Et has often happened that Edin Terzic has spoken. And when he did it – be it before games, during half-time or as part of the follow-up work – then it got loud. The 38-year-old coach, who has been one of two assistants to Lucien Favre for the past two and a half years, is emotional – and he knew how to convey that. Even if he wasn’t the boss.
He’s been there since Sunday. Terzic, born in Menden in the Sauerland region and largely unknown to the general public, is now responsible for the second most expensive Bundesliga team at least until the end of the season. And on the very first working day after being promoted to head coach of Borussia Dortmund, he spoke to the professionals again.
“I spoke to the team first, then to the team,” explained Terzic: “I said that what we showed on Saturday in the 5-1 win against VfB Stuttgart was not Borussia Dortmund.” BVB will compete at Werder Bremen (8.30 p.m. / live Sky) and Terzic will sit on the bench as head coach, it has to be different. “We will work through everything that has been recently, but that won’t be possible within 24 hours,” says Terzic. Now it is only a matter of “knocking out everything we have in the tank”.
A lot of responsibility for a newbie
This is simple rhetoric that has been valued in Dortmund since the time of Jürgen Klopp – and was sorely missed in the time of Favre. Terzic knows how to meet this need. But that is not the main reason why he will take on the team for at least 23 Bundesliga games and, as managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke and sports director Michael Zorc strongly hope, many more games in the Champions League and in the cup. Terzic should lead the team, that is his most important task, back into the premier class. A lot of responsibility for a newbie.
Terzic can already jump like Klopp
Quelle: City-Press via Getty Images/City-Press
The BVB management is convinced of Terzic, otherwise they would not have dared to take this step, nor would they have brought him back in summer 2018. Back then, immediately after Favre was signed, the question arose of who should work for the head coach. The headstrong Swiss had never had a permanent staff of assistant coaches before. His only wish was to bring Manfred Stefes, with whom he had worked for several years at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Otherwise he had no further personal ideas.
So Zorc suggested Terzic – whom he knew well, as he worked as a scout and assistant coach in Dortmund’s youth division from 2010 to 2013. Even afterwards, when Terzic worked as assistant coach to the former Croatian national coach Slaven Bilic at Besiktas Istanbul and West Ham United, Zorc had followed the further development of Terzic.
Terzic got involved – as far as Favre allowed
The reasoning behind this return campaign: BVB wanted to have a coach on the staff whose ideas about football could complement those of the head coach. In contrast to Favre, who primarily sees a risk in pressing, Terzic relies on an aggressive style of play. Terzic should bring a different color to the team. That worked for a long time: Terzic got involved – as far as Favre would allow it.
At the same time Terzic was also the emergency nail in the event that Favre, who had a certain reputation for idiosyncrasy, should no longer work. Those were the lessons from the 2017/18 season – when Peter Bosz failed and Dortmund had no plan B. “We noticed at the time that if a trainer goes there and takes his staff with him, we are not prepared for it,” said Watzke: “So we basically knew as early as 2018 that Edin would be our man when things got tough.”
Terzic – This is how the team reacted
Borussia Dortmund separated from coach Lucien Favre after the 1: 5 debacle against promoted Stuttgart. According to Edin Terzic’s successor, the team was very disappointed.
Quelle: Stats Perform News
Nevertheless, it was not planned that Terzic should inherit Favre. The goal of Watzke and Zorc was to finish the season with Favre. Then a newcomer should come – preferably someone who relies on attacking, more aggressive football, but who also has experience as a head coach at professional clubs. It should stay that way: Marco Rose from Borussia Mönchengladbach remains the preferred candidate, who, according to “Bild”, has an exit clause in his contract, which runs until 2022. He didn’t know anything about that, said Watzke. The Salzburg Jesse March is also an option.
“We’re not making a blueprint for FC Bayern”
Nevertheless, there is trust in Terzic, not least because he has been perceived as the dynamic part of the coaching team in the past few weeks. However, with his ideas of making the team play more aggressively and offensively, he could hardly have prevailed against Favre in the end, insider reports. “We trust Erdin to do that, and two and a half years ago we thought he could,” said Watzke: “But we are not making a blueprint for FC Bayern.” then to take over permanently from him.
This perspective is not currently planned for Terzic. “What is in the summer is still a long way off,” said Zorc, who particularly appreciates the “emotionality that BVB always needs” with the new coach. Terzic’s previous U17 coach Sebastian Geppert and Otto Addo, who was previously responsible as a kind of special coach for the many young talents in the professional squad, will be placed alongside Terzic. The staff is now formed by an in-house trio with a stable smell. Favre’s assistant coach Stefes had to go with him.
Terzic, as it became clear on Monday when he was presented to the public at a virtual press conference, is dying to do his job. He stated that he was “a fan of this club for ages and shaped by its past”. That sounded as if he could well imagine shaping the future in the longer term.
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