Tuchel steps into a minefield at Bayern Munich

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This article was published 01/04/2023 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALPHONSO Davies has returned to a different Bayern Munich.

Sort of.

His teammates haven’t changed, but while in Willemstad ahead Canada’s CONCACAF Nations League match against Curaçao, he learned his now-former manager, Julian Nagelsmann, had been sacked by the Bundesliga giants.

The 22-year-old and his fellow internationals had departed Bavaria with the young, progressive coach still in charge and less than two years into a five-year plan intended to revolutionize the club. When they reported back for duty at the Säbener Strasse training facility, it was Thomas Tuchel, and not Nagelsmann, who greeted them.

And he’d been doing a lot of greeting since his Saturday appointment.

Clearly mindful of the need to make a peaceful entrance, Tuchel’s first act as Bayern boss was a handshake with a car park security guard, after which he introduced himself to the stewards.

Small gestures, sure, but meaningful enough for Bild to dedicate considerable space — two articles with photos — in praise of a Champions League winner who not only gladhanded with the common folk but also hugged, patted and apparently “snuggled” his returning star players. There was even a playful kick in the bum for Benjamin Pavard.

If it all seems rather silly, it’s because it is.

Sort of.

Yes, the sequence of embraces recalls Chandler Bing’s slap-happy boss Doug from an episode of Friends — “You’re not feeling left out, are you?” — but Tuchel was also savvy enough to know the minefield he was tiptoeing into.

Nagelsmann’s exit, shocking as it was (and he heard of it through social media while on a ski trip in Austria), wasn’t quite as knee-jerk as it might initially appear. That is, it wasn’t decided in a day, though maybe two. And had Bayern not lost at Bayer Leverkusen the last time out they’d still be atop the Bundesliga, as well as DfB-Pokal quarter-finalists and one of the favourites to win the Champions League, in which they remain unbeaten.

They could still very well win all three, which, along with the DfL-Supercup they won in July, would complete an impressive quadruple. Beat Borussia Dortmund today at Allianz-Arena (11:30 a.m., ABC/Sportsnet World) and they’ll vault right back to the Bundesliga summit, where they’ve been perched after all but nine matchdays this season.

Now, club CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidžic, who angled to hire Nagelsmann and are holding themselves responsible for how things turned out, might argue that even a Klassiker win over Dortmund would have only and temporarily camouflaged a deeply divided and even dysfunctional squad. And they would be right.

Sort of.

Nagelsmann certainly made enemies during his tenure. Earlier this month, for example, he and summer signing Sadio Mané nearly came to blows after he omitted the Senegal forward from his lineup against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. And Leroy Sané — apparently so unhappy in Munich that he’s been commuting from London and Manchester — had been increasingly confined to the fringes of the squad.

Twenty-year-old midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, meanwhile, had essentially downed tools on his manager, who had demanded the Dutch blue-chipper contribute more on the defensive side of the ball. Goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer, finally, fell out with Nagelsmann upon the removal of goalkeeping coach and personal friend Toni Tapalovic from the coaching staff.

Big problems, sure, but not so huge as to be perceived as insurmountable.

Mané, for one, will turn 31 later this month and hasn’t exactly impressed since his transfer from Liverpool. And the PSG exclusion that had him so incensed? Bayern won 2-0. Sané, for his part, shouldn’t have even the slightest influence over personnel choices, what with his generally lacklustre performances. But such was his pouty lip that he also received a playful kick to the rump by Tuchel.

As for Gravenberch — sometimes a young player, no matter the upside, needs to understand that he’s not going to immediately displace Joshua Kimmich or Leon Goretzka. Both, incidentally, were among Nagelsmann’s biggest supporters and haven’t been shy about saying so.

And granted, Neuer is Bayern captain and a German football icon, but he’s also 37, injured — again — and, whether he knows it or not, hasn’t yet been promoted to senior management like his predecessor Kahn. Although, the club might not know it, either.

Earlier this week, Bayern’s social media showed their birthday-boy goalkeeper marking the occasion in the Alps, skiing. A bit of fun at Nagelsmann’s expense? Pathetic, if true.

What is certainly true is that Kahn and Salihamidžic caved to the slightest, most immature attempts at player power. Mané, Sané, Gravenberch and Neuer, as well as Serge Gnabry, Sven Ulreich and João Cancelo, hardly comprise a core of consequence — yes, even Neuer — and to capitulate to their tantrums while Kimmich, Goretzka, Pavard, Matthijs De Ligt and Dayot Upamecano stood loyally behind their boss was, at best, short-sighted and, at worst, potentially disastrous.

Davies, quite smartly, has watched it all unfold without making a peep.

Nagelsmann now enters free agency, reputation intact, as one of world football’s pre-eminent young managers. One could even argue it’s a wonder how he got as much out of this team as he did.

The situation doesn’t exactly make for the sort of cushy assignment that typically accompanies Bayern Munich’s managerial position, which is why Tuchel is trying to make as many friends as quickly as he can. He’s already won over the press, and all the snuggling suggests the players have welcomed him, too.

Should he oversee a win over archrivals Dortmund in Der Klassiker, Bayern’s season might even turn right around.

Sort of.

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