Like Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig are growing tired of relying on underperforming stars
Marco Rose's squad are struggling to cement their top-four status and could suffer serious consequences due to a squad full of stars that no longer live up to the billing.
RB Leipzig head coach Marco Rose looked like a defeated man in more ways than one, following his side’s 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen. Not only had the BayArena side pulled off a classic smash-and-grab by winning the game with near enough their only shots of the game, but the current darling of German football, Xabi Alonso, had comprehensively out-classed his opposite number on the sidelines too.
As we discussed on this week’s main podcast, Leverkusen were brilliant on the day for all sorts of reasons but none that you would typically apply to Die Werkself. Without the all-conquering No.10, Florian Wirtz, Alonso instead set up his team to play defensively and to counter attack an RB Leipzig that had far more firepower and arguably more quality throughout its side. It worked perfectly and Rose was once again left scratching his head at full time.
“We needed too many goal chances to score goals,” lamented the Leipzig head coach. “We didn’t recognise situations where we could have had greater scoring chances.” In other words, Rose wished his team would have just stuck the ball in the back of the net. A fair demand following a game that saw his side rack up 26 attempts on goal and an xG of 2.58.
However, while the 46-year-old coach may be quick to chalk up the result to bad luck or poor decision making, it was in fact a game that underlined the problems that have dogged Leipzig for much of this season and issues that could continue to hold the club back unless some serious changes get implemented in the summer window.
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