Mental problems for Tuchel: Mia san never mia

At FC Bayern there is great disillusionment after the failure in the DFB Cup. In addition to playful deficits, a mentality discussion is inevitable.

Bastian Schweinsteiger quickly got to the point. And he named deficits that hit FC Bayern deep in its self-image. “The biliousness, the greediness” of individual players, he said in his analysis, he said, and he didn’t want to have consistently recognized a certain “maliciousness”. “That’s mentality,” concluded the “ARD” expert – Thomas Tuchel stood by, nodded and said: “Yes”.

In addition to the family side of “Mia san mia”, FC Bayern now seems to have lost the winning mentality bordering on arrogance that he wants to signal with the club motto. A realization that Tuchel did not want to deny after the “bitter evening” with the 1: 2 (1: 1) in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup against SC Freiburg.

“To develop a power and greed together and to keep it permanently, that’s a bit of the issue,” he said.

Salihamidzic criticizes the lack of energy in Bayern stars

Joshua Kimmich found the most drastic words in the discussion about the mentality of Munich. As he stood in front of a wall with the words “will” and “passion” he grumbled: “We have the feeling that it’s a bit too little – too little passion, too little emotion.” Yes, admitted sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic: “We often have one or two phases where things ripple by, where we don’t keep up the energy and the number of strokes.”

As evidence of the apparent deficiency, Tuchel used the scenes in front of the hand penalty, which Lucas Höler coldly converted into a winning goal (90+5). He complained that there was only one free kick near the penalty area, followed by two lost header duels and the possibility of a long-range shot by Nicolas Höfler, into which Jamal Musiala jumped hands first.

Earlier (27′), Höfler had equalized Dayot Upamecano’s lead (19′).

Bayern leading player Kimmich bursts the collar

“In the end it’s our own fault,” said the visibly sobered Tuchel, who has already missed the first of three title chances that predecessor Julian Nagelsmann had given him. Strictly speaking: a team that, as so often this season, presented itself uninspired and erratic. The dominance was there, but “of course,” said the dejected Thomas Müller.

Above all, Kimmich could hardly be calmed in his anger. “At the end of the day it pisses me off, the more titles we lose,” he wailed, “I struggle a lot with myself not to go completely crazy and lose my composure – a day like that really hurts.” This defeat was not only acknowledged by Müller that it was a “bitter pill: we have to swallow it, even if it’s not going down yet”.

One title is gone, the second is far from certain – and the third?

And who says it wasn’t the last disappointment? On Saturday, Bayern will meet SC Freiburg again in the Bundesliga, who won for the first time ever in Munich on Tuesday – and particularly impressed in the “mentality” category. Tuchel suspects that taking the lead in the table with a 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund last Saturday does not guarantee a title: “It’s an extremely close race in the Bundesliga.”

One title is gone, the second is far from certain – and the third? On Tuesday, Munich have to go to Manchester City for the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League.

There could be a rude awakening.