2018-19 Bundesliga Matchday 4: TSG Hoffenheim 1899 vs Borussia Dortmund

Discussion in 'Borussia Dortmund' started by BVBFNM, Sep 21, 2018.

  1. BVBFNM

    BVBFNM Member+

    Apr 3, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    We play Hoffenheim who just had their first taste of Champions League football this week, meaning they are probably a bit tired as they've never had to juggle so many matches in a season, a fact we can take advantage of.

    While our competitive balance has been positive so far, with four wins and one draw, I must say it's been very lucky because of how disjointed we've looked. I hope Kagawa plays tomorrow as he did pretty well on Tuesday.

    I won't be watching the match because those fvckers at Fox Sports 2 sur will broadcast the exact same match as Fox Sports norte which are the channels I have.
     
  2. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    #2 hava, Sep 21, 2018
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2018
    Götze was left out of the team. Weigl and Alcacer won't be available as well. Alcacer still has injury issues. No info that the other two have any issues other than the coach not wanting them. I'm surprised about Weigl not being considererd for the 18 and hope it's just rotation/balancing his workload after his injury.
     
  3. MtnGardener

    MtnGardener Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 21, 2017
    Bad news about Alcacer. Meh news on Götze and Weigl.
     
  4. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Bürki
    LP Akanji Diallo Schmelzer
    Dahoud Witsel
    Kagawa
    Pulisic Reus Wolf

    Reus again as the CF. He played that position supposedly at Gladbach at times but recently it was a failed experiment for both BVB and the national team pretty much every time.
    The formation that Kicker expects looks really strange, a 4-3-3 with Kagawa on the wings and Wolf in midfield. I guess we'll have to wait how that looks in the actual game.
     
  5. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    Weigl played miles better than Witsel and is a blow, but was to be expected given Tuesday was his first game and there is a game midweek.

    Kagawa deserves to start, because Gotze has been so poor but the latter should be on the bench.

    Very disappointed to see Wolf, LP and Schmelzer start. All three must be dropped.


    As for Reus starting upfront surely that is the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We are wasting Reus.

    I just hope Hoffenheim are very tired and emotionally drained after playing their first CL group stage match.
     
  6. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    That was a penalty. Poor decision from the ref.
     
  7. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    Dahoud, Kagawa and Reus are linking up well. We have all the possession.

    Full backs are still the weakness and where we may be exposed. Burki has made a great save from Bittencourt.
     
  8. Cris 09

    Cris 09 Trololololo

    Nov 30, 2004
    Westfalenstadion
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Great save tho....

    And Dahoud with a yellow. Hoff seems to be in control while it looks like BVB are just going through the motions. Very much the same as with Brugges.
     
  9. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    We receive an annoying goal again. They score after a couple of bad clearances.
     
  10. Cris 09

    Cris 09 Trololololo

    Nov 30, 2004
    Westfalenstadion
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    That goal was bound to happen. The only reason we aren't behind by 3 or 4 goals is because Burki had one amazing save and it seemed like Hoff were purposely trying to avoid scoring because if they did their family would get their throats sliced by terrorists holding them hostages telling them to throw the game. At times, Hoff in front of goal looked like Germany vs S Korea.
     
  11. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Red for Diallo seems way, way too hard. Both were using their arms and the ball seemed clear to pick up for Bürki.
     
  12. Cris 09

    Cris 09 Trololololo

    Nov 30, 2004
    Westfalenstadion
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    That call was a freakin' joke. Where is VAR????
     
  13. Kargetina_BVB

    Kargetina_BVB Member

    Mar 3, 2015
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    You can create a hundred VAR systems but you will never exclude human stupidity and stubbornness. As long as the human factor is crucial, football can and will be refereed by the whim of idiots.

    One of the worst red cards you'll ever see.
     
  14. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Goal Pulisic. But nicely played by Schmelzer and Reus as well.
    Now bring the point home.
     
  15. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Wow, Hoffenheim blasts it over the goal from 2 metres. We got lucky.
     
  16. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    I don't know why we just stopped the last attack seconds before the whistle. 1:1 in the end. Great spirit to get a draw one man down but we were second best, the result is ok for us.

    I thought Schmelzer, as one of the rightly criticized FBs, was actually decentish in the second half.
    Sancho really needs to get his head clear again. It was a continuation of the Brugge game for him after he came in. I'm still convinced he will turn into a fantastic player but when you are such a liability defensively, at least you have to make sure to not give away the ball so often so easily.
    I can't say much more as I missed parts of the game.
     
  17. Scheherazade

    Scheherazade Member

    Jun 4, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    #17 Scheherazade, Sep 22, 2018
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2018
    Tired of seeing our wingers stay high and give away possession time and again, then half feck their defensive jobs and leave our aged left and rightback defending two players alone. How have all our wingers suddenly become liabilities who cannot control or pass a ball under pressure.

    Appeal Diallo's sending off, he played the ball and should not get a ban. The red woke the team up into playing football though, or else we would just sleepwalk to a loss.
     
  18. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    Btw, with all the potential VAR could have, it only overturned 1 ref decision in our favor: the 2:0 offside for Hoffenheim. VAR didn't see the need to intervene for the Pulisic foul on the penalty box line or for the red. 1 out of 3 is a truly bad ratio with video assistance and it still kept us in a position to get a draw. The ref had a very bad day.
     
  19. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    The ref had a shocking game. It's funny he potentially cost us the match, though we didn't deserve to win. Diallo should never have been sent off and Pulisic should have had a penalty.

    Schmelzer did do some nice things offensively in the second half. Reus made some important contributions defensively and actually looked a threat when Philipp came on. Pulisic had a couple of good dribbles and once again scored the important goal. Akanji was good too as was Burki.

    Witsel though, is not better than Weigl. We spent 50 million and the two youngsters are better than the players we brought in.

    We have to accept we are an average team. In this weak Bundesliga we will make top 4 and hopefully we can get out of the CL group, before losing in the last 16, but that's it. A cup win is always possible with luck, but we will need to get very lucky.

    We have talented kids like Sancho and Pulisic. In 5 years they maybe great, but they would have long left Dortmund.
    Average players like Witsel and Philipp.
    Over the hill poor players like LP, Gotze and Schmelzer.
    Talented young players like Akanji, Dahoud and Weigl who must step up this year.

    Overall not enough quality at the moment to do anything, but compete for top 4.
     
  20. Scheherazade

    Scheherazade Member

    Jun 4, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    #20 Scheherazade, Sep 22, 2018
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2018
    Were Dortmund fans hoping for an immediate title challenge this season? We changed coach, tactics, preseason was very brief because of the World cup, a loan striker was brought in at the last possible moment with no time to learn the ropes which is a terrible move that tends to torpedo any bid for silverware.

    Based on a twenty minute substitute appearance, Paco is already so indispensable, that whenever he gets an injury we are screwed by the lack of alternatives. That is not a sign of a team that wants to win trophies. We are already extremely fortunate that he appears to have hit the ground running like Bats. Klopp and Tuchel had difficult first seasons, it's funny how expectations are more inflated now.
     
  21. hava

    hava Member+

    Apr 30, 2016
    Club:
    Borussia Dortmund
    I certainly didn't expect to have a chance at anything except maybe the Cup. I think signs of Favre's ideas can be seen but there are still things holding us back. It's tough for us when the real striker isn't available and the FBs just aren't top quality (anymore) and that costs us in every aspect of the game.

    While the point of patience with a new coach is correct, I'm not sure what Tuchel's supposed problems were in his first season. He brought in new ideas that had visible and an immediate effect on the players. We saw some of the best football as well with a second place finish that would have won us the title in almost all of the previous seasons before Bayern started with their 90 points seasons. Klopp came in at a different time when we weren't finishing near the top of the table and when we didn't have these financial opportunities.
     
  22. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    No one expected the team to challenge, but the goals should have been

    1. To close the gap with Bayern and reestablish Dortmund as the clear 2nd best team in Germany.
    2. To make the CL quarter finals
    3. To possibly win a cup.

    As for Favre I am more than prepared to give him time. The squad just lacks quality. He can't be blamed for this.

    This summer is going to look like a terrible one in the future.

    Alcacer may turn out to be great, but he will almost certainly go back to Spain at the end of the year. He didn't even want to come on loan.

    Hakimi if he progresses will move back to Madrid.

    Witlse is on huge wages and isn't world class and isn't better than Weigl. He does not improve our first 11. For the wages he is on, he is just not worth. He can't speed up the game when needed. Nor is he a serial winner with great mentality say like Lampard, Ballack etc.

    Delaney was overpriced and is another average player.

    Wolf is an average player and should not have been bought.

    Then worse Pulisic and Weigl didn't extend.

    Pulisic and Weigl will leave for knock down prices next summer. They will both win bucket loads of trophies where ever they go, but we won't get there true value. Reus will continue to decline and we will fall behind Leipzig.
     
    MatthausSammer repped this.
  23. MtnGardener

    MtnGardener Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 21, 2017
    What I liked is that Kagawa got the start and Burki looked great. Also, there was a lot of creativity up front. And Kagawa should have scored one.

    What scared me was more evidence on how much we will be dependent on Alcacer. Today we had lots of creativity in the first half, but no finishing. The players want too many touches in the box. And man, the defense could not handle the counters. I need to watch again, I wasn't paying attention to the patterns in how the breakdowns happened, but obviously Hoffenheim could have scored several more.
     
  24. eaglespark

    eaglespark Member+

    Apr 9, 2015
    Club:
    Crystal Palace FC
    What creativity? There wasn't a shot on goal until Kagawa took a poor long distance shot. After the first 15 minutes we looked stale and never looked like creating anything.

    Then in the second half the only chance created was when Pulisic went on the run and gave Kagawa a sitter.

    Until Philipp came on and Reus stepped up we created nothing. In the last 10 chances were created but they mostly came from Reus and Schmelzer played his part to.

    Sancho had another poor game.
     
  25. MtnGardener

    MtnGardener Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Jul 21, 2017
    The interplay in the final third was good for long stretches (like maybe starting at the 20th minute?). They were able to camp there, with good passes, and even dangerous openings created. But once they got close, they were bad. No shots. Hesitation. Then recycling. But this is exactly what you'd expect with the players who were out there and the positions they were in. We need Alcacer (and a spare for rotation).
     

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