Thomas doll took offense at manuel grafe’s "babbling" and "slobbering," while the referee accused the coach of "arrogance" in turn. The entertaining duel overshadowed the next setback for hannover 96 in the fight for survival in the fubball bundesliga.
Immediately after the final whistle in the 3-1 loss to FC augsburg, the dispute between coach and referee began on the pitch and continued loudly in the arena aisles. "You can blame me for anything if we don’t win soccer games. But that I am arrogant… I just don’t like being slobbered over for five minutes," grumbled doll.
While the augsburg team, the new 14th in the table. And a lead over hannover that has increased to eleven points, the 2. League for the lower saxons after the sixth defeat in the seventh game under doll ever closer. "He arrived and said, ‘because of you, we lost, because of you, we lost,’" said the former FIFA referee, describing the dispute. With his attempts to explain decisions under discussion he did not meet doll’s taste. "He said, you’re just babbling, you’re just babbling, I found that disrespectful. At least you can talk sense to each other."Doll behaved mockingly and ironically, grafe said.
Doll was disturbed by a cheeky shot from jonathan schmid before the game-deciding 2:1 victory for augsburg. The coach did not like the interpretation of the advantage rule. Graf’s lecture he found unsuccessful anyway. "At some point i turned off, it was too much for me too," said doll. "There is a coach who fights with his team for the league. To then put up so gockelig and then to call me the arrogance…"A referee should not "puff himself up" as if he had invented soccer, doll added.
There was no entry by grafe in the match report for doll. After all, there had been no insults, the impartial official said. "I don’t want to make it any higher than it is, these are emotions. When you are relegated or fighting against relegation, you are frustrated."The matter was settled, that was part of the deal.
The afternoon had started for the hanoverians with the early goal by hendrik weydandt (8. Minute) started so well. The swabian standard conigs struck after a corner ball by joker sergio cordova (65.) and the freistob of schmid (78.) from almost 30 meters into the short corner, but strongly back. Andre hahn made 28.136 spectators all clear (86.) and increased FCA’s tally from the three games against dortmund, leipzig and hannover to seven points. "We boxed our way out of it," said winger philipp max three weeks after the 1:5 debacle in freiburg.
Doll was at least pleased that manager horst heldt once again backed andre breitenreiter’s successor and ruled out another change at the coaching position. "We have said, when we decided this together, we go with thomas doll in any case uber one and a half years. And even if the worst comes to the worst, we want to get back on the horse with thomas doll," said heldt. "He is mega-committed, lives up to it, doesn’t give up."Grafe experienced this like no other on saturday.