Those who allow themselves to be humiliated in sport don’t have to wait long for ridicule. So the hand-counted 47 TSG Hoffenheim fans who had traveled with them chanted “Without Hoffenheim nothing would be going on here”, while the defeated Bayer Leverkusen players tried in vain to explain themselves to their fans in the curve. Hoffenheim are now six points ahead of clubs like Dortmund; Leverkusen is 18. This triple bet would have brought astronomical odds in betting shops.
It should be an exciting season for Bayer Leverkusen. The extension of the contract of top scorer Patrik Schick and the fact that Moussa Diaby and teenager Florian Wirtz could also be retained sparked an attitude of conviction that has probably never existed under the Bayer Cross in the 43 years of first division membership. It almost seemed like an experiment: Can a Bundesliga club tease FC Bayern if they keep their strong team together and strengthen it?
The coach of the factory club, the Swiss Gerardo Seoane, is a friendly and always cheerful man with a penchant for the offensive, which is why he not only looks like the ideal cast in the lead role of a TV biography of his compatriot Roger Federer, but credible as a Bayern challenger . As a coach, Seoane clearly knows how to win from his years in the Swiss league. But does he also know what to do if you lose in the Bundesliga? His actions against Hoffenheim seemed puzzling because he relied on players who should actually be sold sooner rather than later (Amiri, Paulinho) or who are currently considered not good enough for the starting XI (Demirbay, Bakker). There was something desperate about that.
His players never seemed like a unit, but flat and insecure, like a club in a relegation battle that has no idea about relegation battles. The scene against Hoffenheim in which the busy but hapless offensive player Azmoun defused a shot by Schick just before the Hoffenheim goal line was emblematic. Bayer acted predictably and as if under sedation, overworked and terribly tired, as if the team already had 40 games under their belts – and not just four games, including the loss of the cup at a third division team.
A good six years ago, Leverkusen lost 3-0 at home against Hoffenheim, it was the beginning of the end for Roger Schmitt as Bayer coach. Not many people grieved at the time, as Schmitt’s playstyle was quite destructive and didn’t inspire sympathy. But Leverkusen never just has to win, they have to Nice to win. Seoane was also brought from Young Boys Bern because his team Leverkusen had conceded four goals in the Europa League; it was often overlooked that Bern conceded three goals – it doesn’t matter as long as it was outshined by the offensive spectacle.
Because Bayer in particular knows from decades of experience how important spectacle is, also to get rid of the reputation of the plastic club, and maybe even to look a bit cool. Last season, Bayer scored 80 goals in the league, the factory club was really cool at times. But if the team doesn’t offer exciting football, they are quickly derided as a wannabe traditional club whose tradition consists primarily of failing at the crucial moment for almost three decades of being favorites. And for those who don’t joke, the club quickly becomes irrelevant.
Unless this season will be exciting for Bayer Leverkusen for completely different reasons than expected.