It’s rarely about one particular match. Yesterday Peter Bosz, Borussia Dortmund’s now former Dutch coach, looked on as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Werder Bremen at Signal Iduna Park. A result that left Dortmund in 7th place, bereft of confidence and a far cry from the team that began the season with six wins in seven matches.
Bosz, it was announced this morning by the club, has been sacked. It was something that he had acknowledged himself in the aftermath of yesterday’s defeat as a possibility. He knew his sides demise hadn’t been acceptable, and no more prevalent than in their 4-4 draw with Schalke last month. Reflective in one game of their season – an excellent start, and then capitulation.
In the Schalke game they were 4-0 up by the 25th minute. Raphael Guerreiro had scored an outstanding volley, and Dortmund were not just in control, but they were brimming with vigour, a swagger to their performance.
To be so fragile as to stop playing football in the second half as Bosz himself stated, is a disposition in a side that showed a nervous underbelly, an inability to close out games that would be the norm to kill – they did the opposite.
Bosz though tried to rein in the drama and the fear that complete implosion was slowly unfurling and in the aftermath of the Schalke game, said he had the strength to solve this. Yesterday, following their fifth defeat of the season, and without a win in eight games, he lacked any of the resilience in his reaction, acknowledging his position was then hanging by a thread.
That thread was clipped this morning. Hans-Joachim Watzke and Michael Zorc, the Dortmund executives met after the game, and that the writing was on the wall was further compounded by the club tweeting that a press conference would occur today to address the situation.
The reality was that Dortmund’s league form, coupled with their Champions League exit – they could not win a group game against Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur or APOEL – was not in line with the club’s pedigree.
Bosz came to Dortmund having impressed with Ajax, leading them to the Europa League final. But a defeat to RB Leipzig in mid-October was the catalyst for his sides freefall.
The man now charged with resurrecting Dortmund’s season, is the former Cologne manager, Peter Stoger. Stoger was sacked by Cologne himself only last Saturday; December 2nd. Cologne had finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season; however, this season Stoger couldn’t produce a single win in their opening 14 games. And they now sit rooted to the foot of the table.
How inspiring a choice Stoger is, may be brought into question, but in the context of his four years in charge at Cologne, he was a success. He brought about their first European qualification in 25 years and a litany of injuries and some bad luck did have its part to play in his downfall.
Stoger’s contract only runs until the end of the current season, it’s up to him to impress where Bosz couldn’t.
