The win last week was just a small exception instead of a liberation for Bayer Leverkusen. After the very clear and well deserved 1:5 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt, Robert Andrich and Kerim Demirbay are sounding the alarm.
The 4-0 home win over Schalke 04 was hoped to be the important liberation for Leverkusen. Appropriately, right at the start of Xabi Alonso, who replaced Gerardo Seoane.
Instead, the team went back to the old pattern: during the week there was a bankruptcy against FC Porto before the Werkself went down at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon. The 1:5 swatter was also deserved in height and could have been even one or two goals higher.
The bitter reality: After only two wins and six defeats from the first ten league games, the 16th place in the table is occupied. Slowly but surely, the middle of the table is gaining a gap to the relegation zone.
Reason enough for Robert Andrich and Kerim Demirbay to sound the alarm after the disappointment against the SGE.
One thing is clear: If a real liberation does not take place in a timely manner, Leverkusen threatens to spend most of the season in a bitter relegation battle.
“We have to be honest with ourselves from the start. Everyone has to know what the hour has come, so that we don’t look at it and say: ‘We have the quality, it’s coming.’ Because then something like today will happen, if you just think someone’s doing something,” Andrich made it clear (via picture).
The ‘aggressive leader’ in midfield, as he is often referred to, was also able to give his team a different face in the first few months of this season. He also emphasized that the existing problems with the change of coach will not simply disappear – after all, it is still the same players who are on the pitch.
Andrich continues: “We have to be very clear this week that we can only do it together and that we need a home win against Wolfsburg. We have the aspirations, but we’re not showing them at the moment.”
Now it is time to secure a victory “with dirty means”. Going back to basics in a situation like this is a move that many crisis teams have embraced. The tenor: points are needed. How that happens is of secondary importance.
Teammate Demirbay also didn’t save with clear words. “We’re in deep shit,” he summed up the mood appropriately.
The situation should not be glossed over, he explained, while setting the necessary objectives for the next few weeks: “We have to get this club out of there as quickly as possible. We defend badly, it starts at the very front. We have to act better – offensively , how defensive, we haven’t been able to do that since the first game. Everyone has to deal with the situation honestly – we’re very bad at the moment.”
This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as Leverkusen still in crisis: Andrich and Demirbay sound the alarm.
