The winners Bayern Munich’s boss, Thomas Tuchel, says that the team is still a work in progress. Bayern Munich’s defense of the Bundesliga title starts on Friday against Werder Bremen.
The Bavarians have won the last 11 league titles in a row, but they only kept it last year because Borussia Dortmund made a mistake on the last day of the season.
Since last year, when striker Robert Lewandowski went to Barcelona, Bayern has had problems with mistakes on defense and not scoring enough goals when they attack. These problems seem to have followed them into the new season.
On Saturday, they lost the German Super Cup at home to RB Leipzig by a score of 3-0. Tuchel, who took over for Julian Nagelsmann at the end of last season, was very angry.
“It seems like we haven’t done anything in four weeks. “I just don’t know how to explain it,” the coach said about pre-season practice.
Bayern still doesn’t have a world-class goalkeeper. Manuel Neuer is still healing from a broken leg he got skiing in December, and the team hasn’t signed a top goalie for the upcoming season.
Tuchel also wants to get a holding player for the number six spot before the transfer window closes.
Bayern paid Napoli 50 million euros to get defender Kim Min-jae to fix the holes in their defense.
Tuchel is sure that England captain Harry Kane, who was bought from Tottenham Hotspur for a league-record 100 million euros, will help his team score more goals and convert more chances to get off to a good start and win games.
Kane’s German start as a low-key replacement in the second half of their Super Cup loss didn’t do much to dampen the excitement and hopes of Bayern fans.
Borussia Dortmund doesn’t have nearly as much money as Bayern Munich. Last season’s runners-up spent less than half of what Bayern did to bring in midfielders Felix Nmecha, Marcel Sabitzer, and Rami Bensebaini.
They will face tough competition from Xabi Alonso’s attack-minded Bayer Leverkusen, which has signed players like Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, Nigerian striker Victor Boniface, and Germany international Jonas Hofmann, among others, as part of a shopping spree.
Leipzig has been just as busy in the transfer market, but it remains to be seen if they have done enough to replace key players like Christopher Nkunku, Konrad Laimer, Dominik Szoboszlai, Josko Gvardiol, and Andre Silva, who have all left the club.
Their Super Cup win over Bayern gave them a boost of confidence early on, but they’ll need to do it again on Saturday when they face a strong Leverkusen team in the first game of the season.
“There are a lot of things we can do better, but this definitely gave us a boost,” said Leipzig coach Marco Rose after his team beat Bayern. “Playing Leverkusen will be hard.”
Union Berlin signed Robin Gosens for an estimated 13 million euros, which was a big surprise. They did this as they prepare for the Champions League group stage after finishing fourth in the Bundesliga last year.