Bayern Fall to Bremen
January 21, 2024 However the match played out very differently as Werder dominated things nearly from the blow of the first whistle. Mitchell Weiser would ultimately score the games only goal as Bayern struggled in nearly every aspect of this match with Manuel Neuer being possibly the only bright spot.
Three Things We Noticed
No Cohesion
While Werder deserves credit for how well they played today, making almost no mistakes and being extremely well organized, Bayern caused as many of their own problems as Werder did for them.
For not the first time this season, the Munich side were sloppy on the ball, making bad passes, being harried off the ball far too easily and positioning themselves in awkward positions throughout the pitch.
In other words, there was no sense of team today. It looked again like 11 individuals out there, that had rarely ever played together and didn’t really understand the tactical setup they were playing under.
These mistakes were enough to be punished continuously by a side sitting well into the bottom half of the table in a home game that was a must win for Bayern.
No Solutions
Those problems were obvious from the start today and by halftime, it was clear that something needed to change. However, Tuchel elected to lineup exactly the same to start the second half despite being lucky to head into the dressing room level at 0-0.
It wouldn’t be until the 65th minute after Bayern had gone down 0-1 that he would ultimately make a change. And that change would certainly raise some eyebrows as he brought on Müller, Tel and Goretzka for Guerriero, Davies and Kimmich. This left two natural defenders on the pitch with Laimer as a makeshift option in a back three and Goretzka presumably as a 6, but being Goretzka operating as an 8.
This reeked of desperation to get anything going in attack at the expense of any security at the back. Of course Werder at this point was also more than happy to sit back and defend while potentially hitting the counter and ultimately Werder didn’t find many chances the final 25 minutes.
However, neither did Bayern. Ultimately, Munich had a few chances to get a point out of this match but none of them were really all that dangerous and Werder were able to keep a clean sheet in Munich.
No Adaptation
At some point Tuchel is going to have to face reality. While there are arguments about certain players and their form, if you go position by position, there are not that many weaknesses in this side. Yet so many players are struggling to find their place under him and his system.
As a manager, you have to be able to adapt to the players that you have instead of trying to force them into your system. You are very rarely going to have a team that perfectly matches a specific system, especially when you’re a new manager coming into a team that played a completely different style.
From my perspective however, Tuchel has steadfastly stuck to his system at the expense of the players, forcing essentially square pegs into round holes. When you have one or two players that are struggling to fit into a system or that are underperforming, that is less problematic then what Bayern are currently experiencing where really only a few players are thriving while the rest look lost 80% of the time.
Luckily for Tuchel, Bayern have enough talent that they often find solutions through individual moments of brilliance and overwhelming talent. However, so often this season those things have masked a larger underlying issue and poor performances that will ultimately catch up with them as they did today.
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