Bayer Leverkusen should finally learn if they want to become a Bayern hunter. Frankfurt is happy about the Glasner football. In addition: Tayfun Korkut’s first mistake and why VfB is on the right track despite the Bayern gossip. The theses for the 16th matchday of the Bundesliga.
Hertha’s gossip in Mainz goes to Tayfun Korkut
Hertha BSC had absolutely no chance at 0: 4 in Mainz. That was a bit surprising after two solid, sometimes even convincing performances in Stuttgart and against Bielefeld. And it didn’t correspond at all to what Tayfun Korkut actually stands for as a coach. Korkut is an advocate of controlled football and with control he wanted to counter the very aggressive ball hunting of the Mainz team. However, with the wrong approach and the wrong staff.
The Berliners wanted to counteract the Mainz pressing with “calm possession”, said Korkut after the game. In itself a good approach – but simply not possible with the formation at the center of the game. There Korkut took Lucas Tousart into the team somewhat surprisingly, and put Santi Ascacibar and Vladimir Darida at the side of the French. And thus had three players who have more physical moments. And because Hertha stayed true to their idea and wanted to move forward from player to player with short build-up passes, they ran into Mainz completely. The hosts pressed on every single pass and had several (high) ball conquests.
Perhaps from a Berlin point of view it would have been better to look for depth quickly and move up even more to second balls. At least one would have had to counter the sharpness of the Mainz pressing.
SC Freiburg only has one problem
Even after the 0-0 win against Union Berlin, SC Freiburg remains one of the teams in the first half of the season and Christian Streich or Christian Günter or any other player and person in charge can say what they want: Freiburg will be looking for a place in the international until the end of the season Fight competition.
The team is tremendously stable and cannot really be upset by the last negative results. In some disciplines, Freiburg is already top, twelve goals after a dead ball, for example, are by far the top value in the league.
Or goalkeeper Mark Flekken: Little attention, but with his performances one of the best keepers in the league so far. However, there is also a problem that the Breisgauers should still solve if they really want to go very far this season: The team scores too few goals from the free game. So far there are only twelve goals scored specifically, plus two own goals by the opponent. That shouldn’t be enough in the long run and describes a tricky situation.
Lucas Höler has developed incredibly well and is very valuable for his team’s game. But Höler is anything but a killer in front of the gate. Freiburg has enough chances in almost every game, but then there is a lack of opportunities to exploit. And that could end up being a penalty for the surprise team.
Bayer Leverkusen lacks maturity
Bayer Leverkusen have now scored 39 goals after beating TSG Hoffenheim 2-2, the second most after Bayern Munich. Bayer Leverkusen have now conceded 26 goals, more than any other team in the upper half of the table and as many as relegation candidate FC Augsburg. Those are the bare numbers that reveal a fundamental problem facing the team.
But it’s not just the lack of balance between offensive and defensive that keeps Bayer from being a real Bayern hunter. It’s the team’s lack of maturity. For the fourth time this season, Bayer was unable to save a (clear) lead over time. Against Dortmund, the team took the lead three times and lost 3: 4 in the end. In Cologne, Frankfurt and now against Hoffenheim a two-goal lead was only enough for two meager points.
The team has difficulties adjusting their basic game plan from time to time during a game. To shift down a gear or two, to let the opponent bleed to death with longer periods of possession, to manage a game a little. Instead, Bayer always pushes through its rather risky plan – and then gets pressure on its anything but solid central defense again and again.
It will be one of the big tasks for coach Gerardo Seoane to give his team more calm. Because with the first setback, the big chaos starts too often at Bayer. It’s very different with real top teams.
