Borussia Dortmund’s defender Manuel Akanji is currently in very good shape after a difficult last season and recently even shone as a goalscorer. His ex-trainer Lucien Favre played a major role in his development, as he reveals in an interview.
BVB parted ways with Favre in mid-December. Akanji likes to look back on the time under his compatriot and is also very grateful to him, as he emphasizes in an interview with “Sport 1”: “He did an excellent job. We finished second under him twice. He helped me a lot personally and gave me a lot of playing time, for which I am grateful. ”
Apparently, the central defender already suspected before the dismissal that the separation would soon take place. “The decision was certainly not an easy one for the board of directors. The successor with Edin had, I think, been certain for a long time. It was the most obvious solution, ”said Akanji. After all, he knows what makes the team tick and knows the players very well. The defender has already noticed changes under the new coach. Above all, the structure of the game is different, and the opponents are approached differently.
For Dortmund, the main thing is to finally bring more consistent performance. Akanji is not as critical of the performances shown in the current season as other protagonists: “But every week we have opponents who meet us with great severity. Take a look at Wolfsburg how they fought us. And we? Have held against it. That’s what it’s about: to do it in every game, the old as well as the younger players, the technically good as well as those who tend to get through work.
Personally, the 25-year-old, who incidentally ran into the storm as a junior and later as a full-back, caught himself this year. “I learned from the bad games. I analyze every single mistake and try to fix it, ”says Akanji. Criticism can not knock the tall defender away anyway. He has long since learned to deal with it: “Criticism is not always criticism. The most important thing is how this is conveyed. If you also provide me with possible solutions, then I find criticism very good. Just hitting it is too easy for me. “
The future of the defender is still unclear. A few weeks ago he was linked with Liverpool. His contract in Dortmund runs until 2022. He assumes that there will soon be a consultation with the club and then you can see whether and how things will continue. Akanji keeps all doors open: “In football, things can change every day. So I don’t have a career plan. I live more in the here and now and am currently very satisfied in Dortmund. I want to keep playing a lot this season and helping the team. “
psc January 8, 2021 16:57
