Favre and the problem of reading between the lines

Lucien Favre speaks little and often says less. Perhaps that’s why you think you have to read between the lines all the time. Where sometimes there may be nothing to read.

But when Borussia Dortmund’s coach declared after the 0-1 defeat in the top game against Bayern that he would talk about his personal situation “in a few weeks”, many were startled. And it wasn’t just Sky expert Lothar Matthäus who saw this as a farewell announcement.

The following day, Favre, his bosses Michael Zorc and Hans-Joachim Watzke tried numerous channels to capture the independent news of Favre’s impending farewell. Favre himself assured Sky and in the “Bild” newspaper that he had been misunderstood and described Matthew’s interpretation as “unbelievable and unacceptable”.

And then Lucien Favre went back to the agenda. When he gave his press conference on Friday before the game at the bottom of the table SC Paderborn (Sunday, 6:00 p.m. / Sky), he was again obviously trying not to say anything. Certainly nothing that could be interpreted. The one question that was read to him at the virtual conference about his future was answered with demonstrative calmness, perhaps even a bit of indifference. “I concentrate on the essentials,” said the Swiss: “I prepare the game and finished. I can not say more.”

The combination of the games against Munich and Paderborn should awaken bad memories for the 62-year-old. When BVB went down 4-0 in the first half of the season with Bayern and then went 0-3 against Paderborn at break, he was actually relatively close to an exemption. That his team still managed 3: 3 probably gave him some air. BVB won twelve of the next 15 Bundesliga games. Until the Bavarians came again.

After the Paderborn game, “some processes had started,” said Zorc: “The team sat down, sometimes alone, sometimes with the coach. Then there was a momentum of its own according to the motto: “Never again like in the first half against Paderborn.” Certainly involuntarily, Zorc thus reduced the trainer’s share in the turnaround. Of course, he persistently strengthens his back and assures: “We don’t have a trainer discussion.”

Zorc couldn’t answer the question why the team missed the big point again. It was “relatively tight” this time, he said. But he also admitted: “We have to develop further so that we can also achieve 100 percent performance in the key games.”

And that is exactly the essence of criticism of Favre. After all, the Swiss could be runner-up for the second year in a row after BVB finished fourth in the year before taking office. His team shows beautiful, even exciting football in many games. But when the chance to take a big step was missed.

Many suspect that this is due to Favre, the procrastinator, the doubter. Who admonishes the team too often and does not encourage enough. Favre will continue to pursue this image. On the outside, he does little to change it. And he has not yet been able to refute it in terms of sport. And that’s why he will surely have to answer a few questions for the BVB bosses after the end of the season.

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• Borussia Dortmund

• FC Bayern Munich

• Hans-Joachim Watzke

• Lothar Matthäus

• Lucien Favre

• Michael Zorc

• SC Paderborn 07

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