Marco Rose sat there in his bobble hat and full winter gear, soberly summing up in his own way what remains after Borussia Dortmund’s final European game of the season. You were “not doing well” there, the performance reduces “the overall balance” of the season, said Rose. But it depends on the Bundesliga, and there are still eleven games to play, “in which there is still a lot to come.” All in all, the emotionless jein of a coach who doesn’t know what to do anymore.
After the 2: 2 at the Glasgow Rangers, the second in the Bundesliga, Borussia Dortmund, was eliminated from a competition again. It is the fourth knockout since Rose took over the then fresh DFB Cup winner last summer. The first, in the Supercup against FC Bayern, could still be dismissed as “business as usual”, as a normal business transaction. When they said goodbye to the Champions League, already on match day five of the preliminary round group, there was a lot of grumbling in the club. To reach the round of 16, BVB would have had a draw at Sporting Lisbon, which was second-rate internationally – but they lost 3-1.
This was followed by the end of the DFB Cup, 2-1 at second division FC St. Pauli, without much resistance. And now the last bankruptcy, after the 2:4 in the first leg at home against the Rangers, it was only enough for a brief flare-up of hope. In the end there was an almost happy 2:2.
Dortmund wanted to win the Europa League – a presumptuous goal?
BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke had announced the goal of winning the Europa League after the Champions League exit. A presumptuous goal? Actually not for Germany’s second best team if you take the Bundesliga table as a yardstick. As early as Friday morning, the club corrected its loss forecasts by the end of the season and the end of the financial year to “17 to 24 million euros”, plus a “great forecast risk”. For the first time since the 2011/12 season, when it was still under coach Jürgen Klopp, Dortmund did not reach a European round of 16. A financial catastrophe in times of gigantic financial losses due to the corona restrictions. Completely unthinkable that the BVB competitor Bayern Munich would happen to an even remotely similar sporting balance without the coach and a number of players having to leave the club premises in a high trajectory.
Must declare a knockout again: Dortmund coach Marco Rose.
(Foto: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters)
In Dortmund, on the other hand, it was stated that things had not gone well. Coach Rose didn’t want to attach it to the players on Thursday evening or to the fact that BVB is likely to face a major change in personnel. Finally, there are eleven games to play and Champions League standing must be secured by the current squad.
In the sold-out Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, the failure was again linked to the much-cited “individual mistakes”. Before the 0:1, Julian Brandt clumsily fouled his Scottish opponent in his own penalty area, James Tavernier converted the penalty kick for Rangers (22nd minute). Then Jude Bellingham (31st) and Donyell Malen (42nd) provided a brief lead. When Rangers equalized to make it 2-2, again through Tavernier (57′), Marius Wolf let himself be easily played off the field, in the middle Mats Hummels felt an air hole next to the incoming cross ball. After that, Dortmund didn’t really come into play, although good will was believed to be recognizable.
From inside the club it has been heard for weeks that a major renovation will have to be made in the summer and that the quality of some players is simply not up to par. However, the question arises in view of the ongoing roller coaster ride in BVB performance: Who should you keep, who should you try to get rid of? The individual failure, the miserable defensive behavior spreads too collectively. In 35 games this season, the supposed top team conceded 58 goals. If you deduct games against football windfalls, Dortmund are constantly conceding almost two goals per game. Or as Rose said for the Glasgow duels on Thursday: “If you score four goals but concede six goals, you don’t deserve the next round.”
Above all, BVB can get rid of players that they don’t want to get rid of
However, the freedom of movement of the Dortmunders, who are quite rich in themselves, is limited for a personal restructuring in Corona times. From the current squad, only the injured Erling Haaland, the 18-year-old Jew Bellingham, who is the clear leader of the team despite his youth, and with reservations the injured Manuel Akanji or the injured full-back Raphael Guerreiro. The aging Marco Reus and Mats Hummels are set at BVB. Many of the other players, all of whom would somehow be candidates for retirement in the summer, have such high-paying contracts that in the current Corona times they could only change clubs with bitter salary losses.
The future sports director Sebastian Kehl is therefore tasked with squaring the circle if he replaces Michael Zorc after June 30th. The imbalances in the squad appear to be great, but the possibilities of freeing up “positions” are limited. You can only get rid of the ones you don’t want to get rid of. Dortmund was able to bring in fresh money with a capital increase last autumn, and if striker Haaland were to leave, it would bring in at least 75 million euros. But that doesn’t help BVB with the payroll, the payroll, some of which would have to disappear in order to be able to buy more continuity and stability in the summer. A Niklas Süle alone, who comes from FC Bayern, doesn’t help much.
And so the other option of change could be the oldest method in the football world. Coach Marco Rose can point to a very good number of points in the Bundesliga – but not much else. His predecessor Edin Terzic was the cup winner last summer with a practically identical squad, delivered two big games to Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and, after the messed up first half of the first half of the season under his predecessor Lucien Favre, still rushed to third place with the same BVB team League. Marco Rose is also running out of arguments after his 13th defeat of the season. Collective achievements are credited to Trainers. Coaches are therefore not acquitted of collective failure.
