Bundesliga: Away misery causes autumnal sadness at BVB

Nuri Sahin didn’t want to make his captain the sole scapegoat for Borussia Dortmund’s ongoing away nightmare. Red sinner Emre Can did hear critical words from his visibly annoyed coach after the 1:3 (1:2) at FSV Mainz 05. “He should never go there like that. He knows that too,” commented Sahin on the international player’s early dismissal. “That was a game changer.”

With the completely unnecessary red card in the 27th minute, Can did his ailing team a disservice. Being outnumbered, the Champions League participants remained winless in the fifth away game of the season in the Bundesliga and fell out of the international table with 16 points before the international break.

This increases the pressure on Sahin, who took over from Erdin Terzic in the summer with great expectations. Not much of the initial euphoria remained at BVB in these dreary November days. “We know that there is of course criticism, and we are not satisfied with the fact that we have already suffered four defeats,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl about the unsatisfactory and inadequate result.

Criticism of the coach is growing

Dietmar Hamann already asked the trainer question on the pay TV channel Sky. “I think the team needs a tough hand. I don’t know if Nuri Sahin is that,” said the TV expert. BVB officials may also be wondering this. “But we will not be starting a fundamental discussion on this today,” explained Kehl.

Nevertheless: BVB must quickly investigate the causes of why the team appears with two completely different faces this season. The black and yellow are a force at home, and a welcome guest abroad. “The fact is that we haven’t won five away games. We are self-critical enough to say that this doesn’t meet our standards in one place or another,” admitted Kehl.

Sahin still defended his team after the defeat in Mainz. “The boys are on their last legs,” said the BVB coach, apologizing for the poor performance with one man less. Defender Nico Schlotterbeck, however, admitted that “we can play better with ten players.”

The top of the table is already far away

Before leaving for the national team, Julian Brandt made a passionate appeal to his teammates. “The goal has to be to break this spell at some point because I don’t feel like constantly going home from cities with a defeat in my luggage. That gets on my nerves and feels annoying,” said the offensive player .

After ten games, BVB is already ten points behind league leaders Bayern Munich and therefore has little chance of getting involved in the title fight. “I’m not going to deal with Bayern now. That’s not my topic at the moment,” said Kehl about the table situation.

Brandt said this was “sobering” and demanded: “In the remaining games in November and December we have to put ourselves in a reasonable starting position for the second half of the year.” To achieve this, the weakness away from home must urgently be addressed. “We have to approach these tasks as quickly as possible with the same mentality as the home games,” said national player Pascal Groß, summing up the mood at BVB: “Now we’re going into the international break feeling like shit.”