This season's Bundesliga schedule is about to enter the half-season break of Christmas, and Bayer Leverkusen, who have played the most pleasing style in the Bundesliga this season, are about to continue their journey to the first Bundesliga crown in the team's history as half-time champions. Dubbed "neverkusen" by his fans in the past because of the fact that many title chances ended in runners-up, this season, under the leadership of young manager Xavi Alonso, the players with both potential and quality have played an amazing style of play and superb content, and it is expected that they will end Bayern Munich's dominance of the Bundesliga for many years.
Xavi Alonso took over the team last season when the "pharmaceutical factory" was in great trouble, bringing the team back to Europe from the relegation zone, so his coaching skills and guidelines have been admired, and the squad reinforcement before the start of this season has allowed him to implement his strategy and ideas more perfectly, so as to achieve the current first place in the Bundesliga in the first half of the season.
This season, Bayer Leverkusen have added four key players, Granit Xhaka, Grimaldo, Bonifes and Jonas Hoffman, all of whom have been absolute fixtures in the squad since the start of the season.
Midfielder Granit Xhaka, who was brought in from the Premier League's Arsenal, is considered Bayer Leverkusen's most important signing this season. After many years as a midfielder at Arsenal, Xhaka is back in the Bundesliga where he once made a name for himself. And this time back in the Bundesliga, Granit Xhaka has a bigger responsibility. In the past, Bayer Leverkusen coach Xavi Alonso, as a main player in Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, sorted out the flow and organization of the ball from the back to the front in the midfield position, and the arrival of Granit Xhaka is like Xavi Alonso has found a successor, a midfield brain who can thoroughly execute his tactical thinking on the field.
Bayer Leverkusen have the most talented and powerful defense in the Bundesliga, Germany international Jonatan Tower, young Tapu Soba and Kosunu have jointly set the record for the fewest goals conceded by a Bundesliga team so far this season, of course, this is also related to Granit Xhaka who sits in the midfield this season, this season more midfielders and defense pass control link, ball control and pass success rate increase, plus another midfield defensive stalwart Palacios and Granit Xhaka's midfield link, has become the biggest decisive factor in Leverkusen's rebirth this season.
Unlike most Bundesliga teams' fast-paced offensive and defensive transitions, defensive counter-attacks and on-the-spot counter-attacks, Xavi Alonso requires more to control the ball in the midfield and backfield, and to ask players to choose to attack at the right time, so the midfielder's control of the rhythm and the rapid interpretation of the situation on the field are the key to Xavi Alonso's tactical thinking, and Granit Xhaka's perfect performance has indeed proved that he has become the most important member of Xavi Alonso's team. Alonso, the hand-picked man of a generation of midfield masters.
Bayer Leverkusen have used a 3-4-2-1 formation this season and have become the perfect formation to sweep the Bundesliga and remain unbeaten. For Xavi Alonso, the rhythm and situation of the central midfield are crucial to the game, but attacking up front is not so easy to increase its success rate through training, but more on the display of individual ability and talent.
This season, when Bayer Leverkusen attacked in the front court, the number of attacks through crosses from outside the box was far lower than that of other Bundesliga teams, and they were more involved in attacking through the organization of ground passes inside and outside the penalty area to get shots, and this offensive characteristic is also closely related to the offensive reinforcement of the front court this season.
This season's left-back from the Portuguese team Benfica, Spain international Grimaldo, the penetrating left-footed player. He was the absolute heart of the team at Benfica and the dynamo of the attack. After arriving at Bayer Leverkusen, Xavi Alonso put him on the left wing of the 3-4-2-1 campaign, using his running and penetrating characteristics to add width and depth to the attack, and he surprisingly became the second most goalscorer and the player with the most goals (attacks and assists) in the team. And his ability to excel at set-pieces has also helped the team score a lot of set-pieces, especially the crucial equalizing set-piece score against Bayern Munich, which is the most important goal for Bayer Leverkusen this season.
Another important addition is Germany international Jonas Hoffmann, who has used his experience to lead the current most talented young international in Germany, 20-year-old Florian Wirtz. Jonas Hoffman and Florian Wirtz, along with the new striker Bonifes, are the three most important players in the attack, Bonifes's toughness and rushing power, combined with Florian Wirtz's natural creativity, and finally Jonas Hoffman's leadership and shooting mastery. Jonas Hoffman's experience and positional sense have also completely unleashed the forward ability of the Dutch rising star Frimpong, improving Leverkusen's overall attacking and defensive capabilities, so it is well deserved to be the first place in the Bundesliga and remain unbeaten.
This season, Bayer Leverkusen, with the joint recruitment of technical director Rolfes and coach Xavi Alonso, has perfected the team's squad needs, and can be said to be the most successful recruitment of major European teams this season, and has laid the key foundation for the success of this half season. However, as Xavi Alonso mentioned in the interview, he does not see his team as the favourite, but rather aims to maintain the consistency of the team and the resilience to sustain the performance for the rest of the season.
It is believed that the experience of working with the likes of Pep Guardiola, Rafael Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti as a player will be a major nutrient for him to achieve this goal. The exciting Bundesliga title race continues to heat up, so please wait and see.