The game is sold out for weeks, but three places will be empty on Saturday. Jürgen Klopp, the man who still symbolizes much stands of what football fans connect with Borussia Dortmund, is the Bundesliga opener against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday (18.30 clock, live Sky) stay away. He was later re-expected “still on leave” and would in Dortmund, said BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke. The three season tickets, which he had given to the long-term success coach goodbye are therefore not yet been used by the this weekend.
The big stage is so alone Thomas Tuchel belong. He was a little nervous before his first Bundesliga game as head coach of Borussia admitted the 41-year-old. “I feel both: great anticipation, but also tension,” he said: “.. We have high expectations of ourselves, we all like to the season and I hope that one also sees this”
There is some uncertainty as regards the constitution of his new team, but does not seem to deny. Overall, the nearly seven-week preparation, Tuchel has completed with the players, highly praised: It was of innovations mentioned, of other training methods and priorities, in and out of various gaming systems. However: The preparation time had its pitfalls – had always pointed to the Tuchel
promotional tour of Asia
. So the new coach had to go after just five days of training with the team on a multi-day promotional tour of Asia. For example, while Schalke had canceled a similar trip to give the new coach André Breitenreiter the opportunity to work through intensively with the team, Tuchel accepted the plans of the association.
To complicate matters further, another point that obviously the coach had initially underestimated the psychological aftermath of the last game year when the BVB had found himself in the meantime in a relegation battle. “I’ve seen how grueling the past season for each player was,” Tuchel, who would have liked more time for reconditioning said. The surprising crash was like a shock for the player – who was not completely overcome, in spite of the successful comeback in the second half. “When you lose, get up and lose again, this disappointment takes you brutally,” said Tuchel. The players would have including “suffered physically”.
But time had not Tuchel. Already on June 30, the team had their first competitive game contest. So what was left other than to seek pragmatic solutions? Both in qualifying for the Europa League (1: 0 and 5: 0 against Wolfsberger AC) as well as in the first round of the DFB Cup against Chemnitzer FC (2: 0) he let play in the 4-2-3-1 system – not out of conviction, but because the players are accustomed to this alignment of the seven years under Klopp. “What I have in mind, is not decisive when the players feel more comfortable in a different orientation,” he said.
full-backs are under Tuchel higher
As a result of this insight: BVB plays so far as well as under Klopp – tactical changes manifest themselves most in nuances: The two full-backs are a few feet higher, and Tuchel has urged the team on long balls to dispense along the wings.
In order for the team actually, as it is the declared aim of the association, can again compete for the Champions League places , sustainable increase in performance of several key players would be needed. If a highly gifted technician as Henrikh Mkhitaryan finally stable? Tuchel is very fond of the Armenians, which in its first two years in the Bundesliga, the breakthrough did not succeed. He was “a fan” of his game, said Tuchel, who has a penchant for broadcasting Mkhitaryans. The have “a little bit melancholy, a little bit Sensibles” he had declared. Apparently seems Tuchel to view it as a personal challenge, the man who seemed to tense up in big games always get added.
This would be extremely important for the future of BVB, especially since the team although supplemented in the summer, but not has been strengthened considerably: While with Roman Bürki came a new goalkeeper who but must first prove that it is stronger than Roman Weidenfeller. On Friday Tuchel put firmly. “Bürki will be the goal,” he said. It was a close decision, which he also did not want to explain in detail, he explained. At the same time he announced that Weidenfeller will contest the forthcoming two play-off matches in the Europa League. A similar constellation as in the past season with Claudio Bravo and Marc-André ter Stegen at FC Barcelona.
Castro competitor is Gündogan
In midfield has Tuchel with Julian Weigl, which is also expected in the starting lineup, and the returned Jonas Hofmann two alternatives over Klopp – but in a part of the team, in which the BVB is already qualitatively and quantitatively well staffed , And the king transfer of eleven million euros from Leverkusen has come Gonzalo Castro, currently struggling to ever come into the team. Light is not, finally, is the human alternative Ilkay Gündogan.
It may therefore be less additions that make the BVB better than last season can – it is rather about whether it succeeds Tuchel to make the team better. Whether it makes them more flexible to operate. For that matter, he is cautiously optimistic. “We are very far for the short time we had together. But we have to fulfill many tasks,” he said. Above all, the evidence had not been provided, as the team reacts under pressure.
There remain many unanswered questions. “We are not yet at the absolute limit, but also do not know where our limit is,” said Tuchel. But he hopes that this quite understandable self-doubt will not be seen on Saturday: “We hope that the fans do not remember that.” He and his team felt in any case be able to ‘Gladbach challenge “.
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