Marco Reus defends Lucien Favre and calls on players to deliver after Paderborn draw
Marco Reus has leapt to the defence of Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre following Friday night's 3-3 draw with Paderborn, saying that the players now need to step up to the plate and deliver.
Reus' stoppage-time equaliser saved the Westphalians from a shock defeat at home to the Bundesliga strugglers, but the Germany international did not mince his words when asked where the blame for not being able to take three points off the Bundesliga's bottom club lay.
"We've got to apologise to the fans for this performance," he told DAZN. "We mustn't ever, ever play like this – that was absolutely abysmal. I have no idea what we were up to in the first half."
Watch: Favre says performance was "simply not good enough"
Dortmund trailed 3-0 at the break, but goals from Jadon Sancho, Axel Witsel and Reus salvaged a point following a half-time team talk from Favre which struck the right chords.
"The coach always sets us up really, really well," Reus said. "We're the ones responsible for putting in a performance on the field and we're not managing it at all right now, and we all need to look at ourselves long and hard in the mirror.
"We've got to pull together as a team and that's what we need to be talking about, not about the coach."
Reus' words echo those of BVB captain Mats Hummels, who said Favre can do nothing about his players giving away possession cheaply, saying that "we're the players on the pitch who are making mistakes."
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Die Schwarzgelben will seek to bounce back immediately in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday when they head to Barcelona, whom they held to a goalless draw in September.
BVB have a three-point advantage over third placed Inter Milan to defend, as they seek a place in the last 16 in their final two group fixtures.
Next weekend, Dortmund, who could trail league leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach by as much as eight points, travel to Hertha Berlin.
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