Bayern Munich’s decision to keep lame duck Tuchel is a mistake،
There are basic conventions when it comes to running not just a football club, but any sort of sports team – hell, any sort of business. In other words, when you choose to fire the manager, you will strip them of all responsibility and hand the reins to someone else, even if only on an interim basis. Bayern Munich, by announcing the departure of Thomas Tuchel at the end of the 2023-24 season, has just sent a fleet of Audis through and through.
The decision to leave Tuchel is not surprising. He took this team to being eight points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga title race, he had clashes with senior players, he was not appreciated by many comments from former Bayern stars became talking heads in the media, he lost three matches. on the bounce – including the round of 16 first leg against Lazio in the Champions League – and his team generally played turgid football. Which, after almost a year in charge and after the arrival of Harry Kane for 95 million euros ($102.6 million) this summer, is extremely disappointing.
What's surprising – or counterintuitive, if you want to give Bayern the benefit of the doubt, or insane, if you don't – is announcing to the world that you're done with him. And he will still be around until the end of the campaign. Bayern are effectively saying that Tuchel is part of the problem – and, implicitly, not part of the solution – and yet they want him to stay and coach this group of men for the rest of the year.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga and more (US)
How is this supposed to work? If Tuchel couldn't convince the players to listen to him and play when he was the big boss with a contract until June 2025, how is he supposed to do it now when they all know his days are numbered? If the club's management no longer believes in him, what makes you think the players will?
It's a recipe for lame duck soup, and while you could swallow it if the season went by with nothing left to play for, that's not where Bayern are at the moment. Yes, they were mediocre against Lazio in the Champions League, but this is Lazio, who are eighth in Serie A for a reason: overcoming that 1-0 away deficit doesn't seem like a big task. And yes, the gap with Bayer Leverkusen is big, but it is not insurmountable with 12 matches remaining.
Furthermore, the gap is largely large, not because Bayern haven't been winning points at a sufficient rate (they're on pace to score 77, which is the average for Bundesliga winners over the last few years). last five seasons), but rather because Leverkusen has been leveling everyone in sight. (Xabi Alonso's team is on track to score 90 points, which would be just one shy of the record.) It's not unreasonable to expect some regression toward the mean from Leverkusen, given that they are a team with an inexperienced manager at the helm of a club. who have never won the championship and whose last (well, only) trophy dates back to the early 1990s.
Do not mistake yourself. I don't expect Bayer Leverkusen to collapse and Bayern to win their 12th Bundesliga title in a row, but the slim chances that existed surely are now.
1:36
Marcotti: Tuchel has become the ultimate lame duck at Bayern Munich
Gab Marcotti reacts to the news of Thomas Tuchel's departure from Bayern Munich at the end of the season and wonders if the decision could hamper the club this season.
Bayern have shown over the years that they are comfortable firing coaches along the way. In fact, four of their last five permanent managers – Carlo Ancelotti, Niko Kovac, Julian Nagelsmann and now Tuchel – were sacked during the campaign… and Bayern still won the championship. (This probably says more about the Bundesliga and the imbalance of resources than anything else.) But in each of these cases, once the decision was made, the coach left – sometimes with a permanent replacement, sometimes with an interim boss. .
It's a cliché, but there's obviously some validity to the idea of freshening things up, giving the team a boost, or even just showing up to practice and being matched up against someone. 'one other than Tuchel, with his frayed nerves and frayed baggage. Instead, Bayern players will get more of the same, but with (inevitably) less authority, because they know they're listening to a guy who won't be here in a few months because their employer doesn't think he is the best. the right guy to lead them.
Logical, eh?
What good can come from this? Even in the best case scenario – imagine (hard to do, I know) that there is some strange cosmic alignment, the plan works and Tuchel leads Bayern to the Champions League and/or Bundesliga crowns – will boomerang against them. . If that happens, they will look foolish for sacking Tuchel, which will only further undermine their credibility.
The club will now hit the reset button and begin the process of finding a new coach for 2024-25. “A new direction of football” is how club CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen speaks business language fluently. In the meantime, they will stick to the “old direction of football”, but with less enthusiasm and conviction than before.
