Xabi Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen have clinched a maiden Bundesliga title. After years of suffering with the unfortunate ‘Neverkusen’ nickname, they have finally laid the ghosts of past failures to rest. They have a historic treble season still within their reach.
By Ninad Barbadikar
Kaiserslautern await them in the final of the DFB Pokal, meanwhile a semi-final tie against AS Roma offers the opportunity of avenging their loss at this exact stage in last year’s edition of the UEFA Europa League. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, they’ve done it all whilst remaining unbeaten. A grand total of 46 games unbeaten across all competitions. Sensational stuff.
This kind of achievement does not come together without an unrelenting offence, some late heroics and a never-say-die attitude in games. Leverkusen have shown all three qualities in their season so far.
Some 14 of their goals have come close to the 90th minute or even after. So much so that, similar to how Fergie time became renowned in the Premier League, it is now Xabi time that clouds the minds of every Bundesliga defence. So what’s the secret? Let’s try to break it down.
Set-piece Successes
It is no secret that, in Florian Wirtz and Álex Grimaldo, Die Werkself have two of the biggest creative threats in the entirety of the Bundesliga. One being a free transfer and the other, a youngster whose talents have been honed at the highest level. What makes both so effective is their ability to create both from open-play, as well as set-pieces.
It is no surprise then to see that both of those creative machines are top of the assists charts in the league. Grimaldo in fact just one goal away from reaching double figures for both goals and assists in his debut Bundesliga campaign.
Looking at the makeup of Leverkusen’s options at set-pieces, like everything else in Alonso’s side, they are blessed with depth in quality. Take Jonas Hofmann for example, a player who for several seasons was the leading creative force at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Certainly one of the lesser spoken about players at Leverkusen, Hofmann brings creative impetus and off-ball work-rate from the right-side. With 70 chances created thus far, he is only behind Wirtz and Grimaldo.
These creative chiefs in particular are the fuel behind Leverkusen’s impressive tally of 15 set-piece goals this season. Only Bayern have scored more in the league. And when things don’t quite click in open-play, Leverkusen are able to use their relentless pressure to generate opportunities from set-pieces.
Accumulating some 220 corner kicks thus far, Leverkusen have managed to find a way at the very end of games. They did so against RB Leipzig when Piero Hincapié scored the winner, and as well against Borussia Dortmund more recently, when Josip Stanišić was the scorer. The assisters on both of those occasions? Grimaldo and Wirtz.
In-game management
Another big facet of Leverkusen’s ‘Xabi Time’ prowess has been his excellent in-game management and the timing of bringing on the quality options at his disposal. Before talking about his in-game management, credit must be given to the recruitment from Simon Rolfes and co. that has made it possible for Alonso to rest his key players for the big occasions or even during the big occasions themselves.
It is quite telling of Alonso’s options in the side that he’s been able to put out four different combinations of front threes in the last four Bundesliga ties. Wirtz has been the starter in only one of those games. He doesn’t always need his best players to start in order to win games, but when he does need them, he brings them off the bench at the right time.
When looking at the players involved in ‘Xabi Time’ goals, only two have come into the game at half-time. Meanwhile, the rest of the substitutions have been made around the hour mark, or sometimes as late as the 80th minute or even after. For example, Nathan Tella came off the bench at the 86th minute to assist Patrick Schick’s opener against TSG Hoffenheim to give Leverkusen a 2-1 victory.
The best substitution made by far in the league by Alonso was to bring off Amine Adli for Wirtz just after half-time. The 20-year-old made history by scoring a hat-trick off the bench, his first ever in the Bundesliga and not only that, but also putting the final seal on Leverkusen’s status as champions.
It was a day of days for Wirtz and Leverkusen and it seemed like they could do no wrong. To score a hat-trick from just five shots, Wirtz came on with a mission to accomplish.
Harking back to Alonso’s in-game management here again, the Spaniard ensures to give his players enough time to affect the game in the best way possible. If we consider only second half substitutes who have made goal-scoring contributions to ‘Xabi Time’ games, then the average substitution minute of those changes was the 71st minute. Not too early, not too late, but just the right timing from Alonso.
In the incredibly dramatic comeback against Qarabağ, earlier in the Europa League campaign, both Grimaldo and Schick were brought on around the hour mark. The Spaniard grabbed two assists for himself, meanwhile Schick scored a superb brace which will live long in the memory for Leverkusen fans.
Never say die
When you are a team that’s remained unbeaten for as long as Leverkusen have this term, there is inevitably a healthy amount of ‘never say die’ attitude and a bit of luck on the side as well. But all of it ties together – Leverkusen’s set-piece prowess, Alonso’s in-game management and this unrelenting wave of pressure from Leverkusen that comes together to bring into existence, Xabi Time.
For example, going back to their 1-0 win against Augsburg where Exequiel Palacios scored the winner in the 94th minute, it was a classic example of Leverkusen’s ability to break down defences.
Game-state effects are to be considered here and at 0-0, there is a natural uptick in offensive effort from the bigger teams, however, the uptick in Leverkusen’s case is quite interesting – they doubled their tally of eight shots from the first half, to attempt 16 in the second. When looking at activity in the penalty area, they also reached some 37 touches, all the way from 19 in the first half.
Perhaps the most impressive instance of this was in both games against Qarabağ, where in the second leg, Leverkusen accumulated an Expected Goals (xG) figure of 4.30 from a whopping 33 shots and 70 touches in the opposition box overall. Quality subs are a huge determining factor here, however, to jump from 22 box touches to an incredible 48 in the second half of that 2nd leg is no simple task. Alonso’s side deserve all the credit they get and then some more.
So all in all, ‘Xabi Time’ seems like a very real thing in games involving Leverkusen. Now the mission for Die Werkself and Alonso is to go all the way and secure the treble in a way that’s never been done before. Just when you think Leverkusen are down and out, they manage to pull themselves back in, perhaps it is all meant to be after all.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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