Bayer 04 is still a long way off its top form from the double season. After the 4-1 defeat at Arsenal FC, coach Xabi Alonso and his players have clear words to say about their poor performance
Granit Xhaka’s statements and facial expressions just wouldn’t come together on Wednesday evening after the 4-1 defeat against his former club FC Arsenal at the Emirates. “I was happy to be back here. It was very emotional. It was definitely fun,” said the strategist, who received a standing ovation from the Arsenal fans when he was substituted, with a serious expression on his face, before immediately adding critically: “The result wasn’t the priority today, it was the performance. But it wasn’t ideal against a very good opponent.”
An assessment that was still moderate up to that point. The 31-year-old, who played for the Gunners for seven years, went on to say that the German double winner’s performance was worthy of criticism in many respects
“You learn from games like this, you learn from games like this when you lose. And I think we can take a lot of things with us. A lot of things that were good, but also some that were less good,” analyzed the Swiss record international.
His next statement, which best described Xhaka’s emotional state, made it clear just how upset he was by the performance. “It’s a day that certainly hurts. In any case. But thank God it wasn’t about points, it was just a friendly,” admitted the leader and promised: “We’ll definitely learn from our mistakes.”
There were quite a few. Not only the individual mistakes, such as the one by Matej Kovar before the 2-0, but also group and team tactical processes that clearly did not fit against an impressive Gunners team.
Bayer 04’s defensive work was unusually poorly coordinated, not only at 0:1, and they were also far too passive against the ball and lacked the necessary aggression for long periods. Bayer were 2-0 down after just nine minutes. Arsenal played cat and mouse with the Werkself in some scenes. Facts about which central defender Edmond Tapsoba had clear words
“We have to be ready from the start and, of course, defend more actively and do a better job of implementing what the coach asks of us,” explained the 25-year-old, who initiated Bayer’s goal on the counter-attack with a fine through pass, “I can’t say that we didn’t do it at all today, but something was missing. We were always a bit too late. We simply have to tackle opponents like this harder.”
The unusually high error rate, combined with a Werkself that never really acted as a compact unit, meant that Bayer had no chance against the runners-up from England. In attack, too, there was hardly any goal threat from the controlled build-up.
An overall picture that Xabi Alonso also criticized. “That’s a wake-up call for us in preparation,” the coach stated unequivocally, “that was far below our standard and a long way from where we want to be. “
And the Basque was even clearer. “We have to forget about last season. We have to focus on the new season to be competitive and to have a good mentality,” appealed the 42-year-old, adding: “Maybe we needed a hard slap in the face – and we got a really hard slap. “
Leverkusen’s play in the 2-2 draw in Lens on Saturday was already characterized by too many simple ball losses and, as a result, problems with defensive compactness and a lack of activity in defence. In addition, Bayer’s typical tiki-taka did not come into its own as it did in the previous season.
The status quo is currently still a long way from the team’s own aspirations. “We played against a Champions League team. That’s the level we have to reach,” said substitute Nathan Tella, who set up Adam Hlozek’s goal, and promised: “Once the season is underway, we’ll be at that point. We’ll be further, better and fitter.”
These steps back to their old strength are already needed on Saturday in the dress rehearsal against Real Betis from Sevilla, as Xhaka emphasized. “We will do everything we can to win this game so that we are ready for the Supercup game against Stuttgart with a high level of confidence.”
Even if one should be careful not to hang test match results too high, one thing is clear: after the lesson at Emirates, Saturday’s dress rehearsal at the BayArena takes on added importance
