How the nerves are doing was shown once again long after the game was over. Domenico Tedesco, the coach of RB Leipzig, had an interview on ZDF on Saturday after the 1: 2 (0: 2) at 1. FC Union Berlin, which was to be broadcast later in the evening in the “Sportstudio”. In an interview with reporter Thomas Skulski, Tedesco was just analyzing the first goal conceded when the ZDF man interrupted him. “May I finish that for a moment,” Tedesco replied, somewhat impatiently: “Or are you not interested?”
Skulski apologized, but the coach had lost the thread of his thoughts: “Feel free to ask the next question.” The anger at the defeat was written all over the coach’s face.
Timo Werner, who returned to RB from Chelsea almost two weeks ago, was also frustrated. And not just because of the penalty he was denied. In the early stages of the game, the national striker went down in a duel with Union captain Christopher Trimmel. “With all the love in front of the teams, we could actually have won the three games and have two points from games like that. That’s probably not enough,” Werner immediately made the transition from the draws at VfB Stuttgart (1-1) and against 1. FC Köln (2-2) to the sobering defeat in Berlin.
“I don’t want to say that hard times are coming, but I think we urgently need to win a game,” Werner demanded – and at the same time confirmed the harsh choice of words by managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, who had received fundamental criticism even before the bankruptcy in Köpenick had expressed. “Shitty” might be a very harsh word, said Werner. But: “In the end it was a shitty start,” said the 26-year-old striker about the two meager points after three matchdays. Last week, Mintzlaff attested the club a “crappy start to the season” and said, among other things: “With our squad, with all due respect, it must be our aim to beat Stuttgart and Cologne.”
The problems at RB are obvious – even though the club has managed to retain stars such as Christopher Nkunku and also strengthen the team. With Werner – and before that with Xaver Schlager, who came from VfL Wolfsburg. The midfielder has not yet made a lasting impression.
Defense chief Willi Orban now indicated fitness deficits after the defeat at Union Berlin, which could also be understood as internal criticism. “You can see that some are not yet at the top level, there are a few percent missing and then it’s just not enough, especially against physically good teams. We have to make sure that we get every player to the top level. That will be very important,” demanded the goalscorer for the ultimately useless connection with a view to the next game against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday, who are also still without a win.
Werner and Orban went quite far in their search for the reasons for the fourth 2-1 defeat in the Bundesliga against Union in a row. Tedesco, on the other hand, complained about 20 very bad minutes. He would have liked to see more possession, he said. However, his team had 74 percent possession of the ball, but did not know how to take advantage of it. On the contrary.
Now that the start of the season has failed, things could get even more turbulent for the ambitious Bundesliga team – especially for the coach. Tedesco was signed in December 2021 after Jesse March was fired. The coach has credit for winning the DFB Cup, the first title in RB history.
When Tedesco was asked about communication with RB boss Mintzlaff on Saturday, he didn’t want to go into it. “I was asked about it in all interviews, it’s not an issue for us, we try to work in a focused way. We can do that next week,” he said. However, he seemed a little irritated when his player Willi Orban reported that club boss Mintzlaff had visited the cabin during the week. It seemed that Tedesco knew nothing about it.
