Hannover 96 beat Dynamo Dresden 2-1 at the HDI Arena on Sunday, a result that handed new coach Sandro Wagner his first victory in his fifth match in charge and gave the hosts breathing room in the 2. Bundesliga relegation zone, SPOX reported. The win came one day after the club parted ways with sporting director Jonas Boldt, who had hired Wagner, and ended a run of four winless competitive matches for the hosts.
Dynamo took an 11th-minute lead through Nils Rapp, but Hannover equalized before the hour through Husseyn Chakroun and went ahead in the 61st minute when Marcel Hartel converted a penalty, according to NDR and Sport Bild. Dresden’s Friedrich Müller was sent off for a second yellow card in the 65th minute. The result moved Hannover to 11 points after 10 matchdays — SPOX placed them 12th, while Sport Bild had them 11th — and dropped Dynamo to the bottom of the table with eight points, MDR reported.
How the 2-1 Turned: Rapp Early, Chakroun and Hartel Reply
Dynamo started the stronger side and deserved its opener, NDR reported: Rapp pushed the ball over the line from close range after a corner on the right. Hannover had plenty of possession but little idea, and some home fans whistled the team off at halftime, Sport Bild reported.
Chakroun then leveled — Sport Bild timed the goal at the 52nd minute, NDR at the 54th — after striker Benjamin Källman played him through on the left and he beat Dynamo goalkeeper Lennart Grill. Källman remained scoreless for the season but set up the equalizer.
Hannover pressed for the winner and was awarded a penalty in the 59th minute after Chakroun was fouled following a misplaced pass by Müller; Hartel converted in the 61st for his third goal of the season, Sport Bild reported. Müller was then shown a second yellow in the 65th, and a Källman goal in the 76th was disallowed for a foul.
| Minute | Event | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 11′ | Nils Rapp (Dynamo Dresden) | 0-1 |
| 52’/54′ | Husseyn Chakroun, assist Benjamin Källman (Hannover 96) | 1-1 |
| 61′ | Marcel Hartel, penalty (Hannover 96) | 2-1 |
| 65′ | Friedrich Müller (Dynamo) sent off, second yellow | 2-1 |
Wagner’s Press Conference: “I Say as Many Sentences as I Want”
At the post-match press conference, Wagner sat with crossed arms and pushed back at reporters who focused on him rather than the players, SPOX reported. Asked why he went straight to the dressing room after the final whistle, he replied: “I had to go to the toilet. That’s one thing. And: it would be important if you focused on the players after the game and not on me.”
Asked whether two or three sentences on whether the team was on the right track were too much to ask, he answered: “I say as many sentences as I want. I have to say: as a coach, you shouldn’t always measure the game only by the result.”
Wagner said the win changed nothing for him personally: “It didn’t do anything to me before and doesn’t do anything to me now. I try to stay focused on content and develop the team.” He added that he would never highlight the team’s injured players or look for excuses, and that at 38 he wanted to stand by the squad when things got turbulent: “What the lads notice from day one is that I have no fear — of anything.”
He also disputed a journalist’s assessment — offered “from my glasses” — that the first half against the bottom side was the worst of the season. “I don’t want to discredit your glasses, but I don’t see it that way. You can see it however you want — I noticed that the other day as well. The first ten minutes of the first half were decent in many areas,” he said, per SPOX.
Wagner insisted he was not content with the performance despite the result, telling Sky earlier that the 1-1 draw with St. Pauli and the 0-2 DFB-Pokal defeat to Kaiserslautern had been better showings from his team than Sunday’s win. “I wasn’t satisfied with the content in many areas today. I really try to work only on content, and then I evaluate the content. Because football is a results sport, everyone says now: cool! But it just wasn’t cool,” he said.
He did offer praise for Källman, who set up Chakroun’s goal but is still without a league strike: “All that Instagram nonsense and everyone having an opinion is completely irrelevant. I evaluate him. And I tell him: goals mean nothing to me. That comes on top, that’s the product. But run well, hold the ball well, prepare goals — that’s much more decisive.”
Turmoil in Hannover’s Front Office Continues
The victory came amid upheaval at the club. Hannover announced on Saturday that sporting director Jonas Boldt, 44, was leaving after roughly five months, SPOX and NDR reported. Boldt, hired at the end of May as successor to Jörg Schmadtke on a three-year contract, was the executive who brought Wagner in. He followed coach Christian Titz, whom the club had dismissed after a disappointing start to the season.
Dynamo Dresden Slide to Last Place
For Dynamo, the defeat was a comedown hours after a 2-0 DFB-Pokal upset of Schalke 04, MDR reported. The Saxons fell to 18th with eight points from 10 matches and have won none of their six away league games, collecting two of a possible 18 points, MDR reported. Goalkeeper Lennart Grill called the last-place position “not nice” and “a warning shot.” Coach Thomas Stamm said the points return was “not good and not satisfactory,” and the DFB-Pokal draw added a trip to VfB Stuttgart in the round of 16.
Hannover 96 Host Heidenheim Before International Break
Hannover’s next assignment is a home match against promotion candidate Heidenheim on Sunday at 13:30 local time, broadcast on Sky, NDR and Sport Bild reported, ahead of the international break.
Questions Readers Are Asking About Wagner’s First Hannover Win
- Sandro Wagner needed five games for his first Hannover 96 win. Five competitive matches, including the DFB-Pokal, per SPOX and Sport Bild. He lost three of the first four league games and was eliminated from the cup before beating Dresden 2-1.
- After the match, Hannover 96 stands eleventh and Dynamo Dresden last in the table. Hannover moved to 11 points from 10 matchdays — listed 12th by SPOX and 11th by Sport Bild — while Dynamo dropped to last place in the 2. Bundesliga with eight points, MDR reported.
- Sporting director Jonas Boldt, who had hired Wagner, departed on Saturday after about five months, SPOX and NDR reported; coach Christian Titz had been dismissed earlier in the season.
Worth a look
