So far it’s not working. Many believed that executive duo Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzić made a hasty decision to sack the winning coach Julian Naglesmann and install Thomas Tuchel, and looking at the results, they are currently right. After taking over the team, former Borussia, PSG and Chelsea coach managed to win against Dortmund 4-2, but after that, he lost to Freiburg in the German Cup, got thrashed by Manchester City in the Champions League and today his team failed to beat relegation strugglers Hoffenheim at Allianz Arena: 1-1. So, the first goal of the season, to be dominant in a tight title race is not yet accomplished (Borussia are still only two points away), the Bavarians have crashed out of the Cup again, and the semi-final of the Champions League is all but over for Munich. Hoffenheim didn’t show much, but used Bayern’s obvious result crisis and managed to sneak a great free-kick goal, which was enough for a point. The visitors are in a relegation battle, but have managed three wins in a row and today they got another valuable point. Bayern continued their tradition to score in the first half (51 goals in the opening 45 minutes so far), but failed to do anything more. Even the forwards are in crisis, as Bayern’s last three goals in all competitions have been scored by defenders, including today, when Pavard used a great Koman pass to put Bayern in lead. Apart from that, the Bavarians didn’t create much chances, even thou they had seven shots on target, while Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramarić levelled in the 71st minute after a great free kick. The Bavarians replied instantly after three mintues, but Pavard’s second goal was nullified do to offside. Tuchel has a lot of work to do. But on the other hand, he got a ‘help’ from his former club Borussia, who allowed themselves to draw 3-3 with 10 men Stuttgart, who scored all of their three goals after their player was sent off. Borussia could have put additional pressure on Bayern with a win over Stuttgart, but when BVB has a ‘chance’ to do something wrong and complicate things for themselves, they usually succeed and they were on the spot again – Stuttgart – Borussia 3-3. The worst thing about a draw with relegation struggling team like Stuttgart was that Dortmund was leading 2-0 after only half an hour and also had one man up, as Konstantinos Mavropanos was sent off after 40 minutes, but managed to allow two late goals from 10-men Stuttgart. MORE TO FOLLOW…
