The last time Bayern Munich lost 5-1 away against Eintracht Frankfurt, just over four years ago, manager Niko Kovac was shunted out of the door the next day. Kovac had long lost the respect of the dressing room by then. Things are not at that terminal stage for Thomas Tuchel after Saturday's debacle, however. Far from it.
He also volunteered that some last-minute tactical instructions in relation to a possible change to a back five by the home side were both misplaced and ill-timed. As it turned out, Frankfurt played four in defence, as the visitors had expected all along. And talking formations just before kick-off, Tuchel suspected, might have needlessly diverted the players' focus on more important matters such as application. "We weren't ready for this game," he lamented.
From the first minute, they had huge problems playing out from the back and "exerting dominance and rhythm in midfield," as Tuchel said. They misplaced the easiest of passes and looked so shaky at the back that Dino Toppmöller's aggressive Frankfurt side threatened to score with every counter-attack.
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