The fear of a Freiburg failure, eliminating West Ham from the Europa league of which we cling so helplessly to, was palpable after the 1-0 defeat in theEuropa-park Stadion. But the boys surged back on English soil with a 5-0 show of dominance over the German side.
We showed players on the European stage that we belonged there, that our earlier victories weren’t a fluke, and that we are still as inconsistent as we were when David Moyes took the reins. Having passed through the Round of 16, we were left to watch Mark Noble’s face for a shared reaction as we anticipated the Europa league quarter-finals draw on March 15th.
Bayer Leverkusen were pulled, and while avoiding a potential Liverpool meetup until the final match, as well as some other tough teams, we are once again pitted against a German side in the late stages of Europa League, after Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. The battle wouldn’t be as worrisome if Leverkusen wasn’t on an unbeaten streak in all competitions, functioning as fluidly as possible, without failure except for a stumble in the Round of 16 versus Qarabag FK – an odd potential loss that was snuffed out at the end by two goals from Leverkusen.
On Noble’s face a smile cracked when the draw was read, but one couldn’t tell if it was mirth or nerves. Not for West Ham fan Dan Roberts watching the event, who also follows Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, there was some shock as well as a few choice words as soon as the draw was made.
After the initial frustration Roberts evaluated the attacking threat of Freiburg and explained: ‘I believe in West Ham, however I have no belief that our back line will be able to slow Frimpong or Grimoldo on the wings. ‘Let’s hope and pray that Bonafice’s recovery is behind schedule. Zouma on one leg is about to be exposed. Their attack is lightning quick.’
Robert’s biggest hope in West Ham is relying on the notorious method of Moyes – the infamous low block. ‘I think our best bet to advancing would be to frustrate them into making bad decisions when the usual space isn’t there and kill them on the counter’.
He knows that Leverkusen is a well balanced team: ‘Leverkusen play a 3-4-2-1 and want to control the midfield and possession. ‘Their wingbacks play in such a unique style where one will invert into a quasi second striker while the other stays back to defend. They invite pressure, keep their passes simple, play through their midfielders, and hope to create enough space to free one of their lightning quick wingbacks.’
Although Roberts thinks that our attackers are superior to Leverkusen’s defensive line, he still thinks they will win 4-3 on aggregate with a 2-1 in Germany and 2-2 in London, but he’s open to hope as every West Ham fan is. From across the channel, German fans reacting on Twitter were overjoyed, exclaiming everything from ‘easy win, onto Liverpool’ to other tweets reaching nationalistic tenors, ‘Revenge. Let’s salvage the Bundesliga’ for our win against Freiberg.
This was displaced, however, by more sober German fans like Georg Schütt who was very even tempered in his answers, and reflected a similar strain of play to what Roberts had to say. Georg has a high respect for English football from ‘the commitment, to the pace, to the passion of the players and the fans’ and is excited to play a Premier League side.
He knows West Ham will be tough opposition to break down with history, fans, and top tier qualities backing us, but he also knows the power of his own team. ‘We have a very good mix of young and older players, fine technicians, strong defenders and experienced leaders. Florian Wirtz is a century talent. Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo are very fast, and we have attacking defenders.
‘Granit Xhaka is the linchpin in midfield. This team is led by Alonso, the famous Spanish world champion, and we play a Spanish style with some players from Spain and Argentina: technically demanding, fast, lots of goals. There is also a ‘German defense’ with Jonathan Tah at the back, very strong and stable.’
Schütt, also similar to Roberts, thinks Leverkusen will ultimately come out on top, yielding a 1-1 draw in London, but a 2-0 win in Germany. The rest of the teams fighting it out in the Quarter-finals are Liverpool vs Atalanta, Benfica vs Marseille, and Milan vs Roma.
West Ham have the benefit of having the second leg played at home where we consistently do better, and if we beat Leverkusen, we’ll also have the second leg at home in the semi-final. I think if we can keep our heads about ourselves, have fully functioning fullbacks in Emerson and Coufal, and go without fear or lethargy then we can take it to them.
With one of our greatest attacking threats yet in Kudus, Bowen and Paqueta, and with the disarming, sheer athleticism from Antonio, I think we’ll have a tough battle but could nick a win. My scoreline prediction 4:3 on aggregate with a 3-1 win in London and 0-1 loss in Germany.
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