Brutal VfB abrasion reverberates
Disgraced BVB stands up against evil debate
September 25, 2024, 7:43 p.m
There has been a spirit of optimism at Borussia Dortmund for weeks. But after the disastrous 1:5 in Stuttgart the pressure is growing. Only a win against Bochum can help reduce the emerging skepticism. There may be two new talents joining the team.
Nuri Şahin had found his smile again, but the heavy defeat at VfB Stuttgart was still weighing heavily on the Borussia Dortmund coach’s stomach. “It felt like the longest press conference, is it always like that when you lose games?” Sahin asked after the media round, which was much more about the 1:5 at VfB than about the next task on Friday (8.30 p.m. on DAZN and in the live ticker on ntv.de) against VfL Bochum.
“Assume that we have addressed and analyzed everything very clearly. It would now take me a very, very long time to make it clear to you what was missing,” emphasized Sahin. “I’ll keep it short and say: everything was missing.” And yet that doesn’t automatically mean everything is bad. However, he was determined to prevent a repeat of a tiresome debate. “It would be fatal if I said that the boys have a mentality problem. We do everything together. Win and lose. We’re in the same boat.” He saw a “self-critical reaction” from his team, which was important for the maturation process of his team.
“Truth is always on the spot”
“We won’t be successful just by talking. The truth is always on the pitch. We have to give our answers and show that we are developing,” demanded the coach: “We all have a duty, that’s our job, That’s why we have the job, that’s why the boys are Borussia Dortmund players, to meet the demands that this club has.” And these are high, in the home game against Bochum only a win counts, otherwise the gap to the top will be very large early on. However, VfL will bring those virtues to the pitch that BVB doesn’t like. “Of course we want to have a reaction to this performance,” said Sahin, knowing full well that the game against Stuttgart could not be made up for. He called for “a completely different face” for Friday and expected “a completely different game.”
Sahin didn’t rule himself out, he didn’t make good decisions in Stuttgart, his coaching and his ideas didn’t work. The coach left it open whether he would now respond with a comprehensive personnel restructuring. Possible new starting eleven candidates could be the 18-year-old Belgian international Julien Duranville and the new signing Maximilian Beier, who was signed by TSG Hoffenheim. “We definitely have to be careful with Julien because of his injury history. But we now have the feeling that he is very, very close. The same goes for Maxi Beier. I was one of the people who really wanted him. Both will be in this one Season is very important for us,” said Sahin.
But back to the slap in Stuttgart: “We knew there would be setbacks. Not to that extent, we didn’t see it coming and didn’t expect us to achieve such a performance,” said Sahin: “But it is now happened and now we look ahead.” On Friday it has to “go in one direction. It’s about the three points that we want and have to get.” Because he is “not building a house of cards” at BVB and it is “not the case that after a defeat we destroy everything and rebuild everything again.” On Friday it will become clear how fragile the structure currently is.
