Sometimes it’s best to live in relative ignorance in order to keep your eyes on the prize. To focus, to shut out the outside noise, to not be distracted. Marco Rose doesn’t function like that.
“I take full responsibility for that first half,” the RB Leipzig coach said bluntly after Saturday’s uninspiring goalless draw at Union Berlin. Part of that demeanour is nurture is much as it is nature. Rose was born in Leipzig, yes, but more crucially had six years in the Red Bull organisation at Salzburg, from taking charge of the under-16s to the first team, before building his Bundesliga career at Borussias Mönchengladbach and Dortmund. He knows what the drill is. Ambition is total and there are clear consequences for falling short.
