Bundesliga
BVB plunges into winter depression – restless days for Terzic
Dortmund’s Salih Özcan, coach Edin Terzic and Emre Can (lr) after a game. photo
© Bernd Thissen/dpa
BVB is threatened with an uncomfortable Christmas. After the 1-1 draw against Mainz, criticism of coach Terzic is growing. A decision about his future is likely to be made at a management meeting.
The 1:1 (1:1) against FSV Mainz plunged Borussia into a deep winter depression, drove many spectators out of the stadium early and increased the discussion about Edin Terzic.
When asked whether he believed he would still be BVB coach in the new year, the 41-year-old answered with astonishing confidence: “Of course I believe it.”
After six competitive games without a win and falling to fifth place in the Bundesliga, nobody in Dortmund is talking about the championship anymore. Meanwhile, even qualifying for the Champions League again is in acute danger.
Bosses advise on coach Terzic
At the upcoming regular meeting of BVB officials, the coach’s work is likely to be critically questioned before Christmas. “We imagined everything differently, but that’s reality now,” complained Terzic.
Media reports about an alleged player revolt against the coach had already caused additional explosiveness before the game. Watzke immediately denied that players had asked him to replace Terzic.
After the final whistle, captain Emre Can sounded more like an advocate of continued employment: “It’s not always the coach’s fault. It has nothing to do with the coach if the ball hits the crossbar.”
Nevertheless, BVB faces turbulent days with a lot of speculation about the coach’s future. The fact that Watzke sat in a box with sports director Sebastian Kehl for a long time after the game was immediately interpreted as evidence of a first Terzic tribunal. However, this is not unusual.
Terzic: “I know my responsibility”
Despite increasing public criticism of his work, Terzic expressed his interest in continuing the collaboration: “I have signed a contract until 2025, and in doing so I have documented how much and how long I would like to stay at this club.”
With a serious expression, the self-confessed BVB fan, who was born in nearby Menden, added: “How long I’m here, I don’t decide. Of course, the leadership and the result decide that. And the results in the last few weeks just haven’t been good, we know that “We. I know my responsibility, I also know the size of the club.”
The two different faces of his team, which was celebrated in the Champions League but disappointing in the Bundesliga, were seen in just one game this time. After a strong first 30 minutes with two hits on the crossbar and the deserved 1-0 lead by Julian Brandt (29th), it looked like a conciliatory end to the year.
But the equalizer by Mainz’s Sepp Van den Berg (43′) caused great uncertainty and an out of the question second half. “The situation is not easy, it sucks if you’re honest,” admitted national player Brandt on Sat.1. “It’s an unsatisfactory end to an unsatisfactory first half of the season. It’s always stupid to go into the break with a draw or a defeat.”
Expert sees mistakes in BVB leadership
Sky expert Dietmar Hamann expressed what many BVB fans have been fearing for a long time. “They won’t make it into the top four the way they performed today,” said the former international. However, he excluded Terzic from his criticism: “I think the coach is the poorest dog at the moment because he has been let down too often by the players.”
Managing director Watzke and sports director Sebastian Kehl should have made the professionals more responsible. “The coach was also left out in the rain somewhere.”
Before the upcoming meeting between the club bosses, Terzic advertised himself and referred to similarly critical situations in the past. As Lucien Favre’s successor, he led the long-stumbling team to cup victory in mid-December 2020.
Last season, under his direction, BVB started an impressive comeback after a weak start to the season and was even on the verge of winning the championship. “It’s part of my history at Borussia that we always showed a completely different face in the second half of the season. That’s the clear task for the team that we get it right again.”