Borussia Dortmund will go into the Winterpause outside the Bundesliga top four and with their mission to make good on last season’s title surrender struggling. Coach Edin Terzic continues to come under increasing pressure with the nagging doubt that he is just not the right man to lead them to glory. Does the BVB coach need a dramatic turnaround in January to save his job?
Rumours emerging from Germany this week have added pressure on the Dortmund trainer with reports that senior players have complained to the club’s leadership over Terzic’s perceived tactical deficiencies. The club will go into the mid-season break outside of the top four and the long-term ability of Terzic to bring the Meisterschale to the Signal Iduna Park remains bubbling away in the background.
Dortmund went into the Winterpause last season in sixth place (25 points), a full nine points behind leaders Bayern, but they famously enjoyed a fantastic run at the start of the Rückrunde to take the title race to the last match of the season. Edin Terzic is going to need history to repeat itself if he is finally going to silence the doubters.
The club continue to back Terzic in public and there is very little evidence that they would consider acting this season to change the coach (a distinct absence of alternatives would preclude that). The trainer continues to profess his feeling that he is the right man to lead his boyhood club.
“I can only say that I feel the support, also from the locker room. We have already shown twice that we can get out of a situation like this” he said on Monday.
While BVB are somewhat off the pace being set by Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich and have the added competition being provided by VfB Stuttgart to deal with, their progression in the Champions League in arguably the toughest of all groups deserves credit.
However, a disappointing start to the Rückrunde and a failure to compete for the title would be seen as a step backwards for the club and could precipitate a change at the end of the season. It is not unfeasible that Terzic could move to succeed Sebastian Kehl as sporting director with a new coach coming to lead the team.
The question marks will remain and the Winterpause will only provide a brief period of respite from the critics. New Year, new Dortmund, or will it be a case of same old, same old?
