FCB actors lament energy levels after Mainz loss: "We look like a team that has already played 80 matches."
homas Müller, Thomas Tuchel, and the Bayern brass have registered their comments after the latest set-back.
| Photo: Анна Мейер, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Thomas Müller, yet again, was left to reflect on the topic of "energy". The German footballing legend conceded that he himself had made many mistakes and contributed to his team's "flawed performance". After noting that, Müller spoke on the "energy levels" of the players he observed on the pitch after getting subbed off in the 75th.
"I noticed that we just didn't have the energy to come back," Müller told the Sky mics, "We encountered resistance and then got knocked out. It's a brutal disappointment; a huge discrepancy between expectation and reality."
Müller's trainer too spoke on "energy" and also used the word "brutal".
"It's brutally difficult for us to cultivate some kind of team spirit," Tuchel said in his post-match interview with Sky, "Just too much has been going on in the last few weeks. We can't fight back when things go wrong. We're finding it insanely difficult to win matches at the moment."
"Once again I have to say that I didn't see this coming," the FCB gaffer continued, "We lack the energy to deal with setbacks. At the moment, we look like a team that has already played 80 games this season. We're completely drained."
"The points are slipping away like sand through our fingers," Tuchel summed up, "Everyone is struggling with themselves. I don't understand it. We're just not fresh. Perhaps we need a break."
Bayern have gone some three-and-a-half weeks without a full day off. Tuchel may be inclined to grant his team some time. Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic didn't sound if they might be inclined to allow it. The two men responsible for bringing Tuchel in were scathing in their remarks.
"Where is the team that wants to win the German championship?" Salihamidzic rhetorically asked when speaking at a post-match presser, "It certainly wasn't ours. Each player must ask himself if what he is giving is enough. This is a catastrophic low."
Kahn also issued a challenge to the players.
"At the end of the day, there are eleven men on the pitch who must bust their asses for the objectives of this club," Kahn said, "Each player must ask himself what they wish to accomplish and what level of commitment they bring. Everything that makes up football, besides merely, playing was missing from our team in the second half."