Rolfes and Tah criticize Leverkusen’s defending after defeat

Simon Rolfes and Jonathan Tah believe Bayer Leverkusen conceded goals too easily in their defeat at RB Leipzig.

Bayer Leverkusen slipped to their first Bundesliga defeat since May 2023 on Saturday night, losing 2-3 at home to RB Leipzig.

Die Werkself were 2-0 up, but Leipzig came back to take all three points thanks to a goal from Kevin Kampl and a brace from Lois Openda.

The way the match unfolded left room for self-criticism in the Leverkusen camp.

“We conceded the goals a little too easily,” said Leverkusen managing director for sport Simon Rolfes.

“It’s bitter, but we have to accept that. We have to get our stability back in the defense, we didn’t do a very good job in that department today. Everything went well with the ball, we just didn’t defend well.”

Jonathan Tah agreed that Leverkusen could have done better defensively.

“The goals we conceded were far too easy, but apart from that we didn’t give them many chances. Overall, we played a much better and more consistent game than the other night in the cup, for example,” said the defender.

“Of course there were mistakes in defense. But we defend as a team and attack as a team. We slept in one or two situations today and then something like this happens.”