Strong performance in Leipzig

After a strong performance in Leipzig, the Werkself takes home three points and is now third in the table. Overall, our team showed a clear improvement in all areas. Leipzig is something of a fearful opponent for us, as we have only won one game against them so far. But April 2018 repeated itself today with a deserved away win.

On the positive side, the injury list is shorter and the width of the squad gives us more flexibility than in recent weeks. But it's no use if we don't get a win at home against Fürth next Saturday. As a reminder: Fürth has only picked up one point so far, we are the clear favourites and must not take the opponent lightly. In games like that, you can only embarrass yourself, but of course we don't want that.

Celtic gives us three free games

There you go. With yesterday's home win against Celtic, the Werkself secured group victory after the 5th of 6 matchdays, thus advancing to the round of 16. Moreover, the early success saves us three games. On the one hand, we can take a relaxed approach to the away game in Budapest and use those who have had less playing time so far. And we save the next round in the Europa League against an unpleasant third team from the Champions League. There are some top-class names like Atletico, Barcelona, Milan etc. alongside the German teams. If we want to reach the final, the season is still long anyway.

Sunday game in Leipzig is behind closed doors. The Bullen have just come back from Bruges with a 5:0 win and have built up self-confidence. Our bench will certainly be better occupied than yesterday and our boys are always good for a hut. In their own stadium, Leipzig will certainly have more pressure than us. I remain confident.

Three points are always good

The pessimist says: finally won another game after four unsuccessful attempts in the Bundesliga. The optimist says: now three games (Betis, Hertha, Bochum) unbeaten. That's how quickly I sometimes change my view between black and red.

The fact is that the three-game win after the international break is important for the mood and for the standings. It takes some of the pressure off before the upcoming English weeks. But one thing is clear: we have to go for it, go for it, go for it, and we have to do it on Thursday at home against Celtic. We must not be blinded by the 4-0 away win in Glasgow. The game starts at 0:0 and the Scots have to keep their chance to get further.

Not fish, not meat

The good news: Bayer remains unbeaten away from home with a 1-1 draw at Hertha BSC. The bad news: the Werkself did not follow up. Today's media coverage is also interesting. Some are talking about the loss of a point and four games without a win in the Bundesliga, others are talking about the fact that the Werkself fought their way to a point in Berlin with their B-youth team.

Thank goodness it is now the international break and the associated hope that the majority of the eight injured players will return. Actually, the squad is broad enough, but the injury plight is giving the Werkself a hard time. That's no excuse, because be that as it may, we have too few points and that has to change quickly.

A new start is necessary

The Werkself made an impressive comeback last night with a 4-0 home win against Betis Sevilla and showed that they can win again. After the offensive did not go as well as they would have liked, the midfield and the attack showed themselves to be completely renewed. Especially the aggressiveness in recovering the ball was a crucial point compared to the previous weeks. And: all the offensive players defended very well.

In the Europa League, things are looking good, the team is approaching the group win, but in the Bundesliga, the clear message is: improvement is necessary. Hertha BSC is not the best team, so if they repeat yesterday's performance, they can win a game in Berlin on Sunday before the international break.

The next embarrassment - show of strength necessary

After the great start to the season, everything could have been good, but the last weeks after the international break did not show a good development of the Werkself. And also on Saturday in the home match against Wolfsburg, Bayer could not redeem themselves for the cup defeat against Karlsruhe. On the contrary, they lost 2:0 at home without any energy or energy.

Statisticians say that Bayer have now lost four home games against Wolfsburg in a row, but none of that counts. Interestingly, however, the Werkself still occupies fourth place in the table despite the recent disappointing games. It should not be forgotten, however, that another defeat next Sunday at Hertha BSC could quickly mean 10th place.

Before that, Real Betis Sevilla come to the BayArena on Thursday. Despite our home weaknesses, we want to keep the lead in our Europa League group and preferably even extend it. Weeks ago, we would have talked about ease, but today, we're expecting more of a show of strength that we'll have to overcome.