Erik ten Hag said there was room for improvement, despite a 4-0 routing Sonnenhof Grossaspach in his competitive game that was responsible for Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB Pokal.
Ten Hag watched while last year’s Bundesliga-two-year-old Riot ran in Wirmachendruck Arena, with the opener of Patrik Schick in the 32nd minute that gave them a half-time lead.
The task of Leverkusen was made a little easier in the 66th minute when Grossaspach captain Volkan Celiktas received his second yellow card only two minutes after his first.
They let their husband benefit from Arthur eight minutes later, where the hosts were subsequently reduced to nine men after Mert Tas parts received a straight red card.
And two goals in three minutes late, thanks to Christian Kofane and Alex Grimaldo, the last of the penalty place, added further shine to the score.
Leverkusen indeed registered a mammoth expected goals (XG) a total of 4.37 of their 20 shots, compared to the 0.62 of Grossaspach from their 12 attempts on the goal of Mark Flekken.
“Grossaspach played well and caused us problems,” Ten Hag said. “In the end we deserved to win.
“We had some good spells, but there is still room for improvement. We will continue to work on that.”
A solid victory and on the next round!
90 ′ | 0-4 | #Sgab04 pic.twitter.com/7HDPO2OW6N
– Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@Bayer04_en) August 15, 2025
Ten Hag, who took over the Real Madrid-Bonden Xabi Alonso in May, supervised a period of transition at Leverkusen after several important players have left the club.
Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Granit Xhaka all left for meadows new, while Flekken, Kofane, Axel Tape, Ernest Poku, Ibrahim Maza and Jarell Quansah all debut their competitive Leverkusen on Friday.
“Of course it needs time. You can’t see every action that has been worked out,” said Leverkusen -sports director Simon Rolfes about the changes.
“But we saw today that we have interesting young players. Ibrahim Maza did well and showed his qualities between the lines.
“And that is why it will take a little time, but we still have a good team.”
Leverkusen is starting their Bundesliga campaign next Saturday with a home conflict against Hoffenheim.
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