Much pre-season hype was made around the appointment of Pep Guardiola as Bayern Munich manager, and how he would fair against Borussia Dortmund’s Jürgen Klopp. One man who seems to have been overlooked is Bayer Leverkusen’s coach Sami Hyypiä. Anyone who has followed English football will be familiar with the name as Sami was a legend amongst many Liverpool supporters.

After leaving Liverpool to end his playing career in Germany, Sami Hyypiä found himself going down the road of coaching and was offered a role within Bayer Leverkusen. Due to an unexpected turn of events, the then Leverkusen coach was sacked and Sami, along with under 19 coach Sascha Lewandowski, was put in charge. The latter spent one season with Hyypiä before returning to his previous role.

Bayer Leverkusen under previous management had become a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde team, providing many dazzling performances but alongside some poor ones too, despite regular Champions League football.

Since the appointment of Sami Hyypiä, Bayer Leverkusen has become a more ruthless attacking team. Hyypiä has a young Bayer Leverkusen team playing with lots of confidence and team spirit with a desire to get the ball down and play, despite having a target man in Stefan Kießling. After all, last season they were the only team to beat Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

The start of this campaign has seen Bayer Leverkusen really stake a claim for being considered serious title challengers. Hyypiä has won 6 of his opening 8 games, his team scoring 18 goals in the process. The one match that showed quite why Hyypiä’s team is ready to challenge for the title was the impressive 1-1 draw at home with Bayern Munich. For such a young side, Leverkusen stayed calm and defended well regardless of being largely dominated by the guests. This demonstrates to the league they are a team that can adapt to any situation.

All of this has been possible despite the exit of star man André Schürrle to Chelsea in the summer. Hyypiä was shrewd in the transfer window and brought in an adequate replacement in Heung Min Son to join forces with Sidney Sam and Stefan Kießling in a 4-3-3 formation that is arguably one of the best in the league. Behind them there is the pragmatic Lars Bender who is showing signs of a combative midfielder beyond his youthful years, and the man who seems to be attracting a lot of attention Stefan Reinartz. One more player who really is showing that he can challenge Manuel Neuer in the national side is Bernd Leno, whose status grows by the day.

Overall with Bayer Leverkusen sat third in the league just a single point behind leaders Bayern Munchen, still very much in the Champions League after a good result against Real Sociedad, and don’t forget the German cup run, fans have a lot to be happy about. This youthful, exciting young team Sami Hyypiä has developed may well find themselves with silverware very soon in the future if not this season.

Bundesliga Table

Leverkusen sit level on points with Borussia Dortmund, just one point behind leaders Bayern Munich