The 2:5 at VfB Stuttgart plunges RB Leipzig into crisis. In addition to the lack of results, there is now also a weak performance. For RB coach Marco Rose, the negative series becomes a matter of concern.
RB Leipzig didn’t care what to call this worst negative phase under coach Marco Rose. “Crisis, false start – choose a word,” replied national player Benjamin Henrichs angrily. “Definitely not good enough for our needs. Something has to change quickly.” After the violent 2:5 (1:2) at VfB Stuttgart and a weak performance, it is certainly appropriate to say that the ambitious RB team has slipped into a crisis.
“Always talking about the fact that the results are missing no longer works from today on,” said RB coach Rose soberly: “Three defeats in a row with today’s performance – we know that there can’t be any points for that.”
Rose lists a whole host of shortcomings
The fact that they are still without a score in 2024 and have even had a total of four games in the Bundesliga without a win seems to unsettle what is actually a strong squad. And is currently also endangering the minimum goal of the Champions League. Instead of overtaking the surprise third-placed Stuttgart as hoped, RB is now four points behind the Swabians in the table. “It’s not enough for the goals we have. That’s not enough. Every single person has to do more,” said Christoph Baumgartner.
What was particularly worrying from the guests’ point of view was the way they performed against VfB, who had also previously had no points after the winter break. Rose’s problems continue to grow. As in the 2:3 against league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, the goals conceded from set pieces were a problem. But Rose listed a whole series of shortcomings.
“Overall, we’re defending too poorly at the moment, in a lot of situations – whether it’s high pressing or midfield pressing,” explained the 47-year-old. His players were also not close enough in their own box. “And we didn’t attack well either, it has to be said.” The guests didn’t have much more to offer offensively than the two goals from Benjamin Šeško (32′) and Loïs Openda (55′).
There had only been three defeats in a row for RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, in November/December 2021. At that time, the negative trend cost coach Jesse Marsch his job. Rose is not discussed in Leipzig.
Home game against Union Berlin now “incredibly important”
But the coach still presented a completely different picture than the freely cheering Stuttgart team around the three-goal scorer Deniz Undav. The lack of success is noticeable mentally, said Rose. “It’s clear to us somewhere that the last three results are on our minds. That was evident in our game today,” said the RB coach. Baumgartner agreed. “We’re hiding a bit, afraid of making a mistake,” admitted the midfielder. “The very first thing that has to come into our heads is that we win games again.”
The duel with 1. FC Union Berlin will now be an “incredibly important home game,” said Baumgartner. The Austrian would like to “get his frustration off his chest” next Sunday.
But Rose has a lot of work waiting for her. “We didn’t have the conviction, the trust in many things that are normally normal for us. We have to work through that,” he explained. “Then we have to come up with a good plan for next week, a simple plan. Maybe also to free up the other parts of the boys’ brains for the game so that they don’t think so much.”
You already have “a backpack now,” says Rose. And in just over two weeks, Real Madrid’s star ensemble will be waiting in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Source: Stern
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