Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted he has sympathy for his Manchester United counterpart Erik ten Hag after last night’s disappointing game at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils were beaten 1-0 by Bayern thanks to a second half goal by Kingsley Coman, and it guaranteed Ten Hag’s side’s miserable European campaign finished with them ending up bottom of their group, without even Europa League football to look forward to in the second half of the season.
This is a long way from where Man Utd will want to be, with the club suffering serious decline since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement back in 2013, with Ten Hag the latest of a long list of managers to struggle to get the club back to being serious challengers for the biggest trophies.
Tuchel admits he has sympathy for what Ten Hag is having to deal with, with the German tactician openly saying it’s clear that this United squad lacks players with both personality and quality, which is quite a claim.
“Of course I have sympathy. I think he has a lot of key players injured for a decisive match now, that you can see then they lack this kind of personality and also the quality and maybe the width to change games from the bench,” Tuchel said after the game, as quoted in a report by the Metro.
“Yeah, it’s not an easy time but I’m pretty sure he knows what to do next, he knows how to influence his team, he does not need my advice. He does not need my clapping on the shoulders. He’s experienced enough to go through it.”
He added: “In general I feel sympathy for all of my colleagues because I know what it takes to keep a thing going.”
MUFC fans will be desperate to see things improve soon, but it’s far from ideal that their next game is a difficult Premier League trip to take on Liverpool at Anfield – the place they were thrashed 7-0 last season.
On current form, you wouldn’t bet against a similar score-line on Sunday, and one has to wonder just how long Ten Hag has left to try to turn things around at United.