Denis Kazansky: “The appointment of Tuchel increases the chances of Munich.” Preview of Manchester City and Bayern in the Champions League

On the eve of the matches of the ¼ final of the Champions League between Manchester City and Bayern, Denis Kazansky , an invited expert of the Bookmaker Rating website, a regular member of the Comment.Show YouTube channel, Channel One commentator, answered questions from our blog . We talked about tactics and strategy, Munich’s chances, Guardiola’s greatness and genius, and why City can’t take the trophy.

About trainers.

Pep Guardiola worked not just in the Bundesliga, but in Bayern itself. How has this job changed him? What did he bring from the Bundesliga to the Premier League? 

It’s hard for me to say how he changed himself, you still have to be in the same house with him in order to understand how he has changed, but, of course, the principles of the game remained the same for him in Barcelona, ​​in Bayern, in Manchester City”. The meaning of the game of his team has always changed, we can say that every year he has a completely new tactic. The strategy is the same, but the tactics are different. What he didn’t have at Barcelona, ​​what appeared at Bayern, now he has at City is inverted fullbacks and helping them pivot – this has become a “trick” for Manchester City, which many are now copying in this of course his genius. It was he who implemented two teams into the game at once, and we saw this in Germany, plus, again, if we talk about the differences, after all, the presence of Robben and Ribery implied a very powerful play on the flanks,

Now, in the case of Haaland, City looks completely different, but again, in Munich, crosses into the penalty area were needed for Lewandowski and Muller to close, now it’s more like entering the penalty area and, like a fire option, throwing balls at Haaland, and this is only a Norwegian appeared, because before that Pep didn’t have such a big nine, so the principles are the same, the tactics are different, and he brought this not only from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, but, as it were, this is his “trick”, this is his development and this, of course, he is absolutely brilliant.  

The main thing in this situation is football is different, which is easy to see, again, a change in tactics: if in Manchester City he plays 4-3-3, then in Bayern it was 4-1-4-1, but with different ideological content. In addition, there are completely different things in building an attack: if in Germany, with such a dominance of Bavaria in almost 90% of matches, it was quite possible to stay two on the defensive when accelerating an attack, then in England this is a big risk and therefore we often see at the beginning of an attack Manchester City uses three players, a hybrid scheme, this does not mean that there are three central defenders, this means that it will be more convenient to start attacks this way and there is less risk, so of course there are quite serious changes here. But this flexibility, again, he did not take from the Bundesliga, but simply this is his basis. 

Bayern blew up the media two weeks ago with the news of Nagelsmann’s dismissal and Tuchel’s appointment . Given that Nagelsmann was a fan of Guardiola’s ideas, was it logical to dismiss him, was there too high a chance that the young coach would not cope?

It no longer makes sense to talk about Nagelsmann’s game against Pep. The surprise is that Nagelsmann turned out to be quite quarrelsome, and it’s amazing how it was possible to quarrel with half of the team, how it was possible not to take into account the Neuer factor for me is still incomprehensible. Let’s see where he pops up, it is likely that in England he will constantly play against Pep, but this will already be a problem for Nagelsmann himself. 

But the fact that Tuchel is coming is, it seems to me, really quite curious and introduces an interesting tactical moment. In each match, there will be several templates that will be used by coaches who know each other very well. I think it will be even more interesting than the matches with Nagelsmann. It seems to me that Pep would beat him quite simply, unlike what will happen with Tuchel.

The appointment of Tuchel, who quite successfully opposed Pep’s team in England, especially in the Champions League, increases the chances of Munich or is it too strong a shake-up for the team before the most important games?

I think that the appointment of Tuchel increases the chances of Munich. Yes, quite a bit of time has passed, but I think that Tuchel followed what was happening at Bayern, he knows the players very well, their capabilities. Maybe it will take him less time to rebuild here compared to what he had when he came to Chelsea, but you remember how it all ended. And of course this is a very good bonus because Tuchel knows how to beat Pep. Of course, it didn’t work out in the last matches, but the main match – the Champions League final in Portugal – was quite a bold game by Tuchel … although there, of course, Pep also “pricked” himself with such a feeling, but still Tuchel won. I think that Thomas is the coach who perfectly understands how it is possible and necessary to defend against Pep’s team, I think 

How much credit does Guardiola have from Manchester City management ? The same Nagelsmann was dismissed instantly, as they saw that ” the performance curve went down , ” as Salihamidzic explained. Will another relegation from the Champions League, if it happens, hurt Pep or will he be given more and more chances?

It doesn’t seem to me that Guardiola’s fate depends on the Champions League trophy because City are very lucky to have club owners who don’t shy away, unlike what happens in Paris. And if it were so necessary, then I think that they would most likely have appointed a coach of the caliber of Conte or Zidane a long time ago instead of Pep, but they perfectly see what evolution the team is doing every year, how the team has changed under Pep, and the essence of the game , and they understand his incredible football genius, cherish and it seems to me that everything here depends on Guardiola himself, and no longer on the owners.

Even if the team does not win the Champions League this time, everything will be decided by Pep himself. It would be very strange, in my opinion, to follow the path of finding a coach who will bring only this trophy, abandoning everything else. City are still in contention for three trophies this season. And there is a feeling that if Arsenal win the league this year, it will only be because City will let go and because they can get bogged down in matches with Bayern. Just the games with Bayern, these two matches, will be of fundamental importance for the championship race in England. Because there are more matches left, and if the “citizens” beat Bayern, there are still a lot of matches, unlike Arsenal, which flew out of the Europa League with flying colours, and I think that they don’t care at all about this.

But then again, returning to the question of City management, they understand what a diamond they have in their hands and that it must be protected because, obviously, this is a person who is ahead of his time. And to be attached to only one trophy, appreciating its greatness, it seems to me absolutely wrong. Whether City win the trophy or not, neither Pep nor the Manchester line-up will be any less great.