Another "total failure"

“Enough is enough!” Sabitzer is under fire

Marcel Sabitzer was substituted at half-time.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Borussia Dortmund suffered another heavy blow on Saturday with a 2-0 defeat at stragglers VfL Bochum. As was the case last week in the 2-1 defeat to VfB Stuttgart, ÖFB team player Marcel Sabitzer received poor criticism.

New coach Niko Kovac replaced the midfielder at the break. The Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper described Sabitzer, along with fellow attacking players Jamie Gittens and Karim Adeyemi, as "total failures".

Sky pundit Dietmar Hamann also took a swipe at German team player Julian Brandt alongside the Styrian and demanded: "At some point, you have to say to players like Brandt or Sabitzer: 'Enough is enough' and replace these players. There's no other way."

You can see and hear what else Hamann had to say here:

Just four points in seven games
BVB have picked up just four points in their seven league games this year - all of them in the two games under interim coach Mike Tullberg. Kovac also lost his second league game in charge - the last time a new BVB coach did so was in 1984.

His team is now eleventh in the table and last year's CL finalists are facing a season without an international starting place. "We won't lose our nerve," Kovac emphasized. "It's about keeping calm in this situation. That's the most important thing."