Why Dortmund won't recognize "his" Thomas Tuchel

Up to the endian, extreme, dictator ... When we (re) immerse ourselves in the German years of Thomas Tuchel, in Mainz (2009-2014) then in Dortmund (2015-2017), we quickly realize that the coach Parisian has not only left good memories, and the few qualifiers are sometimes not very complimentary. In fact, the Bavarian technician left his two previous teams in bad, even very bad terms. Cleaving as possible. We love or hate this Tuchel.

A brilliant coach, by all accounts, but who may not have had the shoulders to don the coaching costume of a club like Paris, seen from Germany. In terms of attitude, behavior. And it is probably still the image that sticks to his skin in the bays of a Signal Iduna Park that he will find Tuesday, at the head of PSG, in the knockout stages of the Champions League. “Tuchel is a complicated man, tells Le Figaro Sebastian Kolsberger, journalist for the German daily Bild. He is focused on the tactical aspects, the game plan, the players. Everything else doesn't interest him. After Jürgen Klopp, everyone was expecting a guy who looked like him. A guy you can laugh with. But he is not like that: he hardly seems to be interested in social relations. And it cost him ...

He didn't only keep friends in Dortmund

In Dortmund, he finally put everyone on their backs. Locker room executives, defender and world champion Mats Hummels at the head, but also and above all Hans-Joachim Watzke (CEO) and Michael Zorc (manager). The point of no return will have been reached after the bus attack, in the hours preceding the C1 quarter against Monaco, on April 11, 2017. Officially, Tuchel did not want to play the next day. Unofficially, it is less clear, and the versions diverge. One thing is certain: this episode marks a turning point in its history in Dortmund. Before, relations were already cordial at best between him and the management. Afterwards, they were definitely blurred and there was no longer any question of imagining a happy continuation at the end of the season…

His decision to dismiss Nuri Sahin before the (won) German Cup final that year definitively weighed down his popularity in the locker room. “It was a curious victory, remembers Sebastian Kolsberger. There was no big celebration. After the final, the players told us that they honestly didn't know why Tuchel did this with Nuri, that it was a disaster… Everyone was upset after Tuchel. But before that, we already felt that it was the end for him. Not to mention the day when Tuchel simply kicked out of his training Sven Mislintat, then responsible for recruitment ...

And since ? This Tuchel stayed in Germany. We have sometimes felt it dawn here in Paris. Especially at the end of last season, after elimination against Manchester United. But, “on certain situations, it has changed. And rather in good, judge the consultant of beIN Sports Patrick Guillou, specialist in German football. After MU, I said to myself, be careful: if he is a brilliant man who is used to managing everything, he could leave in a form of paranoia, put some people on his back, certain leaders, like what we had known on the side of Dortmund and Mainz. But it did not happen. It has improved. It's normal. The entourage is no longer the same. He knows that he is part of the PSG galaxy and that there are other people of power. He is no longer necessarily in the struggle to manage everything, dominate everything, have this absolute power. "That's good, Leonardo is not a sharer. Tuchel has no interest in tickling him like the former sports director Antero Henrique last year and finally pushed towards the exit… Lately, he has all the same posted his disagreement about the “negativity” which reigns around the PSG before C1. "Leo" considers it unfair. "It's also a bit of our fault," corrects the German.

Management that has evolved

"It is also a form of intelligence: going to conflict knowing that you are condemned does not lead to anything," adds Guillou. At the same time, he does not renounce his convictions and focuses on what he can influence: the performance of his players and the evolution of his team to be more impactful. If he had been confronted with certain identical situations in Paris than on the side of Mainz or Dortmund, he would have been much more intransigent, virulent in his words. He gives his opinion as a coach, no more no less. He is also attentive, more open. The quality of a coach is to adapt to the qualities of his workforce and to derive the quintessence. It is also the evolution of his personal journey. "

In terms of management too, Tuchel has changed. You could feel it on the line of his idol, Pep Guardiola, in Dortmund. Distant, not in empathy for a penny. In Paris, he is closer to the executives. “When you have a workforce as large as at PSG, you are not a coach. You are a manager, says Guillou. And it is particularly necessary to deal with the ego. The players who are there all know how to play football. Its mission is to ensure that individuals play the same score. His experience in Dortmund served him well. "And to conclude:" He arrives with his German structure in terms of work, rigor. But at some point, arriving in a new country, with players from different backgrounds, it may be good to get to know the man behind the player. Perhaps he attaches another form of importance to it. He may be less strict, while remaining himself. "

Method that will pass to the revealer of Borussia Tuesday (9 p.m.), in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Dortmund, where we have not forgotten the sympathetic Jürgen Klopp, always idolized by the ex-Westfalenstadion, when the austere Thomas Tuchel quickly fell into oblivion. Klopp will always have been loved. Tuchel, respected. It's all the difference… It is up to him to remember the good memories of his former public by dismissing the BVB 09. And above all by avoiding Paris SG to take the door in the round of 16, again, like these last three seasons . Which would imply that he too would take the door in this case ...

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