Niko Kovac speaks on Karim Adeyemi and Waldemar Anton’s following Borussia Dortmund loss | OneFootball

Speaking to Sky Germany following the Bundesliga defeat in his debut match as Borussia Dortmund trainer, new BVB head coach Niko Kovac still declared himself largely satisfied despite the result. Kovac also addressed specific scenes in the match both in his Sky interview and the post-match press conference.

“I think the boys gave their all today,” Kovac told the Sky microphones. “Everyone gave 100 percent right to the end. We controlled the game. We just have to finish in the final third. We shouldn’t have left the pitch as losers.”

Kovac specifically reference the instance in which winger Karim Adeyemi (49th) missed a clear cut chance at scoring the opening goal. One minute later, an own-goal from former Stuttgart captain Waldemar Anton enabled Stuttgart to take a 1-0 lead.

Adeyemi also played a through ball into the attacking area in the 47th minute that no BVB colleague was able to reach. These moments shortly after the restart ended up serving as critical junctures in the match.

“We didn’t do the right thing in these situations,” Kovac remarked in his Sky Germany interview. “We should have shot earlier or passed when we shot instead.”

Kovac spoke on Anton’s own-goal at the post-match press conference. Stuttgart’s second goal – in Kovac’s opinion – could have been disallowed due to the passive offside position of two VfB players.

“We needed to sit a little deeper in order to defend this ball [from Chris Führich],” Kovac said. “Waldi [Anton] needed to take one more step. He was one metre short. He was in the right position. Unlucky. The ball could have also gone the other side of the post.

“With regard to the second goal, I mentioned earlier that the offside position could have been taken into account,” Kovac continued. “Though Stuttgart deserve credit for playing in the way they did. That’s a small detail we can work on in training. One must defend in the box.“

GGFN | Peter Weis