As of: 5:34 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
In the last game before the national team’s friendly trip, BVB striker Niclas Füllkrug (M.) scored against Union Berlin
Quelle: picture alliance / pepphoto
There were concerns about the unfortunate scheduling, but BVB coach Edin Terzic can rely on almost all national players against Werder Bremen on Friday – except for Youssoufa Moukoko. However, there is a stir surrounding a top Dortmund talent.
Sébastian Haller was the last national player Edin Terzic was able to welcome back. The Ivorian national striker returned to Dortmund on Thursday afternoon – well after the other ten BVB professionals who had been traveling with various national teams and arrived back in the Ruhr area on Wednesday.
“I have already seen and checked all the boys except for Haller,” said the Dortmund coach – and seemed quite relieved: Because there is little time until the Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen on Friday (8.30 p.m., DAZN). “This is a special situation, especially with regard to German national players,” explained Terzic, who was extremely pleased that Niklas Süle, Mats Hummels, Julian Brandt and Niclas Füllkrug were brought back from their international trip to the USA on a private jet chartered by the club – even if there was criticism of this measure, which cost over 100,000 euros.
also read
But the quartet gained one more day of preparation. Terzic was able to complete at least one training session with the entire team on Thursday afternoon. It must be enough. “After the last international break, we only had one session before our game in Freiburg. The boys are familiar with this situation, some of them have been national players for years,” said the coach.
Terzic: “We hadn’t really found each other yet”
This time, however, the coming weeks will be even more demanding than after the last shutdown phase. BVB has to play seven games in 22 days, including landmark games in the Champions League, where Dortmund are under heavy pressure after just one point from two games. Next Wednesday we go to Newcastle United, then in the league to Frankfurt (October 29th) and in the DFB Cup against Hoffenheim (November 1st) – before Bayern are scheduled for the top Bundesliga game (November 4th). The second leg against Newcastle follows (November 7th). “Everyone will be important,” predicts the coach.
This also applies to a good start to the block with three English weeks in a row, in which Dortmund want to continue their overall good development of recent times. “We were able to win all of our Bundesliga games recently and are in the table region where we see ourselves,” said Terzic. BVB actually never had a crisis in results this season – although many performances were unconvincing, especially at the beginning of the season.
“We hadn’t really found each other yet, that was understandable, the way last season ended,” said the coach. The after-effects of missing the championship on the last match day, the slow integration of new additions and injury problems – all of this has ensured that Dortmund, in contrast to the competition from Leverkusen, Munich and Leipzig, have rarely been able to convince, especially in terms of play.
Sabitzer has recovered from his adductor injury
But recently the trend has been positive: the team appeared more stable defensively and the offensive actions also became more determined. The latter is also due to the fact that Niclas Füllkrug is finding his way around better and better – and his teammates have adapted to the style of play of the center forward who was signed from Bremen. Dortmund showed greater variety in their attacking efforts, especially in the 4-2 win against Union Berlin: they no longer just combined, but also crossed.
also read
This in turn suits Füllkrug. “Niclas has helped us a lot in the last few games with his quality and activity. We tried to adjust a few things,” said Terzic. During training we worked on recognizing and using the right moments for crosses into the penalty area. That had an effect. Terzic is all the more relieved that Füllkrug has reported back to Dortmund in good shape and full of energy. He is expected to start against his former club on Friday.
Despite all the fears that there were about the consequences of the international trips, BVB can largely draw on the full potential. Almost all national players have “signaled that they are fit to play,” said the coach. This also applies to Marcel Sabitzer, who has recovered from his adductor injury and has already been able to play for the Austrian team again. The only exception is Youssoufa Moukoko: after contributing all three goals to the U21s’ 3-2 win in Bulgaria, he returned to BVB with a thigh strain.
also read
However, U17 European champion Paris Brunner (17) will not be an issue. On Wednesday evening, BVB announced that the exceptional talent had been suspended “until further notice for disciplinary reasons”. The club did not want to explain what exactly happened. “With the statement, the club has said everything we would like to say at this point in time,” said Terzic, who thinks highly of Brunner. The youngster had been training with the professionals in the past few weeks. However, there was “an incident” that “forced us to take this measure,” said Terzic.
also read
Traditional club wants to move up
