They are the two players who currently have to make the difference. Moussa Diaby (22) and Florian Wirtz (18) are in demand as match deciders. But coach Gerardo Seoane knows what special challenge awaits the young stars in Berlin just three days after the win against Betis.
As in the 4-0 win over Real Betis Sevilla, when Diaby scored four and Wirtz two, both will be key players in Sunday’s match at Hertha BSC. After all, goal scorer Patrik Schick is still out (torn ligament). And there is also a question mark over the use of Schick’s replacement Lucas Alario, who only sat on the substitutes’ bench for 90 minutes as a wild card in case of emergency due to muscular problems against the Spaniards.
But how difficult is it for Diaby and Wirtz to perform like that again as such young difference-makers three days after their Europa League success at the end of the week? “When you are young, you regenerate much faster, you are almost completely recovered after 48 or 72 hours,” says Gerardo Seoane, citing one advantage of his key young players. However, this faces a high hurdle in the head.
Crack point aggressiveness
“The greater difficulty is certainly to get back into the right mental frame of mind,” the Swiss knows, “we’re in for a very difficult away game.” Consequently, the coach of the starting eleven against Sevilla, which is a good 23 years young, has the crucial question: “Can we manage to bring this aggressiveness back onto the pitch after such a short time? That’s always a challenge – and for young players certainly a bigger one than physical readiness.”
This mental freshness is one thing, the pressure of constantly having to decide games as a key player is another. When things didn’t go Bayer’s way in five winless games last time out, outward signs of frustration were visible even in a high-flyer like Wirtz in the 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg.
Individual talks and energy
Seoane also cites the team concept in this topic to help Wirtz and Diaby with this sense of entitlement. “I don’t know any player who doesn’t put pressure on himself,” says the coach, “the staff’s job is to make them feel in one-on-one meetings that not everything depends on one player, but it’s much more crucial that the player gives energy to the team. And when the team benefits, every single player works. “
An attitude Bayer consistently displayed in their 4-0 win over Sevilla. “When I see how much defensive work Moussa, Flo, Adli and Paulinho did, the team feels that when we work together like that,” explains Seoane, “and that indirectly takes pressure off the player. Because when you’re not playing for yourself, but for the team, you have a completely different attitude.” Which the coach is also hoping for from more than just his young players on Sunday in Berlin.