Sections of the German media are starting to suggest that it might be time for Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp to go, ESPN reports. Barely 18 months ago, Klopp guided the BVB to theUEFA Champions League final, where it lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich. However, 10 games into this season, last year’s Bundesliga runner-up finds itself second-to-last in the German first divisionstandings, avoiding the bottom thanks to goal-difference.
Karlheinz Wild, the chief reporter for kicker magazine in Germany, notes that the Dortmund coach has never experienced acrisis of confidence this big in his career. “Klopp now has to be a crisis manager, and this role does not suit him, you can see it in him,” Wild writes. “He talks about construction sitesagain and again; he is the architect and he needs to outline the solutions.”
Meanwhile, Die Zeit claims that the coach must be blamed for the team’s lack of sharpness. “BVB are nolonger the same opponent for Bayern that they were in the past. Dortmund’s game is lacking precision and structure in both attack and defense; things a coach has to take partial responsibilityfor.”
The loss to Bayern left Dortmund in 17th-place in the Bundesliga standings with seven points from 10 games. Bayern, meanwhile, maintained its four-point lead at the top with 24 points,ahead of second and third-place Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach, respectively, each tied with 20 points.