RB Leipzig are in their biggest crisis in almost seven years, and once again hopes for a sporting turnaround rest on Achim Beierlorzer. His first mission as interim coach of the then second-division club was moderately successful in the first half of 2015.
After a disgraceful 0:2 defeat in the Saxony derby at Erzgebirge Aue on matchday 20, Ralf Rangnick had sent then head coach Alexander Zorniger out the door. Beierlorzer clearly failed in his mission to lead Leipzig into the Bundesliga at the time, which is why he moved back into the second tier after just three months and assisted Rangnick, who had been promoted.
His current mission is probably limited to a maximum of four games until Christmas after the leave of the luckless Jesse Marsch and the rejection of the successor candidate Roger Schmidt, the deadline was “not clearly defined” by the club bosses. Against Manchester City on Tuesday, it is about staying in the Europa League, in the English week against Gladbach, Augsburg and Bielefeld for the connection to the Champions League places.
Calling the atmosphere in the team and the coaching staff “very reflective”, Beierlorzer, who returned to Leipzig in the summer, said “in such a situation there are no winners”. At the same time, he formulated an unmistakable order to the players, who had once again delivered a desolate performance in Friday’s 1-2 loss to Union Berlin: “The team is responsible. They know they have to deliver now. “
Needed armoury through tactical change of course
Beierlorzer, who, like Marsch, was only able to watch Friday’s match from his home television due to corona, wants to give the team the necessary tools with a tactical change of course. The wild and too often bird-like Marsch football, characterised by the RB pressing and switching game of earlier years, should be a thing of the past.
Beierlorzer wants to return more to the elements that made RB strong in the two years under Julian Nagelsmann. “We were played too easily at times. We have to be cohesive, compact and tight as a team,” is his central demand. This need, he says, was also conveyed to him by the team in recent talks.
We couldn’t make it happen the way Jesse envisioned.
The same compactness had been lacking at RB as a consequence of increasing uncertainty in recent weeks. Captain Peter Gulacsi admitted that doubts had grown about Marsch’s footballing guidelines in view of the lack of results in the team, and that the progress had simply been too small and the fluctuations in performance too great.
“We were not able to implement it the way Jesse had envisaged. We didn’t do the development fast enough to be successful.” Moreover, the squad was put together less for Marsch’s ideas and more for Nagelsmann’s possession football, according to Gulacsi: “We brought in the types of players for that football, that’s where we are strong.”
Gulacsi described it as a “very unfortunate situation” that Marsch was only able to attend the last three games from his home office due to corona and was also unable to say goodbye to the team. The Hungarian, like several other teammates, had phoned the sacked head coach and thanked him for their time together: “He’s a great person and a great coach. “
Leipzig’s advantage over Brugge
With the 5-0 win in Bruges just under a fortnight ago, when Beierlorzer had already deputised for his boss on the ground, RB Leipzig set the stage for advancing on their own merits. Thanks to the clear win in the direct comparison with the Belgian champions, RB must pick up at least as many points against the Premier League’s group winners as Brugge do in the parallel match at Paris St. Germain, who are also qualified early for the knockout rounds of the Champions League as group runners-up.
Beierlorzer will have to do without the injured Dani Olmo and Yussuf Poulsen. The game is also likely to come too soon for defensive veteran Willi Orban, who is still awaiting a free test from quarantine. On Monday evening, RB also announced that Beierlorzer, having overcome the Corona infection, would be allowed to leave quarantine “after the relevant negative tests and consultation with the health authorities”. That means the 54-year-old will be on the bench against ManCity.
