How do you rate this Leverkusen team?
EDIT: Btw they are managed by one Sami Hyypia. Will be odd seeing him on the touchline.
This will be a tad longer, because I will touch the most basic areas and give a short outline of each of them.
General:
Bayer Leverkusen is currently probably the third strongest German team and main rival of Schalke 04 for the 3rd CL spot. Their biggest strength is that they have a very well rounded and balanced squad. They have no real star players with the exception of maybe Lars Bender, whom I will describe later on, but have on every positions except the FB, who most would describe as good. Still, the difference in quality between them and the two German major powers Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund is significant.
Formation/tactics:
Their general system is a 4-3-2-1, something that is often called "Tannenbaum"(fir tree?)-formation in Germany. They look defensive on paper and it does make them very compact, but offensively they transforms in a 4-1-4-1 with the two CMs moving up and the DM acting as an anchor.
Coaching:
Last season they ran a pretty unique project with having not one but two head coaches: the (former, now once again) youth coach Sascha Lewandowski and the current coach Sami Hyypiä. It worked out pretty well, but they still decided to split up for this season. Hyypiä is a no nonsense coach, who seemingly realy dislikes interacting with the press/media, but is full of competence. Makes very rarely tactical mistakes and is well liked by his players. In short a quality coach.
Key players/ players to look out for:
Lars Bender (CM): Like I said before, if you want to call one of their players a star, it would be the older Bender twin. He is their vice captain and most important lead player. Extremely well rounded with no glaring weakness. Potential world class player, who is unlucky that Germany is so well equiped in his position.
Stefan Kießling (CF): Their main attack source. Very reliable striker with very good instinct. He is also in the form of his life coming from a great season (25 goals, 10 assists), when he won the goal cannon, edging out Robert Lewandowski. He also already scored 5 goals in this season. Underrated in my book, mainly because he is for whatever reason not in the national team despite being Germany´s best striker in the last season. But then again, he is not the only case of being ignored by our national "coach" depite showing true class (*cough* Weidenfeller *cough*).
Heung-Min Son (LW/RW): Their biggest signing this summer and replacement of the departed Andre Schürrle. He is also pretty similar to him. Limited player, but what he does, he does well. Good pace and very good shooting. He is also known for scoring some really cracking goals from outside the box. A player, whom you don´t want to give space.
Gonzalo Castro (CM): Former full back, who was turned to a midfielder. Was considered as an eternal talent, but made a big step forward when he changed positions. The most offensive of the 3 man midfield (can also play as winger) and a good crosser.
Bernd Leno (GK): The Nr. 1 of Germany´s U 21. He is less spectacular than Marc-Andre Ter-Stegen, but more reliable and consistent. A very good shot stopper, who has all the tools to become world class one day. Still a good way off that, though.
Current form:
Leverkusen is right now 3rd in the league with 4 wins and 1 loss. The one loss was against main rival Schalke 04, but that does not say much. That game was a mixture of several Leverkusen players having off days and Schalke receiving a boost from signing Kevin-Prince Boateng a few days earlier. They overall look very good and hungry to play CL again. They could potentially pose problems to United, because they don´t offer much space to the opponent due to their compact formation. A lot will come down to the wingers in this games, because their weakest area are their FB. If United can use the width of the pitch well, then it is their game to win. Taking all positive things of Leverkusen into account, United is still the clear favourite. They should not underestimate Leverkusen, though.
