The Bundesliga fluctuations in Munich this season are so frequent and so wild that it cannot help but invite scrutinyJulian Nagelsmann might have imagined this stage of the season in many different guises when he resumed work after the World Cup. He almost certainly did not envisage this. His team will begin April with more games to shape the remainder of their campaign than they normally would at this stage, a legacy of the aforementioned break for the tournament in Qatar, but they will also make their way onto that road in an unfamiliar position of second place. Bayern Munich did not lose everything in Leverkusen, but any misapprehension under which they might have laboured under that this is a...
Out of the bottom three after and winning a local derby, Leverkusen can sign off for the Bundesliga’s break with hopeIf Leverkusen have spent most of the campaign so far hiding their bright light under a bushel, it was shining high in the grey skies last weekend as they steamrollered long-time league-leaders Union Berlin. The highlight of Englische Woche, though? Don’t be fooled. If Sunday was the main course this, a 15-minute hop behind enemy lines on a fresh Wednesday night, was the dessert.That half-hour of second-half heaven against Union, where a goalless first half became a 5-0 virtuoso display, felt like a placebo in the context of the midweek derby at Köln, like a little holiday from reality. It...
My former teammate has the intellect and charisma to infuse his on-pitch knowledge into those he coaches at LeverkusenI loved being on the pitch with footballers. My former coaches Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Jupp Heynckes and Felix Magath were world champions or European Cup winners as players. As practitioners, they know what makes a dressing room tick. They recognise with which players triumphs are possible. They use the natural hierarchy of a team. Footballers can smell it when their coaches lack this instinct.I could have imagined Xabi Alonso as my coach. He knows football inside out. He played for Bayern for three years, and in 2017 we finished our careers together, again with the Bundesliga trophy in our hands. That...
The Spaniard got off to a flyer last week but a 5-1 thrashing at Frankfurt has revealed the true size of his taskThis was it. The start of the Xabi Alonso-as-coach story, where one of the most natural schemers in a midfield would prove himself as adroit and successful with the backdrop of the touchline. If there was any assumption that his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard would be a certain type of manager based on his assurance as a player, that perhaps goes double for Alonso on the back of three seasons of displaying his philosophy at Real Sociedad’s B team.The view for a while has been that Alonso is so cerebral that he should be on an inexorable...
Coach insists avoiding relegation is his club’s main aim despite a 3-2 win at Leverkusen that took them to the summitIt took a bit of fortune but few, bar those of a Bayer Leverkusen persuasion, were complaining. Freiburg eventually came out on top in a five-goal thriller at BayArena on Saturday, a scenario that had looked a long way from likely at half-time. Their coach, Christian Streich, called it “a lucky win”, with characteristic frankness.No matter. Freiburg go back into European competition this week on top of the Bundesliga. They’ve been there before only once before, after winning 4-0 against Stuttgart on the opening day of 2000-01, so whether you can even count that is open to debate. Streich said...