analysis
Niko Kovac led Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League because he exactly meets the expectations of the club management. The trainer relies on work and not to overload football: “Keep it simple.”
It was an unadorned 2-1 win at the relegation candidate 1. FC Heidenheim. Mike Tullberg, who acted as a coach of Borussia Dortmund after the exemplation of Nuri Sahin, celebrated him like a quarter -finals in the Champions League against Inter Milan.
Among the fans of Borussia Dortmund formed a faction that Tullberg’s cheers found plenty. Another part wished that her club should have given the passionate Danes the vacant coach job with the professionals instead of hiring Niko Kovac.
This group is likely to have grown even after Kovac lost his first Bundesliga game with BVB against VfB Stuttgart at home and the next at VfL Bochum.
Kovac convinced the skeptics
A good three months later, Niko Kovac was celebrated in the stadium with speech choirs, certainly also by many who were skeptical at the time. The professionals of Borussia Dortmund, at the start of the 53 -year -old Croatian, still in the eleventh place of the table, still made it to the fourth and thus into the Champions League.
A few minutes before the game against Holstein Kiel, which was ultimately won 3-0, was kicked off, the descent of the second team of BVB trained by Mike Tullberg from the 3rd division was certain.
“I feel no satisfaction”said Kovac with a view to the skeptics. He was instead “Easy happy and proud”.
In coaching questions, they were not always right in Dortmund – at Kovac already
Participation in the club World Cup, which begins in mid-June, seemed to be the greatest luck of the Dortmunders this season because there are many millions to earn. After the end of the Bundesliga, however, it turns out that Niko Kovac was the greatest luck and skill of the club management, which in recent years has not always been able to complain about skill in coaching questions.
Hans-Joachim Watzke as Boss, Lars Ricken as managing director of sports and sports director Sebastian Kehl rely on the fact that Kovac would get the team going. In addition, he should push them into more discipline, bring many players back to their upper level of performance.
It took a bit, but ultimately all hopes of the bosses fulfilled that were relieved. In exuberance, Ricken even spoke of “One of the greatest coaching performance”that have ever existed at BVB.
Kovac just likes it: “Keep it simple”
Kovac saw it much more sober. He didn’t even see “One reason to celebrate”. Borussia Dortmund has always been in the Champions League in recent years and now again.
It’s that simple with Niko Kovac, who simply loves it, and who therefore says more often: “Keep it simple.”
However, it could not have been that simple, because the physical condition of players during the season, and even with many games during the week, significantly improve, there is already high school. Kovac made it.
BVB rarely plays magic football under Kovac. But he has success
The tiredness that previously visible towards the end of the games disappeared. Dortmund ran almost five kilometers more per game than under Sahin, sprinted significantly more often. The hard work that Kovac emphasized several times during his performance in early February paid off, albeit with a delay. BVB lost four of the first six Bundesliga games under Kovac.
The extreme increase with 22 out of 24 possible points from the last eight season games came just in time.
It was rarely magic football, the success was based above all that a number of players, first of all Karim Adeyemi and Julian Brandt, found form and to each other.
“Discipline”says Brandt, it was above all what Kovac carried profitably into the team. Captain Emre Can called the “Mentality” A factor that BVB has been talking about in recent years – if there was actually nothing to celebrate.