Two games unbeaten and having achieved the first Bundesliga win in the club’s history, 1. FC Heidenheim travels to Bayer 04 Leverkusen this Sunday. The same Leverkusen that swept over the Swedes from BK Häcken 4-0 in such a confident manner on Thursday evening and is greeting us from the very top of the Bundesliga.
Must worry before the game in Leverkusen: Frank Schmidt. IMAGO/Sportfoto Pack
Differences to some other Bundesliga clubs can also be seen in the number of spectators. There will probably be less than 1,000 Heidenheimers in Leverkusen, there were 700 on Friday afternoon. At FCH you see things completely differently. “Great number that makes us all happy,” says Markus Gamm, Heidenheimer’s press spokesman.
Leverkusen “even more variable than already”
A similar imbalance also appears to be present on the pitch; Leverkusen is on everyone’s lips after the first few weeks of the new season and is generating plenty of superlatives in the media coverage. Of course, Heidenheim’s record-breaking coach Frank Schmidt looked at Leverkusen in the Europa League, but that made him act again with his coaching team.
“Until before the game we thought we had seen everything from Leverkusen, but then we really had to work on it again. Bayer changed a few things and showed that it can be even more variable than it already was,” explained Schmidt. Leverkusen has developed further under Xabi Alonso and has high quality players. “You can clearly see the football that my coaching colleague imagines,” says Schmidt.
Even though the conditions for Sunday’s game will be completely different, Schmidt has little reason for personnel changes, especially since Marnon Busch has to pass again with a torn fiber. He suffered this in the final training session against Werder Bremen (4:2). We are prepared for this opponent “because we want to present ourselves well. We want to defend ourselves, we need good moments in the game to gain possession of the ball and good defensive and pressing behavior.”
With standards to success?
Despite Leverkusen’s apparent superiority, Schmidt also identified weak points. “Of the five goals we conceded, four were set pieces. But of course we have to get to these set pieces first,” said Schmidt. Ideally, one would capitalize on this, which is one of the Heidenheimers’ plans – against perhaps the strongest team in Germany at the moment? “You’re first, aren’t you?” Schmidt answered this question, but then added seriously: “In addition to the ranking, you can see the content, including the victory in the Euro League, they held up against Bayern Munich away from home,” says Schmidt, so there is a lot to be said for the statement. But Schmidt didn’t give a specific answer. But at least that the shelf is set very high that the Heidenheimers have to reach into.
Although it was generally felt that the mood was definitely better after the first week of training, Schmidt didn’t want to let the team become too happy. “Between the final whistle and the first training session” he gave them this joy, then the focus on Leverkusen began. “We now have to convert this happiness into work because we have an extremely difficult away game.”
2023-09-22 13:48:41
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