We are playing 3-4-3. ------Burki Meunier--Can--Hummels--Akanji--Hazard Sancho--Witsel--Bellingham--Reyna -----------Haaland. A good idea to rest Reus and slowly ease him back in but picking Witsel and Bellingham over Brandt and Dahoud infuriates me. Hopefully we win.
It's the first game of the season so that needs to be taken into account but from the first 30 minutes, Dortmund doesn't look like a team with a plan where everyone is on the same page. Many mistakes as well and we struggle against Gladbach. We aren't the more dangerous side. Brandt had a very unfortunate cup game were almost every action was negative. It was almost comical but games like these happen. At this point, I'd still prefer a bit more experience and also leadership in offense.
And we take the lead after Gladbach seemed better in the last 10 to 20 minutes. The development to that goal was a bit lucky but we needed that.
bellingham and Reyna pair up for that one.. Are we still sure about Brandt being screwed over? I mean two 17 year olds did make that happen. I fault Favre for a lot of things but honestly I like todays selection except for maybe finding a way to get him in.
Don't know what Gladbach is bitching about. Normal foul and they act as if someone lost his leg. Not the first time they are like that.
How do you see their game besides that one scene? Don't get me wrong, I like both and see their potential. I think one good combination (initiated by one of our defenders) isn't the decider in one direction nor would one bad game generally be a verdict against them. But after 45 minutes, there isn't much else we could take away from our offensive efforts. We lack creativity, especially in the center and it has to come from somewhere. Otherwise we can only rely on counters, runs on the wings or luck.
Im just saying that even if Brandt got screwed by not starting this match, I cant see him not coming on at all. So far it looks like Favre's choice of two youngsters did work out for him and we can agree that ends were justified. Do we lack creativity? yes, were we fortunate to score? yes... but cant take it off the sheet i guess.
I'm just concerned about the way we play right now. That goal was pretty lucky and we looked second best before that. At first I thought wth is Can (who almost assisted the 2:0 in similar fashion) doing with such a ball and then we get a lucky deflection followed by a very good execution by both Bellingham and Reyna, of course. After the goal, we played with a bit more confidence and had counter opportunities but I don't see game control or a planned creation of goal chances from our side.
good result. not a great match but encouraging that we didn the usual mental lapses that caused a goal
Good result but too much Favre ball of trying to preserve a lead in the second half and conceding control to the opponent. It's always a gamble, do we get a lucky break or do we concede a goal. This time, we got a lucky break twice to decide the game but it hurts seeing a team with this quality with longer phases of getting pressed back into our half and losing every ball almost immediately. Gladbach were also a bit naive. Other BL teams usually know not to open the gates too early after chasing a goal against us.
The first half was really suspect with lots of problems building up from the back, caused by Gladbach’s strong pressing but mitigated by Plea and Thuram being unavailable to take advantage. Overall I think they settled down and took care of business once they gained the lead.
Quotes like this from Zorc and Favre annoy me tbh, they sound defeatist already. https://bulinews.com/news/6109/dort...ay-down-comparisons-bayern-after-gladbach-win
Yes this is pathetic. I would confidently say Dortmund have the best squad in the world and the third best first 11 in the world. This Dortmund team is as good as any in the world and we should be competing with Bayern. It's pathetic to say such things. It's such a loser attitude. As good as Zorc has been for the club, he is not a winner. I didn't watch the match live, because I was watching the Palace game, but I recorded it and watched it just now. It was a good result, but it was lucky. The big pluses for us, was our defence looked more solid and Haalad was as hungry as ever. Sancho showed good touches when he had the ball and Reyna looks like he will be class. Passlack is not really good enough, but he has a good attitude and is happy to feel in many positions. Now for the negatives. We sat back and were driven in our own half. We couldn't pass the ball through the lines. We won the match, because of the quality of our attacking players. That sort of football is not going to work often enough. As you say we keep playing Favre ball and we will come 2nd, get knocked out in the last 16 and lose a random cup match. The bare minimum for this team should be to challenge Bayern tooth and nail for the league, to only lose to Bayern in a close match should we draw them away and win the cup, to make the CL semi final. Those are what we should be aiming for. Bellingham is good for a 17 year old, but he is not good enough yet for what we need. We need Brandt and Dahoud starting in that midfield and we should be going to dominate teams.
This style of football does not win trophies. We got a lucky penalty, but the in truth Hummels tackle on Thuram was more of a foul. It could have easily have been the other way around. They get the penalty and make it 1-1. Favre has to go for this team to achieve. The likes of Witsel/Delaney starting whilst Dahoud/Brandt our on the bench. It's embarrassing and stupid.
btw you were right about Passlack - it paid off to keep him around (probably because interest was thin). Guerreiro might still take another week or so to return, while Hazard is out for a few matches. Dahoud was rehabbing for most of the preseason and Brandt played poorly. Next week against Augsburg might be a good time to bring one or both of them in. Overall I’m okay with how things went, since Gladbach’s press is one of the best in the league and Dortmund managed to adjust. They need to be more organized when it comes to progressing the ball from the back line - the back 3 concealed this issue after the problems early last season.
Hopefully. We will see the next game, but these two need play. We need to play a technical game to progress.