This lineup looks like an attempt to balance the workload during a busy schedule with the need to get results. Weigl, Bats and Götze start on the bench. I don't think the Castro-Dahoud midfield will work well. The Weigl type is missing and Castro doesn't seem to be suited to take over the defensive part of a 6-8 midfield duo. This is a must win against a tough team who are having a very good season so far after Schalke, Leverkusen and Hoffenheim won. Leipzig drew their game. Bürki LP Akanji Toprak Schmelzer Castro Dahoud Pulisic Philipp Schürrle Reus Bench: Weidenfeller, Sokratis, Zagadou, Sahin, Weigl, Bats, Götze I suppose all 3 of Schürrle, Reus and Philipp can play something close to a striker position and they'll probably change positions. I hope my bad feeling about throwing together a new midfield coupled with an offense that isn't used to playing together is wrong.
1:0 for us. Own goal after a cross by Pulisic, but if the defender doesn't try to hit it, we score anyways. Second dangerous situation after Schürrle should have scored just moments before that.
Great! Gotze, Weigl, Bats, Sokratis, Zagadou on the bench, while Toprak, Schmelzer, LP, Castro and Schurrle get to start. Oh boy, what wonders to expect from these elite players!
Early yellow for Dahoud who I think has been really good so far. Considering how hard he works in this game, it's hard to see him play 90 mins anyways.
Mo Dahoud has been our best player by a distance for three straight games. I thought we were a man down. Then realized it's cuz of Castro who has been his usual bumbling self. Schurrle sucks.
1:0 at the half. The first part was good by us but if we continue to play like we did in the second part of this half, it's hard to believe we'll win this game.
Boring first half. We are fortunate that Frankfurt conceded an own goal. With the likes of Schurrle in front, Castro in midfield and that defense (bar Akanji) we don't even look threatening at all.
This untested line-up has proven surprisingly effective considering we're a man down, Schürrle's had two good shots and was unlucky not to find the back of the net.
Shame Dahoud is off . It was a harsh yellow and he was playing well again . On another note Schurrle is awful again , his touch as usual , but his passing is also muck .
When Gotze, Reus, Mo, Sokratis, Pulisic, Michy need a rest you know because they start playing like crap. Castro, Toprak and Schurrle regularly play like crap all the time so this doesn't apply to them so they continue to get 90min a game.
Idiotic and unnecessary foul by Castro led to that goal. Thanks to Michy and Pulisic we are up again.
Schurrle has not had one positive contribution . Gives the ball away everytime and turning an opportunity for us to one for them .
Great to win it like that, very important three points. There are several extremely mediocre to players on this team, it's almost painful to watch. I hope for most of them this is their last season for BVB. Dahoud was good.
An extremely lucky win for us. Stoger has not improved our defence after all. In fact, by letting Schurrle and Toprak play 90 min he jeopardizes a win every match. Apart from Pulisic, Michy and Dahoud, I just saw a ton of extremely average and and subpar performances. And Castro was absolutely garbage throughout. He must have some compromising pictures of someone somewhere to get those kinds of min. He wouldn't get into HSV with his skill level.
I've said many times that he's probably blackmailing Zorc, because otherwise there is no reason to play him at all.
Batshuayi bailed us out with two extremely well taken finishes. It was a lucky win in the end but we should have decided the game earlier when Schürrle and Bats wasted very good chances. One of the few positives one could take away is that we at least showed a good mentality after conceding twice and after a tough Euro game during the week. But with the resources we have available, both on the field and financially, Frankfurt shouldn't be on our level. But in general, most didn't play well today after the start looked promising. If one is generous, Schürrle had only one positive scene in the entire game with his run before the winner that opened up sapace nd committed their defender so that their wouldn't be doubt whether Bats was offside or not. But otherwise, nothing worked for him and it's hard to compensate when too many in the team offer nothing. Weigl looked weak as well, he wanted to make things happen too much by himself and made bad decisions.
Schurrle was bad. Dahoud was good. Weigl makes the defense worse. He positions badly and he makes too many bad passes that don't even have much upside. Piszczek was bad. I mean, on the last goal against, Piszczek never even noticed the man behind him... and he had no other responsibility. There was no one else to mark. There was no crowd. There was no excuse. He got beaten by just not even being aware enough to remember he had a job to do. It was _easily_ defended. He just forgot to defend.
Agree on most point. The most worrisome is the situation with Weigl as he is stuck in form rout to the point where he's no longer recognizable. The worst part is that he's vital to Dortmund's success and supposed to be one of the building blocks going forward.
On Thursday, I fully expect PS to field Dahoud and Weigl behind Götze, Reus, Michy, Phillip/Pulisic. Also we desperately need Raphael back so we don't have to see Schmelzer be the most average player ever to don our colours. I don't get why Toprak is so beloved. Why not develop DAZ. This kid has not gotten any min since Stöger took over and we might end up losing him. Frankly, knowing Stöger, he will field Toprak, Castro and Schurrle for another 90 min and we might just end up bowing out of a competition we were expected to not even participate in, let alone dominate.