Borussia Dortmund 15/16

past saturday saw the first time since forever in which dortmund had to scrape a somewhat undeserved win, against direct rival wolfsburg that was, away from home. the late (temporary) equalizer from wolfsburg should have sealed the match imho.

dortmund are ranking at #2 in the table, behind league-dominating bayern, trailing them by 5 points, while sitting on a comfortable margin of 9 points ahead of now-3rd-placed mönchengladbach.

good news this past week:

both nuri sahin and erik durm saw some individual training time, after their respective season-long injuries. i, for one, am specifically looking forward to finally seeing nuri sahin return to the squad, while he'll be in need of at least a few more weeks to finally/probably manage to become somewhat of a genuine match-day option for actual minutes on the pitch. he's urgently needed though, to take some pressure of the shoulders of 20-year-old youngster julian weigl, who's been forced into regularly starting almost every match, while in his first bundesliga season - though he's been doing much much better than one could have expected, for sure. still, it's not hard to tell that the young lad needs some rest and support in the crucial play-maker role, so as to be allowed to slowly mature into the grand player he seems bound to become.

i would like to add that i can't but feel that marco reus might be kind of unfitting to the tuchel ways of footballing, or is that just me? i mean he does show glimpses of his undoubtful talent of the highest order, but i do feel that his virtues aren't really being served to, in dortmund's new setup - which i think is worth mentioning, at his point.
 
Kicker and RuhrNachrichten, the most reliable sources for BVB news, both report that two of our 17-year-old top talents in offensive midfield, Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic, will be training regularly with the first team now (sporadically in the past).

The plan is they continue playing for our U19 team (which they just started this summer) but if need be for the first team. That's a tad surprising because 2 months ago Tuchel stressed he wants them to develop slowly without any pressure.
 
Crossie said:
Kicker and RuhrNachrichten, the most reliable sources for BVB news, both report that two of our 17-year-old top talents in offensive midfield, Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic, will be training regularly with the first team now (sporadically in the past).

The plan is they continue playing for our U19 team (which they just started this summer) but if need be for the first team. That's a tad surprising because 2 months ago Tuchel stressed he wants them to develop slowly without any pressure.
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Isn't 17 the age when Götze, Meyer and Draxler started playing more or less frequently for their clubs? Passlack and Pulisic are supposedly great talents, so I wouldn't call it rushed if they get a couple of first team minutes this season and then become part of the squad next season when they are 18.
 
Yes and no. Götze didn't start in an environment when the expectations at the club were as they are today. That's the big difference. BTW Nuri is still one of the youngest players having ever debuted in the Bundesliga (16 years plus some months old).

Meyer and Draxler as well as Timo Werner or Davie Selke, to add further names, were more out of a position of financial despair of their clubs than well executed development plans.

I'm just a tad surprised because I understood Tuchel some weeks back differently than what he's doing now. But I fully back his decision, both are great talents and it's exciting to see if they are 1st team material and can live up to the hype.
If rumors are correct, Pulisic pushed for his to happen; a bit similar to Julian Brandt who has been pushing for his promotion at Wolfsburg, Hecking/Allofs however wanted him to do one step at a time and he then decided to join Leverkusen instead.

I'd also speculate that Tuchel and Zorc were weighing the pros and cons of buying someone like Zivkovic and potentially blocking the path for our own youth.
 
Crossie said:
Kicker and RuhrNachrichten, the most reliable sources for BVB news, both report that two of our 17-year-old top talents in offensive midfield, Felix Passlack and Christian Pulisic, will be training regularly with the first team now (sporadically in the past).

The plan is they continue playing for our U19 team (which they just started this summer) but if need be for the first team. That's a tad surprising because 2 months ago Tuchel stressed he wants them to develop slowly without any pressure.
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Heh, he's probably preparing for Aubameyang's departure to United.

pls gibe
 
Our striker talent wasn't promoted, therefore: No way, José! :D
 
Kasper said:
They'll propably challenge for the title for a while but I doubt they'll be consistent enough in Tuchels first season too hold out till the end. Like Sphaero said, sooner or later they will have some problems. I expect a top 3 finish tho.
I don't think that they will win the Europe League this year - the supposingly "strongest" teams that look destined to walk it never win it in the end.
Still, should be interesting to see how far they get. I also hope the connection Gündogan - Mkhitaryan - Reus - Aubameyang continues too play and develope like we've seen so far, they are brilliant to watch.
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Called it:cool:
 
Am i the only one that isnt overly impressed with Aubameyang? I dont watch them often so i might be wrong but for me Reus(Gundo :() is still by far the best player they have and judging by some comments, articles and transfer speculation that isnt the general opinion as Aubameyang is seen as world-class. feck, tonight i even saw thread here where both Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are seen as world-class:nervous:
 
Šjor Bepo said:
Am i the only one that isnt overly impressed with Aubameyang? I dont watch them often so i might be wrong but for me Reus(Gundo :() is still by far the best player they have and judging by some comments, articles and transfer speculation that isnt the general opinion as Aubameyang is seen as world-class. feck, tonight i even saw thread here where both Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are seen as world-class:nervous:
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There's your problem. There's no doubt that Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are 2 of Dortmund's best players this season, 1 or 2 bad games don't change that.
 
Šjor Bepo said:
Am i the only one that isnt overly impressed with Aubameyang? I dont watch them often so i might be wrong but for me Reus(Gundo :() is still by far the best player they have and judging by some comments, articles and transfer speculation that isnt the general opinion as Aubameyang is seen as world-class. feck, tonight i even saw thread here where both Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are seen as world-class:nervous:
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he scored a great goal last night. still think he's a good goalscorer who could get better.

i'll tell you who doesn't come out of this looking well, Hummels. But then again I've always felt he was a bit overhyped
 
I expected more from them over both legs against Liverpool. They were no where near their best.
 
Xivon said:
There's your problem. There's no doubt that Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan are 2 of Dortmund's best players this season, 1 or 2 bad games don't change that.
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maybe but being one of the best players in Dortmund and being world-class is a whole different ball game(perfect example - Kagawa before the transfer). I dont deny they are one of the best in Dortmund and that they are good/very good players but they are not in that top tier of players and you can see the difference in quality when you see Reus(who plays in that same team) and when you see them.
 
They were very underwhelming against Liverpool. Nothing like the team that finished 2nd in BL. They've always had defensive problems in recent years and have to sort it out. Hummels especially is way too inconsistent.
 
Whenever teams that are expected to win don't, so many people jump to claiming they played poorly.

Often not that much credit is given to the other team.

Dortmund didn't play well because Liverpool played very well and stopped them playing in the way that they want. Of course there was also an element of arrogance from dortmunds side once they'd gone two up but I think Liverpool deserve a lot of credit.
 
Šjor Bepo said:
maybe but being one of the best players in Dortmund and being world-class is a whole different ball game(perfect example - Kagawa before the transfer). I dont deny they are one of the best in Dortmund and that they are good/very good players but they are not in that top tier of players and you can see the difference in quality when you see Reus(who plays in that same team) and when you see them.
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For the last year Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan have definitely been as good as Reus. Especially Mkhitaryan has been outperforming Reus in my opinion. The Dortmund side of now is a whole different side to the one of Kagawa before his transfer. They finished last in their group in the CL with that team. Now they score more goals in the league than Bayern.
 
Mkhitaryan has easily been better and vastly more important than Reus this season. Depending on ones definition of world class he could definitely fall into that category. Though you have to keep in mind that this is the first season he consistently showed this form.
Aubameyang scored a lot of goals and his overall play has improved a lot but he seems less important to the rythm of Dortmund's game to me.

africanspur said:
Whenever teams that are expected to win don't, so many people jump to claiming they played poorly.

Often not that much credit is given to the other team.

Dortmund didn't play well because Liverpool played very well and stopped them playing in the way that they want. Of course there was also an element of arrogance from dortmunds side once they'd gone two up but I think Liverpool deserve a lot of credit.
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Liverpool surely deserve a lot of credit, but I find it hard to say how much of it was Klopp/Liverpool or mistakes from Tuchel or a bit of false security after the seemingly decisive lead.
 
Have to say given the goals they conceded last night and the general amount of goals they concede what is the fuss about Hummels?
 
buckooo1978 said:
Have to say given the goals they conceded last night and the general amount of goals they concede what is the fuss about Hummels?
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He's basically like a "free" (dl)playmaker in possession and usually he's a very neat defender, who barely fouls (a couple of weeks ago opta tweeted that he had only seen 21 yellow cards in 221 BL matches and none in his last 21 matches) and can defuse a lot of situations before they become serious through his good anticipation.
Last season (and probably the one before that) he made way too many mistakes, though from what I remember he did quite well at the WC. But this year I'd say he's been pretty consistent again.

Here's a short compilation from this season:
 
I heard Dortmund didn't have a shot after the 60th min in either of the games against Liverpool (other than Gundog's free at the end).

Had they run themselves into the ground after an hour? Their pressing is great but it's a 90 min match, if it takes that much out of them then good teams will punish you.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
I heard Dortmund didn't have a shot after the 60th min in either of the games against Liverpool (other than Gundog's free at the end).

Had they run themselves into the ground after an hour? Their pressing is great but it's a 90 min match, if it takes that much out of them then good teams will punish you.
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They looked tired towards the end of both legs against us. Tuchel had them still trying to press going into the last five minutes instead of sitting deep and trying to hold the lead and I think it may have tired them out. Sturridge had three players around him before passing to Milner for the final goal and yet none of them looked like they were trying to put the challenge on.

That same concern has been shared by some about Klopp's style at Liverpool. You can't sustain pressing for 90 minutes week in week out in the Premier League.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
I heard Dortmund didn't have a shot after the 60th min in either of the games against Liverpool (other than Gundog's free at the end).

Had they run themselves into the ground after an hour? Their pressing is great but it's a 90 min match, if it takes that much out of them then good teams will punish you.
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With Tuchel they went to be a ball possession team - but you remarked in the two matches that they are just on the way to get one but do not have the ability now to smooth the match by controlling the match passing around now and loose the ball too easy.

In my eyes they played more on the break in the matches against Liverpool than they did before in this season. Reus had a good match - but that shows that, too. In the Tuchel system of this season he often looked poor and others like Mkhytharian looked much better than he did.

In that matches and situations it could be that you might need a different set of defensive midfielders, too. It is exactly that kind of matches in which I like to have a Martinez or a Vidal for Bayern and where it might not to be best to rely on a 20-year-old.
 
Tuchel uses possession to preserve energy, meaning his teams don't tire after so much pressing. Liverpool put pressure on them when in possession meaning they struggled to keep from becoming mentally fatigued as they never had a rest from Liverpool.
 
Gol123 said:
Tuchel uses possession to preserve energy, meaning his teams don't tire after so much pressing. Liverpool put pressure on them when in possession meaning they struggled to keep from becoming mentally fatigued as they never had a rest from Liverpool.
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How come Liverpool didn't get tired though?
 
Bob Loblaw said:
Adrenaline probably helped a lot.
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The atmosphere in Anfield sounded ridiculous and Klopp was smart to rest some players in the league against Stoke.

Still didn't think you'd do it though, must have been a hell of a half time talk.
 
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