says he has sympathy for after ’s Champions League exit but believes the team currently lack ‘quality, personality and width’.
United needed a win to stand any chance of reaching the Champions League knockout phase but delivered a drab performance at Old Trafford as Kingsley Coman’s second-half goal sealed a 1-0 victory for Bayern Munich, .
United had several key players missing for the match including Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount, while both Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw were forced off through injury.
And Tuchel believes Ten Hag’s limited options in attack hindered United’s performance as they crashed out of European competition altogether.
When asked if he has sympathy for Ten Hag after United’s exit, Tuchel said: ‘Almost always I feel sympathy for the other coach.
‘But within competition we try everything to win our matches, this is why we are and this is what it is, these are the rules of high-level sports, we play at the highest level to win our matches.
‘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. I think you could see that.
‘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.
‘I had not such a nice moment last Saturday, sometimes you feel very lonely as a coach I can tell you. In general I feel sympathy for all of my colleagues because I know what it takes to keep a thing going.’
Asked if he is surprised by United finishing bottom of Group A, Tuchel replied: ‘Yeah, this is a huge club and it’s of course not what you expect when you see the group, you immediately think that also Manchester United is challenging for the win of the group and for a place in the round of 16.
‘But in my experience I can tell you it’s a difficult group, it looks now very clear for us in terms of points, the distance we earned in the points between us and the rest but the matches were all very, very tight and the results were narrow, the opponents were difficult and different styles of play to play against.
‘You could see in the results everything was possible today for Untied and in some of the matches it changed in a blink of an eye for them. They were pretty comfortable in Istanbul with a lead and they gave it away. They were comfortable in the lead in Copenhagen, which could have been decisive matches.
‘Like I say, it’s a big club, it’s also a big team, dangerous team, that’s why we’re happy we could prove a point, we could show a reaction and we can prove our reaction with a result that is amazing and we are happy for that.’
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