What the papers say: '2-2 draw with Hannover not good enough'

The e-paper edition of the Kölner Stadt Anzeiger on Sunday called the 2-2 draw "Not good enough" in its headline: "Bayer 04 Leverkusen only managed to secure a lucky 2-2 draw against Hannover 96 in front of their own fans on Saturday afternoon. Karim Bellarabi rescued a point for the Werkself with his goal in added time. But that is not good enough for Bayer 04 and coach Heiko Herrlich." 

The Sunday edition of the Express is clear nobody can really be happy with one point: "Bayer captain Lars Bender (29) came up with hard but true words after the more than flattering 2-2 draw with Hannover 96. The Werkself were disappointing throughout against the Lower Saxons. In spite of having an extra man for 33 minutes, it lasted until the fourth minute of added time before Karim Bellarabi (28) rescued a point for Bayer. A point nobody can really be happy with. The performance with the extra man was simply far too harmless."

And the Rheinische Post (online) said Bayer 04 have to do better than a draw against Hannover 96: "Everything was forgotten for a couple of seconds when Karim Bellarabi curled the ball into the far corner of the Hannover net on 94 minutes. The fans did celebrate the last-minute leveller that secured a fortunate point for the Europa League participants against a relegation candidate. ... The performance of the team was too uninspiring."

And the Bild am Sonntag also believes the Werkself are unable to live up to their own expectations at the moment: "Leverkusen drew 2-2 with Hannover and remain stuck in the bottom third of the table. Not good enough for the Werkself who want to qualify for Europe again. … With Brandt, Havertz, Volland and Alario, Leverkusen have a lot of quality up front - but there was not much sign of that.“  

The sports journal Kicker tries to find an explanation for Bayer 04 not being able to exploit having the extra man in the last half hour of the game: "Herrlich reacted to having an extra player by bringing on three fresh attackers in Kiese Thelin, Bellarabi and Bailey. However, the efforts of the Werkself remained underwhelming. The hosts kept trying to put crosses into the penalty area but Hannover knew how to defend against that approach.“