BVB’s bumpy start to the season is giving more and more food for thought. The team also revealed worrying weaknesses at the start of the Champions League. Was it the wrong tactic? Or is there a lack of quality?
Coach Edin Terzic was annoyed about a “lack of courage”, sports director Sebastian Kehl about “too much larifari” and advisor Matthias Sammer about “very bad signals”. At Borussia Dortmund, the guesswork about the growing gap between expectations and reality continues.
As with the mixed start to the Bundesliga, the team appeared unsettled at the start of the Champions League. The 0:2 (0:0) at co-favorites for the title Paris Saint-Germain fit the picture of the wavering runner-up.
Even a much more defensive tactic with three central defenders, a five-man chain and initially without a central striker did not save BVB in the French capital from the feared false start in the premier class. “We ran after the ball a lot,” Emre Can complained about the largely one-sided game. In his initial frustration, the BVB captain didn’t want to gloss over the problems: “Some things are missing 100 percent. We make mistakes that are too simple. Things definitely have to get better.”
Concept not implemented
Kehl considered discussions that emerged that the coach’s possibly overly cautious match plan could have favored the French’s unchallenged success to be inappropriate: “With the five-man chain as we imagined it today, you can actively defend going forward. We didn’t implement that .”
Terzic also defended his concept and blamed his professionals: “You can put it nicely and say: We had too much respect. Or you can say that we simply lacked the courage.” The coach was particularly upset by the many bad passes: “We had a pass rate of 63 percent in the first half – almost every second pass was lost.”
The plan to stop the PSG magic storm with exceptional talents like Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé and Randal Kolo Muani using wall tactics only paid off in the first half. When referee Jesús Gil Manzano punished a handball by BVB national player Niklas Süle with a penalty, much to Dortmund’s incomprehension, Mbappé brought the bulwark down (49th minute). The fact that BVB consultant Sammer, as an expert on Amazon Prime, spoke of a “total wrong decision” and a “game-decisive scene” after the end of the game could not hide his own problems.
Clear words from Sammer
Sammer therefore found similarly clear words not only for the referee, but also for the two ineffective offensive forces Donyell Malen and Karim Adeyemi. “What I don’t like, without naming it, but there are the two in front. You lose every ball and then it takes a minute to get back. Those are really bad signals,” rumbled the former BVB professional.
If there is no significant improvement in the next Bundesliga game at home against Wolfsburg on Saturday (3:30 p.m./Sky), the climate in Dortmund could become even harsher. “There is a certain lack of cleanliness, that’s a bit too much Larifari for me,” complained Kehl and called for “more clarity in the game.” The fact that new signing Marcel Sabitzer had to be substituted injured in the first half and, according to Kehl’s initial assessment, his team will be out for “a few days” increased the frustration.
Despite all the criticism, the sports director is confident that the Bundesliga team of 2023, which is still the best in terms of points, will soon return to a similar class as in the second half of last season: “We know that we have a very strong team. That’s why “We’ll work. Then we’ll get better again,” said Kehl.
Source: Stern
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