RB Leipzig: Can Rose bring the ‚Red Bulls‘ back to a winning path? - Fans have mixed opinions

RB Leipzig has parted ways with coach Domenico Tedesco after a failed start to the season. The club announced this on the morning after their 1-4 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk. His successor is very familiar with the RB cosmos. As the Saxony-based club announced just one day after Tedesco's dismissal, Marco Rose, who was employed at RB Salzburg for several years before his Bundesliga commitments in Gladbach and Dortmund, will take over as head coach at RB Leipzig. FanQ surveyed German football fans about the managerial change at the reigning DFB-Pokal winners.

Tedesco sacked

Last season, Domenico Tedesco made the ‚Red Bulls‘ the best team in the second half of the season, leading his team to victory in the DFB-Pokal, and thus to the first title in the club's still young history. He also managed to qualify his team for the Champions League and reach the Europa League semi-finals. However, after a poor start to the new season with only one win in the first five league games and an opening defeat in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk, the 36-year-old has now been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Saxony-based club.

„The decision was very difficult for us. However, after a moderate start to the Bundesliga season with five points from five games, and especially after the recent matches at Eintracht Frankfurt and at home against Shakhtar Donetsk, we lacked the conviction that an immediate turnaround could be achieved with the current set-up,“ RB managing director Oliver Mintzlaff was quoted as saying on the club's homepage in this regard.

„We have an overall responsibility for RB Leipzig and want to achieve our goals. We have therefore come to the overall conclusion that we need a new impetus,“ said the 47-year-old, summarising the club management's findings, before thanking Domenico Tedesco and his team „expressly for the work they have done“.

Given the successes Tedesco and his team achieved last season, FanQ surveyed football fans in Germany as to whether the management of the ‚Red Bulls‘ had acted ungratefully. More than half (52.84 %) of those surveyed are of the opinion that there is no room for gratitude and sentimentality in the day-to-day business of professional football and that the club bosses in Saxony therefore have nothing to reproach themselves for. However, just over a third (36.93 %) found the dismissal of the successful coach to be ungrateful.

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Ungrateful or not, the RB bosses didn't hesitate and announced a successor for the vacant coaching position just one day after Tedesco's dismissal. Marco Rose, who has already worked for Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, will become RB Leipzig's new head coach with a contract until 2024. The Leipzig native, who took up his first coaching job at Lok Leipzig in 2012, is an obvious choice, and not just because of his background and experience in Germany's top flight. Before his spells at Gladbach and BVB, the 45-year-old spent several years in the youth sector and as head coach of RB Salzburg, so he knows the RB cosmos and the corresponding playing philosophy inside out. Former professional footballers Alexander Zickler, Frank Geideck and Marco Kurth will take over the assistant coach positions. The new head coach's first tasks are immediately challenging. Rose and his new team will next face his former clubs Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga. Between these two games, they also face defending champions Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Vor diesem Hintergrund hat FanQ die Fußballfans in Deutschland befragt, ob Rose die ‚Roten Bullen‘ wieder auf Erfolgskurs bringen kann. Die Fußballbegeisterten im Land sind in dieser Hinsicht geteilter Meinung. So trauen 42,50 % der Umfrageteilnehmer es dem neuen Übungsleiter zu, die Leipziger wieder in die Spur zu bringen. Demgegenüber denken 39,17 % der Befragten, dass der 45-Jährige nicht der richtige Mann für diese Aufgabe ist. Ähnlich gemischt sind die Reaktionen auf die Frage, wie sehr sich die deutschen Anhänger über Roses Rückkehr auf die Trainerbank freuen. Durchschnittlich vergeben die an der entsprechenden FanQ-Umfrage teilnehmenden Fans 2,53 von fünf möglichen Sternen. Ein Großteil der Befragten ist sogar wenig begeistert vom Comeback des ehemaligen Gladbach- und BVB-Coaches. So stimmen 44,23 % der Umfrageteilnehmer mit maximal zwei Sternen ab, während nur 23,08 % einer Rückkehr wohlgesonnen gegenüberstehen und dementsprechend vier oder fünf Sterne vergeben.

In addition to his hometown and the RB cosmos, Rose could soon be facing a third reunion. Max Eberl, the very man who once brought him to Gladbach, is earmarked for the post of new „Managing Director Sport“ at the Saxons. According to media reports, the former manager of the ‚Foals‘ has already given his verbal commitment to the RB bosses and will take up his new job on 1 December 2022. Only his contract with Borussia, which runs until 2026 despite his departure in January of this year, is still preventing Eberl from joining the club from the east of Germany. Before the 48-year-old can sign in Leipzig, the Gladbach management must first agree to the cancellation of his existing contract. However, Borussia's bosses are reportedly demanding compensation of between five and ten million euros from their league rivals.

FanQ hat die deutschen Fußballfans in diesem Zusammenhang befragt, ob die ‚Fohlen‘ Eberl gegen eine entsprechende Ablösesumme ziehen lassen sollen. Fast zwei Drittel (65,25 %) der an der Umfrage teilnehmenden Personen sind dabei der Ansicht, dass die Gladbacher Verantwortlichen den Kontrakt ihres ehemaligen Managers gegen eine angemessene Entschädigung auflösen sollten. 27,97 % der Befragten würden einen Wechsel Eberls zu RB Leipzig hingegen unterbinden.