I welcome more posters and contributions to these forums, especially as so many don't post anymore. Reyna had a very nice goal. What I'd agree with is that should there be the one-sided cheerleading and slacking off of others that we've seen with Pulisic's alternatives for playing time, then that can get annoying.
Haland said recently that he's not 100% fit, and that may be why he doesn't start. We had 3 great chances: Sancho's, Reyna's and Reus' which he shot straight at the goal. And although it was slightly awkward, we've seen him score those before. He was grimacing after that shot, so I hope he wasn't injured! (Or maybe he needs a break??) I think the front 3 of the 3-4-3 in the first half played differently today than before: Reus was central and more advanced, and there wasn't much exchange of positions between them. That's bad because 1) Looked like one false 9, vs the usual "3 false 9's", 2) Reus sucks at being a striker 3) Hazard also sucks at building up attack. Bremen sat so far deep that we got stuck and weren't able to be creative, unlike in the 2nd half. I think we are often afraid to make the high-risk forward pass, and end up preparing for too long, and lose the element of surprise. It's like we are too afraid to lose the ball. Only after Reyna's goal did the players remember that they can take risks. Also, I feel bad for Hummels. He's had so many shots on goal from set pieces this season and none went in! Hopefully that means that the gods of probability are saving them for an important game or something.
For Leverkusen game Reus needs a breather and should be rested as he's simply out of sorts and could use a mental break. Problem is who do you replace him with? Brandt would be an obvious answer but he's too important to our game at the deeper playmaker position he's playing at now so maybe it's time to give Gotze an opportunity in place of Reus.
I said before the season started that the Reyna signing was going to be a very good one. He will compliment nicely with what we have and I think he is going to be better than Pulisic in terms of technical quality. Alas, though none of that helps us at the moment. Finding some quality defenders seems more important to me and Favre is doing nothing to get them there.
Favre doesn't like big changes, so it will probably be Brandt at the #10. The question is whether Brandt will be able to create as he did in the deep lying position. It would also be the second change of position he is asked to do this season. Perhaps a switch back to 4-2-3-1 would be more suitable for him, than playing in that fluid front 3 of the 4-3-3. There are problems with Gotze, it seems. He is not trusted maybe, or he is not showing eagerness to play. I highly doubt that we'll see him start in Reus' position.
We played Sancho Haaland Reus last game in the league so no need for major changes for the formation or player positions. Hazard can take Reus' spot if he's injured. But maybe a stronger and defensively better midfield might be needed against Leverkusen. It's Bosz. We only need to survive their attacks and counter them to death.
I agree we have a chance. But do we have the depth that we can challenge Bayern and keep playing Champions League? I feel we don't. We have no spares on defense, actually we have negative one spares. We need to beat PSG to keep up our brand as a team that is competitive in CL, but really we need to focus on Bundesliga.
Its interesting how nobody mentions Nico Schulz... I feel really bad for thar guy, but how things stands, thar guy is the biggest flop in Dortmunds history, 25M spent.... Dear God, that guy looks like he came from some club in second tier, the only thing he has is pace, everything else in OMG...
The first half was pretty similar to the Paderborn game. How many of those will Favre serve us? What a waste of 1st team players!
I don't think it's that bad. You're just comparing him to Guerreiro who provides much more creativity in attack and has built a lot of chemistry with his teammates over the years. I feel Schultz got much better compared to earlier in the season, but it doesn't help that Guerreiro will take all the minutes from him.
Good point. I had forgotten. That would be the least change option, so Favre will take it! I don't like it because Hazard is not great in this role, which requires a more creative player IMO.. it's kind of like a #10 rather than a winger attacking from the side. He didn't do great in the Bremen game in that role. He's better in the true winger position. He was also the best option for the central player in the 3-4-3 when Paco was injured and before Haland came.