Newly appointed Borussia Dortmund manager Peter Stoger described the work of predecessor Peter Bosz as a big reason for his team's first Bundesliga win since September.
Dortmund returned to winning ways on Tuesday, defeating Mainz on the road with Austrian coach Stoger at the helm for just two days after the team parted ways with Bosz. However, it took the visitors until the 55th minute to score the opener as Sokratis Papastathopoulos volleyed home a loose ball in the box following a free kick from the left flank. Dortmund were more comfortable after going ahead, but due to their wastefulness they had to wait until the 89th minute to seal the win.
Japan international Shinji Kagawa finished off a counter-attack after combining with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The second half was clearly better, we managed to exude dominance, managed to better our positional play and organisation.
He has left something really good behind. I haven't heard anybody here utter a single bad word about him. Right-back Jeremy Toljan and centre-back Omer Toprak were instant beneficiaries of a new manager, starting the game after having missed out on most of the action in recent weeks. It also looks as though midfielder Julian Weigl could become another of the big winners of the managerial switch.
The year-old had struggled under Bosz, who wanted Weigl to play in a more advanced position. On Tuesday, Weigl was allowed to conduct the play from a deeper position in front of the backline, boasting the team's highest passing accuracy with Weigl revealed to Sky after the game that he enjoyed his time on the field: "I had a little more freedom today than in the last few weeks, but I don't want to look back.
