Bayer Leverkusen continued their strong form this season with a grinded-out win against a tough Wolfsburg side.
In the first half, Leverkusen dominated and were rewarded with a goal from Jeremie Frimpong. However they were unable to make use of this extended period of dominance and just before halftime, Leverkusen failed to clear a corner which allowed Maxcene Lacroix to remove the deficit.
The second half proved to follow a similar pattern to the first half where Leverkusen dominated possession but were unable to do anything in front of the goal. Their breakthrough came in the 62nd minute when a Frimpong cutback was latched onto by Alex Grimaldo whose shot was deflected into the Wolfsburg net off of Maximilian Arnold.
Wolfsburg pressured Leverkusen’s goal but strong defending as well as a double save from Lukas Hradecky helped secure the three points for die Werkself as they regained top spot in the Bundesliga.
Leverkusen show their resilience:
Wolfsburg have shown that they are a tough team to face this season as they continue to improve under Niko Kovac and this game showed that. Leverkusen struggled to break down Wolfsburg at times and it could be argued that they won due to two lucky goals. Wolfsburg also tested Leverkusen’s defence throughout the game and with better finishing could have punished them more.
However, as the football cliche goes, these tough games where you have to grind out a win are the type of games that you need to win if you want to even be considered in a title race. Week by week, Leverkusen are showing that they have the credentials to be in the title race this season.
Grimaldo’s signing in the summer has been a steal:
Every week, Grimaldo continues to show why his signing in the summer on a free transfer was a steal for Leverkusen. The acquisition of a Champions League-level wing-back to compliment Frimpong has proven to give Leverkusen an even greater boost when it comes to their attacking options.
The Spaniard not only offers quality from open play but also from set pieces which is something that Mitchell Bakker and Piero Hincapié could not offer last season and it now means that Grimaldo offers another attacking outlet to Frimpong and makes Leverkusen even more diverse.
Wolfsburg still have work to do to reach Champions League level:
Wolfsburg have shown that they can compete with the teams that are Champions League level (Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen) but it is clear that they are still not the finished product.
Despite Jonas Wind having scored seven goals this season, at times their attack struggle in front of goal and waste several chances and that was seen today as well. A positive is that their defence looks strong and Maxcence Lacroix looks to have gained confidence after struggling last season.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
