Fück the DFL. After every single CL game, we play away from home. 4 against teams who are not playing in Europe at all, one of them happens to be Schalke. The other 2 are Frankfurt and those twats from München. Meanwhile, those aforementioned twats play all of the other 5 matches at home as well.
Based on what I've seen from Favre this is what I suspect will happen: a strong first half of the season only to completely capitulate once the second half of the season starts, we will be knocked out of the Champions League the moment we step into the last 16, because Favre has NEVER advanced from a knockout round in European tournaments in his career, but the local fan base will hail this season as a success.
I still see an easy top 3 finish and a huge disparity between us and Bayern. However if they dont make some signings they could be in trouble for once.
Pre season game against Liverpool showed that we have some additional good quality this new season. The players who stood out for me: - Hummels! The fact that we got him doesn't send the right message overall. But he was commanding and in control in the back. That's always good to see. - Morey. Very good ability on the ball and able to play a fluid passing game. Brun Larsen, unfortunately, is still the weakest link (despite the good finish in his goal.) I hope we get a backup striker so that the other attacking players play in their natural positions.
I haven't seen much of the preseason games but Morey seems to be a very elegant player. Fine technique and close ball control with the ability to dribble around players pressing him. It was said he'd rather be an option for next year but he didn't look that out of place. Our youth players Pherai and Raschl looked promising as well. They might be used during rotation against weaker opponents. Weigl looked good in the phases that I saw him. He simply has a faster trigger than Witsel or Delaney and should get more opportunities this season. I think Brandt will turn out to be a very good addition. Also, there are signs to be cautiously optimistic that Wolf could finally be useful for us (besides as a 3rd choice FB). In general, the team seemed to play and pass faster which is nice to watch and a development I'd welcome. That was something that Bayern was considerably better at than us last season. But I've seen that often in past test games and once the season starts, it's slower and more risk averse again.
With better players like Sancho, Hazard, Brandt, Reus and Paco, we should move the ball faster. The biggest factor will be Hakimi, Morey, Gurreiro and Schulz. They offer not only width and speed but also creativity. The days of static FBs like Schmelzer are well behind us.
Decent result in the friendly today with a mixture of first and what I imagine will be second team players. Hummels playing gives us a new dimension, which completely changes how teams press against us. For instance the Tottenham would have been completely different with Hummel's ability to hit long range passes. He is not afraid to hit an early ball over the top, when you add this to the pace, intelligence and movement of our attackers, then teams will be punished for pushing up against us. So teams won't be able to condense the pitch and suffocate the midfield. That said Reus still looks a bit off and Gotze did not add much. Witsel played some very nice passes for two goals, but still moved the ball slowly. Hakimi played as one of the attacking 3, usually on the right, but switching and did well. It's a shame Brandt and Thorgan are injured, but this is precisely why we have so much depth. I wonder if Favre will play the first 11 against Bayern? I wonder if this is the game he test Dahoud and Weigl. When Brandt does get fit, I dont see the problem of him playing on the left. Raphael spent most of his time inside, virtually playing midfield anyway and with Schulz we will have enough width.
Haven't watched much of preseason, but I did manage to make it to the Liverpool match in South Bend in person. It seems that Favre is planning to play Brandt as an 8 to remediate the lack of creativity in last year's Witsel-Delaney pairing, especially because there is a lot of wing depth.
I hope not. Firstly I hate the Witsel Delaney partnership, in the end it offered nothing. It did not give extra protection to the defence and it couldn't cope with the physicality of the top teams. Tottenham and Bayern especially brushed them aside. By playing the two we already sacrifice technique and quick passing. I dont see the point of doing something we know is bound to fail. As for Brandt, as long as he is given freedom then he can thrive. He should take inspiration from Ronaldinho, Zidane and Nedved. Players, who shone the left in midfield. Even Iniesta regularly played there. As long as he is given license and not told to hog the touch line then he should be alright.
Sorry, what I meant is that Brandt would basically replace Delaney (with Weigl sometimes playing instead of Witsel) so that we wouldn't see the Witsel-Delaney combo on a regular basis.
I only saw the highlights which can be misleading but it looked as if Götze played a part in 3 of the goals (admittedly with small contributions to two of those) and he also had other really nice passes that weren't converted (the Bruun Larsen chance around the 67th minute, for example). He's the perfect triangle/short passes player for us to bring other players in good scoring situations, he's just not a striker that positions himself for his own opportunities or keeps the oppoent's CBs busy in their box. It's likely that it will greatly depend on the system whether he can be really useful.
Brandt and Hazard are not available on Saturday. Usually the super cup is a glorified friendly but I'm sure this one will be a watered down version of a down to the wire title match. I hope Götze stays. He's a frustrating player but when played as a no 10 he's excellent. I hope we keep Gurreiro as well. He's intelligent, fast and has an eye for goal. Weigl might not move to PSG since they ended up getting another midfielder. The club is trying to offload Toprak, Phillip but with not much success. Time is running out and we still have Kagawa to get rid of. The main concern this season is going to be defence. As soon as we face attacking teams like Spurs, Bayern, Juventus and Liverpool, we are going to be in trouble. Dead ball situations haven't changed since 2012.
Brandt gives us everything Raphael gives and a lot more, when they both play in midfield. Raphael would be useful as a second choice left back. The problem with the Tottenham and Bayern matches were not just the defence, it was the midfield. The defence has been greatly strengthened by adding Hummels and Schulz. Hummels will give the team some experience and leadership. For me the main concern will still be the midfield. It's a shame we are missing Brandt and Hazard for the super cup. It would have been a great opportunity to send a message. I am not sure we have had enough friendlies against tough opponents. The team still did not look fully fit against Gallen, except for Weigl.
No Brandt, no Hazard and now no Hummels tonight. I just want to win and not have to see that with Toprak at the back.
OMG What an epic answer by Aki. Classic. Destroyed Hoeneß. Sorry for those who don't know the context and understand German. 1161344226497613825 is not a valid tweet id
A pretty damning evidence of why we need to get rid of Lucien Favre and his coaching staff: full article https://statsbomb.com/2019/09/how-worrying-is-borussia-dortmunds-slow-start/ In short, defensively, they have gone from allowing 0.2 xG and being the second best team at defending set pieces to shipping 0.26 xG and 12th place to a ridiculous 0.45 xG conceded – one of the worst marks in the league this young season. ...given his messy departures at Hertha and Gladbach (where he quit after losing the first five league matches of the 2015-16 season), there should be some worries about his long-term future at Dortmund. In particular, because after 3 games, his Dortmund team looks more like a very good, but not a great team. ...but when you take out the 11 game spike where BVB got 31 points, they are essentially the FOURTH best Bundesliga team over the last 22 games. Since B04 fired Heiko Herrlich, their xG looks markedly better than Dortmund’s and they’ve also got 41 points to BVB’s 40 in the 20 game Bosz era. The extension talks of Bosz’ expiring deal are justifiably in the works.
Ever since the winter break we have been performing far below our level. This team is fantastic on paper and we need a great manager. I actually would give the job to Mourinho, because our time is now. We current;y have Reus, Witsel and Hummels in their prime. Sancho will leave this summer. We need to capitlise now and establish a reputation. Mourinho is toxic after three years, but he wins big trophies where ever he goes even at United.
Sport Bild really needs to sell papers here. They publish a bombshell saying that LF didn't approve the signing of Hummels and Schulz. Meanwhile, the players aren't convinced of LFs tactics, rotation policy and training. This is the same rag, BTW that said we would be title winners. That said, I'm not a fan of LF and if we can get a better coach then I'm all for it.
It's not a reliable source, but I feel something is wrong. Let's see if the international break does the squad some good.
Sport Bild is a rag. But at the same time I also think that not all is right between the coaching staff and the players.
after losing that last match im not sure we can win anything at all... that was an abysmal match to lose and shows just how far off we are from winning anything tangible at all in the BL..