Leverkusen thrashes Heidenheim with six of the best
Bayer Leverkusen head coach Kasper Hjulmand believes his side needs to develop even further after it thrashed Heidenheim 6-0 to move up to fourth in the Bundesliga.
Hjulmand suffered his first domestic loss for the club against Bayern Munich last week, but Leverkusen got back to winning ways in midweek as it won 1-0 at Benfica in the UEFA Champions League.
Leverkusen picked up from where it left off and enjoyed one of its most dominant wins in some time, registering 25 shots in total compared to a solitary effort for the bottom-placed side Heidenheim.
The 2023-2024 league champion made a blistering start to this match, going 4-0 up after 27 minutes with goals from Ernest Poku and Jonas Hofmann, while Patrick Schick scored a brace.
It would add another before the break through Ibrahim Maza, and he scored a second just eight minutes after the restart as Hjulmand enjoyed his biggest win since taking charge at the start of September from Erik Ten Hag.
The Dane has eight wins from his 13 matches in charge in all competitions, but he still believes there are plenty of areas for his side to improve if his side is to become a true force domestically and in Europe this season.
"We need to develop our game," he said after the win.
"We've played many minutes in the way we want to play tonight, but it’s not always easy to reach that level during a match.
"We have to fight for every win and they come in different forms. We're ready to keep developing - but winning along the way."
Hjulmand was impressed with the mix of youth and experience in his side, with goalscorers Poku and Maza, aged 21 and 19 respectively, impressing along with the experienced Robert Andrich, Hofmann and Schick, who all returned to the side after missing out from the start against Benfica.
"I think we saw experience tonight but also how our young players with great potential took another step and that's so important to us – that we always try to play better," he said.
