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Inside Bayern Munich's disarray: Thomas Tuchel is at odds with the first team

  /  autty

Three defeats on the bounce, eight points adrift of Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen and the prospect of their first their first season without a trophy since 2011-2012 - Bayern Munich are certainly in a sticky spot.

Having won the German top-flight for the past ten seasons in a row, the Bavarian club have struggled to live up to the standards that we've become accustomed to.

Amid some shock results, there seems to be a distinct lack of cohesion between some of FC Hollywood's big stars and it's manager, Thomas Tuchel.

Midfielder Leon Goretzka told DAZN that this season 'feels like a horror film that doesn't stop'. He added: 'Everything is just going against us at the moment.'

For Bayern, that might not be too inaccurate. This season has been a bit of a nightmare for the club, considering their stature as a giant of European football.

Goretzka's comments came after the Die Roten suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to VFL Bochum on Sunday, their third successive loss in all competitions.

When pressed on whether he thinks the club can still win the Bundesliga, Goretzka said: 'Not right now. I'm being honest about that.'

In fact, if Tuchel's side aren't careful, they risk being overtaken by Stuttgart, who are enjoying an excellent run of form, having won all four of their previous league matches to go within four points of the Bundesliga champions. Koln now face relegation strugglers FC Koln next, before taking a trip to Wolfsburg, who haven't won in their last five matches.

For Bayern, that is a concerning look and perhaps it's not hard to see why pressure has been mounting on Tuchel.

Prior to the loss against Bochum, his side suffered a 3-0 defeat to league leaders Leverkusen and a 1-0 loss to Lazio in the Champions League.

The results have seen tensions rise among his playing cohort, with Tuchel having hit out at his players and their training standards.

Considering some of the fiery bust-ups he's been involved in, are Tuchel and his staff slowly starting to lose the dressing room?

Tensions rising

Tensions between players and the coaches at Bayern have reportedly been wearing thin of late. Some have been left frustrated by Tuchel's management of the club, while the manager has even revealed that star striker Harry Kane is 'not happy' at the Bavarian outfit.

Tuchel's assistant, Zsolt Low, was reportedly also involved in a bust-up with Joshua Kimmich and needed to be 'held back by his team-mates' after a furious tunnel spat with the coach. The incident reportedly came following their loss against Bochum after Kimmich was substituted just shy of the hour mark.

Equally, the manager hasn't been shy of dishing out criticism to his players this season, berating them after their defeat by Leverkusen earlier this month, with the German said to have 'caused a stir' in camp.

According to Sky Germany, Tuchel said to his team: 'You're not as good as I thought, then I just have to adapt to your level.'

It was an explosive rant to say the least. Tuchel also didn't hold back after Dayot Upamecano received a red card during their Champions League round of 16 tie against Lazio last week.

He said after the match: 'We did everything we could to fall behind, making errors and losing confidence. (There was) no need for Upamecano to go in like that.

'It's not wild or intentional - but just block the shot.'

He also added: 'Worried about my future? No, I am not.'

Following their 1-0 defeat by Werder Bremen, the 50-year-old also reportedly went on record to suggest that his team's training level hadn't been up to standard 'for many weeks' and that they deserved to lose.

According to BILD, those comments went down like a bag of bricks.

'That is our responsibility,' he had fumed post-match. 'I'm also tired of saying that we're training well. Nobody believes that anymore.

'I've been doing the job long enough to be able to judge whether the training was at the level we want it to be. This has really been the case for many weeks.'

Kane criticism

Amid that Kane was also recently blasted by German media for failing to score in their match against Bayer Leverkusen. That ultimately led Tuchel to suggesting that the former Tottenham man 'wasn't happy'.

According to Tuchel, that relates to how poorly he's been served by his team-mates in the box this season. Despite having scored 29 goals in 30 appearances for his new club, the former Tottenham stars performance against Leverkusen was remarkably branded a 'catastrophe' by BILD.

'He was actually brought in for games like this. Harry Kane and his worst game in a Bayern jersey. Kane wasn't in the game at all. No goal, no assist – BILD grade 6! Only his effort was right: he ran 10.8km, only Mazraoui ran more for Bayern. He should win the top scorer cannon. But he came to Bayern to win championships.'

Mail Sport's Dominic King branded the criticism as 'totally unfair' on It's All Kicking Off and you can't help but agree with him, considering the sensational form that Kane's been in this season.

So, is Tuchel heading for an exit?

Much of Bayern's recent turmoil has not been helped by rumours that Tuchel could be keen to succeed Xavi when the Spaniard leaves Barcelona in the summer.

He was blasted by Didi Hamann as a 'disgrace' for talking so flagrantly about the idea of taking over at the Spanish club.

There is also widespread talk that the club are already eyeing up alternative options to the German coach, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Zinedine Zidane and even Liverpool target Xabi Alonso.

While CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen implied that Tuchel was safe after the Bochum loss, he delievered a cryptic two-word message to reporters outside of the club's Sabener Strasse training complex on Tuesday, when asked whether Tuchel would be staying at the club.

'Let's see...' he had apparently told BILD.