Discussions at BVB
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Sports director Lars Ricken believes the criticism of Borussia Dortmund is exaggerated after the recent mixed results and is supporting coach Niko Kovac. “Of course, a lot is written during every international break. We remain very relaxed. Because all of us at BVB are 100 percent convinced of Niko Kovac,” the BVB boss told the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”. “The final spurt of last season was sensationally successful – thanks to Niko Kovac.”
The 49-year-old also emphasized: “We conceded the second-fewest goals in the Bundesliga and scored the third-most goals out of 36 teams in the Champions League. We want to continue the good development we have made under his leadership.”
Shortly before the current international break, Dortmund won 1-0 in the Bundesliga against relegation candidates FC Augsburg, then lost 1-4 at Manchester City in the Champions League and conceded a last-second equalizer 1-1 against Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga.
Successful year-end spurt with the help of the fans
“We were annoyed about the late equalizer in Hamburg. We would have liked to have climbed to second place with a win. Now we are in third place, but even with that we are right on target, with a Champions League place,” said Ricken. He knows that Dortmund have not been convincing recently. “But: The stress of six out of seven away games within three English weeks was extremely high,” he explained.
Ricken also referred to the premier class game at FC Copenhagen (4:2) and in the Bundesliga against 1. FC Köln (1:0). “And yet we scored four goals in Copenhagen and had almost 30 shots on goal against Cologne,” said Ricken. Until the end of December we will play six games out of eight at home, with our fans behind us we want to get as many points as possible.”