Time and Location: Time: 20:30 Local / 2:30 PM Eastern Location: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund Television and Streaming: TV: Gol TV (USA), BT Sport (England), Sky 1 (Germany) Streaming: Sky Go (Germany) Injuries and Suspensions: Borussia Dortmund: Ilkay Gündogan (out - back), Lukasz Piszczek (out - hip) Werder Bremen: Clemens Fritz (out - thigh), Luca Caldirola (doubtful- ankle)
Our lineup today is a bit different from what we've seen: Yildirim-Hunt-Arnautovic --Ekici-Makiadi-Juno-- Caddy-Luki-Prödl-Gebre ----------Meilitz--------- (I might have a few players slotted into the wrong place, but it should be pretty close, based on the starter list Werder posted.)
Meilitz just had his best half of football since taking over the number 1 job. A few lucky breaks, but we're heading into half-time with a 0-0 score. Close shot for Arno to end the half, too.
Those last 5 minutes that half were brutal. Dortmund didn't create anything dangerous despite all that possession they had through the 1st 40.
Werder played some really attractive ball for the last 20 minutes or so. Against a strong Dortmund side, I think the team deserves credit for their 1-0 defeat. The goal was a direct result of Hunt trying to be a little too cute, but the loss shouldn't be disheartening. Di Santos had one good shot on net that has me really excited to see him play some more!
I also saw a good match by our team. It is no surprise that Dortmund has the plus on chances, but our players fighted bravely, but could not get more out of it.
It's going to be a cardiac kids type of year for us, but they are showing improvement and you have to be happy with this game at Dortmund... we just need to make the most of our chances.
The expected (and deserved) loss against Dortmund, but there were a lot of positives to take from this match. Dutt is doing it right and building the team from the back, concentrating on our defensive game at first (just like Klopp did in Dortmund years ago btw.). It's the first time in years that I witness a proper defensive system at work in Bremen, plus the willingness by our players to run the extra mile, harass the opposition whenever they can. Of course not everything is working fine already, we're just at the beginning of the rebuilding process. But the progress is clearly visible. We need to continue on our defensive game and gradually fine tune our passing and attacking moves over time. But first the foundation, then the rest - Dutt is on the right path. P.S.: I really liked what I saw from youngster Yildirim, especially in the first half. The kid clearly has talent, as could be seen in the U21 NT match vs. France already. Hope he gets more playing time in the coming months. That's another area which we most definitely need improvement, integrating our youngsters better in the first team.
I agree, entirely. I also thought the team showed good offensive potential at periods--certainly, they looked much better on the attack than they did against Braunschweig and Augsburg. Yildirim continues to impress, and if Ekici spends a few weeks doing extra passing drills at practice, we should score some goals this season.
I am dissapointed by the offensive game so far. Defensively we stand ok, get many shots against us, but only few clear chances, but up front we need more power. We need to get this going, otherwise we could do a Dusseldorf.