Football: Soccer-Bayern’s Tuchel demands stability after topsy-turvy start

BERLIN (Reuters) – Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel wants more consistency from his side after an up and down start to the season and has called on his players to replicate their opening 4-0 league win at Werder Bremen when they face Augsburg on Sunday.

The Bavarians, who won an 11th straight league title when Borussia Dortmund slipped up on the final matchday, kicked off the domestic season with a 3-0 German Super Cup loss at home to RB Leipzig.

They followed that up with an emphatic league victory over Werder on Friday and Tuchel wants more of the same.

“We have to accept criticism and to keep working on the things that we had the impression we were already further ahead,” Tuchel said this week of their topsy-turvy start.

“We want to reduce the number of ups and downs we have during the match and between matches.”

He had far harsher words for his players immediately after their loss to Leipzig, saying they looked as if they had not undergone four weeks of intense pre-season training.

“Those (two matches) were an example of how extremely different we can play between Saturday and Friday and we hope, in the positive sense, to bring in stability and reduce that amplitude,” added Tuchel.

The arrival of Harry Kane, who scored one goal and set up another on his Bundesliga debut against Werder, has boosted Bayern’s hopes of a potential Champions League-winning attack this season.

But Tuchel also wants to sign a defensive-minded midfielder, saying Germany international Joshua Kimmich cannot fill that role as he wants the freedom to be more involved in the game.

Kimmich has said he could play in the position but Bayern may again dip into the transfer market.

Dortmund started with a nervous 1-0 over visiting Cologne thanks to Donyell Malen’s 88th minute winner.

Coach Edin Terzic is under far less pressure than his Bayern counterpart, however, with club CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke heaping praise on the 40-year-old this week.

Dortmund have a trip to local rivals Vfl Bochum on Saturday while Bayer Leverkusen, who stunned RB Leipzig 3-2 in their opener last week to emerge as potential title contenders, travel to Borussia Moenchengladbach the same day.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Peter Rutherford)