Football – Bundesliga: symptoms of crisis and pain at Bayer Leverkusen

It took a while before Mark Flekken came over the first words as the new crisis declarer of Bayer Leverkusen. On the one hand, this role is not familiar with the goalkeeper changed from Brentford to Leverkusen. On the other hand, he certainly did not expect to have to deliver explanations for a performance so early in the season that surprised almost all observers in this disappointing expression.

Not much good

Crisis may be a big term for the circumstances of the 1-2 defeat from the champions from 2024 to the Bundesliga start against TSG Hoffenheim. But the visible symptoms reminded very strongly of the classic football phenomenon of ongoing failure, which usually only suffers the first clubs later in the season. It was “not everything bad,” said Flekken, who was also able to recognize “definitely not much good” by the performance of the caught former super team.

Some in the audience went home in the absence of hope for the equalization. Other whistles. The hard core of the trailer donated comforting applause. But the pain, which has so far been a clue, has broken out fully on Saturday. Everyone present had to look in the face of a bitter reality: Without the changed Florian Wirtz, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, Lukas Hradecky, Jeremie Frimpong and Xabi Alonso, this team is only reminiscent of the greatest time in the club history, which had just ended a few weeks ago.

No concept

A leader is the new captain Robert Andrich, whose game seemed much less convincing without the highly affected colleagues. »A lot of new things and everything around and around. But that’s not an excuse now, «explained Andrich. The Hoffenheimers, which were superior in all parts of the team, had started with seven newcomers, while only three new players stood in Leverkusen’s starting eleven. Bayer was aggressively, apart from some chances to corners and free kicks, harmless and bad mistakes passed. Overall, the team lacked a football concept.

Improvement may be expected if the experienced defender Loïc Badé, who had come from Sevilla FC, can participate. Execiel Palacios is also urgently longed for, and work on the obligation of his Argentine midfield colleague Ezequiel Fernández is also being committed. And a transfer from Elise Ben Seghir from Monaco could also be imminent. In the end, the huge squad change will have cost up to 200 million euros, but a homogeneous structure is not even visible in the beginning.

Huge deficits

It is “not unexpected” that these upheavals do not lead to success immediately, said coach Erik Ten Hag and explained: “I know from my experience: It takes time. We need every day and we have to work very hard. ”But they would have liked a little more speed in the development process. Sports boss Simon Rolfes had told last week to recognize a great dynamic in the squad after a certain “inertia” at the end of the pre -season “:” It is fought for the places in the team and the roles within the group. Many players try to use their new freedom. ”Andrich and Aleix Garcia were just as do just as just as just as striker Patrik Schick or defender Edmond Tapsoba. Arthur and Nathan Tella also remained pale on the wings.

Apparently Rolfes bought a lot of quality and potential, but at the level of a new structure, the team still has huge deficits. And the trainer also looked a little taken after this day of disillusionment when he said: “I can’t say how much patience we have to have. It’s just like that: sometimes it clicks. ”That sounds more like hope than a really clear plan.