Bayer 04 Leverkusen Preview

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Coach: Jupp Heynckes

Quite a big surprise it was when I read that Leverkusen's new coach will be Jupp Heynckes.

Nobody talked about him for a long while but that few weeks for Bayern München let people remember him and Leverkusen could convince him to be their coach.

The 64 year old coach is a coach from good old school. He sticks to discipline which is the most important aspect for him and that may help the young but too kind team of Leverkusen.

He may teach them to fight, that was the biggest problem of Leverkusen for years that they were playing good combination football but that they had always problems with teams who set them under pressure and who tackle them aggressively.

Money spend for transfers: 5.250.000 €
Money earned from transfers: 900.000 €

Balance: -4.350.000 €

Only one real transfer here which was Eren Derdiyok. Good guy who will replace the injured Helmes at the beginning.

Atmosphere during training camp&test matches:

Without any mistakes and bad experiences. 8 out of 9 matches won. The two big injuries of Helmes and Rolfes are compensated very good and they could win against good teams such as Genk (2:1), Freiburg (2:1), Galatasaray (1:0).

Possible line-ups & tactics:












Most likely:
1. 4-4-2 (4-1-2-1-2); LB,CB,CB,RB,DM,LM,RM,OM,ST,ST

Aim set by club:

Same as all other teams on top really. Top five at least!

Team check:

Goalkeeper: 9/10

Rene Adler, 24 years young and very talented goalkeeper.
Last season it was the first time that he show a few weak performances in a row but that happens throughout a goalkeepers carrier.

Compared to Benaglio and Neuer he is a small step behind them, having problems with crosses from time to time. On line he is very good and safed some points for his club with it quite often.

Fernandez the backup goalkeeper is talented too, but he does not get many matches to play which influences his development negatively.

Defence: 7/10

Leverkusen had good luck when they transferred Michal Kadlec last season. A very good left back who has a good shot and scores a few free kicks in a season. He might improve his one vs. one tackling but that's it really. Backup is Sarpei.

Right back is Gonzalo Castro is younger than one may think sometimes. 22 year old right back who has played a lot of matches for German U-21 team already. In the next two years I expect him to do the next step in his carrier. Last season he did not improve at all.
Daniel Schwaab, new right back from Freiburg is new backup.

Centre back position does present Liverpool legend Hyypia who should still be good enough to increase quality in defence. Together with Hyypia we will see Manuel Friedrich who without doubt is a good defender, but who had many problems last season with guys like Grafite, Gomez and so on. Backups are Reinartz and Sinkiewicz.

Midfield: 8/10


Defensive midfield position of course for Rolfes, but he is injured at the moment and Vidal or Zdebel may take this part for him until he is fit again.

Right midfield probably Renato Augusto who is a very skilled guy. Good ideas, good ball control and he can change the match with one action.

Similar guy is Barnetta who will play on left midfield position. Good passing, good crosses and shots from far away.
Only problem is that both have to work a lot on their positions (offense/defence) and that they at some stage of the match miss some concentration due to tiredness.

Offensive midfield can be filled with Kroos, Vidal or also Renato Augusto it depends on how the coach decides. Kroos came from Bayern on loan and will want to have a good season so that he gets another chance when he will be back in Bayern.
Vidal is a very sultry guy which can be positive sometimes, but also negative when he gets one of his typical red cards.

Striker: 9/10

While everyone said Grafite and Dzeko are very good, Leverkusen did own two good strikers as well.
Kießling and Helmes scored 33 goals together and will have another good striker with them this season.

Eren Derdiyok came from Basel and already impressed in test matches
Since Helmes will miss due to an injury at the beginning of the season, Eren Derdiyok may get a chance to show his skills together with Kießling.

Additionally Theofanis Gekas will be avaible with all his experience and he did score some good goals in test matches too.

So that we can say at the beginning of the season they have three good strikers. Later on, with Helmes coming back four good strikers. Good line-up!


Total: 8/10

My prognosis:

Everything looks like Leverkusen will start very good into the new season once again.

The old-school style of coach Heynckes is accepted of the players and everyone is giving his best.

Anyway the key point will be once again if Leverkusen's young team can finish a season on a constant high playing level. In the past they always ended up on a midfield position because they simply underperformed in the second half of the season.

The team has potential for sure and maybe Hyypia can be their experienced leader which they missed for a long time now.

Personally, I think they will have good chances to get an Europe-League position IF they can avoid this typical low point during the second half of the season.