The new coach of FC Bayern Munich had to do without numerous top performers in his first training session. Thomas Tuchel does not have much time to prepare his team for BVB.
For Leroy Sané, training began with a kick in the butt from his new boss. The new Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel jokingly sent his winger to the first running session when he made his debut at Säbener Straße 51. Shortly after 11 a.m., Tuchel had entered the training ground with stumpy steps and a smile on his face.
With a skeleton force into a new era
The new era at FC Bayern began with a skeleton squad. Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Joao Cancelo were the only players who could hope for Saturday (April 1st, 6:30 p.m., at BR24Sport in the live report to listen to) to be on the pitch in the top game against Dortmund.
Everyone else is on an international trip – or they are injured, like youngster Jamal Musiala (hamstring). So Bouna Sarr and Sven Ulreich completed the professional squad, which was enriched with six players from the second team. At least Choupo-Moting was able to resume training after back problems – and so Tuchel at least saw a familiar face. The 34-year-old is the only Bayern professional to have played under Tuchel. After Mainz and Paris Saint-Germain, it is the third meeting between the two. “Poor guy,” said Tuchel jokingly as part of his presentation.
Sarr shoots Tuchel
And the 49-year-old was also in a good mood on the training ground and first let his fitness coach guide the running session and then assistant trainer Arno Michels train a first pass exercise. But he soon had enough of the spectator role, gesticulating wildly, giving instructions to his pro players and soon found himself in the middle of the passing practice. When he was shot down by Sarr with an inaccurate pass, he lashed out again with a joking swipe, but ended up embracing the full-back.
Then the first 15 minutes of training under Thomas Tuchel and thus the part that was intended for the public eye ended. Not much could be deduced about a new way of playing. And the “secret” part of the training session will not bring too many insights either. That will change in the next few days when the national players gradually return from their trips. The DFB players are not expected until Thursday or Friday.
Kehrer can “only report positive things” about Tuchel”
You can ask Tilo Kehrer what it’s like to train under the demanding coach – and if Kehrer was honest at the DFB press conference – you will hear “only positive things”. “I learned a lot from him and developed a lot and always felt a lot of support from him,” said Kehrer (26) about his former coach at Paris.
He managed to deal with the superstars around Kylian Mbappe and Neymar through “tactical expertise and meticulousness”, but also “the human approach – he did that very, very well in Paris.” A few good words couldn’t hurt Tuchel’s adjustment. Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich were not exactly happy about Julian Nagelsmann’s dismissal. And Tuchel also knew: “Not everyone will be happy. It’s always a big change when the head coach leaves.”
Tuchel wants to set an “exclamation mark” against Dortmund
Not ideal starting conditions for the new coach of FC Bayern, who is not expecting the national players to train until Friday – i.e. one day before the preliminary decision about the German championship could come. “The challenge of starting directly with the game against Dortmund cannot be greater,” said Tuchel during his presentation. It is important to set a first “exclamation mark”. A win against Dortmund would certainly make it easier to settle down in the coming weeks.
