Xabi and Hradecky lament another penalty miss following draw with Wolfsburg
Bayer 04 Leverkusen's new trainer, who has stated that he wishes to get his team back to basics on more than one occasion since taking office, was forced to lament the fact that his team can't get one certain basic thing right following Saturday's 2-2 draw with Wolfsburg.
| Lukas Hradecky. | Photo: Дмитрий Пукалик/Soccer.ru/CC-by-SA 3.0 |
Newly appoointed trainer Xabi Alonso had no real explanations to offer.
"Hopefully, we'll get another penalty on Wednesday [in the Champions' League]," the B04 gaffer remarked somewhat laconically.
Embarrassingly enough, the latest miss came after a Leverkusen fan group published an open letter imploring the team to get back to basics this week. Xabi acknowledged the letter and insisted that this was also his intent at several midweek pressers. Keeper Lukas Hradecky was left to answer why this wasn't happening after the latest draw; Bayer's third game without a win on-the-spin.
"You have to get points with a performance like that," Hradecky noted with some resignation, "It's about the team and the basics."
Xabi had some praise for his team, taking note that his team did fight back from a 1-2 deficit late and that three of his substitutes had played well. The Spanish gaffer also said that he liked the way that the team showed energy and commitment to order in the final minutes.
"[Daley] Sinkgraven, [Nadiem] Amiri and [Timothy] Fosu-Mensah had a good impact," Xabi noted, "t was important that we team kept it together after Wolfsburg's second goal and demonstrated energy."