In the 2-1 win against Udinese Calcio at the end of the training camp, Bayer 04 showed a clear improvement in their offensive play. But coach Gerardo Seoane prefers to emphasise a virtue that is rather untypical for the Werkself.
This cliché has stuck to Bayer 04 for years: The Werkself knows how to conjure up brilliant attacking football on the pitch, score fantastic goals and inspire play. But when it comes to the sausage, it lacks the decisive qualities: Absolute hunger for success, the final consistency and the unconditional passion to win the decisive games with all, really all means are not exactly attributed to the Leverkusen professionals.
In this respect, Bayer 04 certainly still have the greatest room for improvement. And perhaps that is why Gerardo Seoane was particularly pleased after the 2-1 win against Udinese Calcio that his team not only put up a footballing fight against aggressive and sometimes rough Italians.
“We saw a lot of good things in the test against Udine,” the Swiss said with satisfaction, “not only a team that tries to play football, but also one that physically resists, that also takes on the duels. I liked that a lot.”
Seoane thus highlighted the team spirit and gallantry, And this grip, rather uncharacteristic of Leverkusen’s professionals over the years, was indeed remarkable.
“Focus on the team spirit “
Bayer demonstrated exceptional cohesion and resilience for a test match against a niggly Italy. And they were not intimidated physically, but held their own. Even when the odd scrum broke out, Bayer acted collectively and aggressively and did not allow themselves to be impressed.
Bayer presented itself as a unit. The fact that after Edmond Tapsoba’s opening goal, a real crowd of players formed around the scorer, even though it was only a meaningless test match, is another small indication of the spirit that prevails in this team.
So Seoane was able to draw an all-round positive conclusion of the days in Kaprun and Zell am See. “I am very satisfied with the way the team trained. In terms of intensity and spirit, but also in terms of content, they have made progress,” summed up the coach, who added: “We have also focused on the team spirit. “
Seoane is aware that in the end it will not depend on the technical brilliance and playful finesse of his team alone whether they will play an exceptional season. Therefore, his team should also grow and mature in terms of their personality.
So the football coach also wants to foster the coaching qualities of his professionals. “Communication is an important part of football,” explains Seoane, “it’s like half of the team is very young. And at a young age, you look extremely at your performance and coach your teammates less. That’s a process we want to go through with these players, to take responsibility regardless of age.” The impressions from the Udine game should have given Seoane a good feeling in that respect as well.
