“We need the ball and we need to control the game,” said Domenico Tedesco, summing up his plans at RB Leipzig after a first game, and a first win. If the phrase was fairly anodyne in terms of a new coach setting out his ambitions for a club that wants to continue climbing, it pricked up the ears. This was not from what many thought was the Tedesco playbook.
There was a circularity, if not an inevitability, about the 36-year-old pitching up here. Not just because of his fitting the youthful outlook of the club, and not just because he was a coursemate and friend of Julian Nagelsmann in DFB coaching class going back seven years. Tedesco had made his top-flight coaching debut against Leipzig in August 2017, freshly installed in the top job at Schalke in the days when it felt like they might just be a forward-thinking club who could lose their culture of waste without bottoming out, like they did in last season’s relegation.
It was a significant game not just for the tyro Tedesco but, it felt, for the Bundesliga as a whole. Leipzig had adapted so smoothly to the top flight for the first time. Against the backdrop of an administrative model that deeply offended swathes of the Bundesliga’s fan community – and they were made to know by just how much on a regular basis – they made clear that they weren’t going anywhere in a hurry. The sporting side of the model not only made light of the leap between divisions, but they offered the promise of sustainability. Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team had the Bundesliga worked out in an instant.
Tedesco’s Schalke had an answer to that. In the opening game of the season in Gelsenkirchen, the home side had a plan. Leipzig like to attack, so let them have the ball and see how they deal with it. It was the ultimate second album syndrome for Leipzig – they were in their plush residential studio with writer’s block, drinking endless cups of tea, playing pool and trying to recycle offcuts from their debut. Schalke had 36% possession that day and they picked the visitors off expertly, winning 2-0 in a style that was very un-Schalke, where front-foot football is traditionally encouraged and appreciated. Relatively soon after Roberto Di Matteo’s cautious approach had finished him at the club, Tedesco dared to go circumspect – and it was clear a largely experienced squad were singing off the same hymn sheet straight away.
Saturday’s debut in charge at Leipzig yielded similarly instant gratification as Tedesco’s new charges swatted aside an ailing Borussia Mönchengladbach and it demonstrated not just the new man’s ability to muster some unity but his way of absorbing what a set of players need, as he had done well at Spartak Moscow post-Schalke. “I heard the team was longing for possession,” he said after the game, underlining that keying in with players who hadn’t really clicked with his predecessor Jesse Marsch had been paramount. “Pressing was [only] the second priority today.”
So Leipzig started like a train against prone opponents, showing no mercy. With a return to three at the back Angeliño was off the leash, creating first-half goals for Josko Gvardiol and the waking André Silva, scorer in four of his last five games. Gladbach benefitted from an incredible reprieve when Silva hit the bar with Yann Sommer miles out of his goal after the goalkeeper lost the ball to Christopher Nkunku, but Ramy Bensabaini’s smart finish late on for Gladbach, which should have set up a final push for the visitors, merely provoked Leipzig into finishing off the game as they should have done before, via Nkunku and Benny Henrichs.
Leipzig now have the opportunity to garland their revival and push towards the top four, with Augsburg then Arminia Bielefeld next up. “We have one of the best squads in the Bundesliga. The aim is to qualify at least for the Champions League,” emphasised the CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff. Tedesco has no excuses but he appears canny enough to adapt to his surroundings, even if going against the grain.
Talking points
On the other side of the coin in Saxony was Gladbach having collected a third straight defeat, with the matches accumulating two goals for and 14 against in total. “The question is how we can get out of this together,” said coach Adi Hütter, though it was not a huge leap of faith to suspect that the expensively recruited coach is standing on rapidly thinning ice. Sporting director Max Eberl isn’t hiding from the criticism and fulfilled his appearance on Das Aktuelle Sportstudio in which he outlined his concerns. “We have to show balls now,” he demanded, though interestingly didn’t repeat his unconditional backing of Hütter from the aftermath of last week’s thrashing by Freiburg. “Of course the coach is responsible,” Eberl said, “but I’m responsible too.” Next up on Wednesday is Eintracht Frankfurt, Hütter’s old club.
In a weekend when Joshua Kimmich gave a television interview with ZDF in which he spoke about his regret for not getting vaccinated sooner – and saving Bayern a few weeks of consternation – his team clawed their way to a satisfying win over a good Mainz team without him, having been a goal down at half-time. Jamal Musiala, who was also quarantined twice in the last month, delighted Julian Nagelsmann with his winner and his increasing all-round application, though the coach stressed that “Jamal doesn’t have to become Gennaro Gattuso”.
Should we be more surprised that Borussia Dortmund failed to keep pace by dropping points at Bochum, or that the home side couldn’t close what would have been a fourth successive home win? Substitute Julian Brandt’s late equaliser saved BVB from the full nightmare on Castroper Straße, but the ‘mini-derby’ always looked destined to cause them problems, especially given the fortitude of Thomas Reis’s team in recent weeks. “Dortmund were superior in terms of play, and in terms of stats, but I don’t care about that today,” said Reis.
Nobody, it appears, is in the form to press Bayern. After their recent surge Leverkusen took an early 2-0 lead at Eintracht Frankfurt via a Patrik Schick double – only to subsequently be buried under an avalanche of five unanswered goals from the home side, capped by another Djibril Sow rocket from range. “The way we performed [after going two down] was unbelievable,” said coach Oliver Glasner of his improving side.
It was a weekend of stabilising for Stuttgart, winners of their first away game, 2-0 at Wolfsburg. Despite CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger’s imminent departure, sporting director Sven Mislintat has reiterated his commitment. “I’m here because this club is fantastic,” he enthused. The home side were rather less chipper after a fifth loss in a row, which has also incorporated an exit from Europe, though sporting director Jörg Schmadtke pointed out new-ish coach Florian Kohfeldt is “paying for things he isn’t responsible for”.
Joy at last for Greuther Fürth, managing their first win of the season and – perhaps even more unbelievably – their maiden top-flight victory at home by beating Union Berlin 1-0 on Sunday thanks to Havard Nielsen’s winner. Coach Stefan Leitl defended himself during the week against accusations of playing too openly and this win and clean sheet was the perfect riposte. “You score a dirty goal and defend to the end,” enthused goalkeeper Sascha Burchert. “That’s the way.”