A “war of attrition” produces no winners, but also no losers | OneFootball

“It was a battle of attrition throughout the entire match. Both teams conceded relatively little, but also didn’t create much themselves,” said Niko Kovac. His team put in a lot of effort, covering four kilometres more than their opponents (120.2 to 116.0 km) and made more sprints (187 compared to 152), but lacked precision, especially after winning the ball. The pass completion rate of 85% was lower than in the first two home games against Union (90%) and Wolfsburg (88%) and just below the season average so far (86.4%).

Kovac praised the team’s reaction after falling 1-0 down. “Of course, we were caught napping at the free kick. But then we were immediately back in it.” He also had words of praise for Yan Couto, who scored the equaliser. “Yan is making really good progress. With that goal, he rewarded himself for his good performances in recent weeks. I have two really great players in that position. We try to mix them up.”

Schlotterbeck delighted about Nagelmann's appreciation

Three days after the 4-1 UEFA Champions League win over Bilbao, Kovac “rotated back” and nominated the team that should have started in Mainz in the 2-0 away win the previous weekend (in fact, Serhou Guirassy had to be replaced by Julian Brandt after the warm-up). Nico Schlotterbeck was back in the starting line-up, as present as ever (99 touches) and completing 92% of his passes (well above the team average of 85%). Now the 20-time German international is heading straight to the national team squad: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a recognition of my efforts, because I haven’t played football for six months. Then to play three games and be nominated: that’s a kind of appreciation from Julian Nagelsmann. I’m really happy about that and will approach the two games as I always do.”

In the Bundesliga, BVB will be back in action on 18 October. “Then,” says Schlotterbeck, “we’ll go to Munich and aim to win!”Boris Rupert