New Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic hopes to outscore teams rather than suffocate them
Borussia Dortmund's new interim head coach Edin Terzic has promised a positive approach and called for a reaction from the team when he takes charge for the first time for Tuesday's trip to Werder Bremen.
Previously an assistant coach at the club, Terzic was asked to replace Lucien Favre for the remainder of the season after Dortmund parted ways with the Swiss veteran on Sunday.
Favre's last match was a 5-1 home defeat against VfB Stuttgart on Saturday, and Terzic is hoping that BVB - who have slipped to fifth in the Bundesliga - can end a three-match winless run in their next outing.
"What we saw on Saturday wasn't Borussia Dortmund," Terzic said at a press conference on Monday, his first since being promoted to his new role.
"Tomorrow we want to go on the pitch and show a completely different side."
Watch: See how defeat to Stuttgart led to Terzic's appointment
Terzic said Dortmund's latest loss had hurt but stressed that - following three home league defeats in a row - his squad needed to remember how good they are.
"We have shown so many good things in the past, and not in the distant past either," the 38-year-old said.
"We need to have the belief that we can show this quickly. We need to have the courage to get everyone to the point where we show that together on the pitch. We also need determination when things aren't going so well.
"This team has done so many good things in the last two-and-a-half years. So I think the quickest way to get back on track will be just to tweak the mindset a little so we can remember our own strengths, and show a different side as quickly and as boldly as possible."
It has been a dramatic few days for Terzic, who told how he was born less than 20 miles from the five-time Bundesliga champions' ground and first watched the team from the stands as a nine-year-old.
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He worked as a scout and on the coaching staff of various Dortmund youth teams between 2010 and 2013, before spending time as an assistant to Slaven Bilic at Turkish top-flight team Besiktas and English Premier League side West Ham.
Terzic, who returned to Dortmund when Favre was made head coach in July 2018, has promised to get the team playing an attractive brand of football for the remainder of the season.
"I'm a product of Borussia Dortmund,” he said. "I've always been a fan and I'm from the region. I've been working here in various capacities for 10 years - apart from a short enough break - and I've been shaped by what's happened at the club in the past.
"The fact is, quite simply there are two ways you can win a game of football. You can try to concede one goal fewer than the opponent, or, the way I prefer it, you're willing to score more goals than the other team."
Terzic said he hoped the team could give everything they had "left in the tank" in their final three games of 2020. After the visit to Bremen, Dortmund travel to take on Union Berlin on Friday before facing second-tier Eintracht Braunschweig - again away from home - in the last 32 of the DFB Cup on 22 December.
Last season's runners-up are currently six points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. While their league form has been inconsistent, however, they topped their UEFA Champions League group, and on Monday they were drawn to face Sevilla in next year's round of 16.
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