Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky refused to comment, but Kerem Demirbay let his frustration run free. "We're in deep shit," commented the attacking midfielder with drastic words on the 1: 5 (0: 1) declassification at Eintracht Frankfurt. "I have no explanation for that, to be honest. The fact is, we have to make huge gains in all areas."

After two defeats in three games with eight goals conceded under new coach Xabi Alonso, one thing is certain: the former world-class player cannot do magic.

Alonso: "You have a new chance every week"

"There are no excuses. There are no excuses," said the 40-year-old coach at the end of his first week at work, both combative and disillusioned. His debut started promisingly with a 4-0 win over FC Schalke 04, but then came the setbacks against FC Porto (0-3) in the Champions League and now in Frankfurt. "The situation is bad, we can't think about the end of the season. We have to keep believing, we have an intense week ahead of us and we have to keep working," said Alonso.

Since Bayer 04 and his predecessor Gerardo Seoane were kicked out of the DFB Cup, the Spaniard has a whole week before the home game against VfL Wolfsburg to get his highly talented but inconsistent squad on the road to success. "You have a new chance every week," said Alonso, hoping for a quick turnaround.

Against the Lower Saxony, the Rhinelanders are 16th in the table. compete and thus as one of the basement children with relegation worries. The club, which started the season as one of the favorites for the championship title, has fallen deeply. Demirbay believes that Alonso can bring Leverkusen back up: "I think the coach is really good."

Rolfes: "We still have a lot of work ahead of us"

Sporting director Simon Rolfes remains convinced of the charismatic Alonso, who is still a novice coach. "He knows what he wants, what he focuses on." After just a few training sessions, the former Bayern professional "brought good input to the team," praised Rolfes on Sky: "But we still have a lot of work ahead of us."

After the hefty bankruptcy in Frankfurt, it is questionable whether the Werksclub will pick up again quickly. If Eintracht had already used the many top-class chances in the first half and not just used a repeated penalty kick by Daichi Kamada to make it 1-0 (45.4), the downfall might have been even worse. Piero Hincapie (56th) nurtured hope with his header to make it 1-1 - but Eintracht really got going after that.

Randal Kolo Muani (58th), Jesper Lindström (65th) and Kamada (72nd) with his second converted penalty shot out a 4:1. The fact that in the end Lucas Alario (86th), who had retired from Bayer and switched to Eintracht, put the finishing touch to the Bayer disaster, as did the yellow-red card for Hincapie, who was responsible for both penalties and will miss against Wolfsburg.