Statistical dominance and attacking flair mask a lingering lack of clinical control. Carles Martinez must now transform flashes of brilliance into the consistent results his vision demands.
Two days can change the way a football team is judged.
On Wednesday night, Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 victory over NK Celje left Carles Martinez dissatisfied. His team had started with the intensity and attacking intent he wanted, only to gradually lose control of the match. The result was positive, but the performance still felt unfinished.
By Friday, Martinez was looking at the same game through a different lens.
The frustration had not disappeared. Neither had the problems that have cost Leverkusen points during the opening weeks of the Bundesliga season. But with some distance, the coach was more interested in what his team had shown than in what it had failed to sustain.
"The first 20, 25 minutes, that was the football we want to play"
That opening spell is increasingly becoming the reference point for what Leverkusen are trying to build.
The numbers suggest there is substance behind the idea. Die Werkself have produced more shots on target than any other team in the league and lead the competition for crosses from open play. They are consistently getting the ball into attacking areas and creating opportunities.
What has been missing is the part that tends to decide matches: efficiency and consistency.
Against Celje, the German side created enough chances to make the second half considerably less complicated. Instead, the game remained open longer than it needed to. The same problem had already appeared in the Bundesliga, most notably in the 2-2 draw at Augsburg and the 3-2 defeat to Elversberg.
Those results exposed two sides of the same issue.
Leverkusen have shown that they can generate attacking pressure, but they have not always been able to turn that pressure into control. At times, missed chances have kept opponents alive. At other times, defensive lapses have undone the work being done at the other end.
The 4-0 victory over Union Berlin offered the clearest example of what happens when the different pieces align.
"We're in a process with many new players and new things we're doing,"
That context matters. A team attempting to change its playing identity has to develop more than patterns on a training ground. Players have to understand when to accelerate, when to maintain possession, when to attack space and how to react when the first wave of pressure fails.
Those details are often what separate an attractive attacking performance from sustained dominance.
"Everything we're working on and focusing on is being embraced and improved by the team. We're analyzing and seeing a lot of good things. If we continue in this direction, I'm certain we'll win a lot of games."
It is a confident assessment, but it also comes with an obvious condition. Leverkusen cannot remain a team whose underlying performances look more convincing than their results.
Four points from their first three Bundesliga matches is not what Martinez wants, and he acknowledged as much: "We want to take more points."
The encouraging part for Die Werkself is that the problems are identifiable.
They are creating chances. They are reaching the penalty area. They are producing attacking volume. They have already shown, against Union, what the finished version can look like.
The question is whether they can make that version the norm rather than the exception.
That is where Martinez's optimism will ultimately be tested. Not by one good opening 25 minutes, and not by one disappointing result, but by whether Leverkusen can gradually turn their new ideas into a team capable of controlling matches from beginning to end.
