Heavy Bayern defeat in Leverkusen: Is it because of the team – or the coach?

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Bayern professionals after the 3-0 defeat in Leverkusen: “Nobody has the freedom to gamble”

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Martin Meissner / AP

The day before FC Bayern Munich's top Bundesliga game against league leaders Leverkusen, Thomas Tuchel took his footballers to task. The moment had now come to stop using tactics and instead put the cards on the table, said the coach: "We have more room for improvement than Leverkusen." His message to his own team was: Now the moment has come in which you have to show that you are number one.

On Saturday evening, when the showdown in Leverkusen was over, the question of number one was clarified. The cards were on the table and FC Bayern Munich is currently only the second best team in Germany.

Bayern lost 3-0 in Leverkusen, they literally had no chance, i.e. without any real chance to score in the entire game. The gap to first place is five points. There is a risk of the first titleless season since 2012.

Seconds after the final whistle, Tuchel shook hands with Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso amid deafening cheers, then quickly disappeared into the dressing room. He must have already suspected in those moments that this defeat would not only be linked to his players, but rather to his decisions: his formation, his tactics, his substitutions. Tuchel, it will be said, is at least as responsible for this defeat as the Munich footballers.

The Leverkusen game is likely to remain a flaw. It is difficult to eradicate. The season is still long, the title fight has not been decided, and the round of 16 in the Champions League is still to come, with the first leg against Lazio Rome on Wednesday. But in order for Tuchel's time at Bayern to be a successful one that lasts beyond the summer, a lot has to come together.

Tuchel's contract runs until 2025

Tuchel's contract in Munich runs until 2025. When he took office last spring, he raved about the club and squad. Nowadays, we hear that he is no longer as impressed. But he wanted to fulfill the contract. Whether you let him is another question.

In the evening in Leverkusen, Bayern's CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said that initially nothing had changed in terms of supporting Tuchel. But it became clear elsewhere that this defeat was not just any defeat, but actually shook the club.

Thomas Müller not only spoke loudly, he almost shouted. FC Bayern's longest-serving footballer stood on the sidelines after the final whistle and gave an interview to TV channel Sky that was actually not an interview, but rather an angry speech. “We play from A to B, from B to C, and no one has the freedom to gamble,” he said, noticeably angry.

That doesn't have to do with the coach's tactics, he continued, "but with a certain level of player intelligence and independence on the pitch." For him it's about the decisions of the individual, including the desire to play. Leverkusen is currently ahead of FC Bayern.

»We have a mentality in our game«

»I miss – now we can quote our Oliver Kahn – some of the balls and this freedom. We have a mentality in our game, especially with the ball.

There were times when it wouldn't have mattered which coach was on the sidelines - the FC Bayern professionals would have made sure that after a top game in the Bundesliga there was no doubt that they were the best team in the country. It was certainly no coincidence that Müller quoted Kahn. But currently there seems to be a lack of players in this category. Müller's criticism could be interpreted in exactly this direction.

However, the lack of freedom and intellectuality also sounded like criticism of the coach, even if Müller did not want this to be understood as such in the interview. Tuchel provided a rare occasion for this.

The game in Leverkusen hadn't even started yet, so there was astonishment in the BayArena. Namely when Bayern's line-up became known. It was already clear what risk coach Tuchel was taking. Anyone who takes surprising actions in big games and then loses will be held responsible.

Kimmich on the bench, five defenders instead of four

In the key game for the championship, Tuchel put Joshua Kimmich on the bench. The coach said he wasn't yet at 100 percent after his shoulder injury, but he also said that he didn't want to separate Leon Goretzka and Aleksander Pavlovic; the midfield duo had done well recently. Pavlovic is 19 years old and the game in Leverkusen was his sixth in the Bundesliga from the start.

It has long been said that Tuchel is not a fan of Kimmich's style of play in defensive midfield. Now the coach may have put his cards on the table in this regard too.

He also moved Sacha Boey from right back to left back instead of relying on the trained left-back Raphael Guerreiro. And in general he fielded five defenders instead of the usual four.

Hardly any of these measures worked.

Did Tuchel gamble away?

Boey's formation was a direct response to Leverkusen's pace. In the absence of the injured Alphonso Davies, Tuchel did not want to call on the much slower Guerreiro, but instead moved the nimble Boey to the left.

However, Xabi Alonso had also adapted his tactics specifically to Bayern. He also surprised with his formation, putting the quick Jeremie Frimpong on the bench, while Josip Stanišić, on loan from FC Bayern and much more defensively oriented, played on the right. So Tuchel's measure came to nothing.

Why didn't Tuchel intervene sooner?

Especially since winter entry Boey seemed overwhelmed at times. When the first goal was conceded, his neighbor Kim Min-jae showed him seconds before the goal that Stanišić was approaching. He, Boey, was supposed to defend the Leverkusen player, but Boey didn't even turn around, instead looking strictly at the ball on the opposite side . And then was surprised when Stanišić scored.

Stanišić, who was loaned to Leverkusen on a cheap basis, scored the goal, while Boey, who was signed as a replacement for almost 30 million euros, was responsible for the goal. The 0-1 was a symbol of Munich's flawed squad planning.

Tuchel's five-man chain may also have been a reaction to Leverkusen's strengths; he seemed to want to mirror Bayer's formation, i.e. create as many one-on-one duels on the pitch as possible in order to involve Leverkusen in duels. It worked for a good quarter of an hour, then Bayern lost the thread.

It is unclear why the trainer did not intervene sooner. He did that after an hour, switched to a back four and brought on Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Müller. By then it was already 0:2.

Did the coach unsettle his footballers by changing routines? Or have the players simply lost their nerve?

Tuchel has long been criticized by the tabloids for a long time, even in the phases in which the results were correct.

Tuchel takes players to task again

Tuchel himself, it is said, feels that he has not been judged correctly. Bayern have seven points more than at the same time last year under Julian Nagelsmann. Yes, they rarely play brilliantly, but they win enough to take first place if it weren't for Bayer Leverkusen and their exceptional form.

“It wasn’t a matter of tactics,” said Tuchel that evening. "We didn't manage to assert ourselves." Just as he tried to hold the players accountable before the game, he also did the same afterwards. He is not satisfied with the level at which his team is playing. Compared to the first leg, this performance was even a step backwards. Back then, Bayern were the slightly better team, now they are clearly the inferior team.

Those responsible at the club will now have to assess what the real reason for this second place is.

A wrongly put together squad in which the leading players don't lead well and the additional players lack quality? This is supported by the fact that the Munich team has become increasingly weaker in recent years, gradually and hardly noticeably, especially since the trend was masked by the championships that the Munich team still won. But the last title was a gift from the weak BVB. Leverkusen, it has been clear since Saturday, does not give out gifts.

Or can another coach get more out of this squad? Xabi Alonso for example? Rumors about Bayern's possible interest in the Leverkusen coach and former Munich player persist.

Alonso and Tuchel both walked in silence towards the press conference late on Saturday evening. There, Tuchel was asked whether he was looking forward to the return of loan player Stanišić after the season.

“Wrong question to talk about the summer,” Tuchel replied quietly. Which he was right about. It is currently impossible to predict what will happen at FC Bayern in the summer.