Borussia Dortmund must stand up to physical tactics, says Hans-Joachim Watzke
Tuesday 4 October 2016 10:51, UK
Borussia Dortmund's general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke wants his side to get tougher in response to the treatment he and coach Thomas Tuchel feels is being dished out on them.
Tuchel lamented Bayer Leverkusen's physical approach during his side's 2-0 defeat on Saturday evening, saying they, like Freiburg and Mainz in the past, had committed over 20 fouls on his players without being punished accordingly.
Speaking to Bild, Watzke said perhaps the time has come for his side to fight fire with fire.
"Perhaps we should go into the tackles harder and forget about winning the fair play prize," he said.
"The fact is, people play very aggressively against us and that has nothing to do with being bad losers.
"Dortmund have always been the fairest side in recent years and we've got to look at whether this harder approach is becoming a trend."
Dortmund missed the chance to move to within a point of Bayern Munich at the top of the table as a result of their second defeat of the season, although Tuchel felt Leverkusen were lucky to end the game with 10 men.
