First half ends 2:0. Good first 35-40 minutes, the lead could have even been higher. But we also started to lose control towards the end just as I thought that it's nice to see the team trying to keep scoring despite the lead. Weigl had a few mistakes too many for my taste. That should warn the team that they need to keep their concentration up. A few weeks ago, I thought this would be a tough game against a team fighting to stay in the league. So far, Mainz looked quite poor and they play like a team that has nothing to fight for. This should be a game to improve the goal differential. Against this Mainz team, the target should be to erase what last week's result did to it.
The second half looks more like last week's performance from us. Bruun Larsen needed to get subbed 20 minutes ago. He tries much and works hard but nothing's working for him and we lose too many balls because of him.
I can't explain how such a first half can turn into such a nail-biter. A lucky 2:1 win but barely anything positive can be taken from the second half. Sancho seemed to be the only good one in offense in the second half. Bürki deservedly gets praise from the stands. Matthäus thinks we looked really tired but I don't know, the workload the last weeks wasn't high. Reus doesn't agree to use that as an excuse as well. Either way, playing like we did in the second half, we won't win anything.
Burki ends up saving our asses...something I would not have thought would be the case after the first half performance. Unfortunately, this has been a constant this season with regards of taking the foot off the gas and getting dominated by inferior opponents which reflects on coaching lack thereof.
Dortmund’s back four of Diallo-Akanji-Weigl-Wolf is the *14th* different back four combination that Lucien Favre has started with in the Bundesliga this season.In 29 games, that is a lot...and yet they’re second. pic.twitter.com/Fe5vMda2jZ— Archie Rhind-Tutt (@archiert1) April 13, 2019 Changing the back line in the middle of the second half probably has something to do with it.
Larsen was by far the worst player out there, how he gets ahead of phillip every time is beyond my understanding
It looked as if Wolf had an issue shortly before getting subbed. But his sub alone cannot be such a factor. Mainz attacked with ease through the middle or our left side as well. The whole team just watched the ball instead of taking control. Favre correctly said that one issue was that the FBs were too often in 1 against 2 situations. It's nice that he makes that observation. The negative aspect is, I somehow didn't see a response to address that challenge when the solutions for that are pretty basic.
This team is fluking their way past oppositions like Mainz. JBL is horrible. He cannot hold up the ball, score tap ins, create chances, beat his man....you name it. How does he start ahead of Mo? If not for Burki, Wolf and Sancho, we do not get away with 3 points. Götze, Witsel, Akanji and Diallo were somewhat decent. But what the hell do the rest of the squad do? Reus, Delaney, Weigl either did not show up or make a ton of mistakes. We are lucky that Bayern will be facing Frankfurt and Leipzip in their last 2 matches. Our midfield is literally just Axel Witsel. No wonder we cannot retain the ball. Losing Gurreiro and Hakimi to injury has caused us a lot of problems on the left.
I really hope that the Wolf substitution was forced, otherwise it's a very bad one. I would have introduced Paco instead, where we're up 2-0. Or even introduce Dahoud to better control the midfield. I think Favre has to consider playing either Reus or Gotze as a winger with all the injuries. This way they can both stay on the pitch with Paco.
Top performance from Wolf. He is showing some promise at RB position and has done pretty well so far. Sancho has to be the most consistent (and best) player for us this season. His ability to make right choices in final 3rd stands out. The kid has a bright future. Gotze had one of the best games for us after his return from Bayern. Created lots of opportunities to score. JBL is good at taking the ball forward through link up play, but messes up all the good work with poor choice of pass. He killed 2 of our best opportunities (one with 4 vs 1). Diallo has some of the best dribbling skills in our squad and helps a lot with attack. However, by 60th min, he looked tired and we were exposed on the left flank since then. Average performance from Reus, Witsel and Weigl. Team looks scared every time there's a set piece against us. Even with Akanji, Zagadou, Diallo, Toprak, Witsel, Delaney on the pitch, we sucked at handling set pieces. Leadership on the pitch is clearly lacking ever since Kehl retired.