Kovac analyzes Dortmund debut defeat: "The boys gave everything" | OneFootball

Niko Kovac's debut as Borussia Dortmund coach didn't go according to plan, as his team fell to a 1-2 defeat to VfB Stuttgart at home on Saturday.

Despite the defeat, Kovac found praise for his team after the game.

“The boys really gave everything, 100 percent right up to the last minute. The same goes for the substitutes. The result was the only thing I didn't like. The rest was completely fine,” said Kovac, adding:

“We shouldn't have come away on the losing side. The team did a lot of things well, both on and off the ball. But we didn't always make the right decisions in the opposition penalty area and stopped ourselves reaping the rewards. Because before the goal that made it 1-0, we actually had a crystal-clear opportunity to score when Karim [Adeyemi] went through. For the goal that made it 2-0, I would like to know whether this is a new phase of play or not. Two people came from a passively offside position. I know we have a lot of work to do.”