No thread yet? Are we not excited to see the team for real? Im stoked and ready to watch the boys play. Got the ESPN app just to watch it.
No wonder that no one commented yet. A horrible game for the most part. There were just a few more combinations in the attack or passes to get the ball to them in a crowded field but otherwise this looked just as clueless as last year. Thoughts on Delaney? Except his chance late in the game, I thought he was damn awful. He plays for Denmark and he played well for Bremen so I have to assume this wasn't his usual self, tripping over his own feet. When a player makes you think that Castro wasn't that clownish, it's bad. He was brought in as one of those mentality players. But even in that department Dahoud looked better not shying away from tackles.
And here we go again... Different coach, different players, same results. Out of Pokal already? 15 minutes to go...
If this near upset is not the wake up call for watzke to get us a proper f*cking striker before its too late, i dont know what it....
We score again in the last minute of extra time. Great run by Sancho to set up the goal by Reus. Fvck Fürth and their dirty fouls.
OK they pull it out in the end (Literally...). But I am still far from impressed by how we played today. If we don't put more energy and finish in the game it's going to be a long season... again.
The game got better with Witsel in the game but still, we need to get better. The first cup game against lower league teams is always tough. They usually start earlier and already had a few official games. Bayern needed a very late goal against a fourth league team after thrashing Frankfurt. Frankfurt as the Cup Winner is already out, Leverkusen needed a penalty against a fifth league team.
Right? I mean, before the game the summary for BVB's offseason has been "Needed a striker, didn't get one". This game just add a few exclamation points to it. They created chance after chance, but no finish. Versus BL2 opponents.
A lucky win, but there were some positives and some huge minuses. The CBs looked decent and Akanji passed the ball well. They weren't at fault for the goal. Witsel looked good when he came on. Reus missed a good chance, but he was still clutch and set up and scored the key goals, but he is not a striker and is completely wasted there. The bad. Schmelzer and LP again. These two should be dropped as soon as possible. Full backs are important in a team. Guardiola went and spent 100 million on Kyle Walker and Mende to win the league. Full backs are important and we need to start Hakimi and Raphael as soon as possible. They are both more creative and better on the ball. We need two signings badly. A wide player and far more importantly a striker. There's no way we can go into the season without one. Get the cheque book and splash some cash on a quality forward. It's badly need. As for the wide player get a transfer done in January and make sure it is Brandt. He is exactly what the team is crying out for. Wolf and Philipp are not good enough to get it done. If Gotze continues to play poorly, then Reus might have to play 10. Worrying Gotze was very poor.
My biggest worry was how easily Fürth intercepted our passes. I hope this keeps the local fanbase's expectations who think this squad full of deadweight is competitive.
Is Schmelzer actually black mailing your FO? It can´t be the case that this dude is a starter for every single coach at Dortmund, thus playing this incredibly awful for years. BVB´s fullbacks are amongst the worst of any european top team for sure. Also, very much evident that you guys desperately need an quality striker. Otherwise, I´m sure this season will be very very long for you.
Well that's because of a few things in my opinion. Dahoud has a good game for me, but his final ball is poor and he gives it away too much. This is just like how he was at Gladbach, but he can work on this. Then the flanks just aren't very good technically as has been discussed our full backs are terrible and really hurt the possession game. The wide players we started with aren't great yet, whilst Reus is a poor striker. They are the worst in any top European team for sure. I hope this match gives the club the wake up call they need. I hope it turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Switch out the full backs and replace Dembele and Aubameyang.
I hope you mean his game in general, and not yesterday's game specifically. He was pretty bad yesterday. He had a couple nice defensive recoveries, but none critical, and that is just the ante for a midfielder. I don't think he had more than an average replacement. And his complete loss of concentration and loss of his man was entirely (with almost no blame to share) responsible for that goal. If that man is defended then it is just another "ball falls to the middle and gets swept away" like happened many times in the game. And his offense... he had one really nice run, capped by a mistake so that he never got a shot off. Otherwise he just cranked shots into the sides of the defenders. He was way greedier than he was good. Mo has skill, but I think his reach exceeds his grasp so often that he is a net liability. I hope he improves this season with new coaching.
All your criticisms I agree with and didn't address them all, but I said his final ball was poor and he gives it away too much. However, he has fantastic energy and energy should not be underrated. I agree he was mainly at fault for the goal too, though Schmelzer deserves some blame, but the covered lots of ground especially towards extra time. He needs more experience, but there was a lot of potential there. I think the match showed that against weaker opposition we should play a 4-2-3-1, but Weigl/Witsel partnership might lack energy.