It is a measure of Jürgen Klopp’s enduring influence at Borussia Dortmund that the club’s current manager, even 11 years after his departure, feels compelled to emphasize the distinction between his tenure and that of his celebrated predecessor. And it is ironic that Niko Kovac looks so much like Klopp.
“I played here many times before I became a coach,” says Kovac, 54, who has probably forgotten more about the Bundesliga than most will ever know. “It’s a working-class club with passion, desire, attitude and hard work in its DNA. They also want to see good football here. I remember Jürgen Klopp was here with his heavy metal football.”
Niko Kovac: ‘Borussia Dortmund must look forward, not back’
“But these are different times, with different players, and it’s a different situation. We have to look forward instead of back.”
No one will dispute that Kovac’s ‘safety first’ method is markedly different from the more explosive style of his predecessor, yet his words are undeniably reminiscent of Klopp’s first press conference as Liverpool manager.
“History is the foundation for us,” the German said when he took over at Anfield in 2015. “It is not allowed to take history with you in the backpack. You have to get into our race. I want to see the first step next week, but not always compare with other times.”
Niko Kovac: shades of Jürgen Klopp?
Like Klopp, who came to Merseyside with a CV that includes two Bundesliga titles and a Champions League final, Kovac brings a distinguished background to Signal Iduna Park. Over the course of a decade-long playing career in the Bundesliga, he won a league and cup double with Bayern Munich; later, after establishing his coaching credentials with Croatia and Eintracht Frankfurt, he returned to the Bavarian club and repeated the feat.
So Kovac knew what he was talking about when he joined Dortmund this time last year, with the club languishing in 11th place in the table. His first act was to strengthen the fitness and mentality of his players; He then started improving the defense. Dortmund would end the season with five straight league wins, securing fourth spot and returning to the Champions League, where Kovac’s side were only eliminated by Barcelona in the quarter-finals after threatening to overturn a 4-0 deficit in the first leg, just as Klopp’s Liverpool did in 2019. Heavy metal football was not; Effective, it undoubtedly was.
“We had to create some defensive stability,” Kovac told Athletic. “We have switched to a back four [from a back three] and that wasn’t that successful, so we switched to a back five, because we didn’t have the stability we needed. The priority was a good defensive base; that was the most important thing.
Kovac: ‘Our motto became KISS: keep it simple, stupid’
“We knew we had to make adjustments, but we also knew we had to keep it simple. And that became our motto: KISS – keep it simple, stupid. That helped. If you try to change everything and turn 180 degrees the other way, it’s impossible. There would be too many instructions from the coaches to the players.”
“They have the pressure to perform and achieve their goals already, and at the same time the coaches are trying to change everything. It’s too much. You can do more harm than good. That’s why we worked on small things. The players had the quality to adapt to those changes very quickly.”
Despite an exhausting summer run to the last eight of the Club World Cup, that adjustment process continues. Dortmund, who resume their league match at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday evening, went into the winter break in second place, nine points behind Bayern but with last season’s momentum largely retained.
Borussia Dortmund’s season: a story of faltering progress
The team’s continued, if sometimes halting, progress is all the more impressive given the transfer speculation that has surrounded the likes of German defender Nico Schlotterbeck, who has been linked with Liverpool and Bayern Munich, and winger Karim Adeyemi, reportedly a target for Manchester United and Arsenal.
Before Christmas, the gap with Bayern, combined with last month’s German Cup defeat to Bayer Leverkusen and a Champions League draw against Norwegian minnows Bodo Glimt, which knocked the club out of the automatic qualification places for the last 16 of the Champions League, created a sense of crisis around Dortmund.
But the new year offers the chance for a reset, and the pattern of Kovac’s reign so far suggests this could be good news for the club. Further evolution beckons.
“The club is the most important thing,” says Kovac. “We have to be together. You have to build the foundation before you have the big house.”
#Niko #Kovac #Forget #Klopp #Borussia #Dortmund #ahead