Community discusses Bayer launch
He moved from Bayern Munich to Bayer Leverkusen to play more. Now Josip Stanisic is a reserve for the “Werkself”, but Bayern are mourning him to some extent. And suddenly the Croatian World Cup driver collects one goal preparation after another. Nevertheless, things could be going better for the 23-year-old.
“I’m not used to that,” said Stanisic after the 3-1 win with Bayer Leverkusen in the cup round of 16 against SC Paderborn about his third assist in a week: “But you keep developing.” Before the two assists in the 2-0 win in the Europa League in Häcken last Thursday, he had not prepared a goal for over two years. In this respect, Stanisic is already making progress.
But otherwise the hoped-for step has not materialized since the loan move from series champions FC Bayern Munich. He was only allowed to start in the Bundesliga once, otherwise only in the Europa League or the cup when coach Xabi Alonso rotates. “Things could be going better for me personally,” he emphasized. His team’s 21 competitive games without defeat are “still the most important thing for him. But it would be a lie if I said everything is perfect. But it doesn’t help to bring a bad mood into the team. Of course there are days when I’m better and others when I’m worse. But that’s because of my nature, always wanting to play.”
Stanisic’s chance during the Africa Cup – Community classifies start at Bayer
That’s exactly why he actually went to Leverkusen, to always play. But curiously enough, he would probably have collected more appearances in Munich than at Bayer, because Benjamin Pavard left the record champions after Stanisic’s move and coach Thomas Tuchel has since complained about being undermanned in defense. “It is what it is,” said Stanisic about his reserve role at Bayer: “I came to it later, then I was sick, and Odi is doing outstandingly.”
Odi, that’s Odilon Kossounou, and after the winter break he, like his defensive colleague Edmond Tapsoba, will be at the Africa Cup of Nations for up to a month. Then Stanisic will be placed and challenged. And the strange thing: In contrast to Bayern, with whom he never reached the final, he is still in the cup with Leverkusen. And leads the Bundesliga table ahead of his parent club.
Transfers between Bayer Leverkusen and FC Bayern (since 1994)
In the TM community, quite different perspectives on Stanisic’s personality are accumulating. TM user “herrmann13” sees the loan of the national player as a highly undervalued transfer. He writes: “Really solid defensively, and his crosses from the half field are always dangerous. In addition, Bayern is making the season more difficult.” The “vice champion” thinks this is exaggerated: “There is a reason why he is only IV number 5 and doesn’t have the slightest chance at RV. He plays solidly, unobtrusively. It’s nice to have someone like that in our back pocket, but he’ll never be a regular player for us. Admittedly, his crosses are very good.”
“00Frederik”, who also highlights the advantage that Stanisic is not available to FC Bayern, finds more uplifting words and writes: “I find him quite confident. You also have to remember that his role is not that easy at the moment. His opponents in defense (especially Koussounou) are performing very well at the moment. He then rotates every now and then to relieve the pressure in the Europa League, the Cup and, more rarely, in the league. Of course, it also has the disadvantage that you often play in an eleven that is not completely well-coordinated and (does not) consist of the ten strongest sidemen.”
For me, by far the weakest is definitely Tella. Who, even in the Europa League against lower-class opponents, cannot indicate why he plays with us and not with the opponent.
I also talked about underrated here. With Xhaka and Grimaldo it was clear what you were getting. With Boniface the risk was clear, for me Hofmann is the one who most likely flew under the radar, Stanisic has (felt) always been very good at passing and is also wanted. And he always just comes…
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