Pulisic assist to Phillip.. nice ball through and an even better goal by phillip.... Pulisic showing more today that he can be capable of some good football when called upon. I have to believe that Sancho rising up the ranks can only help to get Pulisic to get better as the competition makes everyone bette.r
within two minutes.. the entire Pokal side playing today except Werder Bremen all tied up.... Schalke gets one, Nurnberg gets one.. gotta love this tournament.
Very disappointing to give away that late goal and now the team will have to run even further when they have such tough fixtures to come. Hakimi needs to learn not to always go charging up especially when we have a lead in the last couple of minutes, whilst Raphael needs to tuck in more. There was no reason to be so attacking.
Wolf off for Sancho maybe? Paco? ℹ️ Ein weiterer Wechsel ist jetzt erlaubt. @Sanchooo10, @paco93alcacer und @jacobruunlarsen machen sich warm. #BVBFCU 2️⃣-2️⃣ https://t.co/7ZOWeJSYbn— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) October 31, 2018
Penalty for us and second yellow for a Berlin player. Reus converts after Berlin did their best to disrupt and delay.
Reus is such a legend. After wasting so much time, he calmly puts it in and takes us through. Great player. Hakimi has good positioning, but he needs to learn discipline. Why was he attacking so much with us leading in the last seconds. Favre has to have a serious word with him and Raphael. We got away with it, but we wasted a lot of energy. The bonus is Weigl was excellent. Dahoud put in a more mature performance. Zagadou was very good and Pulisic' form has picked up, he was better today. The negatives are the injury to Diallo, the lack of discipline from the full backs and Toprak having poor game especially with his distribution.
Toprak had some really bad passes towards the end after he came close to scoring the winner, he was almost playing for Union. He is by far the most experienced player in the back and should have done better in the crucial stages of the game. As was already mentioned, the FBs have to get smarter tactically. This is where Schmelzer and LP are still better. Hitz deserves criticism for his ball before the 2:2 but was very good otherwise and saved us several timmes. Sancho was also very good as well, they couldn't defend him.
Hitz was a total flopz today. That was a disastrous display from somebody who plays for the league leaders. We are so lucky that Pulisic was fouled and Reus was able to tuck in the goal. Without Pulisic we are out.
Hate to be harsh on Toprak as he hasn't played at all this season, but he had a poor performance. With Diallo hurt and Zagadou seemingly picking up a knock we need him to be passable. The team is running out of defenders, so Favre may have to be creative. Wolf at RB, Weigl/Witsel anchoring a back 3...not really any appealing options, but they have to get through games. Kagawa's awareness helped create both goals when he was on, but he was clearly very rusty having not played for over a month. I guess he may be required if Götze's bronchitis doesn't clear up by the weekend. Hitz was ok in terms of shot-stopping. The distribution was bad, but as Favre said the 2-2 equalizer was the result of several errors and not just the goalkeeper's ill-advised throw. The fullbacks Raphaël and Hakimi comprise the most exciting pair in the league in terms of attacking, but defensively they leave quite a bit to be desired. It would be great if they could receive more cover or play further up the pitch.
Hakimi is a great talent but his youth was visible and detrimental to the team last night. At this stage he plays just like Marcelo, all-offense and no defensive responsibility/awareness. Favre needs to take him aside and hammer into him that when we are up 2-1 there is is no need to play a risky game by constantly looking to attack and exposing the defensive flank, especially when the RCB is Toprak who is to provide cover. Just hold on to the pall more and play safe back or lateral passes instead constantly looking to attack and being caught out of position.