“The shoulder was out”
New courage and old shock employ BVB
09/03/2022, 12:35 p.m
It’s a win, it’s a temporary lead. Borussia Dortmund can still do it, convincingly in terms of play, but also tight at the back. Coach Edin Terzic still sees potential in the “outstanding” Bundesliga game against TSG Hoffenheim. A shock is inevitable this time too.
The “front runner” calls finally echoed again in ten thousand voices over the mightiest grandstand in the league – and Borussia Dortmund would have preferred to freeze the Bundesliga table. At least one night at the top: That was a blessing that helped to push a cruel six minutes out of BVB’s memory. “We were very, very shocked after Bremen,” said goalscorer Marco Reus, who scored 1-0 in the Bundesliga against Hoffenheim for the 60th time – an all-time high.
The historic collapse of the 2: 3 against Werder was only two weeks ago, but something has happened since then. Borussia takes it like the surfer, over whom a wall of water crashed: “We wanted to get on the next wave. That was very, very important to get into this flow,” reported Reus, who had been in Dortmund for a long time Call “Mister 1:0”. “Everything is a little easier there.”
The more or less 1-0 victory at Hertha BSC was followed by another 1-0, which was convincing, even inspiring at times. “We played an outstanding game, especially in the first half,” analyzed coach Edin Terzic. He is satisfied: “Now we’ve scored the points that we missed before. You can see a process, a development.”
It still gets dicey towards the end of the game
Should BVB become a serious challenger to FC Bayern? It’s too early to answer that. BVB’s self-proclaimed stability has always proved too unstable in recent years. Too many “stumbling block games” have prevented a championship. Plus: Where Bayern now have 16 to 18 top players, BVB have eight to ten.
Terzic, Reus and Julian Brandt, brilliant preparer of the winning goal (16th), outlined the next task: Borussia Dortmund has to make life easier for itself. The game could have been decided at halftime, but in the end it became the usual tremor. “We don’t want things to go the way they did against Werder,” Brandt criticized. “Fortunately we’ve learned to win games like this.” Terzic urged his players to learn “to chase the ball over the line”. A note that also applies to the Champions League, when BVB starts on Tuesday at home with FC Copenhagen (6:45 p.m. in the ntv.de live ticker).
Another shoulder
In another matter, the coach was powerless and stunned: A mysterious series of shoulder injuries is driving BVB. This time it was Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, whose arm dangled out of nowhere after a tackle. “His shoulder was out, including him, it’s unbelievable,” Terzic said frustrated: “It wasn’t a collision where two trucks crashed into each other. It actually looked harmless.”
BVB will have to do without Mahmoud Dahoud for months and possibly until the early winter break due to the World Cup. The midfielder, who has been absent for two weeks, had a shoulder that popped out of the joint twice – it has to be operated on. “Unfortunately, he won’t be playing again until November,” said sporting director Sebastian Kehl.