Leipzig played their worst first half of the season so far since promotion in 2016. The 0:2 against Bielefeld once again posed a mystery. Coach Domenico Tedesco clearly addressed two shortcomings.
In the third game under the new coach, Leipzig suffered their first defeat. After the 4:1 against Gladbach and the 1:1 in Augsburg, RB now suffered a surprising 0:2 home defeat against Bielefeld. “Against Gladbach we played well and scored four goals. Against Augsburg we could have scored four goals and also played well,” Tedesco is quoted as saying on the club website: “Today we had few scoring chances, there would have been more in it. We have played four good to very good halves in the last three games. We’ll take that with us now. We know we have a lot of work to do and not so much time to do it.”
The game against Bielefeld was unquestionably the worst under the new coach. Not only in terms of the result, but the Saxons were also not convincing. Although Leipzig had a lot of possession, they rarely knew what to do with it and repeatedly cut their teeth on the Arminen defence. In the end, RB even conceded the 0:2 goal when they were outnumbered. “Of course we are very disappointed. We couldn’t create as many chances as we did against Augsburg. We were very, very sloppy in the last third,” Tedesco clearly addressed one problem and mentioned another: “We lost our structure after the 0:1 and behaved very naively. “
Keeper Peter Gulacsi added: “We played a good first half, although we didn’t have many chances. We were not as effective as we had actually imagined. But basically we were dominant. Bielefeld always defend very compactly and it’s not so easy to find spaces. Our plan for the second half was to keep playing like that. When we conceded the 0:1, it became even more difficult. Nevertheless, we should have won this game. In our situation, of course, it’s very disappointing. “
Only 22 points after the first leg
A three-goal win against Bielefeld was certainly planned in Leipzig. Now RB ends the Hinrunde with a disappointing 22 points – never since promotion in 2016 have they had fewer. In the years before, it was 35, 37 (autumn champions), 31, 28 and 39 points. The current ninth place in the table is nowhere near the team’s aspirations.
“The conclusion of our first half of the season is somewhat sobering. Of course, 22 points are not what we had imagined. We have to analyse it all now. We’ve had a new coach for a week and a half, who has already implemented a few new things, but still has a lot of work to do with us,” knows defender Willi Orban, whose team lost seven times in the first half of the season. “We now have to recover for a few days, take responsibility and question ourselves whether we also played at our maximum. We have an important training week at the beginning of January and have to see that we gradually work off the mortgage that we are carrying with us. “
