The World Cup is almost over, but tomorrow Borussia Dortmund will play their first pre-season friendly vs Austria Wien. Frankly I don't expect this to be anything other than another trophyless underachieving season, barely securing a UCL spot, being eliminated in the Champions League group stage and maybe making a deep run in the DFB-Pokal, but our inept management and local fanbase will hail the season as a success because they are a spineless bunch devoid of ambition. Watzke has already set the bar low by stating BVB won't challenge for trophies because it would take at least two transfer windows to have a genuine contender, and this is after signing deadweight like Wolf and Delaney plus taking Hakimi on loan, which is exactly the sort of thing midtable feeder clubs do. I'll be truly surprised if BVB make it out of the UCL group stage. Oh well...
Okay, the first pre-season friendly vs Austria Wien has ended with 1-0 victory for BVB, Isak with the only goal in the first half. The only thing that matters here are the clean sheets, which are vital to our league campaign. If we don't concede any goals or very few if we're realistic throughout our pre-season friendlies there might be some hope for us yet.
I'd wait before calling Wolf or Delaney deadweight but I don't think Wolf had a good game today. But you need the different player types. Friendly against Austria was won 1:0. I only saw the second half and parts of the first. I think Sancho will be a fantastic player this season if he gets the proper support. Gomez looked promising. If he can develop, it will be a joy to watch him and Sancho pick apart defenses. Both have great technique, both can move with the ball on their feet and dribble past players and they seem to be the players you need to break bunker teams. Zagadou looked good. Decent, precise passing although not flawless. He and Akanji have that not giving a damn attitude and great composure under pressure that I like.
Yes it’s a scrimmage but I do like how we seem to have better shape at the back and are trying to player quicker in attack First half commentary only - my girls have assumed control of the remote
OK, I watched the full match and here's what happened. - First half: Favre seemed to focus more blunting Manchester City's attack and hit them on the counter but we seem to lack that final touch to turn those counters into goals. Still Pulisic won us a penalty which was decisively converted by Götze. - Second half: We were more proactive in attack and dominated M. City for most of the second half, and they only caused some trouble in our side are when Guardiola introduced Sane, but our defence managed to keep him quiet after a while. This Manchester City was made up mostly of fringe players and new signings, but still a win and a clean sheet, and all that matters in these pre-season friendlies is our defensive performance.
First half was much better from us. More positive build-up play from the midfield -and the wings. Even Isak helped with build-up sometime. Quick passes, unlocking defenses. If it continues this way we could see the type of beautiful football we last saw with Klopp. Gotze dropped sometimes to pickup the ball from our half, but he needs to turn more often when receiving the ball with his back to goal. He often just passes it back, and like many others he needs to adapt to the more positive approach that I think Favre is trying to implement. Surprisingly, our first half midfield+wingers (Gotze, Rode, Burnic, Pulisic and Bruun-Larsen) did a better job than our second half crew IMO (Sahin, Dahoud, Gomez, Sancho, Wolf) in terms of passing the ball around and creating chances.
Didn’t catch any of the game and I know it’s preseason but to wake up and see a 1-0 victory over ManCity is great to see! Onto the next one!
New coach, same problem. Another goal conceded from a set-piece. I fully expect Liverpool to score a goal from a simple counter in the second half.
Well, that was quite a turnaround. 3-1 win for us, but we still need to work on our set-pieces. Still, the team must be commended for withstanding Liverpool's barrage of attacks in the second half.
we got lucky, lpool played like we usually do, being better team but wasting chances and opposition making the most of a few chances that they get. nevertheless CP was impressive today
I'm just happy there are more passes forward in the last 2 games, than in like half of last season Defense was badly outplayed.. but it's OK I guess: it's not the first team, and it's only like the 3rd game of preseason
Lurker but first time poster. I went to the game yesterday (hence the Heel as in Tar Heel). Had a freaking blast sitting with some supporters from Borussia and a couple people from their sports marketing PR. I started as a fan two years ago just due to CP but must say that I've really become a full fledge rabid fan. I had never really followed any pro soccer overseas and only followed Americans abroad and a few players that I liked (not messi and CR7). But after beginning to follow the Bundesliga the last couple years I have really just fallen in love with Borussia, its supporters and its locale in Germany. Wanted to say that the game really changed when Reus and Pulisc came on. Of course it wasnt first team versus first team and it was more of mixed bag of parts everywhere. No Saleh, No Mane but it was still nice to see the ball in attacking areas more. The central defense and RB seemed to struggle. That corner goal for Van Dijk was just terrible due to no one marking him of all people. But otherwise I saw quite a few bright spots. I watched the Klopp interview after the game. Very nice things to say about CP and about BVB in general. Great interview. Clearly Klopp still loves his German football and is proud of his heritage. (Even made the comment that CP is probably better served with BVB.) I am looking forward to seeing what the new young defenders can do with the squad and looking forward to League and the Champions Cup group stages. I think that hoping we get out of group stage is ideal at this point.
Anybody else noticed the Pulisic/Gotze interaction on the Penalty making 1-1. Seemed to me like Gotze wanted to take the penalty (again) when Pulisic approached and asked for it, Gotze said no and Pulisic said ******** it I'm taking it regardless and Gotze looked at him all pissed. Might not be a good sign if they get under each other skin so early... Video : (Gotze/Pulisic interaction at 1:15)
I'm not sure yet how to feel about the next season... Defense still seems on the weak side on paper (so many odd man rushes in those pre-season games) and we can't really control the mid field, old laterals (Piszczek/Schmelzer) and we don't have a clear striker.
We had a great first half against Benfica with brace by Maximilian Philipp and completely forgot how to defend allowing Benfica to come back, the we lost on penalties. We've already conceded 3 goals in the dumbest way possible, and today was further proof that Toprak has no business playing for us. Still don't understand why he's held in such high regard by the local fanbase. Anyways I still think we gave a good account of ourselves in this year's ICC, and hopefully the US tour has helped boost our popularity in the States.
Only saw the second half of today's friendly. Subbing out almost the whole team is making it hard to judge but the defense didn't look good on those two goals. Besides that and keeping in mind that friendlies can be deceiving, some observations: - I think we can already see what was supposed to be Favre's style: Less contacts on the ball, quicker passing and we are set up to counter. It looks quite hectic because everything has to be made faster and some things don't work out. But there were some nice combinations and ideas. This will also help to make the opponent get tired. - You get the impression that some players are more comfortable with that kind of football. The technically gifted like Gomez and Sancho have no problem with that. To rely on their instincts suits them. Zagadou and Dahoud don't have a problem with that style. I didn't see much of Sahin but I thought he stuck out as the one who didn't play that football at all. Nothing wrong with having a few metronoms to take out the speed when it's needed and make a good deliberate decision but it just looks like he's not a fit. - Sancho and Gomez are made to play together. Both need time, Sancho had a couple of opportunities but didn't know what to do once he was inside the box. But I maintain that I think he's already good enough to get serious minutes this season and be an important contributor. - Wolf had a few good runs but he has room for improvement. We need his physicality and height. His style actually reminds me of a faster Schürrle and I hope he turns out to be the better version. - I think Hitz could have done better on at least one of the goals. - I'm not sure whether we have a midfield - Not a foreign element for Dortmund: Everyone works hard for the system to work.
Only the players (or lip readers) know the truth here but I hope that your scenario is not true. I don't know whether there is already a hierarchy in place for penalties in these friendlies that the players should obey, but if your take is right, it's not a good look for such a young player.
That is correct if in fact that is what happened... however, it is also arrogant of a player and a little concerning that he would not defer to the hometown kid to take the penalty since he earned it. These preseason goals mean shite, and there is no reason to not give the US fans what they paid to see.
People say preseason is meaningless and I both agree and disagree. The results don't matter much, but the performances do. We were terrible last preseason with the team looking shambles. We looked average in Tuchel's final year, but looked incredible in his first. I have seen the preseason games and I am very impressed. Gotze and Dahoud look like they are ready to have storming seasons. The centre backs look solid. We still have gaps. We need a keeper that can play out of the back and we need a top striker. Gotze's assist against Benfica was magical.