WITHu hear the sometimes unpleasant accompanying circumstances of the coaching profession, that one is judged on previous deeds. That can be annoying, Jesse Marsch knows what we’re talking about. When he was still responsible for the Salzburg RB branch, he coached his team through a legendary game on Anfield Road, where the Austrians he trained were able to convert a 3: 3 break time into a 3: 3 before they went big Battle 3: 4 defeated. There is now a video of the half-time speech that is at least as legendary. Marsch can be seen on it and, above all, heard that his motivational speech could come from a film epic.
Since then, Marsch has often been asked to repeat his address. Whenever his team is behind after the break. Like Leipzig in Manchester. “No, I wasn’t as positive as in Liverpool. The first half wasn’t what we had imagined, ”said Marsch after the 3: 6 start in the Champions League.
A defeat with a high entertainment value, but also one that deepens Leipzig’s crisis. Lost for the third time in a row, RB was only able to win one of the last five competitive games. On Saturday, 1. FC Cologne is waiting, which is currently doing a lot of what Leipzig did not so long ago. Successful ball conquests, quick switching, train to the goal.
March looked contrite
Marsch’s criticism was noteworthy because the trainer is seen as someone who can still see something good even from a kick in a dog poop. But it wasn’t the night for positive exaggerations. When Marsch spoke, he looked contrite and complained about “too many individual mistakes and too easy goals against”. This type of goal is now part of the Leipzig game, just like their frenzied reversible football once did. Vulnerability culminated in Manchester.
After FC Bayern’s four goals last weekend, City scored two more. Instead of preventing the opponent from scoring, the Leipzig team helped personally. If the home side’s first goal was only preceded by poor Leipzig duel behavior, Nordi Mukiele played such an unsuccessful return on the second with his head that the stunned goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi could only watch the ball roll into the goal. That wasn’t enough, just before the break, Lukas Klostermann clearly extended his arm in his own penalty area, and City got a penalty.
Embarrassment for fear of embarrassment: Nordi Mukiele’s own goal
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Image: Imago
As unhappy or incompetent as every single scene appeared, together they enabled an open view into the state of mind of the Leipzig team. RB lacked the resolve, the absolute will to emerge victorious in the decisive moments and duels. Defenders with self-confidence cannot be duped, as Mukiele and Willi Orban did with the leaping Nathan Aké. Mukiele’s own goal was the sum of complete uncertainty. For fear of embarrassing himself in a dicey situation, he embarrassed himself even more. Klostermann’s handball was hardly inferior to this, even if the video referee had to inform him before referee Serdar Gözübüyük decided on a penalty.
“We should have defended better in those situations,” said Klostermann. That was also the case for the fourth goal, in which City’s newest attraction Jack Grealish pulled in from the left side and finished with his strong right foot. For this, Manchester had brought him from Aston Villa in the summer, the movement is not only known to the specialist public. Grealish was worth more than 100 million euros in transfer to the owners from Abu Dhabi.
Leipzig defensive strength gone
Ten goals conceded from the last two games are proof that Leipzig’s former defensive strength is no longer in good shape. In the past season, she was the foundation on which second place and the entry into the cup final were based. Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté, the center-backs, have left the club. Such a slump was hardly to be expected. The team has not only lost the statics, they also lack the toolbox to be able to repair damage immediately.
With the instructions of the new trainer, she is alienated, Marsch’s very aggressive pressing cannot be implemented at the moment. Because the quick conquests of the ball often don’t work out, the back line is exposed in counter-attacks. Too often too many attackers from City approached too few Leipzig defenders. Emil Forsberg defended the coach’s requirements: “The plan for how we want to play football is good, but we have to switch faster. Still, we didn’t do everything badly, ”he said.
Only the three-time goalscorer Christopher Nkunku did very well on the Leipzig side, but his strong performance hardly allowed one to overlook the Leipzig deficits. Whenever Nkunku scored, Manchester almost counterattacked to restore the old distance. As if the people of Leipzig were a litter of young dogs that they pulled the food bowl from under their noses for fun.
It didn’t work by chance, it was more methodical. City has always been able to increase the pace. Leipzig, on the other hand, felt at the limit. The impression that RB could fly home with an outcome other than defeat never emerged. To make matters worse, Angeliño was sent off, the Spaniard is now out against Bruges. “Every time we had a little momentum, City had an answer,” said Marsch. He had seen Manchester at a different level even before kick-off. The fact that RB was not so long ago as a semi-final participant in 2020 at the height of Manchester is easily forgotten these days.
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