Thomas Tuchel's honeymoon period over at Bayern Munich as Man City await

There was renewed concern in England when Thomas Tuchel took over at Bayern Munich at the end of March.

Not from Chelsea fans who were left fuming that their previous triumphant manager had joined a European giant while they languished with Graham Potter, but from Manchester City supporters who feared the German would again upset their quest for a first Champions League title.

Tuchel emerged victorious on the only occasion that City made it to a Champions League final as his plucky team of Chelsea underdogs lifted Europe's biggest honour courtesy of Kai Havertz scoring the game's only goal in the 2021 final.

So when he arrived to take over from the axed Julian Nagelsmann - who has subsequently been linked with the Chelsea vacancy - there was a sense of 'not again' from Man City fans.

Pep Guardiola will rightly go down as Manchester City's greatest all-time manager and boasts a managerial CV glittering with masses of titles that Tuchel can only dream of. But the grey cloud that hangs over his trophy-laden City career is the absence of a Champions League title.

However, as significant a threat as Tuchel poses with a strong Bayern outfit, the reasons to fear another cup upset aren't as real as what others make out.

Tuchel has endured a mixed start with the German giants - although they did win at Freiburg on Sunday - and City will be favourites when the two meet in their first-leg clash on Tuesday.

When he was unveiled as the new Bayern head coach, Tuchel said: 'The timing was surprising, I didn't expect it and there was no contact beforehand.

'I assumed that I would continue my career abroad. The first interview was on Tuesday evening. The size of the challenge was the deciding factor that I wanted to do it.

'We don't really have much time. I probably won't see the internationals until Friday. Winning all titles is still possible. Therefore, it will be all about the details. I have an idea of what to do and I'm really looking forward to it. It's about playing for all titles.'

His appointment was as much a surprise to the players he was inheriting as it was the rest of European football, and when sudden changes are made at such a crucial time in the season, there are clearly problems in the camp that decision-makers feel need sorting immediately.

Tuchel has to sort out an unhappy squad charmed with talent but low on confidence at the way they were treated and his predecessor's tactics. But, the issue with transforming personalities in the space of less than a month is that it isn't an achievable task.

Since his opening game in charge that saw Bayern storm to a 4-2 win over Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker, the Bundesliga leaders were then dumped out of the German Cup by Freiburg, before enacting revenge with a closely-contested 1-0 league victory on Saturday.

Already out of one cup and after two legs against City, who are still chasing a famous treble, Bayern will most likely be out of another and left to focus on the league as they strive to lift their customary seasonal piece of silverware.

There is a hangover of dressing room division from when Nagelsmann was in charge and Tuchel's first job of retaining the Bundesliga title and winning the Champions League is the type of script that requires immediate results.

If a stretched Dortmund side nicked two goals while being 4-0 down in their recent clash, imagine the success that Erling Haaland will be given in the box at the Etihad on Tuesday.

The Norwegian has scored 44 goals in all competitions this season and became the youngest player in Champions League history to reach 30 goals in City's 7-0 annihilation of Red Bull Leipzig in the previous round.

Tuchel is still working on finding his best line-up whereas Guardiola has a concrete plan for success with his superstar squad firing on all cylinders and in a position of confidence whereby any changes don't appear to hamper their ability to blow teams away.

Bayern are already without Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for Tuesday's trip to the home of the English champions.

When you assess Bayern's attacking talent, you could argue that they are on the same level as Man City's stars.

Former Man City talent Leroy Sane is blessed with quality but has come unstuck spending too much time travelling between three cities.

Sadio Mane is still struggling to fill the goalscoring boots of Robert Lewandowski, French World Cup winner Kingsley Coman appears to either thrive or flop from one game to the next, while top young talent Jamal Musiala shows the inconsistencies that you would expect from a 20-year-old still finding his feet.

Bayern have scored 20 goals less than what they finished the Bundesliga season with last year and they don't appear to contain the knockout punching qualities that have wreaked havoc on defences around Europe in recent times.

Big players not performing is a problem that Tuchel has to solve, but any Bayern fans dreaming of him recreating his short-term success with Chelsea at the Allianz this season have to be realistic.

Tuchel spent five months with Chelsea, got to know his players both on and off the pitch and wasn't distracted by outside noise or pressures as football was protected from the public amid the Covid pandemic. That isn't the case at Bayern.

Germany's most-decorated team lifted the European cup just three years ago with the now national team coach Hansi Flick at the helm, but the differences between that team and the current crop of players is evident.

Man City will respect the threat that Bayern pose - Guardiola knows too well what will happen if he underestimates Tuchel's coaching ability as he perhaps did when they last met in a final - but this isn't the same Bayern side in years gone by and the Premier League title-chasers know it.