Rapha recently acknowledged that he would be much more effective playing further forward in front of a back three. Moreover the left-sided center back in a back four would be Hummels, who got run out of Munich partly due to being too slow to fit a high pressing system. I do want Dortmund to steal a page out of Bayern and Leipzig's playbook in terms of intensity, but it's somewhat unclear what the ideal personnel would be. Would like to see a bit of flexibility from the manager on this one.
Hummels is fine in high line providing he has speed next to him and the pressing works upfront. Hummels is actually a very aggressive front foot defender. Raphael might be better in a three, but a lot of our players are not. We need to do what's best for the team. Watched the friendly against Paderborn and it was pathetic. We were outplayed and spent large portions of the match with every play except Haaland in our own half. We lost the midfield battle and Delaney can't control a midfield. Can is not a CB. 1. We are way too deep. 2. We do not press. 3. We cannot control possession in midfield. 4. Pheria and Knauff are just not ready. 5. Akanji still makes mistakes. 6. Delaney is not good enough except for coming on to defend leads. 7. Can is not a centre back. 8. Burki is not good enough. 9. We do not pass the ball quick enough 10. Raschl needs to do more. The only positive is Schulz was decent.
The only remarkable moments from this game was Favre taking on and off his jacket, and then running off the pitch in the 80th minute
In the previous friendly, i had the impression that he's not playing well to NOT impress at CB, because he wants to play in midfield haha
The Paderborn game wasn't good but half the team were youth players. Still, it wasn't good enough and after that game I wasn't in the mood for the next game. And now I started to check how they are doing in the Bochum test game and BVB is already down 0:3 early in the second half. I suppose neither the first blowout test games nor the bad recent games should be exaggerated but the team better be in a better state 2 weeks from now. I doubt the coming national team week helps.
Not sure if that is the case or not, but he is clearly the best 6 we have in the team and should without a doubt start there. The season is looking like a mess. Favre has no clue how to deal with such a talented squad or the expectations. The embarrassing thing is that the team sits back against the likes of Bochum and Paderborn. The problem is not the just the kids, the problem is there is no pattern of play. Bochum had patterns of play, speed of passing movement and looked a better team. The pressing is not organised, the patterns of play are not set and the speed of passing is abysmal. In both game we were destroyed in midfield. I don't think there is any chance Favre survives long this season, but he could have already ruined everything by the time he is fired. It makes me sad to see that he is still in charge of us. Hard to have any optimism
Morey is sidelined for a few weeks with a pulled muscle. With Meunier out I guess Passlack sticks around for the time being, especially because unlike Wolf he doesn't have much transfer value.
Another friendly tomorrow. Rumours that Reus and Dahoud should get some minutes. Hopefully things will be better, but it's so obvious that even ignoring his short comings, Favre is just not the right man to coach these players. The likes of Brandt, Dahoud, Reyna, Sancho, Zagadou, Raphael and Hummels thrive under technical managers who want to dominate the ball. This is the way top teams need to play, but it's also the way that suits us. Favre on the other hand does not want to play with intensity. He wants to sit deep, play a slow tempo cautious game before eventually exploiting a counter attack. The thing with Favre's football is that not only is it unsuccessful, but it also wins the club no new fans. Nobody is going to tune in to watch Dortmund. If we played exciting attacking football then our youngsters would be more keen to stay as well.
There's so much talk about the 3 man or 4 man back four, but that's besides the point. The question should be about as playing attacking high intensity football. This is our strongest line up with a back 3. --------------------Burki---------------- -------Hummels--Can---Zagadou Meunier--------Brandt------Dahoud------Raphael ----------Sancho-----------------Reus ----------------------Haaland---------------- Now this is our strongest line up playing a 4-3-3 ---------------Burki----------------- ---------Hummels----------Zagadou Meunier-------------Can------------------Raphael -------------Brandt----------------Dahoud Sancho----------------------------------------Reus ----------------------------Haaland The difference is minuscule and the team should be fluid enough to change. Both systems allows good passing lanes and has traingles over the pitch. You can see how all the players have at least two or more options when they get the ball. However, Favre is defensive and wants to play a 4-4-2. ----------------Burki--------- Meunier----Akanji-----Hummels----Raphael Sancho------Witsel----Delaney-----Hazard ----------------------Reus--------- ----------------------Haald------- It's defensive, it's not set up to give players options and it holds the team back.
I agree, but there was a lack of options in the friendly. Witsel does not make himself available for the pass and so Can tried to do everything himself. This is why it's important to have Raphael/Meunier on the wings and Dahoud/Bradt infront of Can. Dahoud is perpetual movement and is always available for a pass. Brandt has poor fitness, but he too makes space for passes. With these two we can dominate games.
Funny news from Kicker: There are signs that a return to the 3 man backline is likely after playing all test games with 4 in the back. I agree with what was said earlier here that ideally, switching back and forth between these two base formations depending on the need shouldn't be a problem for the team and that formations that are different on paper don't have to be that different on the field for the individual player. But comments from Zorc indicate that the switch from a 3 to a 4 man defense is more problematic for some reason than the other way around.
Well we lack defenders to constantly play a back 3 at the moment and our problem is Favre's mindset. Favre is clearly not good enough at the top level, but he is a defensive coach, wanting players that are defensively solid and stay in shape. To be honest when we had the likes of Larsen, LP at right back, Delaney and Witsel in the middle and Akanji/Diallo as centre backs, we had a team that suited Favre. He still was not good enough, but the style of the team and the quality of player is what he used to. We still had technical players like Dahoud, Raphael, Sancho and Zagadou, but they were in the minority. The our youngsters developed and we brought in Meunier, Brandt, Hummels and Can. The majority of the team are technical players who are never going to be the best team in the world keeping shape and being defensively solid. They are players that need to go out and attack. To ask them to defend leads sitting deep is not what the team is built to do and it's never going to work.
Glad to see Reyna is happy and I hope he means what he says. He is an incredible talent. Whilst I think ultimately his future lies at 10, I would still preferto see us play a 4--3-3 with Reyna deputing for Reus or Sancho when they need a rest out wide. I am expecting really big things for him in his future. If he can keep his feet on the ground and keep working he can reach the top. He has the talent, but now needs to keep his work ethic and not go down the Dembele route. We are definitely a cautionary tale for youngsters. Two of the most talented youngsters I have seen in the last 15 years and certainly the last 10, have fallen to pieces when they should have been competing for Ballon Dors. There is still time for Dembele though.
He is showing that again. Loew is so clueless. At least Favre plays wing backs, because we had excellent attacking full backs. Favre plays it when the full backs are the weakest players on the pitch. Bayern showed you what energy, movement combined with technique can do. So he plays Gundogan and Kroos. He has arguably the best orthodox left winger in the world so he plays him as a right side midfielder. Just ridiculous.
Haaland was very good yesterday in a strong 5:1 win away against Northern Ireland. He scored 2 and had a nice, unselfish assist
The friendly was surprisingly really good and probably gave me false hope. Seeing Brandt/Dahoud/Reus and Hummels on the pitch allowed us to play technical football. Brandt was getting into the pockets, Reus was very good an Dahoud's movement never stops and he always offers. I just hope Favre goes the right way and plays Dahoud with Brandt.
Two great goals as well, so much power and accuracy. I think he will challenge Lewa for the cannon this season.
In the first match against Austria he was almost invisible, fighting, but usually bad first touch. Still scored one. Austria was a better team and didn’t allow much.
Manuel Akanji has tested positive for COVID-19 while on international duty with Switzerland #BVB pic.twitter.com/DBapPdIWFw— BVB Buzz (@BVBBuzz) October 7, 2020
That Champions League away tie against Lazio on Oct 20th looks dicey considering Akanji contracted COVID-19, Can is suspended, and Zagadou still doesn't have a clear timetable to return...Piszczek-Hummels-Meunier at the back?