Malik Tillman wasted little time in opening his Bayer Leverkusen account.
Tillman scored in his club debut on Saturday as Bayer Leverkusen earned a 3-3 draw with Werder Bremen. The U.S. men’s national team midfielder showed great composure and skill in the Werder Bremen box to double the visitors lead.
After Patrik Schick opened the scoring for Erik Ten Hag’s men, Tillman doubled their lead in the 35th minute.
The USMNT midfielder chested down a cross into the box before flicking home a shot into the bottom-left corner.
Romano Schmid cut the Bremen deficit to 2-1 on the verge of halftime.
Schick’s 63rd minute penalty kick extended Leverkusen’s lead to 3-1 but Bremen would use a late rally to earn a share of the points.
Issac Schmidt made it 3-2 with 14 minutes to go before Karim Coulibaly pulled the hosts level in second-half stoppage time.
It was a disappointing result for Leverkusen after leading for most of the second-half.
Tillman played 62 minutes in the match as he continues to work his way back to full fitness.
The 23-year-old will now remain in Germany for the September international break after not receiving a call-up to Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT roster.
Bayer Leverkusen will return to Bundesliga play on September 12 against Eintracht Frankfurt before opening up UEFA Champions League play four days later.
i still think they have tillman and luna backwards. luna is the guy who gets the ball in the midfield, turns, runs at people, commits them, and passes to a forward for a shot. tillman is probably a winger sub for us who comes in and scores something back post. we keep doing odd stuff eg seb as forward. i appreciate forwards chasing but we make something of it like once every 10 games.
plus luna will scrap other end and the MF needs some ballwinners and run destroyers.
When we have the ball both Tillman and Luna are in the same position. In the half space on either side with either the other MF outside or the FB 3-2-4-1. On defense Tillman pressed with Agyemang up top and Luna defended as an outside MF in our 4-4-2 defense. It’s pretty similar to how RSL use Luna, officially he lines up on the wing but he has the freedom to roam on anywhere on his side of the field. I’m not sure why we had Berhalter and McGlynn in wide positions other than they were thinking it would provide space for them to cross when they wouldn’t have much time or space if played centrally.
What I like about Luna is that he seems to always be giving full effort. Regarding Tillman, he has yet to translate his club form to the national team, but IV says that’s okay. Sargent is the same, but that’s not okay. I get so confused. BTW, I remember when Wayne Rooney was lighting it up with the English national team as a youngster but not doing shit for his club team until a season or more had passed. Commentators didn’t understand it. Things happen and sometimes it’s just a matter of opportunity. I have seen many times in various sports where a player is just mediocre, then gets chances elsewhere and blossoms into a star.
Gary: IV used to bash Tillman for not being productive for the US. His 3g 3a this summer has been enough production to let him come off the bench.
NICE!