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.
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