Finding Leverkusen

“We don’t talk about 2002” I’m reminded, as my new assistant shows me around the BayArena. Suddenly the tale of how I became a professional footballer (Regional Level), the knee injury which cut short my fictitious playing career, and my journey to a (also fictitious) Continental Pro License are lost in the wistful gaze of the young employee stood next to me. How could I be so foolish as to even mention the word ‘2002’ on my first day as the new Manager of Bayer Leverkusen…

Football fans with a solid recollection of 2002 will remember two things about this particular vintage: the World Cup in Japan and Korea, and Bayer Leverkusen’s catastrophic collapse at the end of what had, at one time, shaped up to be a legendary campaign.

By late April of that year, Die Werkself led the Bundesliga by 5-points with just three games to go, had qualified for the DFB Pokal Final, and were into the Champions League Semi-Final – later beating Manchester United (on away goals) to reach the Final. Things unravelled in truly brutal fashion however; losing to Werder Bremen, and Nürnberg to allow Borussia Dortmund to slip through and steal the league title by just 1-point; collapsing against Schalke in the Cup Final; before tasting one final, bitter defeat as Zinedine Zidane’s iconic volley saw Real Madrid crowned European champions at Leverkusen’s expense.

This triple heartbreak was further compounded by the departure of star midfielder Michael Ballack, and Ze Roberto to rivals Bayern Munich that summer. Centre back Lucio followed a year later. It kicked off a cycle of developing, then selling; helping keep Leverkusen on a solid financial footing, whilst also making them largely competitive – with multiple top-5 finishes, and even a run to the DFB Pokal Final again in 2020 – but ultimately unsuccessful in terms of silverware. The 1988 UEFA Cup, and 1993 DFB Pokal remain the clubs only major honours since being founded by workers at Bayer AG in 1904; this despite a host of future stars passing through the industrial city.

No more however; I’ve stumbled into town with my Duolingo German and ‘can do’ attitude. The players eye my cautiously as I lay out our hopes for the season:  qualify for the Champions League, reach the second knockout stage of the Europa League, and look to make a healthy run in the DFB Pokal. It’s a tidy squad, something that can be built on, or in the case of Florian Wirtz, built around. I am determined not to see this young star leave Leverkusen.

The transfer budget is a modest, but useful £7 million – though closer to £6 million once I’ve made adjustments to create extra breathing room within the wage budget. Some wheeling and dealing is required, judicious use of installments and clauses helps land young starlet Karim Adeyemi, while Pierre Kalulu arrives from AC Milan to flesh out the defence. Mönchengladbach’s £4 million (potentially rising to £4.5 million) offer for Daley Sinkgraven helps ensure there’s enough left to secure the signing of Andrea Papetti, as well as left back Simone Bastoni.

Inevitably, the sharks are circling around some of my star players – Patrik Schick, Moussa Diaby, and Paulinho draw admiring glances from Bayern and RB Leipzig respectively, but my plan is to hold on to all three unless a significant offer is received.

The back room staff is shaken up to, with veteran Assistant Manager/Coach Brian Kidd arriving as my number two, while Dennis Bergkamp also joins the coaching staff. Club legends Simon Rolfes, and Stefan Kießling retain their roles as Director of Football and Technical Director respectively, but my recruitment team sees a raft of changes otherwise, becoming one of the best in the Bundesliga by the time I’m finished.

Tactically, it’s a tried and tested 4-2-3-1, and a slight variation on a 4-1-4-1 I’d picked up elsewhere, which form our template to start the season. Both allow our best players to play in positions that can, in theory, excel in, whilst providing both a reasonable defensive base, and a threat going forward.

Pre-season goes well, slowly building on each performance, with a win over Galatasaray in our final friendly giving reason to be hopeful entering the new campaign; which begins with a regulation 2-0 win away at Babelsberg in the DFB Pokal. Could it have been more? Perhaps; but as the first game under a new manager, and his new system(s), well, we’ll take it. Frustratingly we cannot secure a first Bundesliga win of the season away at Union Berlin a week later; despite dominating possession, our shooting is wayward, with just three of our 16 shots on target. At least Schick scores, annoyingly so do Union – Taiwo Awoniyi turning home one of their two chances on goal to see the game finish 1-1.

Things do not improve when we host Mönchengladbach on Match Day 2, with the visitors securing just two shots on target (to our nine…): one in the opening minutes, and in the 90th minute; guess which goes in? You guessed it, Marcus Thuram’s late header condemns us to a 1-0 defeat. Ah well, better days are to come, as we dispatch Augsburg 2-0 thanks to goals from Lucas Alario, and Diaby; although we were somewhat labouring for the first 60 minutes. Nevertheless, a win is a win, and the Europa League draw has been relatively kind, pitting us against Celtic, Slavia Praha, and Brondby – it’s a group which feels…winnable.

Next up after the international break: Borussia Dortmund.

we dont talk about on 2002 no no no we dont talk about on 2002

we dont talk about on 2002 no no no we dont talk about on 2002