1899 drops out of top spot with loss to Leverkusen
By: Matthias | February 14th, 2009
The start of the Rückrunde has been far from convincing for 1899 and following a complete breakdown, losing 4-1 to Bayer 04 Leverkusen they club is no longer in first place. After last weeks fortunate draw to Gladbach and this beating, it is should be obvious Sport Director Jan Schindelmeiser and Coach Ralf Rangnick did not been deal with sufficiently the loss of Vedad Ibišević. With four goals in the three matches since the re-start, productivity has dropped in half and the rest of the table will not wait while this is solved, so its time to act fast with a revised strategy.
It did not take long for the capacity crowd of Rhein-Neckar Arena to be hushed as Renato Augusto dissected the defenders and provided Patrick Helmes to finish past Timo Hildebrand. Leverkusen doubled their lead at the twelfth minute with Tranquillo Barnetta’s free-kick and it seemed like the nightmare was just starting. 1899 received a lifeline on the half hour when Demba Ba was hauled down in the area and a penalty given. Sejad Salihović cut the margin in half but that was as close as it got as Patrick Helmes stuck a free-kick in before the break. At the restart Leverkusen ended any hope of getting back into the match as Gonzalo Castro headed in Tranquillo Barnetta’s corner two minutes into the match.
Ralf Rangnick tried to make some tactical changes but there was no breaking through and the match couldn’t have ended faster. With a tough run of VfB, BVB and Werder in the next three matches, 1899 is going to need one of the strikers step up to the challenge fast.
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