The five Tuchel problems before the Man City summit

No breather for Thomas Tuchel and his FC Bayern: After the tough Freiburg victory, Manchester City is waiting – and five problems associated with it.

Munich – To take this job you have to be a bit crazy – and very confident in your abilities.

Thomas Tuchel wanted to take over FC Bayern in the most crucial of all phases of the season.

His main problem in the first few weeks: He has almost no time to bring his game idea closer to the team.

Because every three or four days there is a game that is in no way inferior to the previous one in terms of importance.

The new Bayern coach had to put up with a first, sensitive setback on Tuesday.

The cup defeat against SC Freiburg hit the club hard.

On Easter Saturday, at least in the league, compensation could be made.

Now Manchester City is waiting in the Champions League quarter-finals.

And Tuchel has five problems to solve before the giant duel.

1. A striker is missing

Matthijs de Ligt scored the redeeming goal in the work win against Freiburg – and that's where the problem begins.

For 90 minutes, the Tuchel team struggled against the viciously defending Breisgauer and, unlike on Tuesday, also created good chances.

But as soon as it came to accommodating the ball in the goal, all the offensive stars failed miserably.

It took a powerful shot from the Dutchman to break the spell.

Calmness in front of goal is currently missing from many Bayern stars anyway, without the injured Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting it is even more missing.

Munich currently have to put a lot of effort into scoring goals.

It doesn't get any easier against Manchester City.

Whether Choupo-Moting will be fit in time is questionable.

Hasan Salihamidzic recently recognized the striker problem for the first time.

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The tasks for Thomas Tuchel are not getting any easier.

© IMAGO/Anke Waelischmiller/Sven Simon

2. No offensive star in top form

Another problem arises from the lack of a striker: At the beginning of the season, the Bayern stars were still able to compensate for the departure of Robert Lewandowski with several stars in top form.

But in the hottest phase of the season, none of the offensive players present themselves in that phase of all things.

Leroy Sané seems to be the only one on the top-class Bayern offensive who really benefited from the change of coach.

The left foot drives tirelessly, shows quite respectable actions - in front of the goal, however, he also acts unluckily.

Sadio Mané, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Jamal Musiala are each more or less deep in a form crisis.

So it will be very difficult against Pep's star ensemble.

Lattek, Heynckes, Tuchel: All Bundesliga coaches at FC Bayern

Lattek, Heynckes, Tuchel: All Bundesliga coaches at FC Bayern

3. No expirations

The short fuse of the Bayern bosses at Julian Nagelsmann surprised most of them.

The players too.

In the decisive phase of the season, the processes should be rock solid.

However, the Nagelsmann system, which has been rehearsed for a year and a half, cannot yet be overwritten on the Bayern stars' hard drives.

For Thomas Tuchel, this means a fine line: on the one hand, he wants to convey his content, on the other hand, he doesn't want to overload the players in just a few training sessions.

Misunderstandings on the pitch are immediately punished against Haaland and Co.

4. Manchester City is in really good shape

7: 0, 6: 0, 4: 1, 4: 1: The latest results from Manchester City read a bit scary for Bayern fans.

Pep Guardiola's team is currently steamrolling through all competitions.

In the quarter-finals of the CL, FC Bayern was drawn to what is probably the strongest possible opponent.

With the Skyblues, the processes are cemented after six and a half years of Guardiola possession football.

Also unusual for Bayern: They meet one of the few teams in world football that likes the ball at least as much as they do.

5. Erling Haaland is fit again and is scoring dream goals

The defense of FC Bayern has a problem called Erling Haaland.

Slight hopes that the exceptional Norwegian striker could fail for the Bayern duel were dashed.

The blond chicken made a comeback against Southampton FC on Saturday – with two goals, of course.

At least one of them should make it into the selection for the goal of the month: Haaland put a side pull in the box in an irresistible way.

Goal number 30 of the season. Who should stop him?

The good news for Bayern: The defensive trio of Matthijs de Ligt, Benjamin Pavard and Dayot Upamecano has been in a good mood for weeks.

List of rubrics: © IMAGO/Anke Waelischmiller/Sven Simon