After one hundred and ten games and two and a half years Borussia Dortmund have parted company with head coach Lucien Favre.
Favre’s position became untenable after a 5-1 hammering at home to Stuttgart in the league.
In Favre’s last game managing the side – the disastrous home loss to VfB – the BlackYellows went behind after 26 minutes when Silas Wamangituka converted a penalty. Giovanni Reyna responded for Dortmund before half time.
In the second half Favre saw his side capitulate, conceding four goals and suffering the heaviest home defeat for the club since an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie against Manchester United in 1964.
Wamangituka got a second for Stuttgart before goals by Philipp Förster, Tanguy Coulibaly and Nicolas Gonzalez left Favre’s plans – what ever they were – in tatters.
“We are grateful for Lucien Favre and his excellent work over the past two and a half years. Beyond any doubt, Lucien is a great professional and person.”
CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke
24 hours that shook a sleeping giant
It’s not an under-exaggeration to say Dortmund are one of the potential heavyweights in European football. The club is considered second to Bayern in Bundesliga containing a front three of Haaland, Sancho and Reyna which could have a potential market value skywards of £300m.
Fan reaction to the loss on social media was fast and hard.
It’s another embarrassing loss today. I’m already selling my Dortmund jerseys to buy Bayern ones
We need a new coach immediately but we need new players too. It’s going to be a tough season.
That’s enough! I’m not a Borussia fan anymore. Another disastrous performance, again. In all the years I spent cheering for this team I never saw a group of players so pathetic and lazy.
If you have any love for your fans, please dismiss Favre
We just lost to Stuttgart 1-5 at home. This is just disappointing. I really hope you get the message of where we’re heading to. Sack him now! #FavreOut
Useless. No ambition. Signing underage players and selling them for a hefty fee after two or three seasons is the only thing they’re good at.
Favre’s Dortmund is fantastic. Just need to improve marking, passing, technical, finishing, dribbling, crossing, heading, composure, concentration, determination, positioning, pace…
The day after the loss to Stuttgart (13th December), Dortmund announced its decision to part company with a manager who has resided over the team for over a hundred games, guided the club through the covid crisis and won the German Cup in 2019.
What the club said: “The club would like to thank Lucien for his dedication and wish him success in his future.”
What Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said: “We are grateful for Lucien Favre and his excellent work over the past two and a half years, where he and his team finished as runner-up twice. Beyond any doubt, Lucien Favre is a great professional and person.”
What sporting director Michael Zorc said: “This change was brought on by purely sporting reasons. Lucien has done a very good job for two years, which is why the decision was not an easy one for us.”
After a night of letting the dust settle supporter’s reaction to the sacking was tinged with regret.
Appointing an assistant till the end of the season with #UCL knockouts & over 1/2 the Bundesliga season to go seems premature.
Wow this is so shocking after a few poor results. He topped the group in Champions League. So damn sad.
Thank you, Mr. Favre. You dragged us out of a really bad situation following 17-18 and I’ll forever be grateful for that. Good luck with whatever comes next
But others were pleased to see the back of Favre.
He’s finally gone.
We are freed.
I think Dortmund did right, they are staying average for years, so they need someone better, wasn’t happening with Favre anyway. With the current team they can be a really strong force at European level.
It’s been coming for a while. Domestics are far more important to the board than Champs. PLUS, he did bottle the first two seasons, to be fair.
Assistant coach Edin Terzic steps into the void
To add insult to injury Favre has been replaced by his assistant.
Similarities can be drawn with rivals Bayern Munich who replaced head coach Niko Kovac with assistant Hansi Flick midway through the 2019/20 campaign. Flick went on to win the treble that same year.
Dortmund is one of the biggest jobs in club football and new head coach Terzic said it’s an “unbelievable situation” what has happened to him in the last 48 hours.
Terzic said: “I came to the stadium for the first time when I was nine-years-old. I never dreamed of ever being in such a position.
“There is something very special about getting up in the morning and thinking about black and yellow football.”
Terzic has the support of Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc who said his familiarity with the club is one of the reasons Favre’s former assistant was promoted to the top post.
Zorc said: “We know Edin as a proven expert who has a great feeling for working with our guys. He also brings a very necessary emotion to the game.”
Why Favre had to go
Although Favre negotiated Dortmund’s Champions League progression with aplomb, finishing top of Group F, league form has been a near disaster.
Four defeats in eleven – three of them coming at home – and two losses and a draw in the last three games leave Dortmund fifth in the table, six points behind first place Bayer Leverkusen.
There were worries about the team’s performances as far back as last season when Dortmund produced an underwhelming 6-1 victory over relegated Paderborn. The result wasn’t a true reflection of the performance, with Dortmund unable to score in the first half and netting three of the six goals in the last ten minutes of the match.
Questions also had to be raised about what seems to be Favre’s complete breakdown with one of Dortmund’s ‘jewels’ in Thorgan Hazard. Hazard has been frozen out the team in place of teenage wonderkid Youssoufa Moukoko,
And did 63-year-old Favre have the ability to inspire this group of young players?
Who’s filling in for the injured Haaland?
The reliance of Haaland to score goals is as much a worry as it is a wonder at Signal Aduna Park.
It’s even more worrying considering Haaland is out with a hamstring injury at the moment.
The Norwegian wonderkid’s current goalscoring exploits are one of the best in Europe, surpassing Ronaldo and Messi and only being beaten by Ballon d’Or shoe-in Lewandowski.
Between Dortmund’s five other senior attackers – Sancho, Reyna, Hazard, Brandt and Reus – they have mustered a punitive five goals between them, two coming from Reyna and none from Sancho, whilst Haaland has scored ten of Dortmund’s twenty-three league goals this season.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 