2013-2014 Bundesliga Match Day 4: Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Dortmund [R]

Thank you footyfan, one small correction, Qarabag Agdam is a club from Azerbaijan, not Kazakhstan.

 

I'll be at the match!

 

Today I expect Frankfurt to put up a fight, they won't be preparing to lose, they've been on a string of good results, especially since the 6-1 thrasing, yes they lost to Bayern but only one goal. I just hope it will be the Frankfurt game last season

 

Bild says that Aubemeyang will start and that Hofmann will go in for Grosskreuz at right-back. Good move. Might as well experiment a little in the case of the latter.

 

Guys does anyone have a link to a good stream of the match?

 

http://www.feed2all.eu/watch/204891/3/watch-eintracht-frankfurt-vs-borussia-dortmund.html

edit: On top of the video are other links to the game, they have German broadcast too.

 

Kuba steals the ball and delivers it for an easy goal by Mkhitaryan!

 

Thank you so much. The one i had initially was god awful

 

No problem.

Enjoy.

 

Klopp removing Hummels smart. Frankfurt were targeting him. Seems teams now find this a viable strategy. Happened already a few times this season.

 

Micky-tarian makes it 2-1

 

How are they targeting him ? Are they fouling, pressing him or what ?

 

Just the way most Bundesliga teams do, they press him and go at him at every given opportunity. Hummels didn't respond well to it at all, he was awful in the first half before Klopp took him off.

Mkhitaryan with two goals, the second being an exceptional individual effort. He'll come good, I have no doubts about it. People might have had their doubts raised on him after his first two games but for me, he's a quality player in the mould of Kagawa and it's hard for me to see how he won't come good once he settles in and fits in well with Reus, Lewandowski, and Gundogan/Sahin.

 

3 points in the bag. Brilliant world class second goal by Mkhitaryan. 4 wins out of 4 matches. On to the next game....

 

Yea as mentioned. Sometimes two players at once. I've noticed this has been an emerging trend in Europe as well. Mourinho deployed Schürrle similarly against Ferdinand and Vidic among other recent examples. With Hummels, it's not necessarily because he's a weak link but because he is so important to the build up of this side. More importantly this highlights the weakness of Klopp's system. Its complacent defense is a functioning component of its overall strategy, not really a symptom as such, although of course there is a direct link. In this case, Hummels is isolated already by Schmelzer who he always has to cover for, so it makes this an even more viable strategy. It's no surprise that the goal once again came from that side and really because of Schmelzer being caught out.

On the other hand, important win. We aren't playing as well as we could but are collecting the three points when we don't. An excellent sign of maturity. Surely this or the Bremen match would have been dropped points last season.

 

what a terrrrrible defensive display, any other team wouldda trashed as us, sloppy and slow

 

Hummels kept Aigner onside for the goal. It was poor defending by him.

 

The defensive issues aren't individual ones so we really have to stop with this blame-game.

 

We usually play a high line in those case and Hummels moved backwards and kept Aigner onside. Why shouldnt we blame Hummels ?

 

Because what's the point? All it does is establish a narrative in which he is a bad defender. Moreover it detracts from the real issue. If we would like to know and understand why this is a recurring issue then we need to look at the real source of the problem and I'm sorry but it's not the implicit "Hummels is rubbish".

Have you given thought to the notion that Klopp hasn't been able to figure out how to play Hummels in a more conservative defensive system? Maybe there is a clash of cultures here. Maybe Klopp has relied on one way of playing for so long that when he has to adjust he's failing to integrate one of his most important attacking figures in Hummels. These are far more interesting talking points than "Hummels rubbish, bla bla bla". When a player is really rubbish and at fault it's apparent and self-contained as an observation but this is about more than that.

 

Klopp said in the summer that he wants to improve our defending but we've been struggling defensively in those first 4 games.