Yes but the defence are individually weak. Should have bunkered down early on, protected them and not left so much space in behind and given away 2 soft goals. Without those the game is very different. From a Dortmund perspective, a draw would have been adequate. So why play such an open game?
Blame your amazing saviour of Dortmund for buying him and Toprak. Noticeably when Dahoud tired we could no longer dominate midfield. What do you want Bosz to do when Dahoud understandably is not match fit? Castro was the only option. I am calling that by the end of Zagadou will be in the first team.
Burki improved a lot last season , but with Weidenfeller finishing up this season , we need a keeper who is at least the second best in Germany .
Tottenham looked better in the second with several chances, also as a result of the lead. But I agree, with a competent ref the 2:2 counts and everything is possible.
Sahin and Dahoud are playing too similar of a game which has caused them to just clog up the middle thus creating a big hole in our game. Dahoud at least is the quicker and more skilled player of the two but needs to play a much more direct game and his movement away from the ball has to be pushing forward instead of going back playing short passes to back line because that's exactly what Sahin does. LP just doesn't have it any more. Get's caught in the offensive third way too much and doesn't have the legs (or brains) to cover up like he did 4-5 years ago. Need to wait for Guerreiro to return and then move Toljan to RB.
Well, that does it for our Champions League hopes. No club has ever won the Champions League losing the first match.
Well before last year no team had ever defended the CL. To be honest I didn't think we would get out of the group. It's too soon and we have too many injuries for such a tough group. Losing Dembele just made things much worse.
I am tired of blaming referees. I've been watching refereeing closely since mid 2000s. An incompetent referee I can deal with, a bought one, I cannot. This guy was plain incompetent but that's what you get when you don't have VAR and we are going to get spoiled in the BL with VAR. With that here are my ratings: Burki 3: You'd have to go back two years to see such an awful performance from him. LP 2: Incapable and in need of rest. Needs to go on the bench. Toprak 2: Incompetent. Doesn't belong in this squad. Sokratis 4: Just keeps getting worse gradually and over time. Showed some fighting spirit later on. Toljan 6: Best defender by a margin despite being the newest in the squad. Sahin 5: Incredibly slow moving himself, just as slow moving the ball. Castro 2: Watching him is cringeworthy. Pulisic 8: Best player on the pitch. Kept trying doggedly to make something happen. He's still a teenager. PEA 5: He cannot play in a 4-3-3. He doesn't have hold-up skills. When is PB going to get this through his head? Yarmolenko 7: Pretty goal. Kept trying. I think he can be quite effective for us if he's used correctly. Kagawa 2: Absolutely useless and invisible. Gotze 4: The guy just doesn't want to run with the ball. I also think he's a lot better closer to the penalty box. He's NOT and never will be a no. 8 Dahoud 8: Hardly made mistakes. Tried to create and did. PB 3: I get it. He doesn't have Weigl, Reus, Gurreiro and Bartra. Together these guys replace an immobile Sahin, an invisible LP, ill fitting Toprak and brings Germany's best forward into the mix and we are likely unbeatable. But you can't stamp on a 4-3-3 when you don't have the right players. You have to change the system to get the best out of the players you have. Gotze functions best near the box, not next to Sahin. Let the FBs offer width not the AMs. And too many balls over the top for a striker who cannot play those.
TT doesn't sign the papers. It's Watzke's job to do that. He should have been better advised by Zorc. Not saying TT isn't at fault but he's not solely to blame.
Not solely, but mostly. I don't even disagree with your ratings except Auba deserves a lot more. He made good runs and scored a great goal that would have got us in the game. I am tired of managers trying to be clever or forcing a system on players. De Boer tried this nonesene with a 3-4-3 at Palace. This generation of German players were raised to play 4-2-3-1. They all play best in a 4-2-3-1. So play them in a 4-2-3-1. I love Conte, because he had the intelligence to make a formation that fits the players. This should be the team in this formation. Toljan --Sokratis-- Bartra-- Zagadou* -------------Weigl--Dahoud---------- Yarmolenko---Gotze---------Pulisic -------------------Auba------------ Zagadou needs the minutes and experience, so might as well play whilst Schmelzer and eventually Raphael are injured. Gotze is not Iniesta so stop trying to turn him into him. He is Gotze and needs to be in further up field.
That truly is a historical coincidence. It has no bearing on the future. It wasn't a great game. But honestly Son's finish was very good rather than being somebody's fault. The defenders got back, the keeper was well positioned, it was too close to react. I don't think Burki should handle that. The second goal maybe but I wouldn't hold that one against him either. The third goal he should have had a little slow getting down, even if it took a small deflection (the commentators said it did, I didn't see that). Auba's goal should have counted (I think Pulisic's was rightly called off, Auba was offside when he tried to play it and missed). Of course 2-2 makes a huge difference. Whoever is complaining about the growing pains with VAR in BL should remember that goal/not goal. BVB was seriously weakened going into this. Too many injuries shrink your margin for error. One goal erroneously called back, one above-his-expected-play finish from Son and that is more margin than we had. I think 2-2 would have reflected the on-field play. I was annoyed by the English commentators being so pro-Tottenham. They barely mentioned that Aubameyang was actually onside when it happened and never again afterward. I guess it is to be expected from guys whose day jobs are as PL commentators.
I gave PEA less because he seemed lethargic and misplaced passes on multiple occasions. Yes, please play the 4-2-3-1. We don't have players who were raised in the 4-3-3. None of them. Not a single one. Interestingly enough Iniesta cannot play as a no. 10 either. Villanova and more specifically Tata Martino tried him at that and it didn't work. The skill sets are very different.
It's true, but he was isolated. Of course even a player like Iniesta struggles when played out of position. Ancelotti tried to force Isco deeper and that failed. I hope Bosz is not stubborn. He is learning about the team. We have seen these players for years. If he is doing the same thing by later October then I will be worried.
Point of correction, Iniesta never struggled at 10. There was a time he constantly played as a left forward with Fabregas in midfield at Barca and I could remember him having plenty of assists to his name during the period. That he was constantly isolated upfront as a no 10 in Villanov's team due to the declining midfield supporting him doesn't negate the fact that he did well as a forward under Pep. That said, Nothing has changed here. The 2 same dishonest fellows still parrotting same shite as always. I will leave with this commentary below Kagawa was so useless that he assisted the first goal even though he had little touches on the ball throughout the time he played. Boss probably should have started Castro as well instead of Dahoud because Dahoud's movement looked quite terrible! It's unbelievable I'm just noticing this. No amount of him looking good on the ball negates the fact that he offers little substance with it. How I wished Castro brain was infused in him because he's obviously more technical than Castro. The german Cleverley!
I'm still wondering how the defenders at Dortmund came to be. Apart from Toljan, none covered themselves in glory today, including Burki and it's even worrying that we're hoping a calamitous Batra would come to the rescue. I don't even know what to say about the referee, the idiot was obviously paid.
Just watched the highlights and Sokratis was at fault for the first goal several times over and initially at fault for the second.goal. Too many players slow of mind and slow of body. On to the weekend. Need a big win there. I hope Bosz uses this result as Conte used the Arsenal 3-0 win over Chelsea and makes wholesale.
It wasn't great on defense, but I think the first three goals (including Yarmolenko) are more to attacking quality. But there were several non-goals that were enormous lapses. I disagree about the ref and linesman. On the Auba offsides call, though it was clearly wrong on replay there was a swarm of BVB players who were offside between the linesman and Auba who was coming the other way. The linesman was several yards downfield from the right place to see the call and I don't think he could possibly get it right from his poor position. The other calls were roughly right, I think. Kane maybe bowled through someone on his goal, but even on replay I wasn't sure it was't just a 50/50 ball he won. What calls were the most egregious in your eyes?
Everything! From the way he overlooked Spur thuggery acts towards our players to allowing Kane's goal to stand even when a foul led to it yet had the effrontery to call off our goals, including a legit goal. Spurs were nothing special in my opinion. 2 of their goals came from our players' errors as well as the referee. They obviously improved towards the end of the game but our players were ********ing tired which I can't blame them because the ref's attitude wasn't any spirit lifting. My main gripe was the defence though. 3 f**king sluggish defenders out there!
We greatly lacked ball winning midfielder in first 15 minutes. They were far stronger in midfield... No physicality whatsoever...
With the current defence, dealing with Ronaldo, Bale, Isco et al will be almost impossible. Going to have to score at least 3 goals to have a chance to win the game. This was abundantly clear, Dortmund is far too weak a team physically, you need a mixture of technicality and strength in your team nowadays, just bossing possession isn't enough. At least Zagadou will be able to offer this, but no midfielder in the squad does, other then maybe Rode who is otherwise lacking.