Just One More Goal...- A Bayer Leverkusen Story
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I was thinking along the same lines actually. I am playing a 4-5-1 (or a 4-3-3) with the side. I was thinking of Schurrle or Sam on the left, Kiessling, Derdiyok or Abdellaoue in the centre and Reus for the right with Sam back-up on the right for Reus.
Chapter Six-Pre-Season
The first few days after Barnetta completed his move to Stamford Bridge was a little bit gloomy but slowly Marco Reus-the livewire both on and off the field-lightened up the atmosphere and formed a nice friendship with the more quiet Mohammed Abdellaoue. Reus talked, Mao (that was the nickname Mohammed got from Stefan Reinartz) listened. Marco didn't seem to bother about the fact that Mao never talked much himself. He was content to do the talking all by himself.
And it was not only Abdellaoue, Reus formed a close bond with most of the team from day one but his closest friends were obviously Andre Schurrle, Samed Yesil and Bernd Leno, with whom he'd played for the Germany youth sides. But the one thing, I could not believe was actually how mischievous Marco could get. He actually managed to pull down Schurrle's pants during a training session under the guise of tackling him. Andre didn't take it as an issue though and when I asked him why, he jovially replied "This is the first time you've seen him. He's done this before with so many others during the Germany training sessions. Just ask Mesut Ozil or Mario Gotze if you have a doubt."
As for Abdellaoue, he seemed to be gelling in well. He was quiet and while that suited Reus perfectly, it also suited the equally quiet Eren Derdiyok-who was quite disappointed to see his Swiss teammate leave- and the slightly more talkative but a keen listener in the form of Gonzalo Castro. He blended well with the team too though. Both Reus and Abdellaoue didn't disappoint me and were doing their best to settle in, and they were being helped by both myself and the rest of the squad.
Pre-season was not the tightly scheduled one. We had a six-day tour of Scotland to begin with, where we were scheduled to play Dundee (not United. Just Dundee), then follow it up with games against Raith and Hamilton Academical. We would then get back to Germany and travel to Jena to play them before returning to BayArena and then hosting Inter Milan. About a week after that would be our first competitive match with the DFB Pokal opening up.
I also managed to convince Holzhauser to hold a trial day for the club and one of the defenders there who came for a trial impressed me immensely. He was definitely not going to be first choice ahead of Reinartz and Toprak but he was going to be a good backup to them. The rest of them were fairly mediocre and didn't stand out as being very impressive. So, I offered a contract and three days from that, Matthias Langkamp decided that he would join Leverkusen.
I was also looking for a defensive midfielder who could function well as an anchor man. I had noticed while training that the role did not suit the more-playmaker style Simon Rolfes or the ageing Michael Ballack. So, it was with glee that I put in a loan offer for Hamburg's Tomas Rincon when he was offered to us by the club. Hamburg happily accepted the only bid they received and Rincon moved down from Hamburg to Leverkusen after his extended leave got over.
There wasn't much really to be said about Rincon and Langkamp except that they were both very hardworking and were fairly quiet both on and off the field, though not as quiet as Abdellaoue-Daniel Schwaab and Stefan Kiessling were trying their best to make him talk more than necessary but Mao wouldn't budge.
Pre-season preparations began on a good note as we managed to hammer Dundee, with six goals from our side and getting no reply. Kiessling hammered two goals, Omer Toprak scored one and the reservists Julius Valentin Biada and Tobias Haitz got one each before Scott McPhee also scored an own goal. Two days later, we followed it up with a 4-0 win over Raith. Another reserve player-Jan Klauke- opened up the scoring before Schurrle and Jorgensen scored one each and Richard McGrory scored an own goal to make it a bad day for the Scots. Our final game was against Hamilton where two goals from Stefan Kiessling-one set up by Reus and the other by Rolfes- and a goal from Sidney Sam settled the issue.
The only bad thing about the tour was Bernd Leno picking up a training injury and joining Rene Adler on the treatment table, which left David Yelldell as the only keeper left. The physios reckoned, though that Leno should be back for our Bundesliga opener against Schalke.
We returned to Germany on a high note and on our arrival at Leverkusen, we celebrated Samed Yesil's eighteenth birthday with a big party at the club training ground and with a day off from training. Yesil himself was delighted with the celebrations and wishes came in from everywhere. Some German Under-21 teammates (Ilkay Gundogan and Moritz Leitner) from Dortmund-who were here to play a pre-season friendly against some local club- also dropped in and chatted a bit with Yesil and then caught up with Schurrle and Leno.
Two days after Yesil's birthday, we were in Jena where we thrashed the home side 5-0 with two goals from the goal-machine Kiessling and one each from Schurrle, Sam and the reserve team player Timur "Timo" Temeltas. I liked giving chances to the reserves and the Under 19 players in the pre-season so that they could challenge effectively for a first team role. I myself could also look at some quality players that way. Obviously, some-including my chairman-thought it was a waste of time giving the youngsters a chance when it is eating up on the seniors' playing time in pre-season. But I personally felt it gave them good exposure to competitive matches.
Meanwhile, the German Cup First Round was drawn in Berlin during our match against Jena and we were scheduled to play Kassel, six days after our last friendly match against Inter which in turn was a week after the Jena match. I kind of hated this system, which gave the weak teams no chance. Of course some giant-killing was to be expected but often it never happened. At least not with teams like Leverkusen, Dortmund, Bayern or Schalke. I liked the English system of bringing the bigger teams later in the tournament. I mean, United or Chelsea play their first FA cup tie in January in the third round don't they? At least the weaker teams enjoy a good cup run for some time.
The Inter Milan match was a real lesson for the Italians. They played slow, possession based soccer whereas we hit them hard with fast paced and quick movements. And considering we were playing with ten men for about an hour or so, we were very good despite the 1-1 draw that we got at the end of the day. Not that I'm in the least bit disappointed about it. I'm very happy. I made quite a few changes for the match. So far, Reus and Kiessling had started all the pre-season matches with Mao and Renato Augusto coming on in the second half. Now it changed. I let Mao and Reno play first with Marco and Stefan on the bench. And my decision was vindicated when Abdellaoue coolly slotted home a cross from Augusto into the bottom corner. We were controlling the match very well and Inter tested David Yelldell just twice in thirty minutes-the first being a long range Pazzini shot and the other a Sneijder freekick from the edge of the area.
Then everything changed. The play was in midfield. Dejan Stankovic got the ball from Thiago Motta and played a nice one-two with Sneijder. And Lars Bender, with the aim of intercepting a third pass to Sneijder slid in. Stankovic cleverly took the ball to the side and Bender caught him two footed. I knew it as soon as the whistle was blown.
When you see a two footed challenge from your player and the whistle is blown, you know you're down by a man.
Jose Mourinho's words echoed in my ear as the referee showed the red card to Bender and ordered him off the field despite protests from Schwaab and a few others. I didn't say anything as he walked past me into the dressing room. Meanwhile, Inter had begun to get back into the game, now a man up but we were still a big threat to their defence, with Ballack and Schurrle both hitting the crossbar in rapid succession. However, Inter responded with their own cracks at the woodwork when Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder both hit the left and right posts respectively.
Halftime and we went up 1-0. The stats were in our favour but Inter were getting back into their act. And five minutes after halftime, they drew level. A long ball from Esteban Cambiasso was not cleared properly by Danny Da Costa, who sent it straight to Sneijder. The Dutchman cut in and played the ball across the park to Christian Chivu. The Romanian wingback crossed and Forlan met with a header that flew into the top corner. 1-1 and it was game on at the BayArena.
Both sides came close to scoring once more but good saves from Julio Cesar and David Yelldell on either side ensured that the match stayed 1-1. I personally was pleased with the performance-not easy against Inter and especially with ten men for most of the game. I did think the finishing could improve and I made a mention of it. As to Lars, it was only in the team bus that I raised the subject of the two-footed tackle with him in private. He told me he shouldn't have done it and said that it was completely unintentional. I asked to him to judge the situation and then slide, to which he was in complete agreement. I told him not to worry much as it was just pre-season and every match was a learning experience.
The rest of the pre-season passed off uneventfully. The boys asked for a three day break from training before the season kicked off and I gave it to them on the promise that they would all return back to training two days before the game at Kassel in DFB Pokal.
I don't know how I was feeling at the time. Nervous? Not really. I mean, I'd been more nervous when I was with the Under 19s. But a slight anxiety amalgamated with pure excitement was there within me when I looked at the calendar and saw that six days later, I would be at Kassel in my first ever competitive game as manager.
*****
The first few days after Barnetta completed his move to Stamford Bridge was a little bit gloomy but slowly Marco Reus-the livewire both on and off the field-lightened up the atmosphere and formed a nice friendship with the more quiet Mohammed Abdellaoue. Reus talked, Mao (that was the nickname Mohammed got from Stefan Reinartz) listened. Marco didn't seem to bother about the fact that Mao never talked much himself. He was content to do the talking all by himself.
And it was not only Abdellaoue, Reus formed a close bond with most of the team from day one but his closest friends were obviously Andre Schurrle, Samed Yesil and Bernd Leno, with whom he'd played for the Germany youth sides. But the one thing, I could not believe was actually how mischievous Marco could get. He actually managed to pull down Schurrle's pants during a training session under the guise of tackling him. Andre didn't take it as an issue though and when I asked him why, he jovially replied "This is the first time you've seen him. He's done this before with so many others during the Germany training sessions. Just ask Mesut Ozil or Mario Gotze if you have a doubt."
As for Abdellaoue, he seemed to be gelling in well. He was quiet and while that suited Reus perfectly, it also suited the equally quiet Eren Derdiyok-who was quite disappointed to see his Swiss teammate leave- and the slightly more talkative but a keen listener in the form of Gonzalo Castro. He blended well with the team too though. Both Reus and Abdellaoue didn't disappoint me and were doing their best to settle in, and they were being helped by both myself and the rest of the squad.
Pre-season was not the tightly scheduled one. We had a six-day tour of Scotland to begin with, where we were scheduled to play Dundee (not United. Just Dundee), then follow it up with games against Raith and Hamilton Academical. We would then get back to Germany and travel to Jena to play them before returning to BayArena and then hosting Inter Milan. About a week after that would be our first competitive match with the DFB Pokal opening up.
I also managed to convince Holzhauser to hold a trial day for the club and one of the defenders there who came for a trial impressed me immensely. He was definitely not going to be first choice ahead of Reinartz and Toprak but he was going to be a good backup to them. The rest of them were fairly mediocre and didn't stand out as being very impressive. So, I offered a contract and three days from that, Matthias Langkamp decided that he would join Leverkusen.
I was also looking for a defensive midfielder who could function well as an anchor man. I had noticed while training that the role did not suit the more-playmaker style Simon Rolfes or the ageing Michael Ballack. So, it was with glee that I put in a loan offer for Hamburg's Tomas Rincon when he was offered to us by the club. Hamburg happily accepted the only bid they received and Rincon moved down from Hamburg to Leverkusen after his extended leave got over.
There wasn't much really to be said about Rincon and Langkamp except that they were both very hardworking and were fairly quiet both on and off the field, though not as quiet as Abdellaoue-Daniel Schwaab and Stefan Kiessling were trying their best to make him talk more than necessary but Mao wouldn't budge.
Pre-season preparations began on a good note as we managed to hammer Dundee, with six goals from our side and getting no reply. Kiessling hammered two goals, Omer Toprak scored one and the reservists Julius Valentin Biada and Tobias Haitz got one each before Scott McPhee also scored an own goal. Two days later, we followed it up with a 4-0 win over Raith. Another reserve player-Jan Klauke- opened up the scoring before Schurrle and Jorgensen scored one each and Richard McGrory scored an own goal to make it a bad day for the Scots. Our final game was against Hamilton where two goals from Stefan Kiessling-one set up by Reus and the other by Rolfes- and a goal from Sidney Sam settled the issue.
The only bad thing about the tour was Bernd Leno picking up a training injury and joining Rene Adler on the treatment table, which left David Yelldell as the only keeper left. The physios reckoned, though that Leno should be back for our Bundesliga opener against Schalke.
We returned to Germany on a high note and on our arrival at Leverkusen, we celebrated Samed Yesil's eighteenth birthday with a big party at the club training ground and with a day off from training. Yesil himself was delighted with the celebrations and wishes came in from everywhere. Some German Under-21 teammates (Ilkay Gundogan and Moritz Leitner) from Dortmund-who were here to play a pre-season friendly against some local club- also dropped in and chatted a bit with Yesil and then caught up with Schurrle and Leno.
Two days after Yesil's birthday, we were in Jena where we thrashed the home side 5-0 with two goals from the goal-machine Kiessling and one each from Schurrle, Sam and the reserve team player Timur "Timo" Temeltas. I liked giving chances to the reserves and the Under 19 players in the pre-season so that they could challenge effectively for a first team role. I myself could also look at some quality players that way. Obviously, some-including my chairman-thought it was a waste of time giving the youngsters a chance when it is eating up on the seniors' playing time in pre-season. But I personally felt it gave them good exposure to competitive matches.
Meanwhile, the German Cup First Round was drawn in Berlin during our match against Jena and we were scheduled to play Kassel, six days after our last friendly match against Inter which in turn was a week after the Jena match. I kind of hated this system, which gave the weak teams no chance. Of course some giant-killing was to be expected but often it never happened. At least not with teams like Leverkusen, Dortmund, Bayern or Schalke. I liked the English system of bringing the bigger teams later in the tournament. I mean, United or Chelsea play their first FA cup tie in January in the third round don't they? At least the weaker teams enjoy a good cup run for some time.
The Inter Milan match was a real lesson for the Italians. They played slow, possession based soccer whereas we hit them hard with fast paced and quick movements. And considering we were playing with ten men for about an hour or so, we were very good despite the 1-1 draw that we got at the end of the day. Not that I'm in the least bit disappointed about it. I'm very happy. I made quite a few changes for the match. So far, Reus and Kiessling had started all the pre-season matches with Mao and Renato Augusto coming on in the second half. Now it changed. I let Mao and Reno play first with Marco and Stefan on the bench. And my decision was vindicated when Abdellaoue coolly slotted home a cross from Augusto into the bottom corner. We were controlling the match very well and Inter tested David Yelldell just twice in thirty minutes-the first being a long range Pazzini shot and the other a Sneijder freekick from the edge of the area.
Then everything changed. The play was in midfield. Dejan Stankovic got the ball from Thiago Motta and played a nice one-two with Sneijder. And Lars Bender, with the aim of intercepting a third pass to Sneijder slid in. Stankovic cleverly took the ball to the side and Bender caught him two footed. I knew it as soon as the whistle was blown.
When you see a two footed challenge from your player and the whistle is blown, you know you're down by a man.
Jose Mourinho's words echoed in my ear as the referee showed the red card to Bender and ordered him off the field despite protests from Schwaab and a few others. I didn't say anything as he walked past me into the dressing room. Meanwhile, Inter had begun to get back into the game, now a man up but we were still a big threat to their defence, with Ballack and Schurrle both hitting the crossbar in rapid succession. However, Inter responded with their own cracks at the woodwork when Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder both hit the left and right posts respectively.
Halftime and we went up 1-0. The stats were in our favour but Inter were getting back into their act. And five minutes after halftime, they drew level. A long ball from Esteban Cambiasso was not cleared properly by Danny Da Costa, who sent it straight to Sneijder. The Dutchman cut in and played the ball across the park to Christian Chivu. The Romanian wingback crossed and Forlan met with a header that flew into the top corner. 1-1 and it was game on at the BayArena.
Both sides came close to scoring once more but good saves from Julio Cesar and David Yelldell on either side ensured that the match stayed 1-1. I personally was pleased with the performance-not easy against Inter and especially with ten men for most of the game. I did think the finishing could improve and I made a mention of it. As to Lars, it was only in the team bus that I raised the subject of the two-footed tackle with him in private. He told me he shouldn't have done it and said that it was completely unintentional. I asked to him to judge the situation and then slide, to which he was in complete agreement. I told him not to worry much as it was just pre-season and every match was a learning experience.
The rest of the pre-season passed off uneventfully. The boys asked for a three day break from training before the season kicked off and I gave it to them on the promise that they would all return back to training two days before the game at Kassel in DFB Pokal.
I don't know how I was feeling at the time. Nervous? Not really. I mean, I'd been more nervous when I was with the Under 19s. But a slight anxiety amalgamated with pure excitement was there within me when I looked at the calendar and saw that six days later, I would be at Kassel in my first ever competitive game as manager.
*****
Chapter Seven-The Ride Begins at Kassel
Kassel is a city roughly in the middle of Germany, about 165 kilometers from Dortmund in the west and 145 from Leipzig in the east. Down south, the nearest city was Frankfurt at 193 km and Hannover was the nearest city in the north at 164 km. The KSV Hessen Kassel is a Regionnalliga Sud side, who enjoyed arguably their best runs in the 80s when they almost got promoted from the 2.Bundesliga to the country's elite league but missed out on all occasions.
We arrived at the Auestadion, where we were scheduled to play the lower league side, at about four in the evening. We did some light training at the ground. Just some simple passing games and things like that before getting down again to the dressing room at about five thirty, with kickoff in half an hour.
Once we entered the dressing room and the boys had settled, I entered along with Damir Buric. The boys looked at me without expectation. It didn't matter to most people whether they played this game or not. Indeed, for most people, it was better they didn't play this game-or so they felt. The reason? Who knows? You may play, end up getting injured or tired and miss the first game against Schalke in the Bundesliga or maybe even more number of games. Before planning on the line-up, I had thought quite a bit and decided to put out a line-up that would more or less be a mixture of some youth players-who may not get much of a chance in the Bundesliga-and some experience.
The crowd outside was filling up expectantly and the noises they made while singing the club song of Kessel was echoing through the tunnel. I closed the dressing room door and then began. "Right guys. First game of the season. How're you feeling?"
"Good. Confident really. I mean, Kessel's no big deal right?" Eren Derdiyok replied, to a chorus of approvals from the rest of the side.
"Right. Let's keep our confidence in check though. Let's not get too over confident." I said, smiling.
"Sure, sure." Derdiyok replied.
I then took out a piece of paper, one copy of which I had given the television officials and another of which I had given the referee. "Right, I've gone for a younger line-up. Some of you experienced players may have to be on the bench or sit out this one. Anyway, without much ado-here we go."
I looked into the paper and silently awaited a reaction. When I got none except a few deep breaths from some people-whom I presumed to be the younger boys-I began. "Bernd Leno is starting in goal." I looked at him and he nodded. I continued, "Michal, Omer, Matthias and Danny-you take the defensive positions in the left, centre-left, centre-right and right respectively." All of them looked at each other and nodded. "Simon," I looked at Rolfes, "you'll take defensive midfield." He stayed silent. Being an anchor man wasn't his favourite role. "Lars and Michael," I told Bender and Ballack, "you'll man the middle of the park." Then came the crucial part, the attacking trio. I looked around before reading again from the paper. Once I'd got it, I announced again "Ortega, you take right wing. Nicolai, you take the left and Samed, you play as the striker. Is that clear?"
All of them gave their assent. I then went on to read the substitutes list. "David Yelldell, Manuel Friedrich, Andre Schurrle, Eren Derdiyok, Renato Augusto, Stefan Reinartz and Mohammed Abdellaoue. All of you are on the bench tonight."
I then left the boys to dress up and got up to the tunnel. I had a brief chat with some of the Kassel players before I returned back to the dressing room to find my players ready to go. I called them all out now. And then I made my way past the Kassel line-up into the ground.
As soon as I emerged from the tunnel, there was a round of applause and a number of Leverkusen faithful began singing the club song. Slowly, behind me, all those who made the bench and all those who did not make either the first eleven or the bench followed and sat down in the stands and the dugout with me. The arrival of each player was cheered with gusto both by the home crowd-for whom this is the only time in a year they see some international stars-and by the visiting crowd.
About ten minutes later, both the starting eleven players made their way into the ground to a resounding ovation from the spectators. The line-ups were announced over the PA system and the Kassel line-up was as expected, the strongest one they had put out. The Leverkusen line-up on the other hand, was not the strongest they had but it was still light years more stronger than the Kassel team. After the formalities of shaking hands, choosing sides, counting players and all that was done with, the referee signalled the start of the match.
And unsurprisingly, it was Leverkusen who opened up the Kassel defence in the second minute, with some neat passing between Rolfes, Bender and Ballack. The final through-ball from Rolfes though, was intercepted-if not, Yesil was clean through on goal-and cleared. We continued our tempo and two more chances came and went, when Yesil narrowly headed a Jorgensen cross above and Bender clipped the post with a long ranger.
But it took only nine minutes before we opened up the deadlock with Simon Rolfes being the scorer. A corner from Ortega was cleared by the Kassel defence. The resulting aerial ball was rifled home into the net from about twenty five yards by a lurking and unmarked Simon Rolfes. 1-0 to Leverkusen and the home fans were partly silenced.
If the hosts thought they had some chance in the match, all their hopes began to be killed when after a flurry of chances for Leverkusen, Samed Yesil doubled the lead in the fifteenth minute. Yesil latched on to a pass from Jorgensen before cutting across the eighteen yard box and holding off two defenders to launch a powerful shot into the top corner with his left foot. Even after the goal, Yesil and Jorgensen were causing all sorts of problems to the Kassel defence while Ortega was happily ruling the right wing. But Yesil's dream debut became a nightmare ten minutes after the goal when a rough tackle caught the teenager badly and ruled him out of the match. He was brought out and I called up Schurrle to replace Yesil upfront. Meanwhile, Yesil himself was taken off for treatment to the dressing room.
Schurrle continued from where Yesil had left off and wreaked havoc right, left and centre. It was during another of his mazy runs across the field that he was hauled down by the Kassel defence near the byline on the left. The resultant freekick was taken by Michal Kadlec, who dispatched the ball into the area, where Matthias Langkamp outjumped his marker and headed home to make it three-nil by thirty minutes.
Now that the match was already in our hands, I instructed the lads to play relaxed football and just keep rolling the ball around and conserve their energy. We kept recycling possession and rarely did we lose the ball. Even when we did lose it, we regained it back again in no time and continued with our pass-and-move strategy. The only blip in an otherwise brilliant first half was a yellow card to Kadlec for hauling down Nazif Hadjarovic.
At halftime, the boys returned back to the dressing room and I was elated with them-despite the fact that they were performing so well against one of the weakest teams of the tournament. "You guys have been playing extremely well. Absolutely no area for comment. All of you know what to do out there. Just keep doing what you're doing."
And they continued to do what they were doing in the first half. Chances were fewer in coming now but we kept up the passing and also created goalscoring opportunities from the wings. There was not much remarkable in the second half. I made two more changes to account for the fatigue due to the hot climate at Kassel. Renato Augusto came on for Michael Ortega and Stefan Reinartz was deployed in midfield for Michael Ballack. And obviously, we added one more goal when Lars Bender fired a shot from the edge of the area into the bottom left corner of the net in the seventy third minute. Nothing eventful happened in the second half and we ran out 4-0 winners.
At the fulltime talk, I just told them to keep up their level of performance against Schalke next match and I told them we could get a big, crucial win in our campaign for the Bundesliga.
*****
Kassel is a city roughly in the middle of Germany, about 165 kilometers from Dortmund in the west and 145 from Leipzig in the east. Down south, the nearest city was Frankfurt at 193 km and Hannover was the nearest city in the north at 164 km. The KSV Hessen Kassel is a Regionnalliga Sud side, who enjoyed arguably their best runs in the 80s when they almost got promoted from the 2.Bundesliga to the country's elite league but missed out on all occasions.
We arrived at the Auestadion, where we were scheduled to play the lower league side, at about four in the evening. We did some light training at the ground. Just some simple passing games and things like that before getting down again to the dressing room at about five thirty, with kickoff in half an hour.
Once we entered the dressing room and the boys had settled, I entered along with Damir Buric. The boys looked at me without expectation. It didn't matter to most people whether they played this game or not. Indeed, for most people, it was better they didn't play this game-or so they felt. The reason? Who knows? You may play, end up getting injured or tired and miss the first game against Schalke in the Bundesliga or maybe even more number of games. Before planning on the line-up, I had thought quite a bit and decided to put out a line-up that would more or less be a mixture of some youth players-who may not get much of a chance in the Bundesliga-and some experience.
The crowd outside was filling up expectantly and the noises they made while singing the club song of Kessel was echoing through the tunnel. I closed the dressing room door and then began. "Right guys. First game of the season. How're you feeling?"
"Good. Confident really. I mean, Kessel's no big deal right?" Eren Derdiyok replied, to a chorus of approvals from the rest of the side.
"Right. Let's keep our confidence in check though. Let's not get too over confident." I said, smiling.
"Sure, sure." Derdiyok replied.
I then took out a piece of paper, one copy of which I had given the television officials and another of which I had given the referee. "Right, I've gone for a younger line-up. Some of you experienced players may have to be on the bench or sit out this one. Anyway, without much ado-here we go."
I looked into the paper and silently awaited a reaction. When I got none except a few deep breaths from some people-whom I presumed to be the younger boys-I began. "Bernd Leno is starting in goal." I looked at him and he nodded. I continued, "Michal, Omer, Matthias and Danny-you take the defensive positions in the left, centre-left, centre-right and right respectively." All of them looked at each other and nodded. "Simon," I looked at Rolfes, "you'll take defensive midfield." He stayed silent. Being an anchor man wasn't his favourite role. "Lars and Michael," I told Bender and Ballack, "you'll man the middle of the park." Then came the crucial part, the attacking trio. I looked around before reading again from the paper. Once I'd got it, I announced again "Ortega, you take right wing. Nicolai, you take the left and Samed, you play as the striker. Is that clear?"
All of them gave their assent. I then went on to read the substitutes list. "David Yelldell, Manuel Friedrich, Andre Schurrle, Eren Derdiyok, Renato Augusto, Stefan Reinartz and Mohammed Abdellaoue. All of you are on the bench tonight."
I then left the boys to dress up and got up to the tunnel. I had a brief chat with some of the Kassel players before I returned back to the dressing room to find my players ready to go. I called them all out now. And then I made my way past the Kassel line-up into the ground.
As soon as I emerged from the tunnel, there was a round of applause and a number of Leverkusen faithful began singing the club song. Slowly, behind me, all those who made the bench and all those who did not make either the first eleven or the bench followed and sat down in the stands and the dugout with me. The arrival of each player was cheered with gusto both by the home crowd-for whom this is the only time in a year they see some international stars-and by the visiting crowd.
About ten minutes later, both the starting eleven players made their way into the ground to a resounding ovation from the spectators. The line-ups were announced over the PA system and the Kassel line-up was as expected, the strongest one they had put out. The Leverkusen line-up on the other hand, was not the strongest they had but it was still light years more stronger than the Kassel team. After the formalities of shaking hands, choosing sides, counting players and all that was done with, the referee signalled the start of the match.
And unsurprisingly, it was Leverkusen who opened up the Kassel defence in the second minute, with some neat passing between Rolfes, Bender and Ballack. The final through-ball from Rolfes though, was intercepted-if not, Yesil was clean through on goal-and cleared. We continued our tempo and two more chances came and went, when Yesil narrowly headed a Jorgensen cross above and Bender clipped the post with a long ranger.
But it took only nine minutes before we opened up the deadlock with Simon Rolfes being the scorer. A corner from Ortega was cleared by the Kassel defence. The resulting aerial ball was rifled home into the net from about twenty five yards by a lurking and unmarked Simon Rolfes. 1-0 to Leverkusen and the home fans were partly silenced.
If the hosts thought they had some chance in the match, all their hopes began to be killed when after a flurry of chances for Leverkusen, Samed Yesil doubled the lead in the fifteenth minute. Yesil latched on to a pass from Jorgensen before cutting across the eighteen yard box and holding off two defenders to launch a powerful shot into the top corner with his left foot. Even after the goal, Yesil and Jorgensen were causing all sorts of problems to the Kassel defence while Ortega was happily ruling the right wing. But Yesil's dream debut became a nightmare ten minutes after the goal when a rough tackle caught the teenager badly and ruled him out of the match. He was brought out and I called up Schurrle to replace Yesil upfront. Meanwhile, Yesil himself was taken off for treatment to the dressing room.
Schurrle continued from where Yesil had left off and wreaked havoc right, left and centre. It was during another of his mazy runs across the field that he was hauled down by the Kassel defence near the byline on the left. The resultant freekick was taken by Michal Kadlec, who dispatched the ball into the area, where Matthias Langkamp outjumped his marker and headed home to make it three-nil by thirty minutes.
Now that the match was already in our hands, I instructed the lads to play relaxed football and just keep rolling the ball around and conserve their energy. We kept recycling possession and rarely did we lose the ball. Even when we did lose it, we regained it back again in no time and continued with our pass-and-move strategy. The only blip in an otherwise brilliant first half was a yellow card to Kadlec for hauling down Nazif Hadjarovic.
At halftime, the boys returned back to the dressing room and I was elated with them-despite the fact that they were performing so well against one of the weakest teams of the tournament. "You guys have been playing extremely well. Absolutely no area for comment. All of you know what to do out there. Just keep doing what you're doing."
And they continued to do what they were doing in the first half. Chances were fewer in coming now but we kept up the passing and also created goalscoring opportunities from the wings. There was not much remarkable in the second half. I made two more changes to account for the fatigue due to the hot climate at Kassel. Renato Augusto came on for Michael Ortega and Stefan Reinartz was deployed in midfield for Michael Ballack. And obviously, we added one more goal when Lars Bender fired a shot from the edge of the area into the bottom left corner of the net in the seventy third minute. Nothing eventful happened in the second half and we ran out 4-0 winners.
At the fulltime talk, I just told them to keep up their level of performance against Schalke next match and I told them we could get a big, crucial win in our campaign for the Bundesliga.
*****
MisterStubbs
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Mate, this has got to be one of the best stories I've ever read here on the base. You're attention to detail is something else as for the storyline itself, just amazing. Keep up the brilliant work.
Chapter Eight-Another Year, Another Campaign
I didn't know whether to smile or crib about the fact that our first match in the Bundesliga was at home to Schalke. Schalke, both at home and on their travels, are a tough side to beat and they have a star studded team capable of living up to the expectations. The forward line of Raul and Huntelaar, backed up by former Stuttgart man Ciprian Marica, was deadly enough and their defence was superb in the form of Howedes and Papadopoulos. The midfield, by comparison, was the weakest of the three departments. Of course, there were talented players like Lewis Holtby and Jose Jurado but nothing that could really stand up to our midfield. I personally felt that was the let-down factor last season when they performed dismally.
Anyway, Schalke was the first to arrive at the BayArena. They arrived at midday for the 3.30 kickoff-I was informed by the receptionist. Indeed, a marquee game though this was, it was not given preference for the television, all thanks to the amazing game up north in Bremen, where Werder Bremen was playing host to Bayern Munich. She also told me that Jefferson Farfan was not amongst the travelling party. Relief! That's one less threat to deal with. I think everyone expected it though. Farfan had been making noises all week about moving out to some club elsewhere-most probably Manchester City or Juventus- much to his manager's annoyance. And as a result of his 'misbehaviour' in training, his manager left him out of the side to face Leverkusen today.
As for Bayer, we arrived at about one o'clock in the afternoon. It was hot and not exactly the best time to do some last minute training. So, all we did was to laze around in the dressing room. And joining us were Schalke, also doing the same thing. I was standing and talking to Gregory Winkmann, the match referee when Schalke's new manager, Huub Stevens joined me. Taking leave of Winkmann, I talked to Huub.
"Hello Huub!" I said
"Hello there. So how's it been going?"
"It's been great! How're you doing?"
"Yeah I'm doing fine. Just the Farfan issue. I suppose you've heard?" he asked
"Yes I did. Why don't you let him leave?"
"I really want him here but I think I'll just let him go now that he's causing so much trouble."
"It's better really. Otherwise how's it been?"
"I should be asking you that," he smiled, "it's your first real job."
"Well, it's fine really. Not much of problems. Juup left a great side and nothing much to do really to alter a winning combo."
"Why'd you sell Tranquillo though?"
"Well, big clubs were after him and I thought it was better for him to leave so that he can maybe win a few trophies with them more often than we do in Germany."
At that point, Huub took leave, wishing me all the very best and went back to the dressing room. I did the same. Once I entered, I noticed some lazy fellows in there but I didn't mind. Marco Reus was sleeping, Mao was listening to music along with Omer Toprak (Baby, baby, baby... God seriously? Justin Bieber?) and Andre Schurrle, Rolfes, Leno and Reinartz were all huddled in a discussion. Sidney Sam was missing from the dressing room though, and upon slight enquiry, it turned out he was talking to Benedikt Howedes from Schalke.
The Germany squad which was to play Brazil in a friendly match at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart was announced earlier in the day by Joachim Low and two Leverkusen players made the grade. Gonzalo Castro would probably play his sixth international match if he started or came on as a substitute, but the most notable selection was that of Sidney Sam. There were some quarters who believed that Sam was not good to step up to the senior side and indeed, it should have been Marco Reus or Lewis Holtby who should have been called up to play for Germany. But I had full faith in him and I myself told him not to worry and just in case he was nervous, he could talk to someone who's been there in the Germany camp like Simon Rolfes, Michael Ballack or even Benedikt Howedes if he felt like it. And I was glad to see him do it.
***
It was three in the afternoon, and it was still a dry day. The weather man at the BayArena put the temperature at a sultry twenty seven degrees centigrade. I went back to the dressing room after surveying the ground. The stadium was slowly picking up in strength and many of the Ultras had already arrived. Schalke fans were meanwhile huddled into one corner and were duly singing their club song with gusto.
I went back to the dressing room and found all the boys ready for the match. "Right, you guys know who's starting right?"
"Yes!" came the chorus.
"Anyway, we'll just go through it briefly again. Leno in goal, Kadlec, Friedrich, Reinartz and Schwaab from left to right in defence, Lars in defensive midfield, Ballack in the centre right and Rolfes in the centre left. Marco, you take the right wing and Andre, you take the right. Stefan starts upfront. The rest of you are on the bench sitting with me today."
They began to dress up and I just began to detail out a few tactical nuances which they may find useful against Schalke. "Right, their weakest point in defence will most probably be the right side with Hoogland and I want Schurrle to take full advantage of it. Lars, I want you to keep Holtby in check and Reinartz, I want you to take care of Huntelaar..."
*****
The noise from the stadium was growing louder. The Leverkusen fans had more than rivalled their Schalke counterparts and the Leverkusen club song was flowing with rhythm now. I waited along with the playing eleven and the substitutes for the Schalke team to come out of the dressing room. It was a rather dull wait for the players but I myself, was enjoying the song outside which was echoing in the tunnel. For some reason, it reminded me of "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Anfield when we visited Liverpool during my time at Chelsea as a coach.
The Schalke players got out of the dressing room just fifteen minutes before kickoff and even as the starting eleven lined up next to the Leverkusen line-up, I shook hands with Huub and said "Best of luck."-a gesture he repeated. I looked at their starting eleven and smiled to myself. It was pretty much as I had expected it. Fahrmann, Fuchs, Papadopoulos, Howedes, Hoogland, Jones, Hoger, Jurado, Holtby, Raul and Huntelaar. Only difference was that Raul was playing where Farfan normally did.
I climbed up the stairs and got out onto the pitch. The resounding song-still going on-took me slightly by surprise with it's amplitude but I soon got used to it. I let the substitutes-Yelldell, Castro, Toprak, Augusto, Abdellaoue, Sam and Derdiyok- settle into the dugout before the technical staff got in with all their gizmos used to monitor the movements of players from both teams and provide in-depth analysis in real-time. Next up was Damir Buric and I sat down next to him.
"Feeling nervous?" he asked
"No. Nothing really." I replied
The teams walked out at precisely three twenty five and we stood up during the initial pre-match ceremonial rituals. Once it was over, we sat down and watched as the players shook hands with each other. Soon, the two captains, Benedikt Howedes and Stefan Kiessling joined the referees in the centre. Schalke won the toss and chose to attack the goalpost near the VIP stands.
Two minutes later, once the referee ascertained that there were no more than twenty two players on the pitch, Stefan Kiessling rolled the ball to Andre Schurrle, kicking off another year of hope and expectation.
*****
The match had only entered the second minute but the action was already pulsating. On one end, Stefan Kiessling fired his shot just above the bar and at the other Bernd Leno pulled off a stunning double save from Lewis Holtby's attempts at goal to deny Schalke an opener. Marco Reus now had the ball in midfield near the halfway line on the right wing. He passed to Simon Rolfes in the centre and surged ahead. Rolfes turned around and cut in towards the centre of the park. As defenders converged on him, he passed the ball squarely to Ballack. Ballack again passed it within two touches to the left wing where Schurrle waited to receive it.
The German Under-21 international then cut inside and tried to go through but the positioning of Howedes and Papadopoulos made it difficult for him to do so. He passed the ball back to Ballack and The former Germany captain then lofted the ball to the right wing, to an unmarked Reus. Reus got forward and then comfortably crossed the ball into the area, low and hard.
At the receiving end was Kiessling and behind him was Schurrle. Seeing that he was imminently going to be closed down by Howedes, Kiessling cleverly left the ball, faking a receive and it landed straight to Schurrle. A brilliant first touch took it past Papadopoulos before he hit a shot low into the bottom corner of the net!
The Leverkusen crowd went absolutely beserk at this moment and one of the loudest cheers erupted within the stadium. I immediately jumped up from my seat and punched the air even as I ran forward. Behind me, Abdellaoue was already demanding a hundred euros from Derdiyok for winning the bet they had against each other. Mao had said that Schurrle will score first while Derdiyok put his money on Kiessling. Damir was also ecstatic and said "WOW! That was amazing!"
*****
The match was going at a fast pace now. Schalke had recovered well from their early blow and were now trying to get the equaliser very quickly. But while their two central midfielders were working very hard, the attacking midfield trio was absolutely at sixes and sevens and our defence had no problem holding them at bay. They did get a few chances though, the most notable of them being a close range Huntelaar header off a Hoogland cross.
Mark Kayne, an Australian from the technical staff came over to me and said "I think we should keep our leashes tight on Holtby. He's proving to be their main attacking outlet. He's dropping quite deep to get the ball. Their formation almost always shifts to a 4-3-3 when they get the ball in defence or when they are defending." Kayne went back after I said I would try and do something about it.
"I think we should allow Bender to move with Holtby, not too close but not too far either." Buric said.
"I was thinking along the same lines too." I said.
I stood up and went down near the touchline. Just then there was a break in play. A handball from Rolfes near the halfway line. I called Marco Reus, who was near me and told him "Listen Marco, I want Lars to try and keep himself in line with Holtby. Tell him not to get too far out with him and not to be too aloof also. Just try and man his normal duties but try and keep an eye on Holtby."
Reus nodded and went off to tell this to Rolfes, who would then pass it on to Bender when time permitted.
*****
****** ****! THAT was a handball! I thought to myself in disgust as Papadopoulos managed to block a Schurrle shot with his hand for the second time in two minutes. I went to the fourth official and told him "That was a handball really. If it happens once, I can agree but twice, come on..."
He told me it was completely the ref's decision and that if he felt it was unintentional, there was nothing any other official could do about it except maybe the linesman. But in this case, even the linesman thought it was unintentional.
Meanwhile, play was still going on. We had so far got a decent number of chances on target. And our possession was also a very good 60%. Thirty minutes and the score was still one-nil. I looked across at the Schalke dugout and I could see tense faces. Leverkusen were playing a completely different out of the world game-it reminded many over enthusiastic fans of Barcelona- and were managing to keep Schalke chasing shadows.
Huub Stevens himself was tense, pacing the sidelines expectantly in the hope that there might be an equaliser. And he groaned and I sighed in relief twice as first a Raul shot cannoned back off the bar and then minutes later, a Jurado cross was almost deflected into his own goal by Reinartz.
But at thirty seven minutes, Leverkusen went two goals up. A series of lovely one-twos between Reus and Ballack saw the latter release Kiessling into the box with a defence splitting through ball. The Leverkusen striker held off his German teammate Howedes before firing in a shot into the near post from the edge of the area.
I was delighted and the Leverkusen crowd was delirious. Nothing else could have given me a better start to the Bundesliga campaign. Two-nil up against one of the best teams in the league. That was something.
*****
The advantage was short-lived though with Benedikt Howedes heading home a Jermaine Jones corner just three minutes later. I was now a little bit scared. What if this was the beginning of a Schalke comback? I hoped that the team would hold on to their one goal advantage at least until halftime so that I can talk to them. And that they did. No more goals and only two half-chances in total came in before the referee signalled the end of the first half.
The players came into the dressing room in a buoyant mood with their 2-1 lead. As soon as they had settled down with their drinks and stuff, I told them "Good playing boys. You've been doing really well against one of the best teams in Germany so hats off to you!" A loud cheer went up in the room. When it died down, I continued. "There area few things I would like to point out however. Lars, you've been doing the job of tracking Holtby down very well so far but now I want a change. I don't want you to track down Holtby wherever he goes. I want you to stay where you are. Instead, just close him down when he gets near. Also, to complement Lars, I want the defence to closely mark the other three forwards Raul, Huntelaar and Jurado. And PLEASE limit the number of fouls you commit."
With that, I told the boys to relax a bit and then leave for the field. Ten minutes later, the Leverkusen players moved out onto the grass and were soon followed by Schalke. Neither side had made any changes and once the players had settled, Huntelaar kicked off the second half with a short pass behind to Jurado.
*****
The second half was uneventful. Unlike the end to end action in the first half, the second half consisted mainly of long range efforts from both sides, most of which ended up in the stands and was mainly a midfield battle with the ball consistently finding it's way from one end to the other.
Fans of both sides willed their teams on continuously and after about ten minutes of boring midfield display, Schalke upped the ante. A half-volley from Jurado was well saved by Leno after a good build-up play from Raul and Hoger and a defensive error from Friedrich. In response, Marco Reus cut inside after a brilliant run on the right wing and then powered a shot, only to see it graze the bar and go out. Sixty minutes into the match, we made our first substitution. Ballack was looking exhausted and I brought on Gonzalo Castro to replace him in midfield.
A minute later, Schalke took off the inefficient Jurado for Julian Draxler. I personally admired Draxler. He was a good player and was a nice lad, having met him once or twice before when he was at the Under 19s in Schalke. The game then began to move at a slightly faster pace and both sides began to create openings but rarely did anything fruitful come out of it, thanks to some stringent defending. And after finding that we needed more penetration and a fresh pair of legs on the field upfront, I made a double substitution in the seventy fourth minute.
Marco Reus, who had a brilliant debut match was taken off for Sidney Sam and Stefan Kiessling was taken off for Mohammed Abdellaoue. And almost immediately, the pair made an impact, when a flowing Leverkusen move saw the midfield string together twenty eight passes in rapid succession before Sam played an aerial through-ball for Abdellaoue. Abdellaoue controlled the ball brilliantly and held off Howedes to narrowly fire a shot wide.
And in the seventy ninth minute, the third goal we were desperately looking for, came. Schurrle went on another mazy run on the left and when he cut inside he wrong footed Hoogland, who caught Schurrle's legs inside the box. A penalty was rightly awarded and I smiled in glee and Huub Stevens argued with the fourth official. Simon Rolfes is not one to miss penalties much and he proved it again when he sent Fahrmann diving the wrong way to give Bayer a 3-1 lead.
Again, just like the Kassel match, I told the boys to play slowly and conserve their energy by just recycling possession. That they did and even the late substitutions of Raul and Papadopoulos for Ciprian Marica and Joel Matip didn't help the side from Gelsenkirchen. And their situation worsened in the 87th minute when Jermaine Jones was sent off for a two footed challenge on Lars Bender. Indeed, the challenge was so bad that Bender was lucky to have stayed on the field without much damage from it.
The score remained that way till the three minutes of stoppage time ended and we had a great first day result on our hands. I shook hands with Huub Stevens, praised the boys for a splendid performance and then felt chuffed with myself and the team inside the team bus.
*****
I didn't know whether to smile or crib about the fact that our first match in the Bundesliga was at home to Schalke. Schalke, both at home and on their travels, are a tough side to beat and they have a star studded team capable of living up to the expectations. The forward line of Raul and Huntelaar, backed up by former Stuttgart man Ciprian Marica, was deadly enough and their defence was superb in the form of Howedes and Papadopoulos. The midfield, by comparison, was the weakest of the three departments. Of course, there were talented players like Lewis Holtby and Jose Jurado but nothing that could really stand up to our midfield. I personally felt that was the let-down factor last season when they performed dismally.
Anyway, Schalke was the first to arrive at the BayArena. They arrived at midday for the 3.30 kickoff-I was informed by the receptionist. Indeed, a marquee game though this was, it was not given preference for the television, all thanks to the amazing game up north in Bremen, where Werder Bremen was playing host to Bayern Munich. She also told me that Jefferson Farfan was not amongst the travelling party. Relief! That's one less threat to deal with. I think everyone expected it though. Farfan had been making noises all week about moving out to some club elsewhere-most probably Manchester City or Juventus- much to his manager's annoyance. And as a result of his 'misbehaviour' in training, his manager left him out of the side to face Leverkusen today.
As for Bayer, we arrived at about one o'clock in the afternoon. It was hot and not exactly the best time to do some last minute training. So, all we did was to laze around in the dressing room. And joining us were Schalke, also doing the same thing. I was standing and talking to Gregory Winkmann, the match referee when Schalke's new manager, Huub Stevens joined me. Taking leave of Winkmann, I talked to Huub.
"Hello Huub!" I said
"Hello there. So how's it been going?"
"It's been great! How're you doing?"
"Yeah I'm doing fine. Just the Farfan issue. I suppose you've heard?" he asked
"Yes I did. Why don't you let him leave?"
"I really want him here but I think I'll just let him go now that he's causing so much trouble."
"It's better really. Otherwise how's it been?"
"I should be asking you that," he smiled, "it's your first real job."
"Well, it's fine really. Not much of problems. Juup left a great side and nothing much to do really to alter a winning combo."
"Why'd you sell Tranquillo though?"
"Well, big clubs were after him and I thought it was better for him to leave so that he can maybe win a few trophies with them more often than we do in Germany."
At that point, Huub took leave, wishing me all the very best and went back to the dressing room. I did the same. Once I entered, I noticed some lazy fellows in there but I didn't mind. Marco Reus was sleeping, Mao was listening to music along with Omer Toprak (Baby, baby, baby... God seriously? Justin Bieber?) and Andre Schurrle, Rolfes, Leno and Reinartz were all huddled in a discussion. Sidney Sam was missing from the dressing room though, and upon slight enquiry, it turned out he was talking to Benedikt Howedes from Schalke.
The Germany squad which was to play Brazil in a friendly match at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart was announced earlier in the day by Joachim Low and two Leverkusen players made the grade. Gonzalo Castro would probably play his sixth international match if he started or came on as a substitute, but the most notable selection was that of Sidney Sam. There were some quarters who believed that Sam was not good to step up to the senior side and indeed, it should have been Marco Reus or Lewis Holtby who should have been called up to play for Germany. But I had full faith in him and I myself told him not to worry and just in case he was nervous, he could talk to someone who's been there in the Germany camp like Simon Rolfes, Michael Ballack or even Benedikt Howedes if he felt like it. And I was glad to see him do it.
***
It was three in the afternoon, and it was still a dry day. The weather man at the BayArena put the temperature at a sultry twenty seven degrees centigrade. I went back to the dressing room after surveying the ground. The stadium was slowly picking up in strength and many of the Ultras had already arrived. Schalke fans were meanwhile huddled into one corner and were duly singing their club song with gusto.
I went back to the dressing room and found all the boys ready for the match. "Right, you guys know who's starting right?"
"Yes!" came the chorus.
"Anyway, we'll just go through it briefly again. Leno in goal, Kadlec, Friedrich, Reinartz and Schwaab from left to right in defence, Lars in defensive midfield, Ballack in the centre right and Rolfes in the centre left. Marco, you take the right wing and Andre, you take the right. Stefan starts upfront. The rest of you are on the bench sitting with me today."
They began to dress up and I just began to detail out a few tactical nuances which they may find useful against Schalke. "Right, their weakest point in defence will most probably be the right side with Hoogland and I want Schurrle to take full advantage of it. Lars, I want you to keep Holtby in check and Reinartz, I want you to take care of Huntelaar..."
*****
The noise from the stadium was growing louder. The Leverkusen fans had more than rivalled their Schalke counterparts and the Leverkusen club song was flowing with rhythm now. I waited along with the playing eleven and the substitutes for the Schalke team to come out of the dressing room. It was a rather dull wait for the players but I myself, was enjoying the song outside which was echoing in the tunnel. For some reason, it reminded me of "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Anfield when we visited Liverpool during my time at Chelsea as a coach.
The Schalke players got out of the dressing room just fifteen minutes before kickoff and even as the starting eleven lined up next to the Leverkusen line-up, I shook hands with Huub and said "Best of luck."-a gesture he repeated. I looked at their starting eleven and smiled to myself. It was pretty much as I had expected it. Fahrmann, Fuchs, Papadopoulos, Howedes, Hoogland, Jones, Hoger, Jurado, Holtby, Raul and Huntelaar. Only difference was that Raul was playing where Farfan normally did.
I climbed up the stairs and got out onto the pitch. The resounding song-still going on-took me slightly by surprise with it's amplitude but I soon got used to it. I let the substitutes-Yelldell, Castro, Toprak, Augusto, Abdellaoue, Sam and Derdiyok- settle into the dugout before the technical staff got in with all their gizmos used to monitor the movements of players from both teams and provide in-depth analysis in real-time. Next up was Damir Buric and I sat down next to him.
"Feeling nervous?" he asked
"No. Nothing really." I replied
The teams walked out at precisely three twenty five and we stood up during the initial pre-match ceremonial rituals. Once it was over, we sat down and watched as the players shook hands with each other. Soon, the two captains, Benedikt Howedes and Stefan Kiessling joined the referees in the centre. Schalke won the toss and chose to attack the goalpost near the VIP stands.
Two minutes later, once the referee ascertained that there were no more than twenty two players on the pitch, Stefan Kiessling rolled the ball to Andre Schurrle, kicking off another year of hope and expectation.
*****
The match had only entered the second minute but the action was already pulsating. On one end, Stefan Kiessling fired his shot just above the bar and at the other Bernd Leno pulled off a stunning double save from Lewis Holtby's attempts at goal to deny Schalke an opener. Marco Reus now had the ball in midfield near the halfway line on the right wing. He passed to Simon Rolfes in the centre and surged ahead. Rolfes turned around and cut in towards the centre of the park. As defenders converged on him, he passed the ball squarely to Ballack. Ballack again passed it within two touches to the left wing where Schurrle waited to receive it.
The German Under-21 international then cut inside and tried to go through but the positioning of Howedes and Papadopoulos made it difficult for him to do so. He passed the ball back to Ballack and The former Germany captain then lofted the ball to the right wing, to an unmarked Reus. Reus got forward and then comfortably crossed the ball into the area, low and hard.
At the receiving end was Kiessling and behind him was Schurrle. Seeing that he was imminently going to be closed down by Howedes, Kiessling cleverly left the ball, faking a receive and it landed straight to Schurrle. A brilliant first touch took it past Papadopoulos before he hit a shot low into the bottom corner of the net!
The Leverkusen crowd went absolutely beserk at this moment and one of the loudest cheers erupted within the stadium. I immediately jumped up from my seat and punched the air even as I ran forward. Behind me, Abdellaoue was already demanding a hundred euros from Derdiyok for winning the bet they had against each other. Mao had said that Schurrle will score first while Derdiyok put his money on Kiessling. Damir was also ecstatic and said "WOW! That was amazing!"
*****
The match was going at a fast pace now. Schalke had recovered well from their early blow and were now trying to get the equaliser very quickly. But while their two central midfielders were working very hard, the attacking midfield trio was absolutely at sixes and sevens and our defence had no problem holding them at bay. They did get a few chances though, the most notable of them being a close range Huntelaar header off a Hoogland cross.
Mark Kayne, an Australian from the technical staff came over to me and said "I think we should keep our leashes tight on Holtby. He's proving to be their main attacking outlet. He's dropping quite deep to get the ball. Their formation almost always shifts to a 4-3-3 when they get the ball in defence or when they are defending." Kayne went back after I said I would try and do something about it.
"I think we should allow Bender to move with Holtby, not too close but not too far either." Buric said.
"I was thinking along the same lines too." I said.
I stood up and went down near the touchline. Just then there was a break in play. A handball from Rolfes near the halfway line. I called Marco Reus, who was near me and told him "Listen Marco, I want Lars to try and keep himself in line with Holtby. Tell him not to get too far out with him and not to be too aloof also. Just try and man his normal duties but try and keep an eye on Holtby."
Reus nodded and went off to tell this to Rolfes, who would then pass it on to Bender when time permitted.
*****
****** ****! THAT was a handball! I thought to myself in disgust as Papadopoulos managed to block a Schurrle shot with his hand for the second time in two minutes. I went to the fourth official and told him "That was a handball really. If it happens once, I can agree but twice, come on..."
He told me it was completely the ref's decision and that if he felt it was unintentional, there was nothing any other official could do about it except maybe the linesman. But in this case, even the linesman thought it was unintentional.
Meanwhile, play was still going on. We had so far got a decent number of chances on target. And our possession was also a very good 60%. Thirty minutes and the score was still one-nil. I looked across at the Schalke dugout and I could see tense faces. Leverkusen were playing a completely different out of the world game-it reminded many over enthusiastic fans of Barcelona- and were managing to keep Schalke chasing shadows.
Huub Stevens himself was tense, pacing the sidelines expectantly in the hope that there might be an equaliser. And he groaned and I sighed in relief twice as first a Raul shot cannoned back off the bar and then minutes later, a Jurado cross was almost deflected into his own goal by Reinartz.
But at thirty seven minutes, Leverkusen went two goals up. A series of lovely one-twos between Reus and Ballack saw the latter release Kiessling into the box with a defence splitting through ball. The Leverkusen striker held off his German teammate Howedes before firing in a shot into the near post from the edge of the area.
I was delighted and the Leverkusen crowd was delirious. Nothing else could have given me a better start to the Bundesliga campaign. Two-nil up against one of the best teams in the league. That was something.
*****
The advantage was short-lived though with Benedikt Howedes heading home a Jermaine Jones corner just three minutes later. I was now a little bit scared. What if this was the beginning of a Schalke comback? I hoped that the team would hold on to their one goal advantage at least until halftime so that I can talk to them. And that they did. No more goals and only two half-chances in total came in before the referee signalled the end of the first half.
The players came into the dressing room in a buoyant mood with their 2-1 lead. As soon as they had settled down with their drinks and stuff, I told them "Good playing boys. You've been doing really well against one of the best teams in Germany so hats off to you!" A loud cheer went up in the room. When it died down, I continued. "There area few things I would like to point out however. Lars, you've been doing the job of tracking Holtby down very well so far but now I want a change. I don't want you to track down Holtby wherever he goes. I want you to stay where you are. Instead, just close him down when he gets near. Also, to complement Lars, I want the defence to closely mark the other three forwards Raul, Huntelaar and Jurado. And PLEASE limit the number of fouls you commit."
With that, I told the boys to relax a bit and then leave for the field. Ten minutes later, the Leverkusen players moved out onto the grass and were soon followed by Schalke. Neither side had made any changes and once the players had settled, Huntelaar kicked off the second half with a short pass behind to Jurado.
*****
The second half was uneventful. Unlike the end to end action in the first half, the second half consisted mainly of long range efforts from both sides, most of which ended up in the stands and was mainly a midfield battle with the ball consistently finding it's way from one end to the other.
Fans of both sides willed their teams on continuously and after about ten minutes of boring midfield display, Schalke upped the ante. A half-volley from Jurado was well saved by Leno after a good build-up play from Raul and Hoger and a defensive error from Friedrich. In response, Marco Reus cut inside after a brilliant run on the right wing and then powered a shot, only to see it graze the bar and go out. Sixty minutes into the match, we made our first substitution. Ballack was looking exhausted and I brought on Gonzalo Castro to replace him in midfield.
A minute later, Schalke took off the inefficient Jurado for Julian Draxler. I personally admired Draxler. He was a good player and was a nice lad, having met him once or twice before when he was at the Under 19s in Schalke. The game then began to move at a slightly faster pace and both sides began to create openings but rarely did anything fruitful come out of it, thanks to some stringent defending. And after finding that we needed more penetration and a fresh pair of legs on the field upfront, I made a double substitution in the seventy fourth minute.
Marco Reus, who had a brilliant debut match was taken off for Sidney Sam and Stefan Kiessling was taken off for Mohammed Abdellaoue. And almost immediately, the pair made an impact, when a flowing Leverkusen move saw the midfield string together twenty eight passes in rapid succession before Sam played an aerial through-ball for Abdellaoue. Abdellaoue controlled the ball brilliantly and held off Howedes to narrowly fire a shot wide.
And in the seventy ninth minute, the third goal we were desperately looking for, came. Schurrle went on another mazy run on the left and when he cut inside he wrong footed Hoogland, who caught Schurrle's legs inside the box. A penalty was rightly awarded and I smiled in glee and Huub Stevens argued with the fourth official. Simon Rolfes is not one to miss penalties much and he proved it again when he sent Fahrmann diving the wrong way to give Bayer a 3-1 lead.
Again, just like the Kassel match, I told the boys to play slowly and conserve their energy by just recycling possession. That they did and even the late substitutions of Raul and Papadopoulos for Ciprian Marica and Joel Matip didn't help the side from Gelsenkirchen. And their situation worsened in the 87th minute when Jermaine Jones was sent off for a two footed challenge on Lars Bender. Indeed, the challenge was so bad that Bender was lucky to have stayed on the field without much damage from it.
The score remained that way till the three minutes of stoppage time ended and we had a great first day result on our hands. I shook hands with Huub Stevens, praised the boys for a splendid performance and then felt chuffed with myself and the team inside the team bus.
*****
Chapter Nine-Domestic Solidity and European Anxiety
The last few weeks of August are often described as the toughest period in the season along with the last week of January. Most of the big name transfers, last minute dealings, hiked up prices, bidding wars and everything took place during this time. Add that to the UEFA Champions League play-offs (if you were involved), the group stage draws of both the Champions League and the Europa League, and the commencement of the domestic league season-you have one **** of a time.
After the buoyant mood we found ourselves in following the 3-1 win over Schalke in the opening match, there was a slight break from training as most players left the club for their international matches. I myself happened to be at the Sukru Sarasoglu stadium in Istanbul where Turkey were taking on Estonia in a friendly match. I wasn't there to scout any players. Indeed, far from it. I'd arrived to keep a promise to Omer Toprak-that I would be there when he played his first match for Turkey. Sidney Sam also called me but after talking to both Jogi Low and Guus Hiddink, I found out that Sam was not going to even make the bench for the Germany match, whereas Omer would be starting for Turkey. I didn't break the news to Sam that way, instead saying that I had made the commitment to Omer much earlier and he was hence, first priority. Sidney didn't seem too convinced, but he didn't complain. And to my happiness, Omer played really well, breaking up Estonian attacks with ease and without any sign of letting down his guard for the whole of the game. Meanwhile in Stuttgart, I was glad to hear from Low that Gonzalo Castro has played really well. I also managed to get in a comment that Stefan Kiessling and Marco Reus could be worthy of Germany too.
The players returned straight to Kaiserslautern where we'd be playing our next game, instead of the traditional return to Leverkusen. I'd taken this measure as there were only three days left before the match began. And it proved to be good. We were well conditioned before the match commenced and we completely imposed our game on Kaiserslautern. An astounding statistic of twenty shots with eleven on target speaks for itself. However, had it not been for Kevin Trapp, who probably had the worst game of his career-being barraged by Leverkusen attacks- the score could well have been more than the two goals to nil that we managed. Indeed, his keeping was so brilliant that the boys were actually downhearted at halftime that they hadn't opened up the scoring. A little bit of encouragement got them back onto the right track though and Sidney Sam opened up the scoring in the sixty third minute with a neat finish from an Abdellaoue assist before Stefan Kiessling finished things off in injury time to put the tie to bed. The match also saw Marco Reus' goal controversially disallowed with the German FA silent over my blatant criticism of the linesman's decision.
Our next game was another trip, this time to Hoffenheim. The game there was played under hot sun and both sides were so fatigued by the hour mark that the referee actually gave a basketball-style timeout. But coming to the match itself, we managed only a 1-1 draw despite being the better side, though not by much. An early Nicolai Jorgensen goal in the fifteenth minute was equalised very late in the eighty fifth minute by Ryan Babel. We controlled possession very well but were unable to create chances against a resilient Hoffenheim defence. But I was sort of okay with the performance though I felt we were quite exposed in various areas. I made a mental note to improve them in training.
******
The UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw is a moment associated with great pride for all the thirty two clubs participating in it. For me myself, it was the first time I was meeting other great managers from other clubs. All managers by tradition or by necessity were there at the draw. The first person I met soon after my arrival in Monaco was Pep Guardiola, the manager of arguably the best team in Europe-FC Barcelona. He was also accompanied by his captain Carles Puyol. He congratulated me on landing the Leverkusen job and wished me best of luck.
Next, I met Sir Alex Ferguson and Nemanja Vidic. I always had a special respect for SAF. Here was a man who had probably achieved everything in club management and yet he was going strong at that age. He too congratulated me, asked me how it was going and told me that I could come for help anytime to him.
My mentor Jose Mourinho-and his team captain Casillas- was next. It was a special moment for me-meeting him after so many years, and I'm sure it was the same for AVB also. All three of us had parted ways when Mourinho left Chelsea for Inter. AVB left to manage Academica, and I left to join Leverkusen as a coach. Since then, we'd come a long way and not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we'd be talking to each other as managers.
"So Mat, how's the hot seat?" Mourinho asked, smiling, once the initial pleasantries were done with.
"It's fine but it's a big club and there are lot of expectations. I'm really nervous at times."
"It's okay, you'll get over it."
Just then, Andre Villas-Boas joined us and after the hugging was done with, the three of us engaged in an engrossing chat which reminded us of old times with nostalgia. Old, peaceful times at Porto and at Chelsea. A far cry from the hectic life of a manager today. At times, we conversed in Portuguese, at times in Spanish but for the most part, we stuck to English. Again, just like the old days.
I also met a few other managers, like Arsene Wenger, Rudi Garcia, Jurgen Klopp (whom I would meet at least two times more) and some others. All of them offered me congratulations and wished me luck in my job. One person I did not meet and purposely avoided was Jupp Heynckes. And I don't think he made the effort to search for me.
Meanwhile, the Champions League group stage draw ceremony began after about an hour. We were first shown clips of the last season's campaign which Barcelona comprehensively won, hammering Manchester United in the finals at Wembley. A special mention was made to Tottenham and Shakhtar, who had both defied odds to enter the quarterfinals where they'd lost to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
And after some formalities were done with, Ruud Gullit began with the draw with the top seeded teams in Pot One starting to be drawn first. Leverkusen were in pot three, having not been in Europe many times in recent years.
"To open up the draw, we have AC Milan in Group A!....Then, in Group B, we have last year's semifinalists and Spanish cup holders Real Madrid!"
I looked at Mourinho's face below my row. He seemed thoughtful.
"And now in Group C, we have last year's runners up and English champions Manchester United!"
Sir Alex didn't show any emotion and seemed more intent on identifying what was wrong with his shoes. And so the draw for the first pot teams went on. Arsenal found themselves in Group D, Barcelona were pitted in Group E, Chelsea were in Group F (AVB wasn't particularly happy. Six was never his lucky number), Bayern Munich in Group G and finally Inter Milan in Group H.
Next came the Pot Two Teams. This should be interesting. I thought. FC Porto found themselves in Group A, Ajax Amsterdam was put in Group B, Valencia in Group C, Lyon in Group D, Shakhtar Donetsk in Group E, Benfica in Group F, Marseille in Group G, and Villareal in Group H.
I rubbed my hands together with nervousness when the Pot Three teams were announced. There were some very talented sides and there were some sides whom even the Pot 1 and 2 teams wanted to avoid, the most notable of them being Manchester City. Among the other big names were Klopp's Dortmund, my Leverkusen and Rudi Garcia's Lille.
Dortmund was drawn in Group A with Porto and Milan. Klopp wasn't very happy about this and he began making calculations with his team of advisors.
"And now in Group B! We have CSKA Moscow of Russia!" Ruud Gullit said, holding up the placard before placing it on one side. "We move on now to Group C! Joining Manchester United of England and Valencia of Spain is none other than BAYER LEVERKUSEN!"
Joining Manchester United and Valencia were none other than BAYER LEVERKUSEN!
Joining Manchester United and Valencia...
I kept repeating these lines over and over again to myself in my mind. Why me? Seriously! My first year in management and what do I have Valencia and United. This sort of luck and I can probably, safely bid goodbye to any European dreams that I may have harboured. Beside me, my team captain Stefan Kiessling winced first and then said "It's okay boss. We'll do ourselves proud."
I'd missed out on the rest of the pot three draw but I didn't care. I was more interested in the pot four draw. There was one more team everyone wished to avoid. Italian side Napoli were in Europe after a long time on the sidelines and they were in pot four. And as I partly expected it with my luck, the easier sides of Olympiakos and Wisla Krakow were drawn in A and B while the toughest of the lot, Napoli was drawn in Group C.
Beside me, Stefan groaned and I followed suite. At the end of the draw, I looked at the board one more time and viewed all the groups which looked like
Group A- AC Milan, FC Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos
Group B- Real Madrid, Ajax Amsterdam, CSKA Moscow, Wisla Krakow
Group C- Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli
Group D- Arsenal, Olympique Lyonnais, Genk, FC Basel
Group E- FC Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Partizan Belgrade
Group F- Chelsea, Benfica, Zenit St. Petersburg, Otelul Galati
Group G- Bayern Munich, Olympique de Marseille, Glasgow Rangers, Trabzonspor
Group H- FC Internazionale, Villareal, LOSC Lille Metropole, Malmo FF
While I was walking out, Jose Mourinho came up to me and said "I know it's tough but I'm sure you'll do well."
*****
Outside the draw hall, I was met with a barrage of questions from the press. I slowly took them one by one.
"You've been drawn in the toughest group with United, Napoli and Valencia. How do you see your side's position in December?" one journalist asked
"We'll do our best and we'll fight for every point. We'll go to every match with a sense of winning. Beyond that, I can't say anything." I replied
"Do you fancy your chances of qualifying for the knockout round?" another one shouted over the din.
"Well yes because United's the toughest side but I feel that on our day, we can equal them and certainly we'll give tough times to Napoli and Valencia. The games at San Paolo and Mestalla will obviously be crucial as would the return games at BayArena."
"Would you be looking to bolster your side with one or two players before the transfer window shuts down this week?" she added, continuing her previous question.
"Maybe. I'm looking to complete a few deals but let's see." I said, though in reality, I had not even started negotiating a new deal for any other player-a necessity given my current draw.
"Are you sure you'll be able to handle the pressure?" one more asked
I turned my head and pretended not to hear that question before walking off to the official dinner. As I reflected back on the question, I wasn't sure I'd be confident saying yes.
******
Group C
WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
The last few weeks of August are often described as the toughest period in the season along with the last week of January. Most of the big name transfers, last minute dealings, hiked up prices, bidding wars and everything took place during this time. Add that to the UEFA Champions League play-offs (if you were involved), the group stage draws of both the Champions League and the Europa League, and the commencement of the domestic league season-you have one **** of a time.
After the buoyant mood we found ourselves in following the 3-1 win over Schalke in the opening match, there was a slight break from training as most players left the club for their international matches. I myself happened to be at the Sukru Sarasoglu stadium in Istanbul where Turkey were taking on Estonia in a friendly match. I wasn't there to scout any players. Indeed, far from it. I'd arrived to keep a promise to Omer Toprak-that I would be there when he played his first match for Turkey. Sidney Sam also called me but after talking to both Jogi Low and Guus Hiddink, I found out that Sam was not going to even make the bench for the Germany match, whereas Omer would be starting for Turkey. I didn't break the news to Sam that way, instead saying that I had made the commitment to Omer much earlier and he was hence, first priority. Sidney didn't seem too convinced, but he didn't complain. And to my happiness, Omer played really well, breaking up Estonian attacks with ease and without any sign of letting down his guard for the whole of the game. Meanwhile in Stuttgart, I was glad to hear from Low that Gonzalo Castro has played really well. I also managed to get in a comment that Stefan Kiessling and Marco Reus could be worthy of Germany too.
The players returned straight to Kaiserslautern where we'd be playing our next game, instead of the traditional return to Leverkusen. I'd taken this measure as there were only three days left before the match began. And it proved to be good. We were well conditioned before the match commenced and we completely imposed our game on Kaiserslautern. An astounding statistic of twenty shots with eleven on target speaks for itself. However, had it not been for Kevin Trapp, who probably had the worst game of his career-being barraged by Leverkusen attacks- the score could well have been more than the two goals to nil that we managed. Indeed, his keeping was so brilliant that the boys were actually downhearted at halftime that they hadn't opened up the scoring. A little bit of encouragement got them back onto the right track though and Sidney Sam opened up the scoring in the sixty third minute with a neat finish from an Abdellaoue assist before Stefan Kiessling finished things off in injury time to put the tie to bed. The match also saw Marco Reus' goal controversially disallowed with the German FA silent over my blatant criticism of the linesman's decision.
Our next game was another trip, this time to Hoffenheim. The game there was played under hot sun and both sides were so fatigued by the hour mark that the referee actually gave a basketball-style timeout. But coming to the match itself, we managed only a 1-1 draw despite being the better side, though not by much. An early Nicolai Jorgensen goal in the fifteenth minute was equalised very late in the eighty fifth minute by Ryan Babel. We controlled possession very well but were unable to create chances against a resilient Hoffenheim defence. But I was sort of okay with the performance though I felt we were quite exposed in various areas. I made a mental note to improve them in training.
******
The UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw is a moment associated with great pride for all the thirty two clubs participating in it. For me myself, it was the first time I was meeting other great managers from other clubs. All managers by tradition or by necessity were there at the draw. The first person I met soon after my arrival in Monaco was Pep Guardiola, the manager of arguably the best team in Europe-FC Barcelona. He was also accompanied by his captain Carles Puyol. He congratulated me on landing the Leverkusen job and wished me best of luck.
Next, I met Sir Alex Ferguson and Nemanja Vidic. I always had a special respect for SAF. Here was a man who had probably achieved everything in club management and yet he was going strong at that age. He too congratulated me, asked me how it was going and told me that I could come for help anytime to him.
My mentor Jose Mourinho-and his team captain Casillas- was next. It was a special moment for me-meeting him after so many years, and I'm sure it was the same for AVB also. All three of us had parted ways when Mourinho left Chelsea for Inter. AVB left to manage Academica, and I left to join Leverkusen as a coach. Since then, we'd come a long way and not in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we'd be talking to each other as managers.
"So Mat, how's the hot seat?" Mourinho asked, smiling, once the initial pleasantries were done with.
"It's fine but it's a big club and there are lot of expectations. I'm really nervous at times."
"It's okay, you'll get over it."
Just then, Andre Villas-Boas joined us and after the hugging was done with, the three of us engaged in an engrossing chat which reminded us of old times with nostalgia. Old, peaceful times at Porto and at Chelsea. A far cry from the hectic life of a manager today. At times, we conversed in Portuguese, at times in Spanish but for the most part, we stuck to English. Again, just like the old days.
I also met a few other managers, like Arsene Wenger, Rudi Garcia, Jurgen Klopp (whom I would meet at least two times more) and some others. All of them offered me congratulations and wished me luck in my job. One person I did not meet and purposely avoided was Jupp Heynckes. And I don't think he made the effort to search for me.
Meanwhile, the Champions League group stage draw ceremony began after about an hour. We were first shown clips of the last season's campaign which Barcelona comprehensively won, hammering Manchester United in the finals at Wembley. A special mention was made to Tottenham and Shakhtar, who had both defied odds to enter the quarterfinals where they'd lost to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
And after some formalities were done with, Ruud Gullit began with the draw with the top seeded teams in Pot One starting to be drawn first. Leverkusen were in pot three, having not been in Europe many times in recent years.
"To open up the draw, we have AC Milan in Group A!....Then, in Group B, we have last year's semifinalists and Spanish cup holders Real Madrid!"
I looked at Mourinho's face below my row. He seemed thoughtful.
"And now in Group C, we have last year's runners up and English champions Manchester United!"
Sir Alex didn't show any emotion and seemed more intent on identifying what was wrong with his shoes. And so the draw for the first pot teams went on. Arsenal found themselves in Group D, Barcelona were pitted in Group E, Chelsea were in Group F (AVB wasn't particularly happy. Six was never his lucky number), Bayern Munich in Group G and finally Inter Milan in Group H.
Next came the Pot Two Teams. This should be interesting. I thought. FC Porto found themselves in Group A, Ajax Amsterdam was put in Group B, Valencia in Group C, Lyon in Group D, Shakhtar Donetsk in Group E, Benfica in Group F, Marseille in Group G, and Villareal in Group H.
I rubbed my hands together with nervousness when the Pot Three teams were announced. There were some very talented sides and there were some sides whom even the Pot 1 and 2 teams wanted to avoid, the most notable of them being Manchester City. Among the other big names were Klopp's Dortmund, my Leverkusen and Rudi Garcia's Lille.
Dortmund was drawn in Group A with Porto and Milan. Klopp wasn't very happy about this and he began making calculations with his team of advisors.
"And now in Group B! We have CSKA Moscow of Russia!" Ruud Gullit said, holding up the placard before placing it on one side. "We move on now to Group C! Joining Manchester United of England and Valencia of Spain is none other than BAYER LEVERKUSEN!"
Joining Manchester United and Valencia were none other than BAYER LEVERKUSEN!
Joining Manchester United and Valencia...
I kept repeating these lines over and over again to myself in my mind. Why me? Seriously! My first year in management and what do I have Valencia and United. This sort of luck and I can probably, safely bid goodbye to any European dreams that I may have harboured. Beside me, my team captain Stefan Kiessling winced first and then said "It's okay boss. We'll do ourselves proud."
I'd missed out on the rest of the pot three draw but I didn't care. I was more interested in the pot four draw. There was one more team everyone wished to avoid. Italian side Napoli were in Europe after a long time on the sidelines and they were in pot four. And as I partly expected it with my luck, the easier sides of Olympiakos and Wisla Krakow were drawn in A and B while the toughest of the lot, Napoli was drawn in Group C.
Beside me, Stefan groaned and I followed suite. At the end of the draw, I looked at the board one more time and viewed all the groups which looked like
Group A- AC Milan, FC Porto, Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos
Group B- Real Madrid, Ajax Amsterdam, CSKA Moscow, Wisla Krakow
Group C- Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli
Group D- Arsenal, Olympique Lyonnais, Genk, FC Basel
Group E- FC Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Partizan Belgrade
Group F- Chelsea, Benfica, Zenit St. Petersburg, Otelul Galati
Group G- Bayern Munich, Olympique de Marseille, Glasgow Rangers, Trabzonspor
Group H- FC Internazionale, Villareal, LOSC Lille Metropole, Malmo FF
While I was walking out, Jose Mourinho came up to me and said "I know it's tough but I'm sure you'll do well."
*****
Outside the draw hall, I was met with a barrage of questions from the press. I slowly took them one by one.
"You've been drawn in the toughest group with United, Napoli and Valencia. How do you see your side's position in December?" one journalist asked
"We'll do our best and we'll fight for every point. We'll go to every match with a sense of winning. Beyond that, I can't say anything." I replied
"Do you fancy your chances of qualifying for the knockout round?" another one shouted over the din.
"Well yes because United's the toughest side but I feel that on our day, we can equal them and certainly we'll give tough times to Napoli and Valencia. The games at San Paolo and Mestalla will obviously be crucial as would the return games at BayArena."
"Would you be looking to bolster your side with one or two players before the transfer window shuts down this week?" she added, continuing her previous question.
"Maybe. I'm looking to complete a few deals but let's see." I said, though in reality, I had not even started negotiating a new deal for any other player-a necessity given my current draw.
"Are you sure you'll be able to handle the pressure?" one more asked
I turned my head and pretended not to hear that question before walking off to the official dinner. As I reflected back on the question, I wasn't sure I'd be confident saying yes.
******
Group C
WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?
The 'Group of death'. Should be hard but im sure that you should be able to do it. Do you think you are going to change the tactics for you hardest games (Man U & Napoli away).
As for the story, very good. Was thinking of doing something similar in terms of story type. Often find the report type stories can become a bit boring and predictable. I prefer the managers eye view style.
As for the story, very good. Was thinking of doing something similar in terms of story type. Often find the report type stories can become a bit boring and predictable. I prefer the managers eye view style.
I won't change tactics much. I'll probably shift only the starting strategy from attacking to maybe standard. The rest of it I guess remains the same.
Looking forward to your story too
Average Joe
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Ouch thats a hard *** group! And Jesus Christ you put some sort of effort into each post!!
Hey man, been following your story and I really love it!!! Your style is sawesome and has inspired me tos tart my own story. My own story is on my favourite team, who just happens to be Leverkusen's biggest rivals, Köln
Wanna check it out and maybe give e some advice?
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/88411-1-fc-k%F6ln-feeling-connects.html
Keep on posting, the story is great!
Wanna check it out and maybe give e some advice?
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/88411-1-fc-k%F6ln-feeling-connects.html
Keep on posting, the story is great!
Good story mate will start following...
Check mine out,
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/87583-other-munich.html
Check mine out,
http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/football-manager-2012-stories/87583-other-munich.html
I wouldn't mind playing Chelsea. United's a **** lot tougher and so is Napoli. Genk is absolutely nothing, frankly.
Chapter Ten-Deadline Day, Mainz and Stuttgart
After the Champions League draw gave us United, Valencia and Napoli, I felt that the team really needed some signings at the back. Last season, Nilmar had quite literally torn the Leverkusen defence during the Europa League quarterfinals and I didn't want a repeat of that again this year. So, after running through my pile of shortlists, I decided to look at two people-FC Twente's Douglas and Gladbach's Dante. Both were very good defenders and would be solid at the back.
I asked Marco Reus-himself a former Gladbach player-about Dante. In reply, Reus texted me back saying "he's gud. amazing def. bt idk if he'll wrk wid stef prt well." Having not much experience with sms lingo, I took the help of Hanno Ballitsch-who was dining at my house that day-to decode it. Upon further texting, I figured out that Dante was a nice guy who talked quite a bit, had ambitions of progressing in his career and making it to the Brazilian national team at least once-a difficult thing given that Brazil has so much talent at it's disposal. I figured out that he'd suit this side.
So when deadline day arrived, telephonic calls were conducted with Gladbach and by evening, Dante arrived in Leverkusen to sign a contract and complete a transfer for an undisclosed fee. In a brief interview to the press, he said that he was delighted to have made the move and was happy to finally play in the Champions League against the best teams in Europe.
Another person who arrived an hour before the window shut down was Czech Republic striker Vaclav Kadlec. Sevilla also were bidding for him but he turned them down and joined Bayer. A quiet lad with an abnormally weird sense of fashion, I thought when he arrived at the clubhouse to sign the papers-in a checked shirt and baggy-style pair of trousers with green coloured earphones!
When the window shut finally, I went back home and reflected back on the transfers-Reus, Langkamp, Abdellaoue, Kadlec and Dante. Hmm...Not too bad eh?
*****
Our next game was a home game to Mainz. It was supposed to be a fairly easy stroll in the park and it all seemed well and good when Schurrle gave us the lead in the twenty first minute. But to my horror, Simon Rolfes managed to deflect and Elkin Soto cross into his own net past an outstretched Bernd Leno. But two minutes later, Schurrle again scored to make it two goals to one. The match was unremarkable-as usual we had the flurry of missed chances and as usual Mainz struggled for possession. A comfortable two-one win at the end of the day really.
Our next trip was to Stuttgart. One bad news however, was the Bernd Leno would be missing that game with a thigh strain, he picked up in training. In training, I tried to make the strikers concentrate on finishing. We were not scoring goals as much as I'd have liked and it was mainly because of poor finishing. Abdellaoue was yet to open his account. Apart from Kiessling's two goals in the opening two matches, he hadn't scored. And Derdiyok looked completely out of touch during the one substitute appearance he made. I hoped the special finishing training I was giving them would work.
Anyway, the Stuttgart game arrived with big excitement and frankly speaking, I would be happy if we got a point from this game. For some reason, I always hated Stuttgart's home-the Mercedes Benz Arena- and felt that it had a sort of claustrophobic appearance to it. Anyway, getting to the game itself, I put out a strong line-up despite an away game to Napoli in midweek. I felt that with a tough group in the CL, not much would be expected from us whereas the Bundesliga was something I could not give up on.
Unlike the previous matches where we controlled possession, this match, we were chasing shadows quite a bit and as a result, we conceded first when Timo Gebhardt finished a fine Stuttgart move. But less than ten minutes after the sixteenth minute opener, Leverkusen drew level when Andre Schurrle's cross was spilled into his own net by Sven Ulreich. And four minutes before halftime Marco Reus won a penalty when he was brought down by Serdar Tasci inside the box. Stefan Kiessling scored from the spot and we led 2-1 at halftime-albeit very luckily.
After the halftime, both sides attacked now and then but Stuttgart seemed to be the bigger threat and their efforts were rewarded in the seventy first minute when Zdravko Kuzmanovic headed home a corner. I tried upping the ante from then on but even the introduction of Renato Augusto and Mao didn't do much. At the end of the day, despite having quite a bit of the game (albeit with less possession), we managed only a 2-2 draw. Elsewhere, in the highest profile match at the Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund were hammered 4-1 by Bayern Munich in an incredibly open match which saw Shinji Kagawa miss two penalties and Mario Gotze miss an open goal-just like Fernando Torres did a week ago to Manchester United.
Anyway, I didn't have time to brood much over the result and had to prepare for what was arguably the biggest match of my career. It was a trip to San Paolo for my first Champions League match.
A trip to Napoli.
*******
After the Champions League draw gave us United, Valencia and Napoli, I felt that the team really needed some signings at the back. Last season, Nilmar had quite literally torn the Leverkusen defence during the Europa League quarterfinals and I didn't want a repeat of that again this year. So, after running through my pile of shortlists, I decided to look at two people-FC Twente's Douglas and Gladbach's Dante. Both were very good defenders and would be solid at the back.
I asked Marco Reus-himself a former Gladbach player-about Dante. In reply, Reus texted me back saying "he's gud. amazing def. bt idk if he'll wrk wid stef prt well." Having not much experience with sms lingo, I took the help of Hanno Ballitsch-who was dining at my house that day-to decode it. Upon further texting, I figured out that Dante was a nice guy who talked quite a bit, had ambitions of progressing in his career and making it to the Brazilian national team at least once-a difficult thing given that Brazil has so much talent at it's disposal. I figured out that he'd suit this side.
So when deadline day arrived, telephonic calls were conducted with Gladbach and by evening, Dante arrived in Leverkusen to sign a contract and complete a transfer for an undisclosed fee. In a brief interview to the press, he said that he was delighted to have made the move and was happy to finally play in the Champions League against the best teams in Europe.
Another person who arrived an hour before the window shut down was Czech Republic striker Vaclav Kadlec. Sevilla also were bidding for him but he turned them down and joined Bayer. A quiet lad with an abnormally weird sense of fashion, I thought when he arrived at the clubhouse to sign the papers-in a checked shirt and baggy-style pair of trousers with green coloured earphones!
When the window shut finally, I went back home and reflected back on the transfers-Reus, Langkamp, Abdellaoue, Kadlec and Dante. Hmm...Not too bad eh?
*****
Our next game was a home game to Mainz. It was supposed to be a fairly easy stroll in the park and it all seemed well and good when Schurrle gave us the lead in the twenty first minute. But to my horror, Simon Rolfes managed to deflect and Elkin Soto cross into his own net past an outstretched Bernd Leno. But two minutes later, Schurrle again scored to make it two goals to one. The match was unremarkable-as usual we had the flurry of missed chances and as usual Mainz struggled for possession. A comfortable two-one win at the end of the day really.
Our next trip was to Stuttgart. One bad news however, was the Bernd Leno would be missing that game with a thigh strain, he picked up in training. In training, I tried to make the strikers concentrate on finishing. We were not scoring goals as much as I'd have liked and it was mainly because of poor finishing. Abdellaoue was yet to open his account. Apart from Kiessling's two goals in the opening two matches, he hadn't scored. And Derdiyok looked completely out of touch during the one substitute appearance he made. I hoped the special finishing training I was giving them would work.
Anyway, the Stuttgart game arrived with big excitement and frankly speaking, I would be happy if we got a point from this game. For some reason, I always hated Stuttgart's home-the Mercedes Benz Arena- and felt that it had a sort of claustrophobic appearance to it. Anyway, getting to the game itself, I put out a strong line-up despite an away game to Napoli in midweek. I felt that with a tough group in the CL, not much would be expected from us whereas the Bundesliga was something I could not give up on.
Unlike the previous matches where we controlled possession, this match, we were chasing shadows quite a bit and as a result, we conceded first when Timo Gebhardt finished a fine Stuttgart move. But less than ten minutes after the sixteenth minute opener, Leverkusen drew level when Andre Schurrle's cross was spilled into his own net by Sven Ulreich. And four minutes before halftime Marco Reus won a penalty when he was brought down by Serdar Tasci inside the box. Stefan Kiessling scored from the spot and we led 2-1 at halftime-albeit very luckily.
After the halftime, both sides attacked now and then but Stuttgart seemed to be the bigger threat and their efforts were rewarded in the seventy first minute when Zdravko Kuzmanovic headed home a corner. I tried upping the ante from then on but even the introduction of Renato Augusto and Mao didn't do much. At the end of the day, despite having quite a bit of the game (albeit with less possession), we managed only a 2-2 draw. Elsewhere, in the highest profile match at the Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund were hammered 4-1 by Bayern Munich in an incredibly open match which saw Shinji Kagawa miss two penalties and Mario Gotze miss an open goal-just like Fernando Torres did a week ago to Manchester United.
Anyway, I didn't have time to brood much over the result and had to prepare for what was arguably the biggest match of my career. It was a trip to San Paolo for my first Champions League match.
A trip to Napoli.
*******
Chapter Eleven-Leverkusen? Who's That?
We arrived in Napoli on a direct flight from Leverkusen at around eight in the evening, two days before the match. And there was not much of excitement generated by us either. We were met by a few journalists and a few people who recognised us as Leverkusen players and asked for autographs. After checking out of the airport at about nine, we were whisked away and taken to our team hotel somewhere close to the San Paolo.
We had a light dinner and then went to sleep-we were dead tired after the Stuttgart game. There was some work to do the next day. We needed to train in the morning and then again in the evening. After that, we'd only be training a few minutes before the match. So it was obviously better to grab some sleep while we could.
*****
At the pre-match press conference the next day, I was dead nervous. So far, I'd let my assistant do the talking but this time, he insisted that I take over as it was my first European adventure. After the formalities had been done with, we began.
"Hello Mr. Ulrich, I'm Hans Leitner from The World Soccer Magazine. Your tie against Napoli is absolutely crucial to progression. How would you rate your chances?"
"I would say, it's good. We're a strong team and we have the capability to match them."
"Edinson Cavani will be the major threat in the next match. Would you agree?"
"Well, he is a threat, but he's not the only one. The fact that Napoli have reached this far and are now amongst the best in Europe is because they have had some top notch performances last season from the team as a whole, not just from Cavani. And they have some able players like Lavezzi, Christian Maggio, Marek Hamsik and others who can play some amazing football."
Another journalist stood up and said "I'm Mario Orlando from Marca. What would you say is the best approach to this match?"
"Well, we need to have a solid defence. And then we need to go out there and grab a goal or two."
A few more questions on various issues like the other tie of the group, transfer speculations and things like that and then I called it quits. I personally felt that the press conference went on well, though on afterthought, I obviously rebuked myself saying I could've done this and that. But overall, I was pleased.
*****
The next day dawned and went rapidly fast until we were just fifteen minutes away from the 7.30 pm kickoff. In the dressing room again, I was doing a little bit of talking to the players. "Right guys, I know you have what it takes to beat Napoli. They're good, and they're at home, so they may seem to have the advantage but I know you can do it if you carry your domestic form to the European stage."
An encouraging cheer emanated from the boys and then I left them to get to the tunnel. The Napoli side were slowly lining up and I had the chance to look it individually. Obviously, Cavani, Maggio, Hamsik all started. I didn't see Lavezzi there but I assumed he was playing.
As I climbed up the stairs and then went over to the ground, I felt awestruck. I didn't strike me earlier, but now it did. I was treading the very grass that Diego Maradona once dazzled upon. As I looked around, I saw the match referee Mark Clattenburg discussing things with his linesmen. I also looked around the stadium. The Napoli fans and ultras were in a buoyant mood today. Blue flares had gone up in all the four corners of the stadium. The Leverkusen support by contrast, were quiet. They had learned to wait for their moments when they travelled away from the BayArena.
As I walked out, the substitutes for the night soon joined me. I briefly shook hands with Walter Mazzari and then sat in the dugout, waiting for the teams to come out. Meanwhile, the giant screen was now displaying the starting eleven for both sides.
Lavezzi? Where the heck was Lavezzi? Not that it mattered much to him anyway. It wasn't exactly the best line-up that he'd put out. Leno was still unfit to take any part in the match and most of the main eleven including Stefan Kiessling and Marco Reus, were tired from the game against Stuttgart just three days earlier. In fact, privately, I admitted that even a draw against this side would be good.
I noticed that Napoli were playing a three-man backline and I hoped that Schurrle and Sam could probably stretch it a little bit on the outside with Ballack and Rolfes providing them support in the centre. I was looking up to Rincon, Dante and obviously Yelldell, to give me their best performances.
*****
The match had begun two minutes earlier and so far there had been no chances for either side. It was a midfield battle for the most part and both De Sanctis and Yelldell just stood watching. Indeed, it was so complicated in midfield that if one listened to the Sky Sports commentary at that moment, it went something like
Napoli have just regained possession. This is Gargano...Trying for Hamsik but Rolfes gets it. Rolfes looking for Derdiyok...but Maggio does well there. Maggio now with the ball...passes it square to Inler...Rincon steals it from him. Rincon to Ballack...Back to Rincon...Rincon moves forward and lobs it towards Sam. But Dossena wins it...
There was no change in the way the two teams played until the fourth minute, when Hamsik got the ball and played it through for Cavani. Cavani got past Reinartz and then whipped in another fast pass across the field to Maggio. And Maggio crossed towards Silvestri and the Italian hit the bar with his header-Yelldell was nowhere near it. The ball was then cleared by Reinartz.
A sign of things to come? I hoped not.
*****
But it wasn't long until my hopes were dashed. Silvestri made up for his crossbar hit with a lovely chip over Dante for an onrushing Cavani, after Hamsik had initiated a Napoli counterattack when our throw in was cleared. The Uruguayan striker made no mistake as he controlled the ball with his feet and was through in a one-on-one situation on goal. David Yelldell tried rushing out after Cavani got into the box but it was too little, too late.
Cavani fired in a low shot into the bottom corner and sent Napoli fans into raptures. More flares went up and more shouts were heard as Cavani and his teammates celebrated near the corner flag. I held my heads in my hands and wished that the team would do better.
*****
We got chances in the first half but we didn't take them. Especially in the thirty third to thirty sixth minutes when we got three chances in rapid succession. First, Sidney Sam skied a volley from about six yards out. And then, Andre Schurrle headed narrowly to the side of the near post and finally Eren Derdiyok shot wide when he really would've found scoring easier.
I knew things were not going our way. The boys were pathetic. We were ruled over in almost every place in the park. We seemed like kids trying to learn football by playing against the big boys. And at the halftime break, when I saw Andre Schurrle and Eren Derdiyok fighting over what could've happened, I lost my cool.
"SHUT UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!" I shouted, silencing everyone. Schurrle and Derdiyok seemed terrified. No one had seen me that angry before."****** ****! What's the use of saying 'you should have crossed' and 'you should've marked him' at this moment! You shouldn't be speaking all this! You should have done it!"
I then turned to the team, having been done with Schurrle and Derdiyok. "What was that? Please don't tell me you played football there. You probably tried playing football but Napoli absolutely ruled over you." I then turned to Dante "Now. You. What **** was that?"
"What **** was what?"
"I think you know very well what I'm talking about. You were supposed to be with Cavani. What were you doing marking Silvestri and going high up past the defence? Heck! I could see you in line with Rincon! For God's sake, please don't break formation. It's going to be disaster if you do."
I wasn't in the mood to spare anyone today. Next came Rolfes, and Ballack. "I wanted you to retain possession. Not ****** them. And Simon, did you have some sort of a pre-match altercation with Inler or something?"
He stayed silent and asked slowly "Why?"
"You seemed more intent on taking his legs out rather than the ball. The GPS says your fouling Inler accounted for three of the six fouls we committed out there. That's 50% and that's equal to the rest of the team."
I took a deep breath and then began again, "Listen up people! You are great players. I know you can do it. I know you have the ability and the power within you to turn this around and bring home three points. So go out there and do it. And one more thing, do what you're doing properly, otherwise, there's no use."
*****
The second half began almost identically as the first but this time it was us who created the first chance with Sidney Sam coming close from a long ranger. I could see that Rolfes and Ballack were taking me seriously and were recycling possession very well. Schurrle also looked lively when he got the ball and managed to cause a few problems.
So, it came as quite a shock when Marek Hamsik got the ball in midfield, ran up to midway between the halfway line and the eighteen yard box and then sent in a stunning shot into the top corner, which Yelldell was unable to stop. 2-0 to Napoli and it would take a miracle for us to have come back into the game.
The second half was a much better display in terms of possession but I was disappointed with the level of finishing shown by the lads. I tried getting some fresh legs in by bringing on Danny Da Costa and Abdellaoue for Dante and Derdiyok. Even the late introduction of Lars Bender didn't do anything to getting a goal.
At the full time whistle, I was positively distraught. In the second half, I felt we deserved to win, especially seeing that Napoli had just two shots to add to their first half tally whereas we had ten. But even with a total of fourteen shots, we managed just two on target, whereas, Napoli managed to get eight of the ten shots on target and score two goals. After the match, I went straight to the dressing room. Once the boys had assembled there, I told them just one thing.
"If you're going to be so poor, forget the Champions League."
*****
We arrived in Napoli on a direct flight from Leverkusen at around eight in the evening, two days before the match. And there was not much of excitement generated by us either. We were met by a few journalists and a few people who recognised us as Leverkusen players and asked for autographs. After checking out of the airport at about nine, we were whisked away and taken to our team hotel somewhere close to the San Paolo.
We had a light dinner and then went to sleep-we were dead tired after the Stuttgart game. There was some work to do the next day. We needed to train in the morning and then again in the evening. After that, we'd only be training a few minutes before the match. So it was obviously better to grab some sleep while we could.
*****
At the pre-match press conference the next day, I was dead nervous. So far, I'd let my assistant do the talking but this time, he insisted that I take over as it was my first European adventure. After the formalities had been done with, we began.
"Hello Mr. Ulrich, I'm Hans Leitner from The World Soccer Magazine. Your tie against Napoli is absolutely crucial to progression. How would you rate your chances?"
"I would say, it's good. We're a strong team and we have the capability to match them."
"Edinson Cavani will be the major threat in the next match. Would you agree?"
"Well, he is a threat, but he's not the only one. The fact that Napoli have reached this far and are now amongst the best in Europe is because they have had some top notch performances last season from the team as a whole, not just from Cavani. And they have some able players like Lavezzi, Christian Maggio, Marek Hamsik and others who can play some amazing football."
Another journalist stood up and said "I'm Mario Orlando from Marca. What would you say is the best approach to this match?"
"Well, we need to have a solid defence. And then we need to go out there and grab a goal or two."
A few more questions on various issues like the other tie of the group, transfer speculations and things like that and then I called it quits. I personally felt that the press conference went on well, though on afterthought, I obviously rebuked myself saying I could've done this and that. But overall, I was pleased.
*****
The next day dawned and went rapidly fast until we were just fifteen minutes away from the 7.30 pm kickoff. In the dressing room again, I was doing a little bit of talking to the players. "Right guys, I know you have what it takes to beat Napoli. They're good, and they're at home, so they may seem to have the advantage but I know you can do it if you carry your domestic form to the European stage."
An encouraging cheer emanated from the boys and then I left them to get to the tunnel. The Napoli side were slowly lining up and I had the chance to look it individually. Obviously, Cavani, Maggio, Hamsik all started. I didn't see Lavezzi there but I assumed he was playing.
As I climbed up the stairs and then went over to the ground, I felt awestruck. I didn't strike me earlier, but now it did. I was treading the very grass that Diego Maradona once dazzled upon. As I looked around, I saw the match referee Mark Clattenburg discussing things with his linesmen. I also looked around the stadium. The Napoli fans and ultras were in a buoyant mood today. Blue flares had gone up in all the four corners of the stadium. The Leverkusen support by contrast, were quiet. They had learned to wait for their moments when they travelled away from the BayArena.
As I walked out, the substitutes for the night soon joined me. I briefly shook hands with Walter Mazzari and then sat in the dugout, waiting for the teams to come out. Meanwhile, the giant screen was now displaying the starting eleven for both sides.
Lavezzi? Where the heck was Lavezzi? Not that it mattered much to him anyway. It wasn't exactly the best line-up that he'd put out. Leno was still unfit to take any part in the match and most of the main eleven including Stefan Kiessling and Marco Reus, were tired from the game against Stuttgart just three days earlier. In fact, privately, I admitted that even a draw against this side would be good.
I noticed that Napoli were playing a three-man backline and I hoped that Schurrle and Sam could probably stretch it a little bit on the outside with Ballack and Rolfes providing them support in the centre. I was looking up to Rincon, Dante and obviously Yelldell, to give me their best performances.
*****
The match had begun two minutes earlier and so far there had been no chances for either side. It was a midfield battle for the most part and both De Sanctis and Yelldell just stood watching. Indeed, it was so complicated in midfield that if one listened to the Sky Sports commentary at that moment, it went something like
Napoli have just regained possession. This is Gargano...Trying for Hamsik but Rolfes gets it. Rolfes looking for Derdiyok...but Maggio does well there. Maggio now with the ball...passes it square to Inler...Rincon steals it from him. Rincon to Ballack...Back to Rincon...Rincon moves forward and lobs it towards Sam. But Dossena wins it...
There was no change in the way the two teams played until the fourth minute, when Hamsik got the ball and played it through for Cavani. Cavani got past Reinartz and then whipped in another fast pass across the field to Maggio. And Maggio crossed towards Silvestri and the Italian hit the bar with his header-Yelldell was nowhere near it. The ball was then cleared by Reinartz.
A sign of things to come? I hoped not.
*****
But it wasn't long until my hopes were dashed. Silvestri made up for his crossbar hit with a lovely chip over Dante for an onrushing Cavani, after Hamsik had initiated a Napoli counterattack when our throw in was cleared. The Uruguayan striker made no mistake as he controlled the ball with his feet and was through in a one-on-one situation on goal. David Yelldell tried rushing out after Cavani got into the box but it was too little, too late.
Cavani fired in a low shot into the bottom corner and sent Napoli fans into raptures. More flares went up and more shouts were heard as Cavani and his teammates celebrated near the corner flag. I held my heads in my hands and wished that the team would do better.
*****
We got chances in the first half but we didn't take them. Especially in the thirty third to thirty sixth minutes when we got three chances in rapid succession. First, Sidney Sam skied a volley from about six yards out. And then, Andre Schurrle headed narrowly to the side of the near post and finally Eren Derdiyok shot wide when he really would've found scoring easier.
I knew things were not going our way. The boys were pathetic. We were ruled over in almost every place in the park. We seemed like kids trying to learn football by playing against the big boys. And at the halftime break, when I saw Andre Schurrle and Eren Derdiyok fighting over what could've happened, I lost my cool.
"SHUT UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!" I shouted, silencing everyone. Schurrle and Derdiyok seemed terrified. No one had seen me that angry before."****** ****! What's the use of saying 'you should have crossed' and 'you should've marked him' at this moment! You shouldn't be speaking all this! You should have done it!"
I then turned to the team, having been done with Schurrle and Derdiyok. "What was that? Please don't tell me you played football there. You probably tried playing football but Napoli absolutely ruled over you." I then turned to Dante "Now. You. What **** was that?"
"What **** was what?"
"I think you know very well what I'm talking about. You were supposed to be with Cavani. What were you doing marking Silvestri and going high up past the defence? Heck! I could see you in line with Rincon! For God's sake, please don't break formation. It's going to be disaster if you do."
I wasn't in the mood to spare anyone today. Next came Rolfes, and Ballack. "I wanted you to retain possession. Not ****** them. And Simon, did you have some sort of a pre-match altercation with Inler or something?"
He stayed silent and asked slowly "Why?"
"You seemed more intent on taking his legs out rather than the ball. The GPS says your fouling Inler accounted for three of the six fouls we committed out there. That's 50% and that's equal to the rest of the team."
I took a deep breath and then began again, "Listen up people! You are great players. I know you can do it. I know you have the ability and the power within you to turn this around and bring home three points. So go out there and do it. And one more thing, do what you're doing properly, otherwise, there's no use."
*****
The second half began almost identically as the first but this time it was us who created the first chance with Sidney Sam coming close from a long ranger. I could see that Rolfes and Ballack were taking me seriously and were recycling possession very well. Schurrle also looked lively when he got the ball and managed to cause a few problems.
So, it came as quite a shock when Marek Hamsik got the ball in midfield, ran up to midway between the halfway line and the eighteen yard box and then sent in a stunning shot into the top corner, which Yelldell was unable to stop. 2-0 to Napoli and it would take a miracle for us to have come back into the game.
The second half was a much better display in terms of possession but I was disappointed with the level of finishing shown by the lads. I tried getting some fresh legs in by bringing on Danny Da Costa and Abdellaoue for Dante and Derdiyok. Even the late introduction of Lars Bender didn't do anything to getting a goal.
At the full time whistle, I was positively distraught. In the second half, I felt we deserved to win, especially seeing that Napoli had just two shots to add to their first half tally whereas we had ten. But even with a total of fourteen shots, we managed just two on target, whereas, Napoli managed to get eight of the ten shots on target and score two goals. After the match, I went straight to the dressing room. Once the boys had assembled there, I told them just one thing.
"If you're going to be so poor, forget the Champions League."
*****
Wow awesome new post. Shame about the Napoli match but to be fair you were missing Reus.
I just updated my story (on köln) and posted another post afterwards asking for advice...care too check it out lemme know what you think?
I just updated my story (on köln) and posted another post afterwards asking for advice...care too check it out lemme know what you think?