Tomas Oral is to get the Grasshoppers out of the bottom of the table. During his presentation, the 51-year-old impressed with his determination to get things done. If not on the football pitch, then in his café.
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- Tomas Oral made his first media appearance as the new GC coach on Tuesday evening.
- The 51-year-old German's top priority is to stay in the league.
- He can understand that certain fans are skeptical about his appointment. "That's completely normal." However, he believes that the fans will give him a chance.
When Tomas Oral introduces himself as the newly appointed GC coach on Tuesday evening, he shakes hands with all the media representatives in the room for the first time. The 51-year-old German is approachable and open. He wants to be the same with the players.
"In a phase like GC is currently going through, as a coach you need more tact and warmer words towards the players than in phases when things are going better," says Oral. With GC, he is taking over a club at the bottom of the Super League table. A club that last won in September.
Oral wants to lead the Hoppers back to winning ways. Not only with careful words, but also with a clear challenge. "I want the players to do everything they can to ensure we win." Staying in the league is the top priority.
His style of play and working with Hitzfeld's companion
But what kind of football does Oral want to play to keep GC in the Super League? With a mix of offensive and defensive football. "You can't stay in the league if you just stand at the back. I'm an advocate of possession football." Ultimately, however, the balance has to be right.
The balance was apparently right between the club managers and the new coach. Oral speaks of "interesting talks". Talks that gave him the feeling that "wow, something can really develop there".
Together with assistant coach Michael Henke, he is to drive forward the development at the record champions. Henke was Ottmar Hitzfeld's assistant at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich for many years. At Grasshoppers, Henke is now assisting Oral, who is still an unknown quantity in Switzerland. Oral does not want to make a distinction between head coach and assistant. "Our work goes hand in hand. His word is very important to me. With his manner, he is an anchor that does me good."
"I ignore the table"
Whether Oral is also good for GC remains to be seen. And also whether the scepticism of certain fans towards him will soon subside. Oral describes this skepticism as "completely normal" and is in good spirits: "I believe that the fans will give me a chance." He will do everything in his power to ensure that the fans are happy at the end of the day. "I'm there for this club 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - even if someone calls at night."
GC has already declared alarm mode anyway. After 14 match days, the traditional club is bottom of the table. But Oral doesn't really want to focus on that. "I'm ignoring the table. It's now about stabilizing the team from game to game and leading them to where they belong."
Second mainstay
When Oral is not focusing on instilling the winning gene in his team, he serves his guests coffee and cake in his café in Frankfurt. After leaving Karlsruhe in December 2016, he looked for a second mainstay "so that the wall doesn't fall on my head when I'm out of football". And just as he shook hands with the media at the start of his presentation, he invites them into his café. With the note that this is only possible during the winter or summer break, however, as he wants to take a step forward with GC during the league season.
