The nervousness remains high. The shaky cup victory at the second division side Hannover 96 increased the irritated mood at Borussia Dortmund rather than calming it down.

If there is no success on Saturday against VfB Stuttgart (3:30 p.m. / Sky) for the fourth time in a row in the Bundesliga, the mood should cool down to freezing cold. "We are aware that we absolutely need the home win," said BVB coach Edin Terzic.

There is no shortage of unmistakable words among the Westphalians these days. Dortmund has currently slipped into midfield in the league, but is only just behind the Champions League ranks in terms of points. Although BVB hibernated in the cup, the performance left a lot to be desired. "Although we won, we weren't satisfied with the game and the performance," admitted Terzic. Mats Hummels also offends with his constant criticism in "Motzki" style á la Matthias Sammer.

Sloppy defensive work is a constant BVB issue

"But we don't learn anything from it" - that's one of Terzic's most frequently said sentences these days. His team is reminiscent of a child with attention deficit disorders: positively and negatively capable of anything at any time and conspicuously unwilling to learn. The holey and careless defensive work has been an ongoing issue in recent years, which no coach has been able to get a grip on. "We are all aware of it. We are all not satisfied," said Terzic on the general situation. Only the answer to the question of how this can be changed remained vague.

In addition, there are always offensive problems. Without Torgarant Erling Haaland, the attack is reaching its limits at a high level this season. "We have the second most deals in the Bundesliga, but we've only scored 13 goals," said Terzic, demonstrating the dilemma. "We are aware that we need to improve significantly in terms of effectiveness."

Reus use questionable

The return of Marco Reus would be desirable in this respect, but is questionable. The captain was recently suffering from an ankle injury. "It feels a bit difficult right now," admitted Terzic given the challenges he is currently facing.

Then there is the Hummels theme. The veteran scolds and criticizes publicly again and again. Apparently that doesn't go down well with his teammates everywhere. "Everyone is different. I tend to do it internally," said defensive player Emre Can on the subject. Terzic also apparently recognized that the topic can have a poisonous effect in the dressing room in the currently intense weeks with many games. "We should talk to each other more often and not about each other," said the BVB coach, for whom there is now only one solution. "Start a series in the league now so that you can still have everything in your own hands," said Terzic. "We will come out of this phase again." This sounded suspiciously like perseverance slogans.