RB Leipzig soaring
“We have to keep at it”: Rose wants to put Bayern under pressure
01/26/2023, 4:46 p.m
RB Leipzig is riding a wave of success. Since Marco Rose took over as coach, the Bulls are even stronger than Bayern Munich. The players are emphatically self-confident. Now the pressure on the top of the table should be increased even further.
Marco Rose is aware of the inevitable. At some point, the coach of the DFB Cup winner RB Leipzig knows that his team will lose another game. “Some things you can’t stop,” said the 46-year-old, “we’ll get it again at some point.”
If the people of Leipzig have their way, the time for this “sometime” has not yet come. On Friday, when RB welcomes VfB Stuttgart at the start of the second half of the season, the Saxons’ impressive streak of 15 competitive games without defeat should be continued.
“It is important to keep at it, everything is relatively close together. We have worked out a starting position that is not bad,” said Rose on Thursday. RB is currently four points behind leaders Bayern Munich. A win against VfB would reduce this to one point for the time being – and put the record champions under noticeable pressure.
RB owes this to the Rose Effect. In September, the Leipzig-born and former Dortmund coach took over from Domenico Tedesco and has since brought the club back on track. In the “Rose Table” from the sixth match day, the Saxons are even ahead of Bayern (25) with 27 points. They are also in the last 16 of the cup and earned a knockout round in the Champions League against Manchester City.
Leipzig a “championship candidate” for Labbadia
The mood in Leipzig is correspondingly good. “The self-confidence is very high,” said the recovered national striker Timo Werner after the recent 6-1 win at Schalke 04. Benjamin Henrichs said: “You can count on us, we’re in good spirits and we want to continue like this.”
RB conceded the last defeat in a competitive game in September at Borussia Mönchengladbach (0: 3), it is one of only two duels lost under Rose. That’s another reason why Leipzig is a “championship candidate,” said Stuttgart coach Bruno Labbadia.
The prospect of a continuation of the successful series is good. “We seem stable at the moment,” said Rose. It is important “that we admonish each other and draw attention to each other. Otherwise you have no chance to attack at the top.”
Annoying Bayern and playing for titles are RB Leipzig’s claims – even if the impressive series breaks. “It should hit us when the opponent was clearly better and not because we were sleepy or didn’t have the right attitude,” said Rose. That shouldn’t happen against VfB Stuttgart.