Solid and spectacular: BVB are both under Kovac | OneFootball

“Kovac football“ cannot be reduced to solidarity, hard running and defensive strength. Those are simply the foundations for the success. The “artists“ in attack enjoy plenty of freedom – and they are using it. While Borussia Dortmund might have missed out on an eighth consecutive match in which they scored at least three goals in their comfortable 2-0 win away to 1. FC Heidenheim on Saturday – which would been a Bundesliga record – the numbers since the end of March have been very impressive.

In their straightforward 2-0 victory away to Heidenheim, Gregor Kobel faced his first and only shot at goal of the match in the 52nd minute. The Black & Yellows, meanwhile, registered 15 shots on goal, seven (!) of which were saved by Heidenheim's talented goalkeeper Diant Ramaj, who is currently on loan from Borussia Dortmund and earned praised from his coach Frank Schmidt after the final whistle.

“What do we need?” asked Niko Kovac rhetorically, before answering his own question: “We need the energy that comes from everyone being there for each other.” After Kovac took over the reins at the start of February last season, the team's average distance covered increased from 114.8 to 118.2 kilometres per game and has remained around this level at the beginning of the new season (118.5). The team is winning the majority of its challenges (51.2%). “We want to play intensively. We want to go on the attack. If we can do that on the pitch, we're halfway there,” explained defensive leader Waldemar Anton.

“It has been a good start, but I'll only start to assess it after six matches – three home and three away,” said Kovac of the team's season to date, adding: "We're still in the cup. It's okay. But we can do even better.”Boris Rupert