If the last one doesn’t come to the conclusion that our defensive concept doesn’t exist, there’s no way we can help it.
Werner needs to act urgently, but on the other hand I don’t know what to expect when the back three looks different every time. The realization of Keita is probably what most people ultimately expected. It’s more of a “hope” that he’ll be in a form that we can use him for the second half of the season. Currently you don’t need it at all. Werner substitutes him every now and then in the hope that he will make progress. I don’t see anything there… but someone with his “theoretical” stature would be extremely important in midfield at the moment.
Otherwise… I was a little worried that the defense wasn’t wide enough either. Pieper, Stark and Friedl are suitable for the Bundesliga. Not everyone else. Veljkovic has actually been showing for years that he has no place in the Bundesliga, and yet we’re keeping him because he has a good day every now and then.
The fact that you constantly use big players, or have to use them, isn’t good either… he simply doesn’t belong in League 1, if at all only to expand the width of the squad, but he’s currently a regular player, either in the 6th or even behind… that doesn’t work that way.
We started the transfer phase well and then stopped working. And above all, some construction sites were opened that were really not necessary.
We couldn’t begin to replace Gruev with an announcement. Simply awarded to Burke. With a decent conversation about his future they could probably have kept him. He was a ray of hope that would have certainly done us some good at the moment. Dinkci awarded without necessity… and he’s really delivering. Buchanan was simply sold off.
Of the additions, Deman is actually the most positive so far. And Woltemade too. Although I would now consider it as access. But Woltemade is not yet where he needs to be to be able to really help in League 1.
After Füllkrug’s departure it was immediately clear that it was going to be a very tough season.
But that was actually clear beforehand after no real trade was made for either the 6 or the defense on the transfer market.
We were pretty lucky last season all things considered, especially in the first half of the season… The second half of the season was terrible. And by then it was actually clear that Werner should rethink the entire defense. He didn’t, he still doesn’t. But he has to otherwise he is the wrong coach.
I don’t want to scream “coach out” just yet. It’s also not his fault that the transfer phase started off well and can only be described as bad overall. But we have options to set up the team differently, including defensively. I also don’t have the impression that the players at the back even know how to defend. Man marking? Probably not, as far away as everyone always is from their opponents. But there doesn’t seem to be a “space concept” either, unless it involves giving the opponent as much space as possible.
In any case, as soon as the opponent has the ball, in principle no matter when or where, what happens behind them appears to be purely coincidental. And that just doesn’t work.