What the papers say: 'A step in the right direction'

In the view of the Kölnische Rundschau, Bayer 04 need to considerably improve and the new coach has the same expectations: "No ideal start for Tayfun Korkut in the Bayer Leverkusen dugout: Four days after starting with the Werkself, the successor to Roger Schmidt, dismissed last Sunday, had to settle for a disappointing 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen as Felix Wiedwald saved the penalty taken by Ömer Toprak in the sixth minute of added time. ' The results is fair at the end of the day. We had our chance but missed the penalty so we have to settle for a point. We are in a phase that isn't that straightforward. We need to keep on working. Then I'm sure we can start winning,' said Korkut."

The Rheinische Post already sees signs of changes: "The 42-year-old coach (Korkut) did not have much time to prepare the Werkself for Werder Bremen. Nevertheless, the team was ready according to the coach before the match – and he was right in part. The 1-1 draw was a step in the right direction compared with the debacle in Dortmund, albeit a rather short one. Bayer looked better at the back at least. But overall it was a quite uncertain performance after the disruption of the past few days."

"Claudio Pizarro (39) spoiled the first outing for Tyfun Korkut," wrote the Bild and continued: Werder's goalscoring sub robbed the new Leverkusen coach of victory just three minutes after coming on. That strike in the 1-1 draw ends the longest drought in his Bundesliga career (860 minutes) – and that was in his 200th game for Bremen."

The Express points to the changes made since the match in Dortmund. "After five days in the job Korkut made five changes to the side in the 6-2 hammering at Dortmund: Chicharito, Bellarabi, Brandt, Baumgartlinger and Dragovic all came into the starting line-up." In the article continues: "The substitute Claudio Pizarro (200 games forWerder) certainly lived up to his reputation as a Bayer bogeyman when he scored a deserved equaliser from a corner on 79 minutes."

The equaliser at 1-1 leads the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger to the following conclusion: "The suspicion that the decline in form for Bayer 04 is so comprehensive that the departure of Roger Schmidt cannot remedy it on its own seems more and more of a fact. And one area of concern is defending set pieces. On 79 minutes it failed again. After a free-kick from Junuzovic the ball came to Bauer and his shot was deflected by substitute veteran striker Claudio Pizarro (38) of his hip into the Leverkusen net to make it 1-1."

The Bremer Weser Kurier picks out an element that marks out the games between Bayer 04 and Bremen: "Werder earned an important point in the battle against relegation against one of their favourite opponents – in 2016 Bremen won all three games against Bayer. It was a deserved result against a Leverkusen team, particularly after the break, where you can see that this season more is going wrong than right."