Only in the DFB Cup does Bayer Leverkusen still have realistic chances of a title this season. The past few weeks were characterized by setbacks. One question arises.
Only five victories in the past ten competitive games, including two bankruptcies against Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16. In Leverkusen you will slowly understand that a possible repetition of the previous season into the area of the impossible device. After a cautious start of the season, the Xabi Alonso team was able to increase gradually and, for example, make setbacks such as the 0: 4 defeat against Liverpool.
But now there is a new break -in. This has a piece to do with the overall constitution of the team. This became clear against Bayern in the second leg on Tuesday evening. The pressing of the record champion against defense chief Jonathan Tah and his sidelines as well as a little deeper against the Leverkusen midfield was overwhelming, the Munich simply has a good bit more intense and almost more turned.
Maybe it was The 0-0 between the two teams in the Bundesliga in mid -February deceptive. In that game, the Bavarians were probably primarily on maintaining the eight-point lead in the Bundesliga, which was also a bit of luck. But in the Champions League, Vincent Kompany’s team played much more dominant, kept the ball possession and showed Leverkusen the borders. This was also true for important key players such as Tah or game designer Granit Xhaka. The latter saw against Bavaria’s tens of Jamal Musiala defensive, especially in the first leg and very little land.
Alonso wanted to protect one or the other in the league game against Werder Bremen on Saturday, but quickly realized that with a 1B team in 3-4-3 it could not work against the weak North Germans. Florian Wirtz came in unscheduled at the half -time break – and injured himself at a foul by Mitchell Weiser. “Today I have to say that nothing worked. Not on the wing, not in the center,” said Alonso after the game. “I am responsible for not making such decisions again in the future. We were between two big Champions League games today, we had to rotate. We want to use the whole squad.”
A lot of pressure is generally placed on Wirtz, and the constant comparisons with national team colleagues Musiala do the rest. The risk of further setbacks for the 21-year-old, who has already suffered a cruciate ligament tear, has recently not decreased. At the foul von Weiser, he got away with a forecast downtime of four weeks, even though he will miss the North League duelle of the DFB team with Italy.
Including in the second leg
What is wrong with the Werkself? In the pre -season, Leverkusen was able to regularly force victories in the final phases of games. It often seemed as if the Werkself had more strength than the respective opponents and thus also the physical and mental freshness to complete a strong move even in added time. This season, however, there were already nine draws for Bayer, as many as in the entire previous season.
The freshness is missing in some places – and also creativity. Alonso was able to use clever tactical adjustments, but also looked too schematically or unimaginative elsewhere. In the Bundesliga first round, for example, he relied on a defensive game systems against Liverpool and Bayern. In the second leg against Bayern on Tuesday, almost no tactical changes were recognizable compared to the first leg, although they had been lost 0: 3. Only the attitude was right, because even after 0: 1 on yesterday’s evening, Leverkusen did not give up despite the hopeless situation. But the head coach and his protégés on the field cannot always act with full performance.