The apocalypse is obviously a complex business, having disappointed its prophets with great regularity. Which does not mean that the number of augurs will decrease; they are apparently haunting Leipzig at the moment. “Sometimes I have the feeling that we are on the verge of the end of the world …” whispered RB Leipzig coach Marco Rose, 46, on the eve of the cup quarter-final match against Borussia Dortmund – and was referring to a number of comments he made in the got to read the past few days. And which he obviously found to be exaggerated.
The situation, that much is certain, has nothing to do with the end of the first half of the season, in which Leipzig stringed together a series of 18 games without defeat. On the contrary: the fact that there are signs of defeatism in the trade fair city is mainly due to the fact that Leipzig has started to pile up failures in recent weeks. After losing 7-0 at Manchester City in the Champions League, Leipzig lost 1-0 at VfL Bochum, and Rose’s team had to put up with a 3-0 loss to Mainz 05 on Saturday. Leipzig is only in fifth place in the league, behind the table places that qualify for Champions League participation. But if only that were it.
In its ramifications, the current crisis is amazingly reminiscent of the days Rose lived through in Mönchengladbach two years ago: After losing the Champions League in the round of 16 against Manchester City, he lost not just two, but six more games – including a DFB Cup match against Borussia Dortmund. And as if the duplication of events wasn’t enough, the manager Max Eberl was Rose’s boss in Gladbach, just as he is now in Leipzig.
What does all this do to the team? “We don’t have enough sense of achievement, so the mood and atmosphere are appropriate,” explained Rose. Only: She didn’t fall into “depression” either: “The team is not a startled bunch that doesn’t know where the back and the front are.” However, the team apparently also saw it as useful to exchange ideas without the boss after the Mainz game – in a meeting that Rose himself made public: “I think it’s something normal that there are meetings without a coach”.
It is assumed that it was also about the way the player should act on the pitch. Rose had already complained after the game against Mainz that one had to think about the so-called “basics” again; on Tuesday he became more precise: Mainz showed a similar “start-up behavior” as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the 7-0 win in the Champions League – and successfully blocked the Leipzig team’s build-up play through aggressive pressing. Leipzig have “constantly chosen the playful approach”, but instead of indulging in an artificial game opening, it would have been better to make the path to the opposing goal more direct.
BVB also has to cope with a disappointment, but it was much more moderate
At the same time, however, Rose admitted that the use of such stylistic devices was more difficult for the Leipzig team. “Target players” like Mainz giant Ludovic Ajorque, who can “fix” balls up front, are unfortunately not available. Forward Yussuf Poulsen is injured. To make matters worse, Leipzig has had to do without French striker Christopher Nkunku and midfield driver Xaver Schlager due to injuries since the duel with Dortmund in March (1-2). “It does something to the team,” admitted Rose on Tuesday.
As a result, Leipzig will not go to the stadium “with the broadest chest”, but only “with a broad one”, as Rose specified. In the team bus, at least, the recently malade Spaniard Dani Olmo will be sitting; his name sounds like the promise of creativity that was so sorely missed of late. It is unlikely that Olmo’s body has enough strength for 90 or even 120 minutes of a cup fight – which should play into the hands of Dortmund. Borussia also had to cope with a setback at the weekend – but it was much more moderate. BVB lost the lead in the league after beating FC Bayern 4-2, but the course of the game was significantly influenced by the accident of goalkeeper Gregor Kobel; he had kicked a hole in the air before the 0:1. Dortmund’s coach Edin Terzic emphasized on Tuesday that Borussia remained “one of the best teams in the Bundesliga and maybe in Europe”. That’s no guarantee for nothing, but it sounds much more positive than Rose’s fight against the swelling crisis song in Leipzig.