Helge Hohl took over as coach at Alemannia Aachen after the dismissal of Fuat Kilic. The sports director spoke about the past few days and how things will continue in the position.

It was a successful debut for Helge Hohl. The sports director of Alemannia Aachen took over the coaching position during the week after Fuat Kilic left the club. He celebrated a 4:2 victory at the second-last team in Straelen.

It was not the first time for Hohl, who has been sport director at Alemannia since the beginning of the year, to sit on the bench as coach. Before coming to the Tivoli, he spent four years as coach at Mittelrheinligist SV Bergisch Gladbach 09, which he led into the Regionalliga in 2019.

Alemannia Aachen: Hohl self-critical after first game

Despite that, it was an adjustment at first. “For us, an eventful and difficult week is coming to an end. It was a tough decision for the whole team, mentally as well. It wasn’t easy for me either to step into the breach at short notice and make this decision,” Hohl summed up the past few days. He has a lot of plans for his time as coach: “Basically, I want to change one or two things in terms of the idea of the game and the way we play. We want to press harder and play more courageous football.”

Against Straelen, not everything worked out as the interim coach had planned. “I have to say openly that many things we wanted to change have not yet worked out that way. I simply overloaded the boys with two training sessions on Thursday and Friday. I have to critically question myself in this situation. Were there too many things in too short a time that I wanted to change in this exciting week?” he was self-critical after the game.

Hohl also reveals what the future holds for the coaching position at Alemannia Aachen: “We have decided that we will basically plan with me as coach until winter. Of course, we are also looking in parallel.”

The traditional club has clear ideas and is looking for a coach who fits Aachen: “We have clear requirements for the new coach. The same applies to the players. We have talked about an Alemannia DNA that we want to reintroduce. But this DNA is not just what happens on the pitch, it’s not just the idea of the game, it’s values. What is the importance of youth, what is the importance of the region for us? There is a lot, a lot to it. “