“Bayer 04 has fired his coach Erik Ten Hag immediately. The assistant coaching staff will temporarily take care of training tasks”. A cold statement, without the cliché phrase to wish the best in the future, even if it is For the gallery. It was presented on May 26 and was fired on September 1. 98 days. He officially directed three games with a balance of a victory, a draw and a defeat, but the cycle was unsustainable. From the club they came to think if “I had expected too much”. The DT questioned the determination: “It has no precedents”. Today, some are encouraged to say that it was the “Worse coach” who stepped on Bayarena In the last two decades.
The German newspaper Bild rebuilt the ephemeral guidance cycle with past in Manchester United through a note signed by Phillip Arens and Axel Hesse. There, they detailed a series of issues that were undermining their cycle until their departure from the cast that has the Argentines Claudio Echeverri, Exequiel Palacios, Equi Fernández y Alejo Sarco. It will charge a millionaire compensation for its scarce time at the service of the entity: adding its salary of these first months, will receive a total of six million euros (USD 7 million) for 60 days of worksince he assumed in full recess and began the preseason last July 1. Will charge an equivalent to 100,000 euros (USD 117,000) per day. “An expensive misunderstanding”the Teutone fountain described. Its cycle already began twisted from the beginning because lost 5-1 against the sub 20 of Flamengo In the first friendly preparation.
One of the first short circuits happened around the future of Granit Xhaka. The champion of the Bundesliga 2023/24 lost the orchestra director because Xabi Alonso He left to be a Real Madrid technician, added to the departures of Florian Wirtz, Jonathan tah y Jeremie Frimpongall headlines and figures last season. AND Ten Hag He opposed the exit of another emblem in said discharged by the BBC: “We will not let more players go, that is not possible. That would neglect the structure and also the culture of the team. Granit is a leader, signed here for five years and has three of the contract left. It is too important for us to let it go.” How did the story end? Sunderland signed it for USD 22.7 millionhe reported ESPN.
The newspaper said that this situation meant a “Trust break” With the leadership: “All warnings were confirmed within the club and it was seen that there were no coincidences”.
His links to the locker room were also deteriorated. In two months of work, failed to integrate with anyone. From attendees through doctors to their own coaching staff. Initially, they aimed him as the successor of Xabi Alonso To generate an “integrating link”, but the opposite happened: “There was no leadership or guidance”. At the beginning of the season, an alert call was recorded in the racks: “It surprised everyone by not giving a motivating harangue before the players and the team went to the court.”. Its premiere in the Bundesliga It was with 2-1 defeat against Hoffenheim as a place.
The football players did not have defined what was the tactical or playing direction that their new driver intended. “He failed to convey a clear idea. No one knew what to do.”they settled in Bildand made an example what happened on the second date: He won 3-1 against Werder Bremen until the last quarter of an hour and the rival tied him 3-3 with a goal at 94 minutes.
In training, players also possessed doubts about what Erik Ten Hag intended: “They wondered why flexions during training seemed to have the same importance as career work or passes, and not only for practice games losers during unusually long training”.
Before that tie before Werder Brementhere was an episode that began to advance the end of a chronicle announced. August 26, Bayer Leverkusen presented a Lucas Vázquez as a new incorporation, after a successful passage through the Real Madrid. Xabi Alonso learned before you have hag of that signing. He was asked if he saw that he could fit into the philosophy of the German club he had directed until months ago. According to the European morning, the sports director Simon Rolfes explained to Vasequez What would be your function in the team through video calls. I was looking for the leader, the singing voice, but the DT was never involved in the transfer and He spoke for the first time with him after signing his contract.
“It doesn’t matter if Bayer’s managers left him aside for lack of confidence in his integrity or his work: at that time, Ten Hag had to know that he had no future in Leverkusen”, They stressed. And they added a crude thought of the sports director:“ (Simon) Rolfes had to recognize that choosing it as a coach was His greatest mistake as a manager”.
As he said Bild“The truth behind the rapid output is even worse than it has been announced.” This sentence is produced by the sayings of the own Rolfes in the statement announced the resignation: “This decision was not easy for us. No one wanted to take this step. However, The last weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this alignment is not possible successfully. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and we will do everything possible to take the following steps in our development with the new constellation. ”
The president of Bayer Leverkusen, FERNANDO CARavoided the half inks about the man they had chosen for their great work in the Ajax (2018–2022), where he was local tricampeón in the Netherlands and lifted six trophies. “A separation at this early stage of the season is painful, but We believe it was necessary. Our goal remains to achieve our goals for the season; This requires the best possible conditions, at all levels and throughout the licensing area. Now it is about implementing and making the most of these conditions, ”he confessed.
On the other hand, Erik ten Hag He defended himself from the harsh accusations with a brief statement released by his agency on social networks and collected by ESPN: “The decision of the Bayer Leverkusen directive to discharge me was a Complete surprise. Fire a coach after only two league games It is not precedents”.
The helm continues with the search for a new coach. As reported KickerThey want to have the replacement before next Tuesday with a view to Friday’s duel against Eintracht Frankfurt. Otherwise, Andries Ulderink and Rogier Meijer, Erik Ten Hag assistants will assume interimly.
Bayer Leverkusen It occupies the 12th place with just one point in the Bundesliga and next Thursday will debut from 13:45 (Argentine time) against Copenhagen in Denmark for the UEFA Champions League. On fixture in the League phase He will continue with PSV from the Netherlands, PSG of France, Benfica de Portugal, Manchester City of England, Newcastle of England, Olympiacos de Greece and Villarreal of Spain.
