With Matthijs de Ligt and Eric Dier, FCB currently seem to have found a functioning duo in the centre of defence. At the press conference ahead of the Darmstadt game, the 50-year-old praised the duo, but also put things into perspective.
„They win games, work well together and also with the full-backs and back sixes. There’s no reason to change,“ said Thomas Tuchel. The head coach was asked about the centre-back duo of Dier/De Ligt at the press conference ahead of the away game against SV Darmstadt on Saturday.
Tuchel’s statements can be interpreted to mean that the Englishman and the Dutchman will once again defend from the start in the stadium of the team bottom of the table.
„Played very well recently“ – Tuchel satisfied with Dier/De Ligt
At the same time, Tuchel relativised the supposed guarantee of the two in the following subordinate clause: „Only if you look at the quality of Dayot Upamecano and Minjae Kim.“
However, Tuchel is not currently considering changing the basic formation. „But they have a good chance of starting again because they have played very well recently,“ Tuchel continued.
The „promotion“ of the Dutchman probably represents a fundamental change to the Tuchel era before the announcement of his departure at the end of the season. Previously, the 24-year-old was considered more of a No. 3 or 4 centre-back in the hierarchy.
De Ligt was left out of the squad against Leverkusen (0:3) and was only given 17 minutes in the first leg against Lazio Roma (0:1). Since then, however, De Ligt has been a regular, while Eric Dier has been on the pitch for the full distance in five of a possible eight Bundesliga matches.
Dier also formed a successful centre-back duo with De Ligt in the 3-0 win over Lazio in the second leg. Now the duo will be looking to secure their 19th win of the season in their 26th game against the team bottom of the table in Darmstadt.
