes it’s different. You think sometimes everything is said and it’s good that the players feel confident to say like, in one situation for us it’s not clear the positioning deep in your opponent’s half, of how should we do this, and of course we give an answer to that.
Thomas is in this role and it’s nice to have him in the team. Very important.
So there you have it, folks. From being the coach’s right arm on the pitch under Hansi Flick, Thomas Muller has graduated to being the Tuchel’s main point of contact with the team. It’s a role he’s clearly suited to and you have to imagine that he’s looking toward the end of his career and a potential coaching gig in the future.
Thomas Muller as a Bayern Munich coach someday? Don’t rule it out. He’s practically doing it already.
Interested in an in-depth discussion about this game and the Bundesliga title race in general? Then why not check out our newest podcast episode? Listen to it below or on Spotify.
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