Dortmund’s bigger problem

After the disqualification of Uefa Champions league BVB is left with one trophy run this of the German Cup for which BVB will need to face Bayern in Munich this Wednesday in a knock out game.

The German league run was over quickly this year for BVB. Actually a little bit before the winter brake BVB managed to destroy whatever it was achieved until this moment. After the 1-0 victory against Bayern BVB were 3 points behind the leading position in the league. However there was a very bad record in the last 5-6 matches before the brake that actually left BVB 13 points behind the league and consequently unable to chase the championship in the second round.

Two main goals were on the table, Champions league and German Cup pokal. In champions league after the clash with Benfica and the bomb attack, the team was completely unable to counter As Monaco losing with and aggregate 6-4 in the two games. Now we are only left with the semi final in Pokal which will be a difficult clash.

But what is the bad consistency of BVB that makes them lose their goals this year maybe a little bit more easy than expected.

Was it the departure of Gudogan, Hummels and Mkhitaryan? I wouldn’t say that. BVB put a better fight last year in both Europa and league with them but still had similar bad results. Yes I believe Mkhitaryan is a player missing since last year the attacking results of the team in league and Europe were much better. However I do not believe Gudogan and Hummels are so missed. Gudogan was there in some matches last year but he never had a consistent appearance to be so missed. Hummels on the other side was always there last year but still defending wise we see similar results as this year in league goals.

Was it the injuries a little bit before and during April? Yes and no. I mean Weigl, Castro, Durm, Reus, Papastathopoulos, Pulisic, Bartra , Rode, Shurle, Goetze and others that I cannot remember were or are out during many crucial games. Yes this definitely affected BVB. They were there however before Christmas when the league title race was put to an end. So I cannot say that those missing games are the only reason. Also they were never all off and BVB has a very deep squad this year to cover many people out.

In my opinion what causes the problem and it was causing it for the past years as well is the defensive culture and inconsistency of the team. This is always there even when we defend with Papa and Hummels but also when we have Bender and Ginter back. The problem is that BVB’s defense is so bad that the opponent can be back in game any time. Look at the match yesterday or with Monaco. BVB dominating but conceding goals whenever you can imagine in the game. That is  the most frustrating thing in this team. It is also the main factor causing failure. It is just impossible for BVB offensive line to produce so many goals to always cover the defense inefficiency. Don’t get me wrong. I do not believe that Papa, Bartra or others are bad defenders. I believe the team has a bad defending culture for way too long that has to be addressed. After the semi final I will analyze what needs to be done in my opinion to shift around this situation.

I hope I will be proven very wrong and I will not see any stupid mistakes with Bayern but it seems impossible for me to imagine BVB avoiding goals in Munich. It is frustrating to think that Bayern can have a 2-0 and actually finish the game but in case BVB makes a 0-2 we will still be in the edge and not being able to believe that we made it through until the last whistle.

Can BVB outplay UEFA

After the shock of Tuesday's attack in BVB's bus an interesting conversation followed between the German's side staff and the European Football Federation aka UEFA. BVB kicked it off during the postgame comments with Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel complaining that his side felt “completely ignored” over the rescheduling.

“We were informed by text message that Uefa was making this decision,”
“A decision made in Switzerland that concerns us directly. We will not forget it. It is a very bad feeling.”

Following in the same path but more brutally central defender Papastathopoulos mentioned that he felt treated like an animal being asked to think of football and play for the crowds 24 hours after an attack on his life.

UEFA side went on to reply to BVB and to the criticism claiming that they never received information suggesting that any of the teams did not want to play. What is interesting however to mention is that the decision was made 1hour after the attack which makes me wonder how much feedback was possible to be gathered from the German side staff just minutes after the attack took place.

In any case Nuri Sahin also came in later to add to the previous comments that the German team was not willing to have this game just a day after the attack.

"It's hard to talk about it, hard to find the right words [about the attack]. No, of course we did not want to play, but we knew we had responsibilities, we represent one of the biggest clubs in the world, it's a big competition, the Champions League.”

Definitely Champions league is a one of the top 2-3 European competitions but back to Papastathopoulos’ comment players remain human beings. So is difficult to factor in the magnitude of the competition in a decision for which the main factor ought to be the staff mental situation.

In any case BVB appears to follow their field strategy out of the field going all out against UEFA as the would do in the pitch when cornered.

Is this the proper was to deal with this?

Would they change something by criticizing UEFA?

I don’t know but I definitely like the fact that the team I support has a culture that goes down to their bones. Dortmund will be direct team and very simple in the way they deal with their "matches" in and out of the football pitch. It is not always successful and sometimes it will hurt them but is not an organization that will hide or play a political game to gain friends. I love the way they acted without overlooking the fault of UEFA because it was made by UEFA. They just said what they felt. I believe that if other teams were buying in this attitude we would have a much better European and Global football where decisions are made with main factor the best of the sport and not the best of the product.