Thomas Tuchel has to listen to a lot of criticism after the embarrassing exit in the DFB Cup at 1. FC Saarbrücken. The critical statements from ex-Bayern professionals Lothar Matthäus and Dietmar Hamann echoed particularly loudly through Säbener Straße. Thomas Tuchel reacted to the comments with a laugh. A little later it was Hamann’s turn again.
After defeats, there are easier jobs than that of Bayern coach. Criticism is certain for a coach like Thomas Tuchel, especially after a surprising defeat against a third division team like on Wednesday in Saarbrücken.
When, before Bayern’s matchday press conference for the Bundesliga summit against BVB, a reporter tried to repeat Matthäus and Hamann’s criticism and quoted Matthäus as saying that he did not see any “further development” in the team, Tuchel elegantly intervened and said with a laugh: “I don’t see any development between these two either, can we fast forward?”
Hamann reacted the next day on “Sky” – and took the Munich head coach’s counterattack calmly: “I found what he said yesterday very funny and amusing. That’s just part of it. This culture of argument or discussion is something that always sets us apart and which we have lost to some extent through social media. That’s why I’m the last person who feels like I’ve been treated unfairly.”
Tuchel has to “defend himself and his team,” said the ex-national player with understanding.
Tuchel: Difficult to refute critical voices
Meanwhile, Tuchel did not dismiss the issue with his joke on Friday afternoon, but added in a more serious tone: “Of course there will be criticism, that’s very clear.” Signing up for Bayern means winning every game and every title.
“For me it always means blocking out everything and not reading anything, because that always does something to you. We know that we do a lot and want to get even better. That’s all legitimate. I’m very ambitious and self-critical of myself “I take defeats personally,” continued Tuchel.
He emphasized that he and his staff would question themselves. One thing is clear: the first title is gone. That gnaws at the ambitious coach. “We were here to go to Berlin. We didn’t manage to do that very early on. It’s now difficult to refute critical voices, we just have to endure that now.”
Matthäus recently made a sobering interim conclusion about Tuchel as Bayern coach. “Even after months under Tuchel, the team is still not playing better than under Julian Nagelsmann. It’s piecemeal,” he said in an interview with “Sky”.
Ex-national player and “Sky” expert Hamann was in the same vein. Tuchel was in Munich to “form a team, form a unit. He didn’t manage to do that,” criticized Hamann and accused the coach of having “dismantled” leading player Joshua Kimmich in the past few months.