The neverchampions season review 2022/23

The good news in retrospect is that the Bayer will also play internationally next year. And this, although, the team crawled to the finish. In retrospect, however, it must also be noted that the exit in the cup in the first round in Elversberg and the subsequent start to the season were underground. With the change of coach to Alonso, we then went from 17th to 6th place in the league and in the Europa League we only had to admit defeat to Roma in a spectacular semi-final.

But back to the season forecast from 1.8.2022:
https://neverchampions.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-never-champions-season-forecast.html

Somehow, my season prediction seems to continue to show consistency in that I correctly predicted three out of four Champions League participants, as I did last year. I had Wolfsburg at 4, but they were only 8th in the final table, so Union got one of the 4 CL places. I myself had clearly underestimated them and had only seen them in 11th place.
 
In addition to Union, certainly one of the winners of the year SC Freiburg, which I had expected only 9th place and which came in as 5th. "Consistency will also stand out this year. Streich can also keep the class this year with the squad, but certainly not qualify for Europe again." Yes, you can be wrong like that.

Place 6 then for us, I had trusted the Werkself place 5.
 
7th place then, as I expected, Eintracht Frankfurt.
 
Hoffenheim also developed negatively for me, I had expected them to finish 6th. In the end, however, it was only 12th place and the securing of the class preservation also only shortly before the end.

Let's move on to the relegation places. My prediction was Schalke 16, Stuttgart 17, Bochum 18.
In fact, the table shows: Stuttgart 16, Schalke 17 and Hertha 18. I had seen Hertha at 10, but you've seen this year that money doesn't shoot goals and the irritations in the environment are not good for the points yield.

For most teams, the season is over now. Why there are still international matches in June is a mystery to very few.

And it all starts on August 11, 2023, with the start of the first main round of the DFB Cup. The league then starts a week later and before that there is also the never master season forecast 2023/24.
Stay healthy, everyone.

Defeat with victory

Sometimes you have to have a little luck in life. Werkself deservedly lost 3-0 in Bochum today and secured VfL's place in the league. However, since Wolfsburg lost 2-1 at home to last-place Hertha despite an early 1-0 lead, and Frankfurt was unable to close the goal difference gap to us, the Werkself remains in 6th place in the final table and will therefore play in Europe next season. If Leipzig wins the cup final against Frankfurt next week, then it's Europa League. If Frankfurt wins, then the Bayer will play in the Conference League.

After the weak start to the season and Alonso takeover in 17th place, we would have given anything for it. Even if the last games were rather disappointing, we can be satisfied with the yield after the change of coach. Even if we have not won the last games, the bottom line remains a satisfactory for the season. After the elimination in Elversberg one of the first round of the cup and a subsequent bankruptcies threatened the total crash. But that was not the case. And reaching the semifinals of the Europa League against Rome was not a foregone conclusion either.

Of course, now comes the big upheaval, which, to be fair, is also unfortunately necessary. And then I'm sure that we'll be back on the attack next year and qualify for the internationals again.

We still have it in our own hands

The Werkself still has it in its own hands to qualify for the Europa League next season with a win in Bochum next weekend. However, it could have all been much easier if the Werkself had beaten Gladbach at home yesterday. Leading 2-0 and then two fat defensive errors that only let the game end in a draw. 

Hincapie red and Demirbay fifth yellow card do not make the situation easy in addition to the many injured in the coming week. But just then it runs and before I now criticize individual players: in the current situation, we all pull together, talk the team strong and next week we then draw a summary of the current season and do everything to make 2024/25 more successful.

Proud nonetheless

0:1 in the first leg, 0:0 in the second: Bayer Leverkusen is eliminated from the Europa League semifinals by AS Roma and has to bury its dream of reaching the final. You just have to net once in a while to get further. Nevertheless, it remains a positive review of this year's international competition.

Annoying was the unspeakable time play of the Romans. Half time 1 had a playing time of 48 minutes, but net it was only 29. Half time 2 playing time 53 minutes, but net only 27. That means: 45 minutes ran down on the clock without being played.

After every shot on goal from us, one of them was lying on the floor and needed a doctor. There was also clear criticism of the behavior of the Italian bench. They all jumped up at every two-on-two fight and demanded wildly gesticulating free kicks for them and especially attacked the fourth official. The entire referee team was infected by this. With all love, this has nothing to do with fairness and is bitter. It's a shame, in a semifinal at such a level, that such a style of play is rewarded in the end. That is bitter for soccer.

More would have been better of course

The good news is that Bayer has not lost in Stuttgart since 2010 and this series has continued. The bad news is that the 1-1 draw may not be enough in the battle for the European places, even though everything is still possible with two match days to go. On the pitch, I think you can clearly see that a leading figure like Robert Andrich was missing. And looking ahead to next Thursday and the second leg against Rome, Flo Wirtz also sat on the bench for 60 minutes. The series of injuries is annoying, but we have to get through it now and hope that everything will end well after this terrible start to the season.

Still possible

I completely disagree with the numerous headlines on individual news outlets predicting Bayer's elimination after a 1-0 defeat in the Europa League semifinal second leg. Sure, with an away win or a draw, the Werkself would have had the better starting position. But the opponent wasn't just anyone in Europe, and Mourinho as coach of the Romans has won 26 titles in his career. In this respect, my motto is - despite defeat - everything is possible for Bayer next Thursday in the second leg at the BayArena.

I'm more concerned about the injuries to Kossounou and Andrich shortly before the end. A thinned out squad is what we don't need right now for the season finale. And once again: hope is alive, everything is still possible.

This defeat hurts

Of course, every series comes to an end at some point. But after 14 games without a defeat, it usually comes at a time when you don't expect it. Of course, defeats against Cologne are particularly painful. But let's look ahead. Mainz hasn't won, Frankfurt hasn't won either, and Wolfsburg doesn't have three points in Dortmund tonight either. We have to and can hold 6th place to be in the internationals next year, however. The team deserves it. And then there's the road via Rome to Budapest. There are still exciting, at least five games ahead of us.