“The biggest difference,” said Xabi Alonso, “is the energy. The belief. You can feel it.” He could have been talking about his own effect on Bayer Leverkusen, an extraordinary transformation as he approaches the second anniversary of his appointment later this week; two years that have taken the locals’ brains to another dimension, to quote Kool Keith, that have achieved undreamed-of heights and maybe even permanently raised expectations.
Alonso wasn’t, however, talking about his own team. The coach was referring to the fledgling work of his opposite number Vincent Kompany after Leverkusen escaped – and this really is the right verb here – with a point from Saturday’s TopSpiel at Bayern Munich. Alonso had achieved an unusual and largely anecdotal record in becoming the first coach not to experience defeat in his first four meetings with Bayern, but it had not been easy. If the early-season thriller in last year’s corresponding fixture had the sort of toe-to-toe feel to it that hinted at Leverkusen’s ambitions for their eventually historic campaign, this was more one way. This was Bayern making a statement. “I am very happy with the point,” admitted Alonso after the 1-1 draw.
As with any coach there is no way to draw any sort of conclusions until the season’s peaks have been reached and conquered but already Kompany has changed the mood music at Säbener Strasse (the training ground) and the Allianz Arena alike. It is an understatement to say that the former Burnley manager was not Bayern’s first choice. It has also been increasingly clear that he has been using this knowledge as motivational fuel, underlined by his recent press conference speech about how the odds have always been stacked against him in life, and how that has never deterred him.
Kompany is leading from the front, encouraging his team to be bold, and they certainly were here. Bayern are not just ready to play, but to assume their regular mantle as favourites. Against a side with the sort of poise and swagger, actually, that we associate with some of the great sides of Bayern’s past, this current Bayern arrived in the moment not afraid of failure, but determined to show who and what they are. “The new Bayern coach is currently mastering two challenges at the same time,” wrote Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Claudio Catuogno. “He ensures dominance on the pitch and calm off it.”
Neither of those characteristics has been a given for Bayern in recent years. Yet Kompany’s mixture of tactical ambition and adeptness around board members (which has made a strong early impression upstairs in a part of the club which is regrouping) has won the Belgian a lot of early points. The manner of Saturday’s performance would have added a few more, even if Bayern couldn’t quite get victory over the line, which Harry Kane described as “very frustrating” in the light of a positive performance.
And it was always positive. Bayern had almost 70% possession and 18 efforts on goal to Leverkusen’s three. Die Werkself had been deeply unimpressive defensively in the season so far, but had to be much, much better to survive this, and they were. Some will point to Kompany being the beneficiary of a good summer transfer window, which is partially true, but he clearly has ideas and convictions of his own. João Palhinha was a player Bayern desperately needed for all of last season but now they have him, the Portuguese midfielder has spent a lot of time on the bench, with the coach preferring the homegrown Aleksandar Pavlovic. It was the 20-year-old’s belter from range that secured parity for Bayern after Robert Andrich’s crisp first-time strike from outside the area had given the visitors the lead. Showing respect for meritocracy and the club’s cherished youth academy production line is doing Kompany’s current popularity no harm either.
“It wasn’t just like that today,” Alonso had continued. “They’re giving it everything with and without the ball. Their energy is high and their mentality is good.” Which is, of course, exactly why Alonso was so pleased with the draw. With last week’s public dressing down from Granit Xhaka about their defensive shortcomings ringing in their ears, Leverkusen were disciplined and smart despite the one-way traffic. While Serge Gnabry hitting the woodwork twice within seconds will stick in the mind, many of Bayern’s efforts (like Pavlovic’s goal) were from range. “If Bayern had had 10 clear chances I would have said we were lucky,” said Jonathan Tah, “but we defended well today.”
Leverkusen thus showed again how versatile they have become under Alonso. They are not leaving the Bundesliga summit in a hurry, but their coach knows this season they have a bold opponent, as well as a capable one.
Borussia Dortmund 4-2 VfL Bochum, Mainz 0-2 Heidenheim, VfL Wolfsburg 2-2 VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg 0-3 FC St. Pauli, RB Leipzig 4-0 Augsburg, Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 Union Berlin, Bayern Munich 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen, Holstein Kiel 2-4 Eintracht Frankfurt, Hoffenheim 3-4 Werder
Talking points
• Borussia Dortmund recovered from their humbling at Stuttgart last week by beating Bochum in the Friday night game, but not without more than a few scares on the way. Nuri Sahin’s team trailed 2-0 to their lowly neighbours after little more than 20 minutes, but Serhou Guirassy’s towering header on the verge of half-time provided a lifeline – and maybe a fragile BVB are already to be dependent on their new centre-forward, who ended up with two goals and an assist. There were enough questions for managing director, Lars Ricken, to appear on Saturday night’s Das Aktuelle Sportstudio, putting the ripples of a big summer of changes into perspective. “We had a big change and we knew there would be setbacks,” he admitted, though he only succeeded in muddying the waters in terms of the succession to Hans-Joachim Watzke, the long-serving CEO who will leave next year (“it has still to be defined”). Ricken also played down reported rifts between board members and the returned Sven Mislintat, despite what he amusingly referred to as the transfer advisor’s “challenging personality”.
• If we’re really looking at dodgy defences though, step forward Augsburg. They arrived to face a Leipzig side that hadn’t scored a Bundesliga goal since their extraordinary comeback win at Leverkusen last month, but the rapidly improving Benjamin Sesko helped himself to a double in the first half to set up an easy 4-0 win. “I need time to process this, because we make it difficult for ourselves when we work against the ball. We deserved to lose and played our part in this defeat,” said Augsburg coach Jess Thorup, whose team have now lost six away games in a row. Although, after Hoffenheim – who let slip a 3-0 lead to lose at home to Werder Bremen after Stanley Nsoki’s red card – and Holstein Kiel (who were beaten 4-2 by visitors Eintracht Frankfurt) let in four apiece on Sunday, Die Fuggerstädter only have the third-worst defensive record in the division.
• St Pauli moved above the strugglers with a surprise 3-0 victory at Freiburg, their first in the Bundesliga for 13-and-a-half years (or 4,973 days to be more precise). Three points put an end to the “derby curse”, with the last top-flight win in February 2011 having been at Hamburg – which, on reflection, they might have slightly over-celebrated. Elias Saad powered this win, scoring twice and setting up the other for much-travelled Englishman Dapo Afolayan in a stellar display.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 5 | 13 | 13 |
| 2 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | RB Leipzig | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| 4 | Bayer Leverkusen | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 | Borussia Dortmund | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Heidenheim | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Freiburg | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 8 | Stuttgart | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| 9 | Union Berlin | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 10 | Werder Bremen | 5 | -3 | 8 |
| 11 | Borussia M'gladbach | 5 | -2 | 6 |
| 12 | Mainz | 5 | -2 | 5 |
| 13 | Wolfsburg | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| 14 | St Pauli | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| 15 | Augsburg | 5 | -7 | 4 |
| 16 | Hoffenheim | 5 | -6 | 3 |
| 17 | VfL Bochum | 5 | -6 | 1 |
| 18 | Holstein Kiel | 5 | -10 | 1 |
