The ninety minutes of play against Eintracht Frankfurt served as an aphorism for Leipzig coach Marco Rose. “Football is a bit like life, you need a bit of luck too,” he said after the 0-1 defeat and criticized Fortuna’s failure to help. The result was astonishing just because of the way the game went.
It showed once again how mercilessly sport treats those who sin by exploiting opportunities. After the final whistle, the statistics showed 15 corners and 31 shots at the Frankfurt goal – without the ball even getting past the famous Kevin Trapp once.
The great rescue efforts of the Eintracht goalkeeper and the early goal by Ansgar Knauff (7th minute) were one thing, the Saxons’ poor finishing was another. It seemed adventurous, sometimes bizarre, how the Leipzig team outdid themselves by missing out on the best opportunities.
Twelve points behind Leverkusen
Lois Openda, who is usually very accurate, was particularly guilty this afternoon. Otherwise, the Leipzig game looked more than appealing. “I can’t blame the team. We did enough to score points. The boys did a lot right,” said Rose, only to discover the bigger picture in this detail: “That’s perhaps what we’re missing to get to the top,” said the Leipzig coach.
After the end of the first half of the season, his team is twelve points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who will play in Leipzig this Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky). RB is very unlikely to become champions this season either.
In comparison to Leverkusen, who won their difficult away game at FC Augsburg at the last second, Leipzig lacks the calmness to force the decision in their own favor even on less good days. Annoying for Rose, but no reason to fundamentally doubt. “This will no longer concern us. “We will go out and march again against Leverkusen,” he said.
Marco Rose’s (right) team lacks composure. : Image: dpa
The direction in which RB Leipzig goes in the second half of the season depends to a large extent on the start. After the clash with Leverkusen, Rose’s team travels to VfB in Stuttgart, a direct competitor for the top places. Then comes Union Berlin. An opponent you have recently lost to several times. Not an easy opening program.
Smoother than expected
From Leipzig’s perspective, it’s not a season for dreams anyway. Success in the form of trophies, like in the past two years when they won the DFB Cup, will probably not come in 2024. They have already been eliminated from the national cup, there is a big deficit in the championship, and in the Champions League they face Real Madrid in the round of 16. Anything other than elimination against the European record winner would be a surprise.
Nevertheless, the personnel change that had to be carried out in the summer after the departure of many important players is going more smoothly than expected. The team plays attractively and newcomers like Xavi Simons and Lois Openda have integrated themselves.
The aim is to qualify for the Champions League again; a place in the top four has become an obligation for RB in order to be able to maintain the squad structure with top international footballers such as Simons and Dani Olmo, who returned against Frankfurt after a long injury break.
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Olmo’s creativity is much needed after Emil Forsberg’s departure to New York. Timo Werner is no longer there either; he moved to Tottenham Hotspur in London. The only new player in the Leipzig squad is Eljif Elmas, who came from Naples and came on as a substitute against Frankfurt.
However, the creative offensive player from North Macedonia, like his teammates, failed to turn things around. It is unlikely that Leipzig will sign more players in the coming weeks.
Those responsible believe the squad is strong enough to achieve the set goal even without Forsberg and Werner. The unfortunate defeat against Frankfurt does little to change that.
