2023-24 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Matchday 5: AC Milan vs Borussia Dortmund

Win and last 16 is secured, whilst a draw in this match would ensure EL minimum. Also, if PSG beat Newcastle then whatever the result in this match the lowest Dortmund can finish is 3rd.

 

We've been Weaselkuked again gents... at least we are not fighting relegation
https://bvbbuzz.com/2023/11/26/hans-joachim-watzke-defends-borussia-dortmund-start/

Would be nice to see a win here, but it will only be luck if we get anything done, that or an individual masterstroke from a Reus or Brandt.

 

Now penalty for us, Reus converts.

 

lol watch us win this group. then get knockd out immediately after advancing...that would be so us.

 

which would win us more money? Advancing after winning group or a later stage knockout in EL?

 

1:1, that was too easy.
We were very careless with the chances we had. Surprisingly, Milan offered us the space for attacks several times.

 

Gittens 1:2, nice sequence of fast passes.

 

1:3 Adeyemi. Hopefully helps him to find his form.

 

Nice win. Didn't expect it to be honest and Milan was mostly disappointing in the second half. Looks like we even secured first place.
Decision making has to be better to become more lethal though. Gittens continues to improve. Hummels came to ball today. Not perfect and sometimes lucky with his risky style but he was immense and it was fun to watch.
Reus and Schlotterbeck had to be subbed, hopedully nothing too severe.

Leverkusen next who are hot right now. Following the trend of what happened after good games in the CL, I expect a clear loss.

Edit: PSG got a late pk, so they can still regain first place. I didn't expect them to struggle this match getting out of the group.

 

haha.. again, the alternative is to win the group and get a second-placed team, which should be beatable.

what a strange season!

 

Credit where is credit is due. Terzic had come out and possibly topped a very hard group. Bynoe Gittens had a very good game as did Hummels and Reus.

 

I hope you got pleasantly surprised

 

Which is why I don't understand why we keep losing points to BL bottom feeders...

 

Because they play down to their competition instead of asserting their game onto every opponent they play.

 

Well, the CL matches have helped the way we play. Sit back and hit teams on the counter, though we've actually played some good stuff as well. That's precisely why and we can't do that against teams that park the bus.

Our weak areas are still full backs and midfielders. No surprise that is Germany's weak spot as a whole. Hopefully Germany remember how to train youngsters.

We also need to be giving options to our youth.

Germany can learn a lot from England. We went from having a dearth of talent to having the greatest talent pool in the world

 

Well their U-17s just won the WC as the reigning European champs so there's hope.

Three Dortmund youth players were part of the team and were regular contributors. Paris Brunner even won the tournament's best player award so there is hope.

 

These kids need to be given a chance in the first team. It's a disgrace what's happening with Moukoko.

Look what Hofmann has gone onto to do at Leverkusen and previously Gladbach.
Larsen is doing OK at Burnley and even Passlack is a decent squad player for a Bundesliga club.

The likes of Wolf, Ryerson, etc they probably could have been filled by youth players. See if they are any good and if not sell them.

But hopefully the new generation actually get a fair shot

 

A decent result, but it just confirms to me that Terzic needs to go. The difference between Leverkusen and Dortmund was startling. We arguably still had the better players, but they had a structure and desire to dominate the match. We were hanging on and hitting on the counter.

Leverkusen ultimately lack the quality, but they building a style of football which can win leagues.

We aren't doing that with Terzic.
On the plus Brandt was quality.
Hummels was great apart from one mistake for the goal.

 

Terzic is limited, but he is learning, i'm okay to give him a season and maybe next if he shows improvement, its getting tiring with the management roulette. I like how Terzic put Ryerson on the left, that was a weak spot... but his reluctance to play youth, and his transfer picking is just a complete shambles, and the tactics are super limited. They need to get an experienced assistant manager to limit his shortcomings.

What really needs to change, is management, Ie. the head office!