Why Niko Kovac thinks St. Pauli will be a “tough nut to crack” but not an indicator of progress | OneFootball

There was a photo finish on 17 May as BVB beat Holstein Kiel by a 3-0 scoreline and celebrated qualification for the Champions League on Matchday 34 of the season – almost 100 days later, they are preparing to kick off the new league season. Niko Kovac already knows where Borussia want to be at the end of this campaign. Asked about qualification for Europe's elite club competition in the final game of the season against Kiel, the Borussia boss said: “I'm expecting us to manage it again this year,” but – and this is important for the coach – “much more quickly”.

Kovac is well aware that every single member of his team has great responsibility to bear in order for this goal to be achieved. The Borussia tactician knows precisely what it will boil down to: “I'm not a fan of talking. It takes more than words, it takes action. And that's where we all have a part to play”.

Dortmund will face their first challenge of the campaign at the Millerntor. The Black & Yellows are hoping to secure their first points of the new season on Saturday evening when they face FC St. Pauli, whom they beat twice last season (2-0, 2-1). “We are aware of the difficulty, of course,” said Kovac, as he cast his mind ahead to the first opponent: St. Pauli, now in their second consecutive season in the German top flight, drew plaudits last season for their strong defence in particular.

Ramy Besebaini im Zweikampf beim 2:0-Auswärtssieg am Millerntor in der vergangenen Saison.

Coach Alexander Blessin's Kiezkicker conceded 41 goals in 34 games – only German champions Bayern Munich saw their defence breached on fewer occasions (32), with the Black & Yellows conceding 10 more goals in total. “We'll have a tough nut to crack there,” explained Kovac, but he's not just wary of the St. Pauli defence: “They go forward with a very direct style of football. We'll have to be careful there too, in terms of our own positioning. We have to try to keep the opposition as far away as possible.”

According to Kovac, it will be a “very difficult opening game” at the Millerntor, but the Borussia coach nonetheless declared that “it is our ambition to win the game”. Even though the first matchday is naturally an important one, Kovac does not want to see the game against the Kiezkicker as an indicator of progress; it is still too early for that. “I don't judge a start based on the first Bundesliga matchday, but rather after six games – three home and three away games. Then you can say approximately where you stand and what you can still expect,” said the coach, who also does not consider the preparation process, which was so short this year, to be complete yet. “The body needs six to eight weeks to adapt,” said Kovac, pointing towards his start at BVB last season. “We were still working on stamina and playing games at the same time – that will certainly be the case for some time this season too.”

Niko Kovac: “We're on track”

That's another reason why he doesn't want to underestimate or overestimate the game against St. Pauli – the same applies for Kovac when it comes to the 1-0 cup victory against Rot-Weiss Essen on Monday. “We are on track. It was certainly not an easy game, but we won.” Kovac wants to achieve the same outcome with his team at the Millerntor on Saturday evening. But he does not yet know whether Julian Ryerson (knock to the calf) and Yan Couto, who was fouled in the game against Essen on Monday evening, will be back. Niklas Süle, Julien Duranville, Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can will definitely continue to be unavailable. “The rest are healthy – we have a lot of good players in the squad who can fill in.”

With this attitude, Borussia are hoping that they will be celebrating when they return to action at the Millerntor 99 days after their last Bundesliga game. But this time it will be about starting the season well, rather than finishing it successfully.Nina Bargel-Neuhaus