BVB: Terzic would like a challenge

Dortmund coach Edin Terzic wants to influence things in a positive way.

IMAGO/Revierfoto

BVB coach Edin Terzic called his team together last Saturday morning to put an end to the 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum the day before, which was annoying for many reasons. The 40-year-old refrained from showing videos during the debriefing, instead concentrating on his core message: “We have four games to make sure that we don’t end up getting angry about the games in Bochum, Schalke or Stuttgart but that the points won there ultimately mean that we are at the top in the end,” Terzic made his internal message public two days before the home game against Wolfsburg. The desire to achieve this goal is still great. With the fans as well as within the club. “It’s still within reach, so we don’t have time to get negative or dwell on it. It’s about doing whatever it takes to make a positive impact on the things that are in our control.”

Therefore, look away from FC Bayern, who were able to conquer the top of the table again last matchday. “We have to focus completely on ourselves. It’s no use squinting at what’s happening elsewhere if you lose even one percent of your focus,” said Terzic, who has four wins in the four remaining games against Wolfsburg , Mönchengladbach, in Augsburg and against Mainz “keep up the pressure” so that it “will be very close and very exciting in the end”. But that can only work “if we get to our maximum”. BVB has done this regularly in front of a home crowd this season, BVB tended to lose points away from home, as recently in the games against relegation candidates Schalke (2:2), Stuttgart (3:3) and Bochum (1:1).

“I am in favor of trying everything to make the sport we love so much fairer”

The fact that a wrong decision by the referee in Bochum meant that the game ended without BVB’s intended away win led to intensive debates over the past few days about how something like this could be prevented in the future. At the beginning of the week, kicker restarted the discussion about introducing a trainer challenge. In addition to the Bundesliga coaches Thomas Reis and Steffen Baumgart and Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp, Terzic is also one of the advocates of this model. “I would definitely have made use of it in Bochum,” he said on Friday. “I’m all for trying everything to make the sport we love so much fairer. If it helps, think about it.” There have been a lot of changes in football in recent years. The challenge is something “that we coaches would like”.

In terms of personnel, the situation at BVB looks good before the game against Wolfsburg. In principle, all players are fit to play, said Terzic, only with Nico Schlotterbeck (muscular problems) and Raphael Guerreiro (hit on the calf) there are still question marks. For both, the units on Friday and Saturday should provide information about whether they can participate on Sunday evening.