Borussia Dortmund is once again having everything blown up in the round of 16 of the DFB Cup. They are waiting for defeat against VfB Stuttgart. Which won’t be missed. Two weeks before Christmas there is a risk of explosion around the Westfalenstadion. Is there a way out?
The plan was actually simple: BVB wanted to reach the cup quarter-finals at VfB Stuttgart without having possession of the ball. A few needle pricks should be enough. In the end there was a flattering 0:2 and coach Edin Terzić in front of the microphones. He spoke of a completely “shitty evening” and at least he was right. Once again everything had blown up in Dortmund’s face. “We were lacking at the front and back today, we weren’t strong enough in the duels, a footballing catastrophe, you have to be honest,” said BVB captain Emre Can. What he said was true. BVB was a footballing disaster in Stuttgart and was actually just waiting to concede a goal.
Borussia Dortmund’s deeply negative approach had once again not paid off because they had conceded two goals and because their offensive efforts usually ended at the third passing station at the latest. It almost seemed as if BVB wanted to escape this season’s surprise team from the first minute into a penalty shootout.
Of course that didn’t work because Stuttgart pressed too hard, kept putting BVB under pressure and they couldn’t get anything going anyway. “It’s about finding footballing solutions. Our start-up is very bad. Stuttgart starts up, is always there, the defenders don’t have any time. There’s something wrong with us,” Can explained. “We just have to want more, have more intensity in the game. That has to come from the team and each individual.”
BVB completely without a game idea
Nothing happens in terms of football. There’s a system to it. And that doesn’t bode well for the last four games of the year, which may now be about more than just points in the league and winning the group in the Champions League. Coach Terzić automatically comes into focus. His tactic is success. However, if success is not achieved, his hero football without heroes will not be able to justify anything.
The complete loss of control in the games against Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and now twice VfB Stuttgart is based on a false assumption. It is based on the fact that the Dortmund offensive with exceptional individualists can always create the “pinpricks” that are often attempted at Borsigplatz these days. That’s not the case. Because after Jude Bellingham’s departure, the offensive is no longer staffed with exceptional individualists. The defense around the constantly strutting Mats Hummels and keeper Gregor Kobel can’t hold the place together in every game. Against Stuttgart there was once again little progress apart from an offside hit and a shot against the crossbar.
In December 2023, Borussia Dortmund lacks a game idea that is based on more than the tactics of missing needle pricks. That has to do with Terzić and that has to do with the new sporting leadership. Sports director Sebastian Kehl put the club on a new footing after taking over from club icon Michael Zorc in 2021. But the new middle layer of Niclas Füllkrug, Marcel Sabitzer, Ramy Bensebaini and the permanently injured Felix Nmecha, who were hastily signed before this season, are threatened with relegation. She seamlessly bowed to the Dortmund depressions. The team lacks lightness, consistency and joy.
The panic attack continues
As sports director, Kehl is responsible for the slow shift from a training club for Europe’s super clubs to one that wants to attack national titles with a corset of experienced players. If these don’t happen, BVB will also have a financial problem. In the past, the foundation with its high salaries was also based on the sale of an upcoming superstar. It takes a lot of imagination to find the new Jew Bellingham, Erling Haaland or Jadon Sancho in the current squad.
At Borussia Dortmund there are rarely nuances. Either the Black and Yellows are on top or they are falling into the ground without support. There is no doubt: in these final days of 2023, BVB is once again in free fall. 2023 could have been the year of Borussia. The fact that this didn’t happen is of course also due to May 27th. The day they threw themselves into a panic attack instead of a never-ending championship celebration. That continues to this day.
Conflict over direction in leadership?
In the past few days, BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke once again talked about how a day like this could permanently change a club. He actually had it. He has left behind a wounded club, staring in panic at a future that holds little promise of healing. A club that has been stuck in the same present for over a decade and is now slipping out of its hands. The attacks always come from outside. Sometimes it’s the referees who don’t whistle penalties for BVB. Sometimes it is the media that puts the runner-up in a bad light. And sometimes it is the circumstances that make it impossible for BVB to break Bayern’s financial dominance anyway.
And now the autumn crisis, which once again raises doubts about achieving the minimum goal of the Champions League. The national competitors in the league appear too strong this year. The fight for a place in the top 4 of the league is still not hopeless. But that can change in the game next Saturday against table neighbors RB Leipzig and in the following games against the up-and-coming Augsburgers and FSV Mainz, the triggers of the panic attack.
“The season is long. You notice that again and again. The game on Saturday doesn’t decide the whole season,” said keeper Kobel after the game. He added: “We have to be extremely careful that we don’t lose touch. That starts with the next game.” The mood is “already shitty” anyway.
Borussia Dortmund has once again lost itself in the last few months. Of course also in the management level, where people talk more about each other than with each other. This communication crisis reached its peak this week with the expulsion of sports coordinator Slaven Stanic. Sports director Kehl’s intimate friend had blasphemed coach Edin Terzić too loudly and too harshly in a box. His departure seemed like a desperate attempt to correct the course for the club, which was rocking back and forth in high waves, and left the question of the relationship between Terzić and Kehl unanswered.
Even the man who has been powerful for so many years, Managing Director Watzke, can hardly do anything. He recently seemed very worn out and worn out between all his positions as DFB rescuer, DFL investor seeker and UEFA official. In Dortmund he is said to have now become a mole hunter. Someone is talking to the media. The bosses’ quarrel has long been public. BVB is once again a case for telephone counseling during the Christmas season. He should put 0800 1110111 on speed dial. The calls are treated anonymously and confidentially.