A new coach for Harry Kane? Thomas Tuchel feeling the heat at Bayern Munich as Bundesliga title hopes threaten to slip away

When Tuchel took over from Julian Nagelsmann in March, Bayern winning an 11th successive Bundesliga title was in slight jeopardy, even though they remained a point clear of Borussia Dortmund at the league's summit. They were also into the Champions League and DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, and thus it seemed the ideal role to walk into.

Still, Tuchel did his best to chuck it all away. Despite beating Dortmund in his first game in charge, Tuchel's Bayern then won just four of their next seven games while also crashing out of the Pokal at the hands of Freiburg. Going into the final day of the season, they sat second in the table, but a late Jamal Musiala winner against Koln, coupled with a Jude Bellingham-less Dortmund being held to a draw by Mainz, meant they edged out their great rivals at the last. Celebrations were appropriately raucous, but could do little to mask the fact that Bayern had almost failed to meet the most basic of expectations.

There was no such reprieve in the Champions League, though. Tuchel had proven himself an excellent European manager at Chelsea, while perhaps more importantly ahead of Bayern's clash with Manchester City, he was one of few managers who had tasted semi-regular success against Pep Guardiola. City, though, were rampant on their march to a historic treble, and the 4-1 aggregate scoreline didn't reflect well on Tuchel, given he was brought in to navigate such difficult continental tests.

Tuchel kept his job, but CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic were sacrificed. With those who had appointed him now gone, Tuchel had work to do to prove himself worthy of the top club job in Germany.

Still, if there were any concerns from the Bayern hierarchy, they weren't obvious. Functioning without a full-time sporting director, the Bavarians went to work assembling the kind of squad that could compete for the biggest prizes in Europe. Out the exit door went flop summer signing Sadio Mane, and he was followed by Lucas Hernandez, Ryan Gravenberch and Benjamin Pavard, all of whom were deemed surplus to requirements.

Targets were quickly established to upgrade on those who departed, with Kane the major coup, giving Bayern a clear focal point in attack that they had been missing since Robert Lewandowski left for Barcelona. Bringing in Napoli centre-back Kim Min-Jae was just important, however, with the South Korean having just marshalled a backline that brought the Serie A title back to Naples for the first time in 30 years.

As has become tradition, Bayern also raided their domestic rivals, bringing in Dortmund full-back Raphael Guerreiro and RB Leipzig midfielder Konrad Laimer on free transfers, though they were left frustrated in their pursuit of a new defensive midfielder, with the denouement coming when Joao Palhinha flew in for a medical on transfer deadline day, only for Fulham to reject Bayern's offer for the Portugal international.

The way in which that squad has been used, though, is far from orthodox, even if Tuchel has always been one for slightly odd tactical decisions. Guerreiro, for example, arrived as a left-back who had been tried in the trendy, John Stones-esque inverted role for Dortmund. Under Tuchel, though, he has become an out-and-out central midfielder in a reprise of a role he hadn't played for at least six years.

Laimer, a workmanlike midfielder for Leipzig last year, has gone the other way, and is being utilised as a right-back. His only previous experience at the position was as an emergency at Leipzig in 2018, and even that stint lasted for just half of the season. With Joshua Kimmich, a far more capable right-back, available, the decision was met with raised eyebrows. And perhaps more importantly, it hasn't really worked, with the free-agent signing failing to convince at the position. It's no surprise that the club have made signing a right-back - be that Kieran Trippier, Nordi Mukiele or someone else - a priority this January.

These individual tactical quirks are not entirely to blame for Bayern's malaise, but while the team underperforms, they offer ammunition to those who believe Tuchel is holding them back.

Tuchel has also opened himself up to criticism by failing to use some big names, while not getting the best out of those he does play. Matthijs de Ligt is perhaps the most flagrant example; a world-class centre-back who went on record saying he was leaving Juventus with the aim of starring for a bigger club has seen his career stall somewhat this term. Tuchel has claimed that De Ligt doesn't move the ball as quickly as he'd like, and has often left the €77 million (£65m/$79m) defender on the bench, leading to reports that the Dutchman is keen to leave the Allianz Arena.

Other former leaders are struggling, too. Once the jewel of a new generation of exciting German talents, Joshua Kimmich has not looked the same player in 2023-24, and it was telling that Tuchel replaced the midfielder after an hour Sunday given there are rumours that they do not see eye-to-eye.

In response to his early substitution, Kimmich did not hold back on his assessment of the game, saying: "You could tell that Bremen were hungrier than we were, and that must not happen to us at this stage of the season. You don’t get the feeling that we know what was at stake."

Reports have suggested that Kimmich, whose contract is up in 2025, is keen to move on this summer, and he is not the only one. Davies, for example, seems to have his heart set on Real Madrid, and some of his recent performances suggest he might already be planning for life at the Bernabeu. Serge Gnabry, meanwhile, has fallen out of the picture entirely.

What was once one of Europe's elite squads seems to be falling apart when it should still be at its prime, and the manager is at least partially to blame. His comments after Sunday's loss, however, seemed to suggest that he feels his players need to show more.

"For the first 70 minutes, we didn’t look like a team who wanted to win and play for the title," he said. "The win was very deserved for Werder. We conceded too many counter-attacks, lost too many duels, lost our structure. There was little positive energy today. We were sloppy and static. It’s not enough. I can’t explain why so many players fell short of the levels they showed in training."

A manager using the media to get a message through to his squad is nothing new, and Tuchel has done so throughout the campaign. It was clear that not all was well as far back as in August, as after the Bavarians' 3-0 loss to Leipzig in the German Super Cup, the coach admitted he was more than a little concerned about how his team had begun their season.

"It's frightening because I don't recognise anything anymore. Neither what we wanted to do in terms of content or how we last played or trained. There's really nothing to recognise. I say it again: the manner and the result are terrifying," he lamented.

Despite using the media to divide blame when things go wrong, Tuchel has also endured something of a frosty relationship with reporters as standards have slipped over the course of the campaign. In November, the manager stormed out of a Sky Germany interview following a 4-0 win over Dortmund after the interviewer questioned him about Bayern's embarrassing DFB-Pokal defeat to third-division side Saarbrucken earlier in the week.

Things then came to a head before Christmas when Tuchel responded angrily to a reporter who suggested that Stuttgart manager Sebastian Hoeness could someday be Bayern manager, saying: "You don’t seriously think that I'll speculate about my possible successor here? I'm here now and who knows for how long. It doesn't matter what I can imagine."

And yet among all Tuchel's problems, there remains the possibility of success. Leverkusen's lead in the Bundesliga might be imposing now, but should Bayern win their game in hand on Wednesday, then they will be eyeing their trip to the BayArena on February 10 as a real shot to induce panic in Xabi Alonso's side.

Leverkusen have famously never won the German title, hence their nickname 'Neverkusen', and anxiety is sure to kick in should Bayern start closing the gap. Alonso's side have already needed stoppage-time winners to secure victories in each of their two games since the Bundesliga's winter break, while top-scorer Victor Boniface has been ruled out until April after picking up a groin injury that requires surgery. Factor in the potential fixture congestion that could come with a deep Europa League run, and the potential for slip-ups down the stretch is pretty substantial.

Bayern themselves will be eyeing European success, too, though their recent form has tempered expectations that they could realistically challenge Manchester City or Real Madrid in the Champions League. The team's overall quality and Tuchel's European nous should be enough to see them past Lazio in the last 16, but improvements will be needed thereafter if they are to improve on last season's quarter-final exit.

That's not to say that such dreams are impossibilities, but right now it feels like Bayern will need their rivals to under-perform and hand them trophies, rather than go and win them themselves. Given how stacked their squad is and the level Kane is playing at, that should be alarming for Tuchel and those above him at the Allianz Arena.

Whether Tuchel remains in the Bayern hotseat remains to be seen, but were he to be sacked before the end of the campaign, then questions would be asked - at least in Germany - as to whether he can truly cut it at one of Europe's elite clubs.

He might have lifted the European Cup with Chelsea and been the only man in the QSI-era to have guided Paris Saint-Germain to a Champions League final, but as each week goes by with Bayern struggling, those in his homeland are beginning to doubt whether he will ever be able to emulate Jurgen Klopp, as many predicted he would when Tuchel was enjoying success at Dortmund.

Those same doubts, however, are not shared around Europe, as Tuchel laid out just last week when asked how his time at Bayern has compared to his previous role at Chelsea: "I feel we are very critical of each other in Germany, especially with players and coaches. It is very hard to escape. There is a picture and this picture is basically the picture for years and years. I felt more appreciation in England, yes."

Perhaps those who doubt Tuchel have a point, too. Despite his Dortmund team being entertaining to watch, they won just one DFB-Pokal during his time there, while he lost more finals than he won at Chelsea. At PSG, meanwhile, he was criticised for his inability to manage Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, and fell out with the club hierarchy, something which also happened in Dortmund with CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.

And yet, calls for him to potentially return to England are growing. With it presumed that the Manchester United job will be vacated by Erik ten Hag in the coming months, Tuchel has emerged as a potential candidate to take the reins at Old Trafford. Should Eddie Howe be relieved of his duties at Newcastle, meanwhile, there is a feeling that coaching the big-spending Magpies might be the perfect role for Tuchel to restore his reputation in.

For now, though, he remains in charge of Bayern, and there is a world where he ends the campaign holding both the Bundesliga and Champions League trophies aloft. Right not, though, that feels more like a pipe dream than a likely reality.