Even though I expected them to be the main contenders challenge for the tittle with Bayern Munich I was definitely expecting a decline from Bayer Leverkusen. That last season was a fairy tale season for them and with the squad they had kept without incoming players I was expecting them to get studied and will get them out of the way, When the board managed to keep hold of the players I saw it as something good just for them not to struggle to challenge once again which was a good idea but they simply didn’t add anyone which to me is a Also a better way to strength the squad depth but they didn’t and now they are playing catch up in all the competitions so expect club below them to mount pressure
This season will be much harder for Leverkusen to retain the Bundesliga title as we can see how Bayern Munich's performances have become more consistent. It won't be easy to compete with Bayern Munich in the current form and the efforts put in by Leverkusen are nowhere near the team that is capable of competing with Bayern Munich. Leverkusen are third in the table and they are still seven points behind Bayern Munich who are in first and now all they need to do is catch up with Frankfurt who are three points behind in second. Alonso's job is to ensure they play more consistently and not let points drop in the upcoming games which will pave the way for them to be involved in the competition.
This season's journey is still very long, we can't judge anything for that even though Leverkusen started this season a little badly but it is already visible that Xabi Alonso has slowly started to make Leverkusen's performance better now which means they are more ready to compete with Bayern Munich and even last week Leverkusen managed to eliminate Bayern Munich in the DFB pokal competition.
Bayern Munich does have a better performance this season compared to last season but it will not be easy for them to win the Bundesliga title this season, in terms of percentage I think they still have the same percentage as Leverkusen.
So this will be a fierce competition between the two.