This evening FC Bayern travels to the away game at 1. FC Köln. The appointment shortly after the international break caused displeasure among coach Thomas Tuchel. It is not the first time that he has criticized the game plan.
The German national players returned from their international trip on Wednesday, and on Friday evening FC Bayern opened the 12th matchday with the away game at 1. FC Köln (live in the audio stream and ticker on sportschau.de from 8:30 p.m.). This is a quick opportunity for the Munich DFB players to make amends after the embarrassment against Austria on Tuesday. One might think, but coach Thomas Tuchel is bothered by the scheduling.
Tuchel: “Very, very, very unfortunate appointment”
The German national players have been back since Wednesday, also because the journey from Vienna wasn’t far, but professionals like Min-jae Kim and Alphonso Davies only land in Munich on Thursday after “very long journeys”, as Tuchel outlined on Thursday. “This is of course a very, very, very unfortunate decision. If I say that as a coach, it will probably be used as an excuse, but it’s not,” said Tuchel.
“Sure, we can now say that Phonsie is professional and earns a lot of money. He still has a time difference of I don’t know how many hours when he lands from Canada.” The situation is similar with Min-jae Kim, who is returning from China from the South Korean national team. “He’ll probably get up tomorrow in Cologne after his afternoon nap and won’t know exactly where he woke up.” This is the “feedback” from the players.
Tuchel on the strain on players: “At the absolute limit”
“They are mentally tired, they are emotionally tired, exhausted. They are physically tired,” Tuchel makes clear. The aim is not to determine the burden on the professionals based on the minutes played. “They spend endless hours on the bus, they spend so many hours in hotels. They spend so many hours on planes when traveling. It’s stressful.”
There is little hope for the future, in which the burden will continue to increase for the new season due to, among other things, the Champions League reform. “There will be two more Champions League games next year, there will be at least two Champions League games. If you don’t qualify directly, then there will be four. There will be a tournament in the summer. That’s just at the limit “Because the game has to be played with joy,” Tuchel continued.
Sportschau Bundesliga Live, November 24th, 2023 8:20 p.m
“It can’t be in the interest of the players and if it’s not in the interest of the players, it can’t be in the interest of the game.” That is “at the absolute limit in this calendar and in this schedule,” the 50-year-old concluded his criticism – which he had already expressed before the DFB’s trip to the USA and after the game against Heidenheim before the international break.
Delayed arrival to Cologne
However, Tuchel does not want to accept the circumstances as an excuse. “We won’t dwell on it, we have to adapt to the circumstances.” One modification is the late arrival. FC Bayern will not fly to Cologne the day before the game as usual, but will only take off on Friday morning. The aim was to “give the players the opportunity to sleep in bed at home and see their family and partners,” said Tuchel, explaining the measure. “Then we’ll be ready tomorrow to take on the game and win.”
In the video: Tuchel criticizes the game plan again
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November 23, 2023 – 2:54 p.m
