Werkself must respond against 1899
By: Ulf | February 12th, 2009The disappointing start of the new year has seen Leverkusen drop five crucial points to Hoffenheim and going into tomorrows match at the Rhein-Neckar Arena in Sinsheim and Bruno Labbadia knows they must put a halt to the skid.
1899 enters the match with its own problems as they have won only twice in the last five matches and the loss Bosnian international Vedad Ibišević to a year long injury has slowed their attacking abilities considerably. Last week they were held to a draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach and showed were barely able to penetrate the oppositions defending back-line until the later stages. For tomorrows match they will have Timo Hildebrand, Chinedu Obasi and Grêmio product Carlos Eduardo back in the lineup after missing last week.
Bruno Labbadia insists that despite the slide in form Werkself is not in a crisis situation:
“We’ve got to put the game against VfB behind us. We face up to criticism but one game doesn’t mean we’re suddenly a poor side. We are putting a team together and it’s quite normal that we’re under pressure now. We’re playing against a good side in a top of the table and we’ll be looking to pick up points to secure our position in the league.”
Given that a number of players were on international duty Bruno Labbadia has noted that he will need to make late decisions on the starting eleven. However other than battered egos with disgusting loss to Norway in Düsseldorfer Arena, all is clear on the injury front with René Adler, Simon Rolfes, Patrick Helmes and Stefan Kießling. Taking a page from Borussia’s tactical plan, Bruno Labbadia is likely to pinch down Tomasz Zdebel to supply support in the back-line of Gonzalo Castro, Manuel Friedrich, Lukas Sinkiewicz and Michal Kadlec.
Category: Bayer Leverkusen Team News
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