Fortuna Düsseldorf

It also shows that potentially...

Hanover getting the worst of all worlds with Sandro Wagner in charge because it felt to me like the reason why they made the move from a manager like Christian Titz to a manager like Sandro Wagner is they thought they needed more attacking impetus i don't think hanover were that bad under christian tits going forward and it felt like they were going to get or that they were getting better and were going to continue getting better as the weeks go on what's happened in this first game and of course it's only one game we shouldn't overreact is that they have sacrificed any ability to to defend and not gained any ability to go forward ultimately I think what this game shows is a couple of things first of all Magdeburg do genuinely look good this year more importantly from a Hanover perspective I think it shows that Sandro Wagner is going to have to be flexible in a way we've not seen through his career up to this point because if Hannover play like this on a weekly basis if Sandro Wagner is not willing to change the system he wants to employ then this could go the way of Fortuna Düsseldorf which was sort of like the prediction that many people had when Hannover sacked Titz and replaced him with Wagner.

but this game as good as Magdeburg are does show those sort of warning signs of how potentially stubbornness can lead to very bad results so yeah I think this game's incredibly concerning not only because Hanover were so bad at the back but also because that forward group who I thought were going to do so great really did nothing in this game Marcel Hartle produced nothing Wagner played with a front two.

Benjamin Kalman did nothing as did Amir Sahiti.

Because I had a look at the 1980...

German FA Cup final the Pokal which unfortunately I think you guys lost 2-1 to what's it Fortuna Dusseldorf that's right Fortuna Dusseldorf and I noticed that every single player in both sides was German apart from you and you had one Japanese player I think and so that must have been quite a pressure you're there and everyone's speaking German imagine like being a non-English speaking German footballer coming here not speaking a single word and I mean, these days it's totally different because it's international.

So everyone kind of, you know, mucks in, I suppose, when it comes to language.

If

Getting used to it, getting into it.

Then also jumping into a line-level role at Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Mm-hmm.

Even if it was just for a year, it taught me that or it showed me that, uh, you know, uh, I have valuable skills also for the non-strategic stuff-

Christoph Solis is another one who's now at Arsenal, right? Another really fascinating player who has a connection to German football.

He was at Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Konstantin Caretza is from Dortmund.

You know, I had the chance to see him live.

Because if he tries to manage this Hanover side the same way he managed Augsburg, it's going to go horrifically.

And there is then every chance that Hanover replicate what Fortuna Düsseldorf did last season.

So it could go okay if he's learnt, if he's grown.

I think he could maybe match Christian Titts.

Yeah, there

was actually, there was a DFB-Pokal game against Fortuna Dusseldorf where he got sent off and he had to go into St. Paddy's quite small grounds.

He just went in with the fans.

Yeah.

I think it's pleasant to see, but under Daniel Toon, I don't think it's a huge surprise.

One, yeah, certainly one of the more impressive managers across German football came so, so close to promotion to the Bundesliga with 4-2 in Dusseldorf.

Obviously, we've been through what happened there.

Also did good work at, was it, VfL Osnabrück, I think, before that.

So I think, yeah, fantastic.

Even if he didn't quite work out with Dusseldorf, I thought at the time a really fantastic and, you know, progressive, creative appointment there.

from Werder Bremen to get him in maybe there were some doubts whether he would be the right man at the end of last season in the middle of a relegation scrap which they were in danger of slipping into a little bit but ultimately they were okay but it was pretty unspectacular but no this season so far has been really really impressive and especially the home farm I mean those two home results beating Red Bull 3-1 in such comprehensive fashion the way they did and they're following that up with you know coming from behind against A really surprisingly impressive Augsburg team as well.

I mean, Augsburg, one of the teams of the first three matchdays, also had a really impressive start under Manuel Baum and looked like they were on for another impressive result away at Bremen.