2023-10-19 16:18:36
This story of evolution begins… at Estádio do Dragão. In October 2022, Gerard Soane played his last game as coach of Bayer Levekusen, after leaving defeated by FC Porto in the Champions League.
The Swiss coach could not resist the defeat and He was fired, after results that did little or nothing to please the mass of pharmacists. In his place, a familiar face from German football arrived, but with little experience as a coach. At first, he was discredited for this very reason, but, a year later, the story seems not to be the same.
Xabi: a past of glory and a successful present
As a player, the history of trophies is immense – after all, the long years at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayer Munchen could not have said anything different. At Real Sociedad, the midfielder caught the eye and flew to England. There, he spent five years and won a European Super Cup, a Champions League, an FA Cup and a Community Shield. During these years, he also lifted the European Championship trophy with the Spanish team.
He deserved the move to Real Madrid, back in 2009. You meringuesthe trophies were six including The Tenth, against Atlético Madrid – the mythical final played at the Estádio da Luz. With the team? A World Championship. Life simply didn’t stop for a defensive midfielder who achieved ten assists in 2011/12.
@Carlos Alberto Costa
In Germany, he played the last three seasons as a professional player and, with the Bavarians, he won three German championships, one German Cup and one Super Cup. To top off the CV, the math wasn’t even bad.
Two years in stand-by and Xabi Alonso gained a new life. The coach’s version of one of the most internationally recognized midfielders became known. He started his banking career in the same place where he made his name: at Real Sociedad. He spent three years serving the B team of the Basque emblem and, in 2022/23, there was a turnaround and a trip to Germany.
Of Don’t cry to something more than that?
Bayer Leverkusen is known as the definition of almost club. Just as written hair zerozero still in the lead-up to FC Porto’s visit to the BayArena, in 2022, «times when dies on the beach, everyone has.” There are countless cases in Portugal and abroad where this happens. However, the case of pharmacists is something, let’s say, beyond comparison.
They haven’t lost a game yet this season @Getty /
The resounding level of this example led to the creation of a nickname: the Don’t cry. They simply couldn’t achieve a title, a trophy whatsoever. In the history of a club founded in 1904 there are… two titles: a Europa League, at the time it was called UEFA Cupone German Cup em 1992/93.
The last time they were close to top place in the Bundesliga, still under the technical command of Jupp Heynckes, was in 2010/11where they finished seven points behind champions, Bayern Munchen.
It is the third German club with the most participation in the Champions League, only followed by the Bavarians and Borussia Dortmund. The track record is undeniable, but the track record appears to be very short.
Can Xabi Alonso literally reverse the course of history? So far, Bayer Leverkusen’s season is almost immaculate. Let’s summarize:
In short, they accumulated ten games, nine wins, one draw. The goal difference? 37 scored and only seven conceded. Xabi Alonso’s machine appears to be well oiled.
Scientific game philosophy
The Spanish coach arrived “in the middle” of last season. The preparation time for a team, effectively, in his image only began last summer.
After all, Xabi Alonso is a coach who showed great empathy for the 3x5x2 when he commanded Real Sociedad’s B team. In Germany, that ended up changing, with the wingers moving down the field and someone supporting them in midfield. O medicine perfect seems to be the 5x4x1 that you implemented.
Bayer Leverkusen’s transfer market was very straightforward. Taking advantage of house silverlike young Florian Wirtz and Adam Hlozek, the entries were impressive and, apparently, decisive. Alex Grimaldo He joined the defense from Benfica and is already showing great influence. Victor Boniface He was Union St. Gilloise’s top scorer last season and, in the current season, he has already scored nine goals in ten games. Jonas Hofmann arrived from Monchengladbach to command the midfield and Granit Xhaka to command the locker room and be the leadership figure that the pharmacists needed.
The offensive creativity provided by the signings and even the house silver gives Xabi Alonso the raw material needed to do the job – after all, the initial results of the season show just that.
Wirtz and Hofmann are the men supporting Boniface’s submission. This trio, combined with the powerful and fast ability of the Belgian striker, gives Bayer Leverkusen’s haphazard style of play a lot to gain.
With the wings well protected and fast, completed by Grimaldo and Frimpong, the Germans’ flexibility in the counterattack is decisive in the vast majority of moves, where the opponents end up showing some weakness in stopping Xabi’s men – never forgetting their vision and Xhaka’s pass in the middle, which, at times, reminds us of the ability of the club’s current coach at his peak as a player.
The method seems almost scientific and, until now, there has been no proof to the contrary. The antidote Xabi Alonso seems to be having an effect and healing the chronic pain of the Leverkusen team.
#resurrection #Bayer #Leverkusen #zerozero.pt