Hofmann on Flamengo U-20 loss: "There's very clearly a need to improve"

In the wake of Bayer Leverkusen's crushing 5-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Flamengo's U-20 team, questions needed answering.

Although only a pre-season warm-up, Jonas Hofmann explained how he and his teammates must raise their performance levels. 

"There's very clearly a need to improve… 5-1 sounds harsh, you have to admit that. We conceded goals way too easy and way too fast.

"It's still about winning the game, even though it's only a friendly. We gave it away way too early.

"Sure, the difficult condition of the pitch comes on top, but still, I think we need to work on ourselves a lot.

"You don't have any rhythm yet, you're just getting started. We've worked on a few basic principles in training.

"There were many young players on the pitch. We as pros of course have to find the new style of the coach a bit more.

"Then it'll go more into detail and then I think, believe and hope that it'll get better week by week," the 33-year-old explained.