The hope was more excitement at the top of the Bundesliga. Nothing will come of it, at least if you look at the many problems of the alleged Bayern pursuers at the start of the season.
Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen – this trio was often mentioned first before the start of the season when it came to who could possibly pose a threat to FC Bayern this season. After three matchdays, these forecasts seem to have come to nothing.
On the one hand there are the glamorous performances of Munich, who seem to have found the desire to shoot the league short and small – on the other hand the rather bland performances of BVB (7th place), RB Leipzig (11th place) and Bayer Leverkusen (17th place), who are already struggling with complex problems.
Borussia Dortmund
At least the results were still right at BVB at the beginning. Victory in the tricky first game against Bayer Leverkusen, victory at SC Freiburg – even against Werder Bremen it looked for a long time as if the black and yellow could at least keep up with Bayern in terms of points. Werder’s sensational final phase put an end to that.
The analysis at BVB was then relentless. “We didn’t play good football”said team captain Marco Reus: “That must make us think that we haven’t found any opportunities to play a game of dominance on the field.” his team have “the balls too careless” given, said Reus the “kicker”. “We just run after them and don’t have the ball in our ranks for 20 seconds”.
In terms of play, BVB didn’t really convince in the victories against Leverkusen and Freiburg, but the attitude was right. Coach Edin Terzic has already emphasized that the preparation is not over with the start of the season. A lot of work is waiting for the coach – especially on the offensive, where it is important to find the new center forward and haller-Substitute Anthony Modest to involve So far, that hasn’t worked at all. Before he was substituted in the 81st minute, he had the ball 12 times and had zero shots on goal.
RB Leipzig
It was certainly to be expected that RB Leipzig would lose 1: 2 at Union Berlin. After all, the three previous Bundesliga games between the two teams ended with exactly the same result in favor of the Unioner. It is surprising that Leipzig would still be without a win after three games.
The RB-Elf, which was recently reinforced with the national players Timo Werner and David Raum, has so far lacked any determination. While the race to catch up in the Supercup against FC Bayern from 1:4 to 3:4 (final score: 3:5) was still promising, the three Bundesliga appearances didn’t have much to do with football delicacies.
Top performers like Kevin Kampl, Josko Gvardiol and Konrad Laimer are far from their best. The arts of the star offensive with Christopher Nkunku, Dani Olmo and Timo Werner flash far too seldom. And the defense is also not very solid after Nordi Mukiele left and Lukas Klostermann was injured.
Bayer Leverkusen
Last season, third day of play. After a 4-1 win at FC Augsburg, Bayer Leverkusen climbed to second place in the table. It’s a good start to the season. The protagonists from back then are almost the same as today. But the football world in Leverkusen is currently different. “The confidence of the players is not the biggest thing. We have to work on that in order to regain confidence in our own strength.”said Leverkusen club boss Fernando Carro after the 0:3 home defeat, the fourth of the young season – including the cup defeat.
For Bayer Leverkusen it is the worst start in Bundesliga history. He hits the club as hard as unexpected. Coach Gerardo Seoane, last season for the Champions League– Qualification celebrated, is now in demand as a crisis manager. The problem: He doesn’t know anything about crises. At FC Luzern as well as in the three years at the Young Boys Bern there were no such descents for Seoane. “This is a difficult moment for all of us!” said Seoane.
The current uncertainty was also reflected in his actions. Against Hoffenheim, the Swiss ordered five different players into the tenth position in Sardar Azmoun, Adam Hlozek, Kerem Demirbay, Paulinho and Nadim Amiri – without success.
There is no clear leader, the Werkself no longer functioned as a team. Sports director Simon Rolfes now calls for security through the simple things. That can work, but the next two opponents are Mainz 05 and SC Freiburg.