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Granit Xhaka tore into his Bayer Leverkusen team-mates after the final whistle on Sunday’s Bundesliga clash against Wolfsburg – despite Xabi Alonso’s side coming away the victors at the BayArena on the night.
The hosts had fallen behind the traveling side courtesy of an own goal by Nordi Mukiele within the first five minutes, but had clawed back a 2-1 lead just past the half-hour mark.
But instead of pulling away, Leverkusen went into the dressing room at half-time 3-2 down after goals from Sebastiaan Bornauw and Mattias Svanberg.
Although last season’s matchless domestic season was in part defined by last-gasp heroics that kept Alonso’s men competitive until the very end, Xhaka was keen to stress that he was ‘not interested in winning’ if their overall performance could not be improved.
Granit Xhaka chose not to rest on his laurels after Bayer Leverkusen beat Wolfsburg on Sunday
The title-winning side conceded three goals at home for the second time in this campaign
A late goal from Victor Boniface (centre) was a reminder of how they won the Bundesliga last term, but Xhaka was keen to move on
In an incendiary interview after the match, the former Arsenal midfielder opted not to hold back, making his feelings on the tie clear as he called upon the squad to ‘be honest with each other’ about their current level.
‘We don’t need to talk about injury time here,’ Xhaka said, without being prompted, as per BILD. ‘We need to be honest with each other, self-critical enough: This is not enough!
‘It can’t be that we concede three goals every game. Especially the way we concede the goals.
‘It’s not that the opponent takes us apart, combines beautifully and then scores the goals. It’s just that we don’t make the runs well enough.
‘We call ourselves a top team. But a top team doesn’t concede three goals in 45 minutes!’
2023-24 saw Leverkusen claim a historic Bundesliga and DfB-Pokbal double as they went unbeaten on home soil, losing their sole match of the season in the Europa League final against champions Atalanta.
Matthias Svanberg pulled the travellers into the lead shortly before the half-time whistle
At the end of last month, Leverkusen lost their first match in over a year to RB Leipzig, 3-2
But this season, defeat to RB Leipzig at home at the end of last month has left Alonso’s side sitting second behind Bundesliga big beasts Bayern Munich in the early stages of the campaign.
The side have also conceded nine goals in their first four league games.
‘It’s about the whole team,’ Xhaka continued. ‘We need to be much more specific defensively, we’re leaving too much space.
‘With the ball we’re good as always. But without the ball we don’t have the spacing that made us so good last season. That’s not aggressive enough.
‘I’m someone who is very honest with myself. I hope the others are too: like today – with the three goals conceded like against Leipzig – it’s not enough.
‘Of course we have the quality to score ten goals per game. We won, that’s all well and good.
‘But I’m not interested in winning! I’m interested in why we’re not playing compactly.’
Xhaka was keen not to place the blame at the door of transformative head coach Xabi Alonso
The Spaniard guided the club to win it’s first Bundesliga title in unprecedent unbeaten style
Opting not to criticise his manager, the 31-year-old added: ‘It’s not the system, it’s a question of mindset. Whether you want to do those same yards again. I don’t have the hunger to defend my own goal.
‘The defense consists of eleven players, not just one or two. We still have a lot of work to do on defense. Offensively, we can continue like this.’
Leverkusen will look to work quickly to smooth over the rough edges of their game, with less than a week to prepare for what could prove an early title showdown.
The side travels to the Allianz Arena on Saturday to face off with serial winners Bayern, who under new head coach Vincent Kompany have won all five of their opening league games, and begun their Champions League progress with a 9-2 thumping of Dinamo Zagreb.
