Record of the coach castling: Series, Seville and reconciliations

Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – In a fine light blue shirt, Adi Hütter smiled a little mischievously – but also tormented.

The head coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach was confronted directly with what he thought of the fact that his ex-club Eintracht Frankfurt entered the Europa League final – and this is no longer allowed to play with him, but with his successor and compatriot Oliver Glasner. “What do you think I’m thinking,” said Hütter, who seemed thoughtful, but also expressly congratulated the Hessian club around CEO Axel Hellmann on the success.

The XXL trainer shift of the previous summer was a novelty in the Bundesliga and the changes in Frankfurt and Gladbach in particular document how things can go. Hütter left Eintracht in dissatisfaction after the last few games went terribly wrong after the change was announced. In Gladbach, he was to usher in a new era as the successor to Marco Rose, who had moved to Dortmund. Glasner, on the other hand, had to repeatedly answer why he is leaving Wolfsburg as a Champions League club and switching to the Europa League instead.

Now Hütter and Rose, who had actually planned a career advancement, had a particularly difficult season – and Glasner can win the first German Europa League title ever with his new club on May 18 in Seville against Glasgow Rangers. Colleague Hütter, who spoke out and reconciled with the Frankfurt club management last week, expressly keeps his fingers crossed. “There are a lot of great moments. One can only be proud of that. I wish that the cup goes to the Main », said the Austrian.

Master and Vice not enough?

In terms of the table, Julian Nagelsmann at FC Bayern and Rose in Dortmund did everything right, but the demands are particularly high at these two locations. “I know that I can do things better than I did,” Nagelsmann admitted openly. It was not easy to follow Hansi Flick and his “big footsteps”. Flick had won the treble with the Munich team in the 2019/20 season and then followed with further titles in the national and international Supercups.

On the other hand, Nagelsmann, who came from RB Leipzig, “only” continued the championship series and allowed himself major slip-ups in the cup competitions. A 0: 5 in the cup against Gladbach and an out against Villarreal in the Champions League does not correspond to the high goals of the Bundesliga subscription winner. “I don’t think that’s enough for Bayern Munich,” admitted the 34-year-old Nagelsmann.

Rose was also less chalked up for Bundesliga performance. The end in three cup competitions (DFB Cup, Champions and Europa League) left its mark, and 51 Bundesliga goals conceded cloud the overall picture. The future sports director Sebastian Kehl said last weekend that Rose would remain the coach “as of today”. The next day Kehl corrected himself and made it clear that the coming season was being planned together.

Stability in Leverkusen

Leverkusen and Leipzig were also part of the coach castling. The Saxons had to replace Nagelsmann, who had migrated to Munich, and did so with Jesse Marsch. With no success coming under the American, Domenico Tedesco came on during the season, with whom victories returned. Leipzig can win the first title in the club’s history in the DFB Cup, and also just missed the final of the Europa League. The change from Bayer Leverkusen brought stability. After Peter Bosz and Hannes Wolf, the Werkself relied on Gerardo Seoane and have made it into the premier class without any problems. The yield in the cup competitions was mixed.

Few changes in the current season

What the roulette did in the summer of 2021 in any case: Less unrest and coach changes in the current season, in which only Bielefeld, Leipzig, Wolfsburg (Florian Kohfeldt for Glasner’s successor Mark van Bommel) and twice Hertha have changed the trainer.

The clubs have tied up their signings for the long term, so there is no other big castling on the agenda this summer. Rose at BVB, at times Glasner in Frankfurt and especially Hütter in Gladbach were not always undisputed, but the fresh commitments coupled with high transfer fees and long contracts prevented the clubs from taking drastic measures quickly.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:220510-99-228693/2

–