Roger Schmidt is under pressure at Bayer Leverkusen. Alex Grimm/Bongarts/Getty Images

Bayer Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt is aware he is running out of time at the club and needs to start producing consistent results.

Despite reaching the round of 16 in the Champions League this season, Leverkusen have struggled domestically and currently sit eighth in the Bundesliga, picking up just 20 points from their first 15 games.

There is a growing frustration among supporters at the Bay-Arena, which resulted in fans shouting "Roger out" during their 2-1 defeat against Ingolstadt last weekend.

Leverkusen face local rivals Cologne on Wednesday in their final match of 2016, and Schmidt says he understands his side need to start delivering.

"At the end of the day, I am responsible for what happens on the pitch," he told reporters at his prematch news conference. "We again need to show that have a different face only a few days after a very bad performance. We've done that often enough this term."

Schmidt added that he is "currently" not wasting any thoughts on the chants during the game against Ingolstadt

A lack of consistency has been the main problem for Leverkusen this term. They followed up a win against Borussia Dortmund with two defeats against Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim.

They beat Monaco in Champions League and were nearly held to a draw by ten-man Schalke a few days later before then going down to Ingolstadt at home.

"We need to play the football we stand for again," Schmidt said. "We were successful in the past two-and-a-half years because we played like we played. And that's why I will make sure we achieve that again. You always have to deliver short-term success. It's our duty to give an answer in Cologne. And we will do that."

Several local papers have reported that the Leverkusen coach could be sacked if his side fail to achieve a positive result in Cologne, but for now he still has the backing of the club's hierarchy.

"Roger is our coach. I am still convinced of him," Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voller told Express.

Express suggested that Voller could still be forced to sack Schmidt, who would reportedly received a redundancy payment of around €2 million, if Leverkusen fail to produce against Cologne.