Gerardo Seoane has dealt intensively with Bayer Leverkusen's past, with the problems this team suffered from during the roller coaster ride last season.
Under Peter Bosz, who was quite successful for a long time, but in the end fell into a vortex of failure, the team's style of play was too one-dimensional.
There was a lack of flexibility.
For the new coach, who will play his first home game with the new club this Saturday evening against Borussia Mönchengladbach (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), there is a big task: he should carry out a paradigm shift.
"I would like to cultivate different styles of play", announced the Swiss in an interview with the magazine Kicker.
Depending on the opponent, the score and the phase of the season, the Werkself should "exert higher, sometimes lower pressure".
Because Bosz failed not least because there was a lack of alternative approaches when his football, which was based on an extremely risky defense strategy, was no longer successful.
The team lost more and more confidence in the coach and in themselves, the interim coach Hannes Wolf managed to qualify for the Europa League in the end.
Adaptation to your own form and opponents
Instead of “always playing the same way”, the team from Leverkusen will in future adapt their style of play to their own form and the peculiarities of their opponents, says Seoane. That sounds not only interesting, but also very demanding. A lot is expected in Leverkusen, where participation in the European Cup is part of everyday life. The ambitious managing director Fernando Carro likes to emphasize that he actually sees his club in the Champions League and wants to celebrate a title again at some point. In addition, the discerning audience wants to be offered spectacular entertainment, otherwise people won't come.
Seoane makes it clear that, from his point of view, success can have different characteristics.
"Successes can be titles, successes can be victories," he says.
“But success can also be about developing a team and advancing players.” The last point is particularly important in Leverkusen.
Because the business model includes the acquisition of great talents who will at some point be resold at a profit.
Most recently, he succeeded with Leon Bailey, who moved to Aston Villa in the Premier League for more than 30 million euros.
Heir from Adi Hütter in Bern
It is remarkable that the club management around Carro, sports director Rudi Völler and sports director Simon Rolfes entrusts the 42-year-old Swiss with their difficult project. Apart from four rather disappointing years as a player in the second team of Déportivo La Coruña in Spain, Seoane has only worked in Switzerland so far. After seven years in various positions at FC Luzern, he joined Young Boys Bern in 2018, where he inherited Adi Hütter. He was Swiss champion three times in a row and what particularly impressed those in charge in Leverkusen: In the sixteenth finals of the previous Europa League season, Seoane found a perfectly fitting strategy to get Bayer Leverkusen and his Swiss underdog team out of the competition.
It would be dangerous to make such an experience the main argument in favor of a coaching obligation, because factors such as luck or the form of the day always have an influence in two individual football games. But Seoane also made a very good impression on Rolfes, Völler and Carro in the subsequent conversations to get to know each other, and his public appearances have also been very convincing so far. He listens exactly to the questions that are put to him, he does not evade and has already made his own contribution to the great debate on mentality that is so often and happily held in Germany. The mentality of a team does not arise from the performance of individual types, who were particularly energetic, who fought and screamed, he says, but “from team spirit, from a strong group”. It's about "leadership, discipline,Determination, these are all points that belong in the mentality package ”.
This perspective fits very well with the situation in Leverkusen. Because classic mentality players who speak both in the dressing room and on the pitch, who shake things up and take responsibility for strategic decisions, are rare in this squad. Since Lars and Sven Bender ended their careers in the summer, there has been a gap in the structure, both football and human.
Seoane hopes that Kerem Demirbay, Jonathan Tah and Lukas Hradecky will take on more responsibility. In addition, Robert Andrich from Union Berlin, a professional who is known for his robustness, was brought to the Rhine this week. The fact that the midfielder will wear the jersey of long-time captain Lars Bender with the number 8 on his back is a very clear indication that Andrich should also play an important role in developing the team mentality. “I'm trying to fill 8 in my own way, and I hope I can do it as well as possible,” says Andrich. The duel against Gladbach is not a bad moment to start with.