Thomas Tuchel has used the term “harakiri”, a brutal form of suicide by disembowelment performed by Japanese samurai, to describe his Bayern Munich team twice already this calendar year.

After a limp 1-0 loss to Werder Bremen in January, Tuchel turned to the phrase to capture the self-harm inflicted by Bayern’s reckless attacking approach. Perhaps “kamikaze” would have been more appropriate.

Yet, there could be few quarrels with Tuchel’s scathing appraisal of his side’s first-half performance on Friday night. Freiburg sliced through the Bavarian behemoths time and again while racking up a 1-0 advantage that didn’t reflect the balance of chances. Bayern recovered to take the lead but were pegged back in a 2-2 draw by Lucas Holer’s 87th-minute equaliser.

With more ground lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga title race and a potentially season-defining Champions League tie against Lazio looming on Tuesday, here are the key takeaways from a shameful display.

The opening stages of any match provide outsiders with the clearest idea of a coach’s tactical approach. Yet, with Tuchel’s set of instructions still ringing in their ears, Bayern produced a first 30 minutes which their manager labelled “terrible”. The hosts fired off nine of the first ten shots on Friday, limiting Bayern to one off-target header.

“We played completely without structure, were far too undisciplined and not in our positions at all,” Tuchel fumed at the final whistle. “We had phases where our central defender ran behind the full-back. We did things that we had never trained before.”

Just nine days earlier, Bayern confirmed that Tuchel would leave the club at the end of the season. The frosty coach claimed that this “clarity brings freedom” but his players interpreted that a little too literally with a bizarrely chaotic start.

Tuchel may be on his way out and a prickly character at the best of times, but it would be wrong to say that he has lost the dressing room. After a half-time debrief with words that may have been sharper than a samurai sword, Bayern were much improved.

“Second half [was a] good half,” Tuchel noted, “with big chances, good spirit, much better discipline with much better quality in our match overall.”

Mathys Tel had fired the visitors level with a stunning strike from range before the break while Jamal Musiala danced Bayern into a deserved lead in the 75th minute. Perhaps if the division’s top scorer had been at his lethal best, Holer’s late strike may not have been quite so decisive.

The familiar expression has it that perfection is a flame many touch yet few can hold. Based on this season’s results, Harry Kane can scarcely afford to let go if Bayern are to achieve success.

Kane has failed to score or provide an assist in ten matches for Bayern Munich this season; the Bavarians have failed to win seven of these sporadic misfirings, losing five times.

Only once has Kane scored in a defeat for Bayern. That came against Bochum in February after an uncharacteristically wasteful display from the prolific debutant before his late consolation.

On Friday, Kane rattled off six shots without forcing Noah Atubolu, the Freiburg goalkeeper who was playing in Germany’s third tier this time last year, into a single save. It’s been almost three years since Kane took as many attempts without directing at least one on target.

Kane has already racked up 31 goals across all competitions this term but no one else in Bayern’s squad has hit double digits. Bayern’s second-top scorer Leroy Sane missed the trip to the Black Forest with a groin strain but hasn’t found the net since October. Last season’s most prolific player in Bavaria, Serge Gnabry, is also struggling with a muscular issue. Kane cannot afford too many more off-nights.

Tuchel’s obsession with a specialist defensive midfielder has rumbled on all season. Joshua Kimmich, who has won four Bundesliga titles with Bayern playing primarily in that position, has been repeatedly undermined and was shunted out to right-back for Friday’s contest.

The energetic but aimless Leon Goretzka lumbered alongside 19-year-old Aleksandar Pavlovic in front of a creaking Thomas Muller. Freiburg had few issues charging through this holographic midfield. As Eric Dier, hardly a centre-back comfortable without any protection, sighed: “We suffered a lot of transitions.”

This is nothing new. Only one Bundesliga team – ironically their hosts on Friday, Freiburg – has conceded more goals via counterattacks than Bayern this season.

Leverkusen’s record-breaking run exaggerates Bayern’s perceived failings this season. The reigning champions boast a better record compared to the same stage of the previous campaign while leading this year’s Bundesliga in expected goals (xG) for and against.

Yet, Tuchel’s somewhat unfortunate outfit are prone to chronic lapses in concentration.

“We have to decide if we want to focus on the first half an hour in our meeting or we focus on the last 60 minutes and then we need to decide which is our face,” Tuchel reflected after the draw with Freiburg. “But if we are honest, both is our face in too many matches of the season. We show both our faces too often.”

Even during the hour that Tuchel was happy with, Bayern switched off from a simple long throw. Kim Min-jae let Michael Greogritsch cushion the ball into the stride of Holer, who had ample space and time to swipe in an equaliser while Goretzka, his marker, casually ambled away from the action.

Once again, Bayern proved to be very capable of harming themselves.