I've heard that it was Tuchel that wanted Castro as well. The signings from the board have been excellent. Kagawa, Lewandowski, Kuba, Hummels, Dembele, Raphael, Weigl etc. Yes there have been a few bad ones, but that's to be expected. Nobody is perfect. When it comes to signing players the Dortmund board can hold their head above virtually every other club in the world. When it comes to selling players, then they have been pathetic, but that's not the problem for this season. They should have got more for Hummels, Gundogan and Miki. As for the contracts they should be proactive and sign up players to contracts earlier and give wage increases when players deserve it. Auba has deserved a wage increase for a long time. However, Hummels did not leave for the money. He could have easily got a lot more money in England, but he wanted to return to Bayern. When a player wants to return home for family reasons in addition to footballing ones there is not much you can do. Payet recently took a significant pay cut to go home. Miki didn't deserve the board to kiss his ass. Dembele is 19 and already has shown the guts to not only take a key penalty in a shoot out, but take the first penalty. The board need to do better, but this season apart from giving Auba a new bigger contract they have done everything they should do. They provided Tuchel with excellent players like Dembele, Raphael and Gotze. It's Tuchel that plays them out of position. This team is far, far better than any other team in the Bundesliga except Bayern. Just look at the players that Hoffenheim and Frankfurt put out. Even Leipzig can't even come close. This season is a spectacular failure and one man deserves the blame above all others.
While I agree we should not be happy with today, let's not jump off the ship just yet We are still alive in both the Pokal and CL and despite today have an excellent chance of finishing in the top 4 of the BL Let it play out and then examine everything from top to bottom
TBF no team is standing out this season. Bayern barely squeezed out a win at the death vs a last place team...... Like I said there's a giant cloud hanging over the top BL teams this season and I don't know what it is...
While I agree - I see a very concerning trend emerging. Both Auba and Reus look disinterested right now, and that along with the disjointed team play makes you wonder what is happening behind the scenes. We can still qualify top 3 and win the Pokal, but we definitely won't achieve that with the type of performance put in today.
Help me understand how we start Burnic and Durm as our FB's (Durm rotated through a WB role as well), while Passlack remains nailed to the bench? I find it astounding. Not surprisingly Durm was poor, and Burnic was completely lost on the defensive end. Darmstadt's 2nd goal was on Burnic and he also managed to play Heller onside on two long balls over the top.
So when do we jump off the ship? I could go back further but let's start with 2012: - we've won zero relevant titles since then. - we've lost our best player (FOR FREE!!) and best defenceman since then to our most hated rival - we've lost the jewel of our academy to the most hated rival and have got back a shell of a player after three years - every single winter transfer since then has been a flop - apart from 2013, every CL appearance beyond the group stage has been lacklustre. - we've even missed a CL appearance. - we've bought or have players in our squad who in their current form wouldn't even be considered at clubs like Atletico, Chelsea, Juventus, Bayern, Barca and Madrid. - our record signing is Andre Schürrle - since the summer 2014 we've spent over a 110M on either flops of below average players. - we are a club that give youngsters chances yet Passlack, Merino, Mor, Bonnman rarely get to see action while under performers like Castro, Piszczek, Schmelzer and Weidenfeller have been automatic starters. - I can understand big mistakes when it comes to player contracts but how did we learn so late that buy out clauses are deadly? We lost Götze once and almost lost Reus. - we let three core players wind their contracts down to the last year before having to let them go. It's like we have a bunch of interns running the club. - Puma owns a share in our club and yet pay Arsenal 30M while us just 15M. Chelsea, club which missed the CL during the time frame discussed has just scored a 66M per year deal with Nike. So when do we jump off the ship?
At first I questioned that, too, but I suppose Tuchel wanted to go with 3 at the back that would rather fit a CB type which I guess makes sense. Burnic is considerably taller than Passlack. It still remains a mystery why Passlack doesn't get any playing time anymore. And unless Bartra had a knock, there was no reason to leave him out for Burnic after he finally had a decent game. I understand the need for giving young prospects playing time but they should be added into a working environment with experienced players around them. Starting with Pulisic and Mor wasn't a bad idea as their skills can be useful against deep sitting teams. But throwing in Burnic as well into an already shaky defense seemed a little bit arrogant. The lineup was extremely young and with too few veterans and it showed.
Both ours and Man City's transferwindow have been similar. Buying too much offensive talent instead of balancing offensive/defensive signings. They should have splashed the Nolito money on a fullback. We should have splashed the Schurrle+Rode money on a better CB than Bartra or a very good defensive midfielder. Also, some odd decisions by Tuchel. Why not play Passlack? Why not Raphael at LB to make use of his stamina and creativity on that left flank?
I think this is a fair criticism for Manchester City, but not Dortmund. The club set aside money to buy a centre back. Tuchel chose Bartra. The blame lies with Tuchel. The board had already gone against his wishes in signing the likes of Dembele, Mor and Gotze. They needed to compromise and give him his first choice at centre back. In midfield Tuchel like Guardiola seemed to want to play a 4-1-4-1 with Oliver Torres and Castro as the two 8s/10s. The board forced Gotze on him instead of Torres, but Tuchel still decided to play Gotze and even Kagawa out of position. There was money for another central midfielder to partner Weigl, but Tuchel chose Rode. So the problem this summer wasn't too much offensive talent, though I think Mor was not needed, but Tuchel's poor signings and poor tactics. Even as things stand now the team is only 2 talented players away from being arguably the best in the world. Sign Goretzka/Dahoud and a tall ball playing centre back. A team looking like this would probably be the best in the CL next season. Burki Passlack--Sokratis--Van Dijk--Raphael ----------Weigl---Dahoud/Goretzka Dembele----------Gotze------------Reus ---------------Auba---------------- It's not that hard to do.
Goretzka is definitely not coming here. Van Dijk is not being considered by BVB either. Whether we, as fans, want them here is of course another story altogether.
Van Dijk is definitely not coming he is too expensive. However, he was just an example of the type of player needed. It will take good scouting, but Chelsea and Madrid managed to sign Zouma/Varane. I've said it before, but Goretzka is far from impossible. If Schalke don't make the CL then he will probably want to leave. Dortmund or Leipzig would be the best possible moves. I don't think he is coming, because I believe there is a good chance the club still get Dahoud. The point is that the club is just two players away from having a team capable of winning the CL. I am not sure Tuchel is the man to be in charge.
I don't agree with you on the players coming here but irregardless I don't think TT is the right person when it comes to acquisition nor development. And on this I agree with you. A good summer would see us lose Schürrle, Rode, Castro, Sahin, Piszczek, Durm, Bartra and Park. Hold onto PEA, bring in a creator in the middle, a CB other than Toprak. And also get Reus to extend. If he doesn't then sell him and Götze. Tactically, make Raphael no. 1 as LB. Let Schmelzer compete for playing time. Let Götze and Kagawa compete for the no. 10. Let Isak compete and develop at his pace. Let Ginter and Passlack compete and make the RB spot their own. Let Merino play and develop as a central creator and compete for that spot. The amount of dead weight and substandard players in this squad is just unbelievable.
I think we are in agreement that Van Dijk is not coming in. I don't think Goretzka is coming in either, I just think that the transfer is possible. Dahoud is the one that I think realistically could come in. I am in full agreement what would count as a good summer though with the exception of Gotze. I've given many examples before, but Gotze deserves next season to show what he can do. Look at Falcao this season or Pedro. Fully agree that the squad is far too bloated and in Germany this is even more ridiculous given the fewer games.
Luckily for us Hoffenheim and Köln lost today, but we can't rely solely on other results going our way.
I would say that it comes down to me having a different view on our most recent history I don't feel the standard should be BL title or CL finals or the season was a failure My baseline is top 3 BL, final eight CL and finals of the Pokal Since 2012 we have made mistakes, but we have also achieved some great things Strong revenue growth Debt payoff Reserve fund Increased brand awareness Solid transition from a legendary coach Managed losing top players to larger clubs fairly well all things considered That said I am concerned with many of the points you raised. I feel a review at minimum is warranted after the season. An overhaul if things really go south replacing upper management at a large firm requires patience and a thorough vetting of potential replacements. It is not something to be undertaken lightly Nobody wants to consider the downside. We could end up with someone worse than Zorc Anyway good question. I hope I answered it
That is setting bar pretty damn low, and this season we've seen the concsequences of setting the bar low.
Overhauling would be a very significant undertaking - that needs to be a last resort. With that said, my concern right now is there looks to be a very significant crack developing between Watzke/Zorc and Tuchel. The body language of the players is also concerning. For the most part I agree with @bvbSlash post - and the recent decisions made by the club leave much to be desired. It seems that for every great move we make (signing Dembele), we make two or three poor ones (signing Rode, losing Hummels, etc.). I have been saying for 2-3 years that Watzke's time with this club has passed; or at the very minimum needs a substantial reassessment. While the club looks to be on solid financial footing, recent performance on the field as well as recent transfer market activity is not encouraging. It's not realistic to expect to win a trophy every year, however we haven't won anything in 5 years and I have no desire to fall into the pattern of Leverkusen (the consummate 3rd or 4th place team). As much as I'm frustrated with Tuchel a this point, I am much more upset with Watzke. You can tell that Tuchel is missing some of the key pieces he needs to be successful, and that inability to field a "complete" squad is on W/Z. While I understand that we aren't (and likely shouldn't be) a club that drops major dollars on big stars, there is no excuse for their inability to acquire the necessary pieces. My personal opinion is that Watzke was able to achieve the success he did with Klopp due to a mixture of skill and substantial luck. While he undoubtedly made some great decisions - he was also very fortunate in the development of some key acquisitions (Lewa), and the performance of a great coach. What he's doing now is trying to replicate that by using an "opportunistic" rather than "strategic" transfer market strategy. That's great for a team coming out of bankruptcy - but it's not a sustainable recipe for success for a club that's one of the top dozen in the world.
The ship sank when those two sons of bitches Goetze and Lewandowski were negotiating with our biggest rival in the middle of a Champions League run. The Goetze transfer was announced two days before the first R. Madrid game and he conveniently got injured so he missed the final as well. Lewandowski was Bayern's nightmare in 2011/12 and he didn't score once against them in the following season, including missing a penalty 3 weeks before the final, which is ''shocking'' since he wanted to play for them and started throwing hissy fits because we wouldn't let him out of his contract so he could join them. Everything fell apart after that. You can't build a winning culture, image and mentality when your two best players abandon you in the middle of a historic run to the team you fought so hard to take down the previous two seasons. And mind you, we were the two time defending Bundes Champions and playing to win the Champions League. It's not like they were these poor struggling souls desperately wanting trophies. The timing and the way they left showed that they couldn't give a lesser damn about the club and everything that has happened since including that ******** Hummels has been just an avalanche that can't be stopped. Take Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan or Tom Brady...when your leader is humble, cares about the city, cares about the fans, then everyone who comes into the team buys into that winning culture. All of them took various cuts in their contracts so the team can become better. Our three best players from the Klopp era all went to Bayern. Just imagine Duncan secretly negotiating in the middle of a playoff run so he can join the Lakers. Or Brady trying to secretly join Rex Ryan's Jets. It's like Durant but imagine him announcing that he's joining the Warriors right before game one of the Western Conference finals. We had a great team that could have competed for CL for years but you can't overcome stuff like that.
So gotze convienently got injured in the Madrid series which at the time wasn't a guarantee into the finals just so that Bayern who also were playing Barca at the time (with the winner also unknown)... Wouldn't have to play Bayern in a final? There's a psychic if I ever saw one
Dont you think some of the acquisitions that have failed falls on Tuchel too? Not going for Sule and blowing 30M on a Schurlle I am not sure is even in his plan A club like Dortmund cant afford to have a 30M trasfer flop. thats a significant part of the budget. Of all the like 7 summer transfers only Dembele looks like a good deal at this moment and partly Raphael(if he is used as LB) 2/7 is a terrible record
I disagree. Only one club has consistently achieved that type of success in the BL and that's Bayern Realistically we should finish a distant second behind them in both domestic competitions In the CL reaching the final 8 is also performing well above our financial reach
At least it seems that Reus and Auba wont do that to Dortmund. Even though Auba is on such a low salary comparatively. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2892...could-leave-dortmund-but-id-never-join-bayern
Dortmund cannot afford to have a 15M flop (Rode) not even being able to make a gameday squad let alone a 30M Schurrle. That's 45M down the drain..although Schurrle is still able to contribute significantly down the road although not contribute "30M" significantly. Rode has just been a waste from the get go.
No it's not. Dortmund are the 11th richest club in the world. This current CL 3 of the top 10 are not in the competition, so making the quarters if the bare minimum to be expected. 5 of the top 10 richest clubs are also in England, meaning at least one of them will miss out of the CL every season. So reaching the quarters for Dortmund is nothing special. Especially when you factor in the wealth of talent in Germany, the additional wages and fees English clubs have to pay for English talent. As for your second point if we should realistically finish a distant 2nd then we should realistically be miles ahead of the third place team. At the moment the club is fourth making the current league form a disaster.