Borussia Dortmund 2018-19 Season General Discussion thread

I don't care. The only of those 4 I would want back us Auba. Miki flopped at United and will probably do likewise at Arsenal.

Sokratis tried hard but his performances have been poor for a couple of years.

Auba on the other hand is going to be a nightmare to replace.

 

Not a great start to this friendly. The full backs and Sahin are still weaknesses.

Gotze' s touch is incredible. I am really excited to see what he can do this season.

 

The good is Gotze. Every time he gets the ball the team moves forward. He is linking well with Wolf.

The bad is pretty much everything else.

Akanji needs to pass quicker.

Sahin, Schmelzer, Piszcek shouldn't be starting.

Wolf is a very limited player.

Reus is having his first match but is not a striker and we need him deeper.

 

So far the only player who has improved 3rd year in a row is Mario Götze. The rest are pretty much the same in a better system. Mario needs to be moved further forward so he can play behind the lines.

 

Gotze has improved incrementally three years in a row only because he has become a shell of his former self and is nowhere close to attaining that form. Let's call it how it is and not sugarcoat his performances. At this point I would much rather have Dahoud and Kagawa be giving the playing time ahead of Gotze.

 

Kagawa is regressing so how does he even fit into the discussion? He was bang avg at the WC. Dahoud and Gotze do not excel in the same positions. One creates plays and the other creates goals.

 

Thought Kagawa was one of the few positives last season .

 

That's a really low bar.

 

Two friendlies today with different teams. First game against Zürich was won. I only saw parts of the second game against Napoli that we lost 1:3. One has to keep in mind that we are in the middle of very intensive training sessions and in contrast to Napoli, we didn't switch out the whole team. We are working to be ready in around 2-3 weeks and not now.

Pulisic had a good game. I think Diallo and Akanji will work out. Without having seen the first game where we conceded 3 goals as well, the defense remains a problem though. I think right now, we are making it way too easy for the opponent to score but individual errors is something the coach can address. I like the kind of passes Diallo chooses to make that bring us in better attacking positions instead of the usual 3 options that are so boring to watch: Either just passing to the CB partner, the FB on his side or a CM who runs to him. Toprak had a major brainfart to set up Napoli's third goal but by then, it didn't matter anyways. Diallo/Akanji is clearly my preferred CB duo.

What I'm really interested in is seeing how the midfield will look like once the starters are playing together. So far, we haven't seen that and from the games I've seen, the center midfield looked average and not creative at all.

 

It was a disappointing game. I feel like I am repeating myself, but LP, Schmelzer and Sahin just can't start. Diallo was poor today too, but Toprak was decent.

Gotze was below his usual level, but he needs to be further forward. Dahoud is very hit and miss, he needs to perform better.

Philipp is still not a striker, but he is learning and was clinical. Sancho was poor and Pulisic was not much better for me.

I really think Hakimi, Akanji/Raphael, Weigl and Witsel need to come into the team as quickly as possible.

Also we should do whatever it takes to get Martial and offer whoever, it takes.

 

So 2 goals were individual errors from Schmelzer and Toprak. How unsurprising. These two need to go within the next 2 seasons.

I think the club will give Raphael one more season under LF to get his act together.

 

I thought the corner was Diallo's fault for losing his man, but I will have to see again.

I am not a fan of Toprak, but so far he has been better than Diallo.

 

Apparently we are harsh critics.. World power rankings came out today and the yellow and black are sitting at 15. Of course this is someones opinion but maybe we are just being a bit harsh about our chance.

https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/ne...limb-after-impressive-premier-league-openers/

 

How is this a good thing to be 15th in Europe, but the ranking seems really random. It has Liverpool ahead of Manchester City. Nothing suggest we should be ahead of Monaco and Napoli either.

This just further shows how far we have fallen.

 

Maybe I am not as harsh about the chances of the club. But being top 15 is respectable. To think of the historically great clubs out there, being around 15 isnt a terrible thing. Could we be higher if we paid some cash? Yes. There is a medium to what we want and to what BVB management wants I think though.

I would like to compete for silver and league championships but Id rather see some changes than try and compete with Bayern. We are not set to currently compete with Bayern unless we add some pieces. We are in between decent to good.

Right now we just lack idenitity. If we are going to go young all around, then go young and sell of some bad veterans not a part of the youth movement and take our lumps. If we are going to try and compete then by god spend the money and compete. Sitting at status quo helps no one. Personally I would rather spend the money and go young, selling off the older players that dont fit into the grand scheme right now. Having no identity is not better than having the identity of a young up and coming team.

 

It is terrible, because we are the 2nd biggest club in Germany and have a good income. We were not so long ago top 5. It's hard to judge these things, but that in Tuchel's first year we were definitely top 5. Even in his second year, despite losing 2 world class players and Mkhitaryan, and the horrific attempt to murder the team, we were still top 8.

Watzke seems to have forgotten that this is a football club. He looks at things purely like a business.

Say we spend the money and buy Werner and Brandt. What is the likely outcome of the season:

Finish 2nd to Bayern in the Bundesliga
Lose to Bayern in the Cup
Make the last 8 of the CL.

Now say we go into the season as things stand. What is the likely outcome:

Finish 2nd to Bayern in the Bundesliga
Lose to Bayern in the cup
Go out in the group stages of the CL

Of course we will be far more competitive if we spend the money, but the results may not change much and for Watzke it's not worth it. It's the Arsenal mentality and look where they are now.

We keep up this attitude and it won't be hard for another Bundesliga team to take our place. There's no reason why Leipzig, Schalke or Stuttgart couldn't. At the moment we are being saved by the equal incompetence of our rivals.

 

Absolutly agree. It is even more of an Testament for the very poor Level of the Bundesliga, that None of the bigger Clubs takes Advantage of the mis-management of Dortmund to overtake them in the Long run. I am an Bayern fan, but I am firstly an Footbal Fan and all for having am competition again in this league.

 

Sancho extended his contract till 2022. It's a great extension regardless of whether it just postpones him leaving us for a year or two. Tremendous talent who I hope will stay longer, of course.

Remains to be seen what happens with Pulisic. If he doesn't extend his contract, he needs to be sold in the next two windows. I suppose that if he leaves, we'd go for a proven replacement. The other option would be to trust that the rotation Larsen/Wolf/Philipp can fill that role. They are different types of players compared with Pulisic to partner with Reus/Sancho which might be worth a try.

 

Sancho extending is fantastic news, but sadly I am under no delusion he will stay with us for a long time. Unless he falls completely in love with the club, which is unlikely. My hope is with the huge hype surrounding him even now we can sell him for close to a record fee. If he continues to progress, I don't think it's an exaggerating to say we can get even more than the Dembele fee. In fact, I would say if he replicated Dembele's season next year we would be looking at over 100 million for him.

I agree about Pulisic too. I think we need a semi-proven replacement someone like Brandt level ready to step up, because Reus can't be relied on to be fit. I am not sure Brandt is the man, because he always seems unfit and to be coasting. I am not sure he has the mentality to step up.

 

Sancho has been extended to 2022. I believe Dortmund had a team option to extend the original deal by two years which they exercised with improved terms as a reward for a great start to his Dortmund career.

 

Reus has pulled out of the German squads due to his knee the same one he ruptured. Apparently there is no serious injury and it's precautionary.

However, this should be a clear warning to Favre and the board. Reus is not an iron man and has been played too much. He is our best and most important player, but he needs to be rested.

We need someone else, someone mature and reliable who can take some of the burden off Reus. Gotze or Philipp really need to step up.

Also we need a 3rd captain for when we rest Reus, because LP shouldn't be in the first 11.

Schmelzer probably does not want it.
Witsel has not been here long enough.
So I would go for Burki
Gotze if he is in the team and of course LP when he is fit.

 

Burki makes the most sense. Though Akanji is right there too.

 

This is great news. He needs the rest. He is out of the picture for the next WC, and has shown that he is black and yellow to the core. BVB has a great chance this season. All the players focused on BVB is what we need.