The excitement about Thomas Müller’s deployment times under Thomas Tuchel is great. But even before the change of coach, Müller experienced one of the most difficult seasons of his career.
Thomas Müller is currently remarkably calm. While fans and the media are amazed at how little time the man plays, and his new coach Thomas Tuchel has to comment on this topic before and after every game, almost nothing is heard from Müller. “Radio Müller”, as he is called by his teammates, is silent. At least to the outside.
Tuchel: “I love Thomas Müller”
You don’t have to do much divination to conclude that this is his reaction to the fact that his playing times are currently lower than seldom before in his long professional career. The relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Thomas Müller could not have started better. In Tuchel’s debut against Borussia Dortmund, the 33-year-old scored two goals within five minutes and, in his typical Müller manner, made the score against BVB 3-0 with two brilliant moments.
But since then, the mutual love has cooled down a bit – even if Tuchel recently denied this: “I love Thomas Müller,” he said after 2-1 victory for his FC Bayern over Werder Bremen on the Sky microphone. And yet Müller sat on the bench for long stretches of the game against Bremen. As before against Hertha BSC, as in the two duels against Manchester City, which according to Tuchel “were not Thomas Müller games”.
Hardly any templates: historic low for Müller
“It’s just a matter of getting it over the finish line. The ego has to stay outside,” said Tuchel, also responding to a question from Müller, while also praising his player’s attitude. But it is not exactly surprising that Tuchel is not necessarily counting on Müller in the starting line-up in this special situation.
It’s not just under Tuchel that things aren’t going so well for Müller this season. Six goals and seven assists are a remarkably meager haul for one of the best active assist providers in European football (only Lionel Messi has more). The only time in his career that Müller didn’t score in the double-digit range in the Bundesliga was in the 2015/16 season. Back then, however, he scored 20 times himself.
Without Lewandowski, Müller lacks the space
The reason for the historically poor value is likely to be found in the summer transfer period. With the departure of Robert Lewandowski, FC Bayern lost what is perhaps the best scorer in the club’s history – and Müller lost his favorite template buyer at the same time. No, Müller lost a teammate with enormous gravity in Lewandowski, who massively influences the attention and movement of the defenders. Such a player opens up spaces for Müller that he can read and exploit like no other.
Since the injury to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, the only striker disappeared from the starting eleven and the defenders often barricade the space in front of their own sixteen against the many fast, small players in Bayern’s attack, there is hardly any room left for Müller to interpret. The original Bavarian looks paler than usual and rarely appears as surprisingly in the opposing penalty area as he actually likes to do.
Müller between bench press, star player and assistant coach
This has not escaped Tuchel and so the games that are not Müller games are piling up. The attacking player, who made his professional debut at Bayern Munich in 2008, is only on the pitch for an average of 53.8 minutes per game under his new coach. A bad value by Müller standards, which was significantly better even under Niko Kovac (66.26) – and even then he was thinking about changing clubs.
Only he himself knows whether these thoughts are currently fermenting in Müller again. “The way Thomas perceives it at the moment is sensational. The topic is not quite as big as it is made out to be here,” Tuchel hopes, pointing out that that he expresses his appreciation differently than through the minutes of the game – like against Manchester City, when Müller acted as a kind of assistant coach.
End of career in Munich or change of club?
Will Müller accept such a role at the now advanced football age of 33? Does he want to leave the club where he spent his entire footballing career so close to the end? Will the playing times under Tuchel increase if the coach has a center forward in the squad again next season who can free up the necessary space? The future will tell. There are currently more important things for Müller.
After the difficult victory over Hertha BSC, there was one of the currently rare public statements by Müller. The 33-year-old rushed past the microphones and announced: “There it is again, now let’s get this thing.” Anyone who is currently observing Müller, how he behaves on the pitch and on the bench, how he deals with his team-mates and talks, how he cheers with the fans, sees a star player who is currently actually leaving his ego outside and who only cares about that going to get that one title. After all, it could be the last that Thomas Müller brings with FC Bayern.
Source: BR24Sport on the radio 05/09/2023 – 09:54 a.m
