It was the sort of result that, when it happened, appeared to be a curio but as time has gone past, it looks more and more like a season turning point. When Bayer Leverkusen visited Werder Bremen in late October they were on little more than a hiding-to-nothing. Mired in lower-mid-table and led by an unpopular coach, they were facing a side on the crest of a wave – and one who could, with a victory, have finished the weekend in second place in the Bundesliga.

It didn’t turn out like that. In a rarity amid an uninspired first half of the season under Heiko Herrlich, Leverkusen fired and then some. The 6-2 victory didn’t turn out to be the launchpad for Herrlich to draw the best from his talented team on a regular basis, as a quick glance at Peter Bosz on the Leverkusen bench now will tell you. It was the moment, however, where the air was let out of Werder’s tyres. They won just one more game – against then-struggling Fortuna Düsseldorf – before mid-January.

So one can forgive Florian Kohfeldt, Bosz’s opposite number on Sunday, for a slightly measured reaction to Werder’s stylish win at Leverkusen in the return fixture. As Jannik Sorgatz of Weser Kurier pointed out, Kohfeldt shied away from referring to Leverkusen as a direct competitor because he knows where his team are and sees Bosz’s side as contenders for Champions League qualification, despite the win taking them to within three points of them and on the cusp of the Europa League places.

This was, however, a lesson in what a difference a year (and a bit) can make. Thirteen months ago, on Werder’s last visit to the BayArena, there was much to love about this team. They arrived with a positive, can-do attitude and a vibrancy for a DfB Pokal quarter-final, and even led 2-0 inside a dizzying opening 10 minutes. By the end of extra-time they were weary and defeated, ground down by a more savvy and simply superior Leverkusen side. Still, the travelling thousands from Bremen on that Tuesday night applauded enthusiastically, for the intention as much as for the performance itself.

Florian Kohfeldt is beginning to impress after taking charge in October 2017. Photograph: David Hecker/EPA

That daring – daring to try, and daring to fail – has been Kohfeldt’s calling card since he took over in October 2017 with Werder at the foot of the table. Many worried about him following in the footsteps of his two predecessors as coach at the Weserstadion, Viktor Skrypnyk and Alexander Nouri, who also both came up from the under-23s to the top job, and had their good spells before running aground. Yet if this win at Leverkusen suggested anything, it was that Kohfeldt is able to get over bumps in the road and can get his players to learn from their mistakes.

Werder again led 2-0, just as they did last year, against a Leverkusen team who handed Bayern their only Bundesliga defeat since November last month. This time, though, they weathered the storm in response and came out the other side smiling. “The first half was outstanding tactically,” said Kohfeldt, “and footballing-wise. The second half was pure will. In the end, we deserved the win.” That they did, with the coach’s 4-3-1-2 again making use of captain Max Kruse in the No 10 role, from where he scored their stylish opener and laid on a second on the counter, finished by the rapidly improving Milot Rashica.

Kruse sealed the deal with another deliciously-finished goal on the break at the death (after Leon Bailey pulled one back with a sensational free-kick), leaving new Germany call-up Maximilian Eggestein comparing his skipper with “another left-footer elsewhere in the football world.” Heresy? Probably. Kruse is Werder’s Messi, though, and Kohfeldt is building a team around him.

With a winnable DfB Pokal quarter-final at Schalke coming up in 10 days, they could go on to be to this campaign what Eintracht Frankfurt were to last season. For now, having dreams rather than the hand-to-mouth existence of recent years is enough, and tells us what a fine job Kohfeldt is doing.

Talking points

James Rodríguez celebrates his hat-trick. Photograph: Michael Dalder/Reuters

• Bayern continued their goal rampage by knocking Mainz for six in the late game on Sunday, with James Rodríguez scoring a hat-trick, following on in mood after the Allianz Arena played Queen’s The Show Must Go On at full-time of the Champions League defeat to Liverpool. Most remarkable was that after Wednesday’s home humiliation president Uli Hoeness was remarkably zen, calling German press accusations that Bayern aren’t up to scratch continentally “far-fetched.” Yet despite adding that “we have played very good football for the best part of three months,” Hoeness and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge both stopped short of clear endorsement of Niko Kovač as the man to lead the next stage of the rebuild next season.

• Even if Bayern got their frustrations out of their system and increased their goal difference advantage over Borussia Dortmund, it felt as if Lucien Favre’s side were the weekend’s big winners after their dramatic late victory at Hertha. After twice coming from behind having conceded very avoidable goals to Salomon Kalou, Marco Reus swept in Jadon Sancho’s cross in the second minute of stoppage time to seal the points and spark scenes of wild celebration. It was, in the words of goalkeeper Roman Bürki – whose rare error in the opening minutes led to Kalou’s opener – “a great mental performance” in the second half, which ended in tumult after Hertha substitute Vedad Ibišević was red-carded for throwing the ball at Bürki’s head, with benched Dortmund captain Marcel Schmelzer wandering on the pitch to get involved. Now Bayern know, in the words of Ruhr Nachrichten’s Dirk Krampe, “that they can’t afford any more slip-ups.”

Sancho x Reus 🔥



Dortmund fought back from 2-1 down to claim a huge win in Berlin right at the death!



Incredible drama at the top of the Bundesliga 🙌 pic.twitter.com/JRZzLCeq35 — Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 16, 2019

• Slip-ups are all Dortmund’s local rivals Schalke have in the locker at the moment, and they slid to another defeat at home to Leipzig in Huub Stevens’ first match back in charge, with Domenico Tedesco sacked after Tuesday’s ignominious Champions League shellacking at Manchester City. The commitment for the new, old boss was clear but so was the lack of confidence, with the visitors possessing greater composure and leaving Die Königsblauen three points ahead of the relegation playoff place. One prominent banner in the Kurve condemned the players as “mercenaries” who “never understood” the club and “embarrassed us in Europe”, while thanking Tedesco. Even a club legend like Stevens has his plate full turning this around. Following six straight losses in all competitions, the trip to doomed Hannover after the international break is a must-win.

Sweets make everything better 🍬



Schalke manager Huub Stevens berates the fourth official, feels bad about it, gives him a sweet, has a laugh 👍 pic.twitter.com/KwsqK25iah — Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 16, 2019

• What a week for Eintracht Frankfurt, who looked a touch leggy in stages of Sunday’s 1-0 win over wooden-spooners Nürnberg – and understandably so after Thursday night’s glorious Europa League win at Inter, with some 15,000 travelling fans backing them in the stands of the San Siro. Eintracht are now a point from the top four and what has already been a very fine season has the potential to become a glorious one.