DFB Pokal Post Match: Bosz praises Wirtz, says Schick 'can do better'
Leverkusen's 7-0 defeat of a fourth-tier side in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal may have looked like a strong statement for a team missing Kai Havertz, Kevin Volland, and a marooned Leon Bailey. Peter Bosz disagreed.
The goals rained down at the BayArena as Germany's red company team completely demolished their pro-am competitors Eintracht Norderstedt 7-0 in the opening round of the DFB-Pokal. According to trainer Peter Bosz, it didn't rain hard enough. Bosz criticized his players for not following through with their game plan in the second half of the fixture.
In his first match without the departed Kai Havertz, Vosz ran a 4-3-3 spearheaded by Argentine striker Lucas Alario. German internationals Karim Bellarabi and Nadiem Amiri flanked Alario, with young phenom Florian Wirtz serving as a sort of rotating eight.
Lars Bender opened the scoring in the fourth. Amiri added a second in the 10th. Alario officially opening the floodgates with another strike two minutes later. Wirtz and Charles Aranguiz would also find the back of the net before the half hour mark before Amiri secured a brace and make it 6-0 by the 31st.
Bosz would have to wait another 46 minutes of match time for his team to score again. Patrick Schick, coming off the bench to make his highly-anticipated Bayer debut, made certain that he quickly opened his account for his new club. Bosz wasn't moved. "He can do better," he noted after the match.
Bosz declared himself satisfied with "the first 30 and the last 15 minutes of the match." As for what transpired in-between, Bosz openly said "when you lead 6-0 after 30 minutes, the ending scoreline should be higher."
One might think that Bosz would have been overjoyed at such a lopsided result. From the Dutchman's perspective however, his trademark high-octane, short-passing possession game wasn't executed properly. "The ball has walk through the players. The players shouldn't be walking the ball," he emphasized.
Bosz did have high praise for Wirtz, who back in June became the youngest ever scorer of a Bundesliga goal. "For me he was the best [player] on the pitch today."
Having made no secret about his high expectations from club management earlier in the week, Bosz seemed to have few qualms about expressing the high expectations he has of his players. Die Werkself open the season against Wolfsburg next week in the Sunday night match of the Bundesliga's opening round.