Opinion bankruptcy against Bremen
This matchday must be a source of great fear for the Bayern bosses
As of 9:54 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
FC Bayern embarrassed themselves against Werder Bremen. He’s causing too many low points this season. The team shows far too little life. There is now a threat of a catastrophe. The focus is on coach Thomas Tuchel.
FC Bayern’s performance against Werder Bremen was extremely sobering. The 0-1 (0-0) of the German record champions against the 13th-placed team, their first home defeat this season in the Bundesliga, revealed how big the Munich team’s problems are. And the words of those responsible after the final whistle were telling.
This 18th matchday must cause great fear for the bosses, players and fans of FC Bayern. Because of Bayer Leverkusen’s strengths – and Munich’s weaknesses. There is currently far too little life in this team; against Werder it was too sluggish, too static, too unstable. Bayern, who are defensively vulnerable, have to fear a catastrophe: a season without a title.
Before they embarrassed themselves, Leverkusen won for the second time in a row this weekend with a last-minute goal, this time 3-2 at RB Leipzig. A success in the top game that could take the team far. These are victories that experts classify as masterful. The Bayer team radiates unity, belief and enthusiasm. These late victories are not just luck.
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Bayern, on the other hand, are a mystery to themselves. Also, but not just because of the bitter result against Werder. But because of the way this team sometimes plays football. Far too little speed, far too few chances to score, far too little creativity and moments of surprise. For the first time in four years, Munich failed to score in a home game in the league – and deserved to lose.
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For a squad with this enormous quality, with a market value of around one billion euros, this is extremely disappointing. Mind you, it was against an opponent who had been without a win away from home for nine months and couldn’t compete with the best line-up. Werder last won against Munich 15 years ago.
Bayern are already seven points behind first-placed Leverkusen, with one game less than Bayer. “The season is still long” – this sentence is not Bayern-like. He is known from other Bundesliga clubs. But on Sunday evening he fell into interviews with Bayern players in Munich.
Too many Bayern low points
Bayern no longer have the championship in their own hands. You have to hope that Leverkusen will be weak. Embarrassing end in the DFB Cup against third division club 1. FC Saarbrücken, 1:5 in the league against Eintracht Frankfurt, now the embarrassment against Bremen – Bayern have already caused too many low points this season.
Jan-Christian Dreesen said after the game against Bremen: “We played 70 minutes of boring football.” When the chairman chooses such clear words, it is clear how tense the situation is for the champions and how much is at stake. And when Joshua Kimmich, a leading player (who was replaced by coach Thomas Tuchel against Bremen), emphasizes that the approach needs to be questioned and that Bremen were hungrier than his team, that is an absolute alarm signal.
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The focus is on coach Thomas Tuchel. The debate about what kind of football he represents with Bayern will intensify after this defeat. Especially since Leverkusen’s successful coach Xabi Alonso is considered the Bayern coach of the future. Carlo Ancelotti has extended his contract with Real Madrid, Leverkusen has been playing exciting football under him for months, and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, FC Bayern’s supervisory board member, has been raving about Alonso for years. The pressure that is omnipresent at FC Bayern increased enormously this weekend.
Tuchel said on Sunday evening that his team played “irrelevant football” against Bremen. It would be the first season without a title since 2012. And despite a contract until 2025, it would probably be Tuchel’s last season as coach of FC Bayern. A lot has to change at FC Bayern so that the disaster can be averted. Simply hoping for Leverkusen to break in when they host the record champions for a direct duel on February 10th is not enough. Much too little.