Number one? This will not do!

By: Scott | August 25th, 2009

Complacency and Victory will rarely be seen walking the beach together and those choosing to rest on their laurels soon find themselves driven from their leadership position like an aged ape with a bum leg. Although Jupp Heynckes rewarded the squad with two days off following the past weekend’s trouncing of Freiburg, his immediate response to the match wasn’t one of chest-thumping or even overt pleasure.

“This may sound strange after a 5-0 win, but we were the luckier team,” Heynckes said.

The coach had concerns for what he saw during the first half of the match, and said he’d be spending a good deal of time reviewing the tape for what had been done wrong so that it could be improved. Going top of the table, he told reporters, wasn’t important to him as long as the squad still had much to work on.

As firm-handed as he is toward the squad’s improvement, he’s also fair about offering them their due praise. Talking to Welt Online, Heynckes admitted Leverkusen have worked hard and deserve being where they are right now.

Also taking note of the Werkself as we had our way with his hometown club was National Team coach Jogi Löw. Though word isn’t officially out as I write this, Löw is expected to call Kießling and Adler back for the September 5th and 9th matches against South Afrika and Azerbaijan. While The Keeper Question still looms large for Löw, Heynckes has now offered an opinion that mimics what any self-respecting Werkself supporter has been saying all along: Germany’s future between the posts belongs to Rene Adler.

On the trade rumour front, Bild is of the opinion that Rasmus Elm may still end up at Leverkusen before the trade deadline closes on Monday. The 21-year-old Swedish midfielder has been at the center of a much-hyped scramble for his signature and has allegedly said BayArena might be a nice place to call home.

Although some sources have Elm set to move to Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar, Bild says Alkmaar fell about 3.5-million Euros short on their dollar offer, allowing the Werkself back into front-runner position.