Leverkusen will face Hoffenheim in their opening match of the season, and I think that's a match Leverkusen should be able to win easily. On paper, Leverkusen is the clear favorite, Hoffenheim is a mediocre team that almost got relegated last season. Therefore, I think this is a great opportunity for Ten Hag to secure his first win, which would help him gain a lot of support from the fans at BayArena. However, if an upset were to happen, Ten Hag would immediately face sharp criticism from the fans.
Based on the past records, it shows that Leverkusen may win the match easily. But look at the preseason of Hoffenheim they really tried and played very well in all their preseason games. This shows they may have improved a little bit.
And if, truthfully, Hoffenheim have improved, the match is not going to be easy for Leverkusen to win, because even Leverkusen may not be in serious form this season. Some of their players have left, and I didn’t see them make any serious signings to strengthen their team.
Let’s just see what will happen at the end of the match, because it's always hard to predict the first match of the season. There are always some teams that improve a lot, and some whose performances drop. So I always like to see how teams start their first match of the season before I can tell whether they’re in form or not.