2024-08-18 17:53:58
After the cup exit in Bielefeld, there is frustration in Hannover. Sporting director Marcus Mann was not sparing in his criticism – of the team and the coach.
With an embarrassing performance against third division club Arminia Bielefeld, Hannover 96 were knocked out of the DFB Cup on Saturday evening. In the 0:2 defeat at the Alm, the “Reds” hardly created any chances. The defeat was well deserved for the second division club.
According to “Bild”, this in turn got manager Marcus Mann mad. The 40-year-old took the team and coach to task after the final whistle. “That is clearly not enough. I can’t stand watching it anymore. We’re falling asleep because we want to control the game,” he grumbled. “This is sleeper-coach football. For the second time in eight days we’re being shown how to play football and what football is all about.” Last weekend, Hannover were lucky to get a 0-0 draw with newly promoted Preußen Münster in the 2nd Bundesliga.
Mann bluntly said: “If we don’t understand that… we should wake up as quickly as possible, because I’m not going to watch this for much longer.” A clear message from the sports director.
Coach Stefan Leitl did not want to defend Mann. “I think everyone has lost,” he replied when asked whether he had also criticized the coach with his angry speech. With Leitl, 96 should, in the best case scenario, finally achieve promotion to the Bundesliga this year.
What bothered Mann in particular? 96 seemed to be taken by surprise by their lower-class opponents early on and never really got into the game. A no-go for the Lower Saxony sports director. “Nothing surprising happened today, except that every time we go into the game we suddenly realise that things aren’t going the way we would like, and then we need to be behind to even realise that a football game is going on,” Mann said, taking his team to pieces. “It just doesn’t work like that. It can’t be that every time after 10 minutes we are completely surprised by what the opponent is playing today.”
The coach later agreed with his boss. “He’s right. Marcus is an emotional person,” said Stefan Leitl. “He would have liked to win the game, just like we did. That said it all.”