Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: Bayer 04 Leverkusen

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2 days ago

The seventh installment of our 18 Bundesliga tactical previews to be released on Get German Football News happens to be the first section that actually incorporates a DFB-Pokal scout. From this point forward, the tactics of the Bundesliga teams in the opening round of the German domestic cup will be taken into account. Some squads require more examination. In the case of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, there really wasn't much of a choice. Training camp proved woefully insufficient to figure out what new trainer Erik ten Hag hopes to accomplish here.
Leverkusen were able to win their first round tie against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach and analysis of the victory is incorporated below. Die Werkself are also the first team with top-four prospects that we'll be reviewing. The question as to whether Germany's red company team can hope to hold onto their Champions League status isn't really answered and can't hope to be answered for quite some time. If there's a conclusion to be drawn, however, one might say that Leverkusen aren't really as totally blown apart as one might assume. They can still contend.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
This piece and subsequent ones will focus more on the specific players who demonstrate promise than covering the wholesale changes made over the course of the summer. As the sardonic tone of the first section makes evident, no one not living under a rock isn't aware that Leverkusen are engaged in a massive rebuilding project. We've little choice but to rush through that part of the template in order to get to the more interesting stuff.
Major personnel shifts, Leverkusen
Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = +€92.5m
Phrew. Must we really? It takes decidedly less time to list the players who remained with Leverkusen than to spend precious energy discussing all who left. Moreover, there's still plenty of footballers who may be on the way out. Amine Adli (probably going) and Alejandro Grimaldo (probably staying) might yet change their minds. Piero Hincapie, Patrik Schick, Victor Boniface, Jonas Hofmann, Exequiel Palacios, Nathan Tella and Aleix Garcia can lodge transfer requests at any time. This is beyond ridiculous! Never before have any Bundesliga watchers witnessed a team get gutted so thoroughly.
Perhaps it just suffices to say that the entire spine of this team is gone. Having lost their best attacker (Florian Wirtz), their best defender (Jonathan Tah), and their midfield talisman (Granit Xhaka), one simply needs to forget the nearly three seasons that constituted Xabi Alonso's tenure. No more Jeremie Frimpong or (former captain) Lukas Hradecky either. And the newcomers? Double phrew. We'll get to them in an extended versions of the sections below. What impression they make and how Erik ten Hag might make use of them
Notes from camp, Leverkusen
Ten Hag has done his level best to fashion something coherent out of this loose conflagration. There remains little positive to report from the company club's ill-fated 'foray in Rio'. The team performed much better in subsequent friendlies. The new Dutch trainer was said to prefer to build the team around a 4-3-3 formation, but found himself forced to try and keep some semblance of Xabi's 3-4-3 together in order to preserve squad cohesion. That's precisely what we saw in a 2-0 win over Bochum. It got the job done, albeit in pretty sloppy fashion.
New defensive additions Jarell Quansah and Axel Tape impressed in a 2-1 win over Fortuna Sittard. Quansah even scored in his debut with his new club. Leverkusen's designated Florian Wirtz replacement Ibrahim Maza has his moments in space. The 3-4-3 looked coordinated on the press in the first half, steadily losing its shape as the subs began piling on in the second 45. Palacios, Robert Andrich, and intriguing new young attacking addition Christian Kofane scored in the next test fixture, a 3-0 win over Pisa. Grimaldo was very much the star-of-the-show in that one.
Some readers may have had a chance to check out the final Chelsea friendly directly. New first choice keeper Mark Flekken proved the only bright spot in that 0-2 defeat. Ten Hag tried out some weird 3-4-1-2 formation (that ended up looking like a 5-2-2-1 most of the time in that one. Hopefully, we've seen the last of that travesty. As promised, we'll get to the Pokal performance in greater depth below. There was plenty of anxiety about this team's prospects after they officially broke camp, but many concerns were resolved.
Winners from camp, Leverkusen
Ibrahim Maza, ATTM
Obviously, the Berlin native isn't Flo Wirtz. Watching him perform in the friendlies and later in the Pokal, however, one certainly can sense some similarities. The 19-year-old possesses a solid feel for the half-spaces on the second attacking axis and cuts fast inside the lanes. He's decent at drawing coverage with clever touches and sending the right kinds of balls through the channels. The German national team may very well have missed out on something special with this teenage talent. With Jamal Musiala out long-term, one wouldn't mind seeing him play alongside Wirtz behind the lead striker on the DFB selection.
Robert Andrich, CM
The newly appointed Leverkusen captain will have to truly step up his game in order to fill Granit Xhaka's boots. For whatever it's worth, the Potsdam-native has always had the bite about him in the midfield duels. Naturally, he lacks Xhaka's tackling finesse and remains more prone to silly mistakes. Ten Hag nevertheless made the absolute right move in handing Andrich the armband. The now 18-times-capped German international remains a popular figure amongst German footballing enthusiasts. He's a helluva player and he had a great camp.
Christian Kofane, CF
Victor Boniface may wish to rethink his commitment to the club after what Kofane has shown us. A splendid goal in the pre-season and a draw of a penalty in the Pokal. The 19-year-old looks set to remain on the roster for the forthcoming campaign. Ten Hag clearly likes Kofane better. So do some German football watchers. It now becomes quite apparent why this youngster's club made his transfer so difficult. One looks forward to several years of Bundesliga football from this young lad. Boniface is likely transfer-bait now.
Jarell Quansah, CF
German football watchers got a chance to 'double-scout' Quansah at both the UEFA U21 European Championships and Leverkusen's camp. At his new Bundesliga club, the 22-year-old has turned in strong performances both in the center of the back-three and the right-hand-side. Simply stated, he's damn good. Excellent field vision on long passes and exceptionally strong in the air. Difficult to figure out if he should anchor the back-three or work the right slant. Probably the latter, but it's close.
Alejandro Grimaldo, LWB
Well. Based on his performances in both the test fixtures and the Pokal, one can at least say for certain that Grimaldo still wants to be playing for this team. One shouldn't forget that the Spaniard's stated desire to move back to his homeland someday was listed as a 'long-term goal' anyway. Perhaps the most important holdover from the Xabi Era can potentially carry this team when they need it most. He appears prepared to shoulder his fair share of the burden for the defensive midfield work left by Xhaka's absence as well.
Losers from camp, Leverkusen
Jonas Hofmann, RW
Yikes. One can surely expect still more grousing from the disaffected German international now that Ibrahim Maza has beaten him out for a starting spot. Augsburg certainly have no need for him anymore either. What happens with the 33-year-old now remains a mystery. One can't think of a top tier side that has any potential use for Hofmann. It's almost a sad thought to picture him knocking down the door of Borussia Park in a desperate attempt to get Gladbach to take him back. No one is home, Jonas!
Malik Tillman, RW
Injury precluded us from getting much of a look at the former Bayern man. In all honesty, a former writer of an 'Americans in the Bundesliga' deep-scout column isn't so sure he was ever enamored with Tillman. His older brother Timothy (formerly of SpVgg Greuther Fürth and now an LAFC man) was always the more feisty footballer in the family. Malik always had a shy, shaky feel about him. His successful foreign ventures have presumably helped him mature, but that absolutely hasn't been proven on the Bundesliga level yet.
Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, RW
Unseen. Unneeded. Ernest Poku's acquisition seals up the right flank. If Simon Rolfes and the B04 administrative team are intelligent about matters, they also won't (as has been rumored) loan out Brazilian wingback Arthur. This totally overhyped summer transfer, which took entirely too long, should end in the Germany U18 international getting parked somewhere on loan. That was the original plan. Hopefully, they'll send the kid someplace where he can earn minutes.
Tactical Scout, Leverkusen
The 2023/24 German double winners got the job done at the soggy and soppy WirMachenDruckArena in Großaspach. Note that they were aided by a 45-minute-hail interruption and two late red cards that reduced opponents SG Sonnenhof to nine men late. The last two late goals in the 4-0 victory came after the two late sendings off. The final goal also came from the penalty spot.
Ten Hag's men actually played a rather poor first half and were somewhat lucky not to head into the locker room down 1-2. In many respects, the two teams played on a relatively even keel until the first 66th-minute sending off. Arthur made it 2-0 in the 74th. One should note that Grimaldo's battle with illness meant that the initial XI wasn't set up properly.
Lineup—Leverkusen (DFB Pokal)
Nathan Tella surely didn't appreciate not only having to serve as a wingback again, but this time doing so on the left. Adli also worked on his unnatural side, though he did pick up the assist on Patrik Schick's 1-0. At the break, Grimaldo relieved Adli, Maza switched to the right, and Tella moved up on the left. That worked okay. Großaspach still rattled their favored guests and broke up play far too easily. It nevertheless matters not at the end of the day as advancement was secured.
Here's what will likely see in a weeks' time
Lineup—Leverkusen (Projected)
Leverkusen face a stern test in their Bundesliga opener against what appears to be a very strong TSG 1899 Hoffenheim squad in one of the Saturday 15:30s. Er, do note that Germans may be skipping Leverkusen-Hoffenheim as it isn't the most culturally significant of the early offerings. It could still be a great game….that almost no one in Germany will be watching.
A tip?
Probably a high-scoring draw.
GGFN | Peter Weis