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Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: RB Leipzig
In the eight of our Bundesliga tactical previews to be released here on Get German Football News, we'll close the book on the non-50+1 clubs. RB Leipzig follow up Bayer 04 Leverkusen. We'll once again take the team's opening round Pokal performance into account here. New head-coach Ole Werner's 'Rasenballers' travelled to the Rhein-Neckar region today to take on Sandhausen; one of those BaWü clubs Germans taint a bit with the Hoffenheim stain. The German Red Bulls emerged victorious against the 'Sand-men'. Some noticeably passive play off the ball led to the Saxon guests conceding two first half goals. Overall, however, Werner's tenure got off to a very strong start. The fact that RB missed out on Europe for the first time since earning promotion to the German top flight clearly lit a fire under the posteriors of Marcel Schäfer and the RB administrative team. The result is a squad absolutely strong enough to carry the Saxons back to Europe. Many have been tipping Werner to struggle in his new appointment based on the fact that he was hired late and Schäfer dragged his feet a bit this offseason. An in-depth look at what's going on here yields a different conclusion. Werner maintains a solid set of tactics far more advanced than one might expect. The personnel Werner's been accorded to implement his plan possess the tools to make it work. Things should be ticking upwards for this club before to long. Germans – not to mention a pretty sullen Marco Rose – retain their qualms about such a truth. We'll just all have to get used to it. Shrugs all around. So it goes for the well-financed. RasenBallSport Leipzig As was the case with Leverkusen, the 'personnel shifts' section serves less of a purpose here. There's been so many comings and goings with the German Red Bulls that one really needs to get to the more relevant information of which new arrivals are managing to perform. The RB attack is essentially re-tooled whilst we await news on which attacking players will be leaving this severely over-sized 35-man-roster. Major personnel shifts, RB Leipzig Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = -€26.2 million Two attacking additions in July (Johan Bakayoko and Yan Diomande) counted as huge coups for Schäfer and the RB administrative team. A sluggish start to the offseason from the club's front office was quickly forgotten. The immediate effectiveness of April signing Ezechiel Banzuzi effectively obliterated all the criticism we were prepared to level at Schäfer and staff. All three actors were able to step in and contribute without delay. More needs to be seen from the likes of Andrija Maksimovic and the freshly acquired Romulo before the same can be said about them. Benjamin Sesko's supposedly sensational departure actually constitutes one of the least relevant transfer news pieces of the summer. No one reporting on the Bundesliga cares that the Slovene has left Saxony. He never served as a crucial component to this team. Striker Yussuf Poulsen and back-up keeper Janis Blaswich departing Saxony count as interesting developments for German footballing aficionados. We find the career trajectories of these players interesting. In all likelihood, few others do. Neither was of any importance to the team anyway. Ilaix Moriba's quiet departure after four ridiculous years of reporting on the Spanish-Guinean's sordid state in German football provides some relief. Four loan-outs. Dozens upon dozens of transfer rumor articles. Endless e-mails and DMs from Spanish fans asking what the hell happened, as if we had some sort of easy answer. Thank goodness the 22-year-old is no longer under our purview. Moriba might have been the most exhausting player working in German football Notes from camp, Leipzig Two light warm-ups in July saw Leipzig beat ZFC Meuselwitz and FC Toulouse by a combined 10-0 scoreline. Werner debuted his new 4-2-3-1 in the opening friendly. Diomande, Loïs Openda, and Xavi Simons scored goals in the first 3-0 win. Just about everything went right apart from the fact that Johan Bakayoko missed a penalty. Werner's new-look RB supplied plenty of imperious play whilst noticeably lacking accuracy in the final third. Approach play remained solid. Finishing left much to be desired. This was quickly remedied in the second match. One got a better look at Werner's tactics against Toulouse, or at the very least was able to come up with some sort of basic idea of how this complex and nuanced system works. Werner wishes to run a loose 4-1-4-1 that morphs into a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 at times on the charge. In any event, everything clicked quickly in the second friendly. Xaver Schlager set up Openda's 1-0 in the 17th. Three minutes later, he netted the 2-0 himself. Diomande grabbed a brace in the 7-0 win. Banzuzi also opened up his (unofficial) RB account. Only Openda managed to register a tally in the third test fixture, a 1-2 loss against Atalanta Bergamo in the first friendly to be played at the Red Bull Arena. This result can easily be chalked off as aberrant and irrelevant. The team clearly found themselves plagued by distraction with all the outgoing transfer rumors swirling around the club. The same logic applies to the split-decision in the double-header against Lens that wrapped up the pre-season. Werner mixed up the supposed 'A-squad' and 'B-squad' so much in the twin-bill that gleaning any valuable lessons proved impossible. Winners from camp, Leipzig Yan Diomande, CM Can it really be true that this Cote d'Ivoire youth international is only 18-years-of-age? And that he only made his professional debut last March? What Diomande has been able to accomplish in the pre-season and the Pokal is frankly ridiculous. He's also supposedly a natural left-winger. The hell? How has he been able to seamlessly slot in on the right? Apart from the fact that he's reportedly right-footed, none of this makes any sense. Diomande has managed to outshine his fellow new addition Bakayoko. A €1.5m-valued player the Saxons were prepared to invest €20m in. In hindsight, at least that makes sense. The lowest-value attacker on the RB roster gets set for a monster season. Remember the name, and don't go confusing him with the bang average defender Union Berlin are angling for. Ezechiel Banzuzi, CM Another name to make a note of. Another player whom Leipzig have overpaid, albeit more slightly, for. Having watched Banzuzi make his mark in the test fixtures and Pokal, it's actually still difficult to place him positionally. Werner tends to use the supposed defensive midfielder much higher up off the bench. Whether the 20-year-old is a six or an eight remains a mystery. Perhaps it doesn't really matter for a player so young with total box-to-box potential. In principle, Banzuzi is supposed to be the type of player Leipzig hoped Ilaix Moriba would develop into. Second time appears to prove the charm here as the tall and technically gifted midfielder is off to a great start. The Holland youth international was apparently referred to as the 'Dutch Paul Pogba' back at his old Belgian club. Cool. Readers can feel free to insert their own sarcastic reference here. Xaver Schlager, CM The Austrian with one of the coolest names in German football returns from the third major injury of his Bundesliga career prepared to make a big impact as the team's new vice-captain. Schlager honestly always got less respect than he deserved in German football due to the fact that his entire career has been spent playing for company clubs. The author will accord some respect to the bulky ÖFB man here after a great training camp. Ridle Baku, RB The author thinks it's happening for this German fan-favorite. Baku appears to have edged out returning loanee Kosta Nedeljkovic for the starting right-back role. The squad's strength up the right flank helps out Baku – who isn't the attacking force he used to be – out immensely. Like Schlager, Baku has mostly been a company club man throughout his career. Germans like the Mainz-native – named after one of our famous strikers – anyway. Nicolas Seiwald, RB Tough to tell if Seiwald has indeed beaten Arthur Vermeeren out for the starting midfield pincer role. It's a very tight contest. The author thinks that the 24-year-old (who still looks like he's 12) retains the edge. Seiwald works better deep as a pseudo-sweeper. Some of his center back deployments from last season clearly taught him a lot. Losers from camp, Leipzig Amadou Haidara, CM It's probably finally time to say goodbye to the Malian international. Something of a sad occasion. Haidara remained in German football over the years despite a plethora of outgoing transfer rumors. Now there's absolutely no room for him anymore. How refreshing it shall be to see him work for a non-company club for a change. Farewell and thanks for all the memories. Antonio Nusa, CM Very quiet pre-season from the Norwegian. After watching him tail off last season, one wonders what's up with Nusa. Note that this case can still turn on a dime. Should Xavi Simons (as expected) depart, the 20-year-old will receive another chance on the left-hand-side of the third attacking axis. Working in Xavi's stead might end up helping the young talent rejuvenate his Bundesliga career. Assan Ouédraogo, CM The highly touted, and heavily recruited, former Schalke man actually turned a few heads in the pre-season friendlies. There still doesn't appear to be enough room for him on the wings and a loan out serves as a better option. Rouven Schröder is probably already blowing up Schäfer's phone trying to get Ouédraogo over to Salzburg for the year. There might not be a more obvious impending transfer in the whole league. Maarten Vandevoort, GK Yep. Thanks for playing. Nothing like losing a training camp battle to a 35-year-old. The Belgian youth international must simply wait his turn. One senses that a talent who once featured in the Champions League at the age of 17 may not be conditioned to be so patient. Genk's former No. 1 must prepare for another season on the bench. Tactical Scout, Leipzig In easily the most entertaining of the Saturday 15:30 Pokal kickoffs, the German Red Bulls and recently relegated fourth-tier side SV Sandhausen traded four first-half goals. On a personal level, this author will reveal that this happened to be the very first time watching Sandhausen ever proved entertaining. Diomande quickly ensured that Leipzig equalized after a surprise 3rd-minute 1-0 from the hosts. The underdogs went back in front in the 18th. German-Hungarian-Lautern 'power beast' Willi Orban restored parity with a fine finish of a Simons' free-kick in the 23rd. A nice little blitz at both ends after the restart was followed up by flat football until both teams woke up around the hour-mark. Leipzig secured a fully deserved 4-2 victory behind goals from Xavi and substitute Banzuzi near the end. Lineup—Leipzig (DFB Pokal) A fairly dominant performance from this set-up also produced a narrowly disallowed Openda goal and a load of unconverted chances from Xavi. SV keeper Arthur Lyska ensured that the Saxon guests didn't run away with this one early. Werner's squad worked hard and more often than not hit the right gaps whenever the opponent was lying deep. We'll probably see RB line up in a similar fashion against the defending Bundesliga champs in a weeks' time. Lineup—Leipzig (Projected) Nusa moves down to make room for Bakayoko. That's about it. Maybe Vermeeren or Nedeljkovic take over for Seiwald or Baku. It depends on Werner's assessment of the FCB positional battles. It nevertheless seems as if the new RB trainer has his preferred XI and keeping the personnel together for the purpose of holding, rather than beating, Bayern likely works as the better tack. GGFN | Peter Weis
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Bundesliga 2025/26 Tactical Previews: Bayer 04 Leverkusen
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
