November; The rise and rise of Max Kruse

In November we finally conceded a Bundesliga goal when Haris Seferovic scored against us in the match against Eintracht Frankfurt. As the title suggests it was the rise and rise of Max Kruse, the German Striker scoring 4 goals, showing he can fill Ciro Immobile boots. As well as there being a RivierDerby victory as well as our revenge at Stamford Bridge. I hope you enjoy the November update.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Matchdays 4 & 5

UCL Matchday 4: Chelsea 0-3 Borussia Dortmund

Kruse 3' 17' Gundogan 7'

This was a game I was not going to lose, or draw. Only win. And we came flying out of the traps with a goal from Max Kruse after 4 minutes from a brilliant solo dribble past the whole Chelsea defence he left Petr Cech stranded in the middle of the goal with a laser guided effort. Just 3 minutes later and Ilkay Gundogan made it 2-0, Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng took advantage of rookie left back Todd Kane's lack of experience to deliver the perfect cross for Gundo. Cech stranded again, yet it's unlikely he'd have saved the rocket shot anyway. The final goal was again scored by Kruse, Kane at fault again this time it was a stupid handball where he reached up to fist it away. Kruse's penalty kick was well placed yet powerful as he sent Cech the wrong way. We were extremely fortunate to get away with a clean sheet though. Eden Hazard cut through our backline like a warm knife through butter, however the shot was very anti climatic and straight at Leno. Again there was another chance for the Pensioners to claw back some pride before the break, but Oscar couldn't get enough power nor swerve on his shot making for another simple save. The final chance went our way, Max Kruse being played through, only to scuff and awful shot wide when he should have completed his hat-trick.

MoTM

Goals: 2

Assists: 0

Rating: 9.0

UCL Matchday 5: Besiktas 0-3 Borussia Dortmund

Aubamyeng 36' Kruse 45' Koybasi OG 92'

Another game in Europe another 3-0 win in Europe. We took the lead when Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng rose like a salmon to nod home Marco Reus' deflected cross after 36 minutes and from there were able to take advantage of the Turks sloppy passing, after they failed to clear the ball and allowed Marco Reus to swing the ball into Max Kruse who flicked the ball over Tolga Zengin and into the net. With 20 minutes to go things went from bad to worse for the hosts when Veli Kavlak received his 2nd yellow card after a kick out at Ilkay Gundogan. Their misery was compounded in added on injury time when a wild swing from Vasilis Torosidis was expertly prodded in by Ismail Koybasi.

MoTM

Goals: 0

Assists: 2

Rating: 9.0

Bundesliga Matchdays 10-13

Bundesliga Matchday 10: Bayer Leverkusen04 0-1 Borussia Dortmund

Großkreutz 46'

A goal from hometown hero Kevin Großkreutz settled this hard fought tie at the BayArena which allowed Bernd Leno to celebrate victory on his return to Leverkusen. Bayer04 started out much better though, Josip Drmic had a rasping effort skid along the turf early on making sure Leno was alert. Adrian Ramos then went close with a close range effort than pinged off the front post from a Vasilis Torosidis cross. The other Bender, Lars Bender then forced Bernd Leno into a world class save to deny the home captain and just second later Omer Toprak so very nearly squeezed the ball through the legs of Adrian Ramos. Just before it looked like a solid first half for Leverkusen to build on, Kevin Großkreutz snuck through to drive a shot past Mitch Langerak to make it 1-0. Don't ask me what happened to this game in the 2nd half with literally no highlights at all, we were certainly not the better side in this game but these are the matches that really test a team's title credentials so to come out on top was very pleasing.

MoTM

Goals: 1

Assists: 0

Rating: 8.3

Bundesliga Matchday 11: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 FC Schalke04

Immobile 47'

The opening RivierDerby of the season was a 'Mittelfeldgeplankel' (a handy German word for 'Midfield scuffle' which was what the game was) and it took a moment of magic from Kevin Großkreutz to help open the scoring. An out of this world scooped pass to Ciro Immobile meant all the Italian had to do was nod it in, and he did just that. The only other highlight was a snapshot of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the 90th minute that almost caught Bernd Leno off his line.

MoTM

Goals: 0

Assists: 0

Rating: 7.8

Bundesliga Matchday 12: VFL Wolfsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund

Aubamyeng 67' Gundogan 73'

It took us time but eventually we managed to get ourselves a precious 2-0 away win at the Volkswagen Arena against Wolfsburg. I was in disbelief for most of this game, firstly Max Kruse did superbly to get off a scrappy shot which Diego Benaglio let slip through his fingers and onto the left post. Just a couple of minutes later Kruse was played in after an exquisite backheel from Henrik Mkhitaryan but was superbly saved. 3 minutes after that (12 minutes in) and Mkhitaryan had a chance of his own, but scuffed his shot at Benaglio who made a routine save. 23 minutes in was a heart in mouth moment when Nicklas Bendtner raced through only to fire the ball wide of the mark. 5 minutes before the break was another brilliant chance wasted by Mkhitaryan, the Armenian swiveled expertly in the box but his shot was blocked by the leg of Benaglio. I was sure it would be de ja vu in the 2nd half...I was wrong. 67 minutes into the game Marco Reus jinked inside, slipped the ball to Mkhitaryan who cracked a tremendous shot onto the crossbar before Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng sprinted to the rebound to score. Ilkay Gundogan secured a quickfire double 6 minutes later, heading in Mkhitrayan's cross from a free kick. There was one more scare though, Kevin De Bruyne skipped past the defence before attempting to clip the ball beyond Leno's reach but our Goalie was more than equal to it ensuring yet another clean sheet for him.

MoTM

Goals: 1

Assists: 0

Rating: 8.1

Bundesliga Matchday 13: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Kruse 8' 48'

The first time we conceded a goal in the league this season was a strange, but I felt mostly relieved. The more games we go without conceding the bigger target we become. We did take the lead after 8 minutes when Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng's cross was flicked back to Kruse by Henrik Mkhitaryan and he practically burst the net with his shot, a volley with plenty of venom. But then the unthinkable happened...we conceded a goal. Haris Seferovic took down Takashi Inui's cross expertly and tucked the ball into the net before Roman Weidenfeller could even move. 10 minutes after that was a brilliant pass from Ilkay Gundogan to Max Kruse who looked certain to score, but Kevin Trapp had other ideas with a fine save to deny Kruse stretching every limb in his body to turn the ball behind. Kruse did score again though, Gundogan again the provider. Winning the ball from Constant Djakpa and slide the ball to Kruse and Kevin Trapp undid all his good work with some Rob Green style handling to effectively pass Kruse the ball to poke in the eventual winner.

MoTM

Goals: 0

Assists: 1

Rating: 9.0

Player of The Month

It's been a big month with some big victories and in those big victories Kevin Großkreutz has been an outstanding player for us, he scored the winner against Leverkusen and provided the assist in the derby. His defensive work, like the whole of the back four, has been excellent and we can all look forward to even greater things from Kevin this season.

Month in Pictures

Kevin Großkreutz celebrates scoring against Bayer04.

Jose Mourinho was left dazed and confused after we took apart his Chelsea team at Stamford Bridge, he now has it all to do with Chelsea 3 points behind Shakhtar going into the final Group match.

Derby winner Ciro Immobile and Marco Reus celebrate the win over Schalke.

It looks as though Max Kruse has started to settle at the Signal Iduna Park, the injured Immobile now has a fight on his hands

Bayern in trouble?

FCB now 12 points behind leaders Dortmund

It seems all is not well with Bayern Munchen. With mounting injury concerns and no impending transfers, the champions are struggling. So it wasn't exactly ideal time to be playing Borussia Dortmund, with an out of form Robert Lewandowski without a goal in 3 Bundesliga matches against a defence that going into the game had only conceded 1 all season. Arjen Robben made a dramatic return to the right wing, complete with a protective face mask after fracturing his cheek bone earlier in the season against Schalke.

But Dortmund weren't in charitable mood, scoring after just 15 minutes through Armenian starlet Henrik Mkhtaryan. Who rounded off a great team move with a simple dink past the flat-footed Manuel Neuer. FCB then endured a barrage of BvB attacks, Neuer twice kept his side in it with a brilliant reaction save from a Mats Hummels header and then again from a powerful Marco Reus drive from just outside the area.

Dortmund celebrate Mkhitaryan's opener...

Eventually the black and yellows were caught too far forward and Thomas Muller was able to test Bernd Leno's concentration with a volley at his near post. But the Germany U-21 keeper was ready for it.

...Before Marco Reus scored their 2nd.

Just over 10 minutes into the 2nd half BvB made it 2-0 when Marco Reus got on the end of Pierre Emerick Aubameyeng's cross and got a heavy gift of fortune when the ball squirmed through Manuel Neuer's fingers and into the bottom left corner.

And 5 minutes later 'Auba' turned from provider to finisher when Maats Hummels again had a header well saved by Neuer, before Reus rolled to ball to the Gabonese striker who struck a fantastic volley with venom into the back of the Bayern net to send the home fans into frenzy.

Aubamyeng puts the final nail in Bayern's coffin with a fine volley.

Bayern struck by just a few minutes later, and as though it was meant to be Robert Lewandowski managed to round Bernd Leno to stick home his 8th league goal of the campaign.

Former Dortmund hitman Robert Lewandowski put a slight downer on the night when he pulled one back for Bayern, but it wasn't enough.

The last few minutes were certainly made harder when Sebastian Kehl was sent off for a strong slide tackle on Javi Martinez with 2 minutes to go, but Borussia Dortmund hung on to take a massive step toward the Bundesliga title.

A bittersweet moment for Sebastian Kehl, a brilliant win where he played a crucial part. But also a sending off meaning he will miss the trip to Freiburg on the final matchday of the year (17).

'It was a great victory, one we'll savour for some time. The players played with enormous spirit today, the gave everything and won. So I'm very pleased, it was almost faultless.'

~Mathias Iconic

'It was a great team performance, and to score was even better. It was a great cross from Auba and I did get a little lucky with the finish, but when these things go in your favour you know it will be a good day.'

~Marco Reus

'The guys played really well going forward and I think we did our bit in the defence too. I just wosh I could have scored, but I'm glad I played my part in Pierre's goal'

~Mats Hummels

'It's never nice to lose, least of all in a game as important as this. We should have done better, but we looked a 2nd division team compared to them (Dortmund) today. We need to bounce back but it won't be easy.'

~Josep 'Pep' Guardiola

'I was happy with the reception I got, we lost but I'm happy I scored and grateful to the Dortmund fans for not booing.'

~Robert Lewandowski

The result sees Die Bayern lose further ground on the leaders and are now 12 points away from BvB. They've got a lot of work left to save their season.

December; Grinding out the wins

After our 3-1 mauling of Bayern on Matchday 16 we opened up a 10 point lead ahead of the Bavarian's, going into the winter break. Max Kruse was also on fire in our match against Shakhtar Donetsk, but despite these positives it wasn't really a great month for us the football looked forced and we weren't all that fluid in how we played but it's the results that count and we're getting plenty of them at the moment.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: End of Group Stage

UCL Matchday 6: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Shakhtar Donetsk

Mkhitaryan 6' Kruse 42' 47' 83'

The Mkhitaryan and Kruse show, that's what was on offer against Shakthar who needed to win to be sure they would knock out Chelsea. But we also needed to avoid defeat to top the group and gain an easier draw. Henrik Mkhitaryan got us off to a great start when Ilkay Gundogan threaded the ball to Max Kruse who unselfishly squared it to Mkhitaryan and our playmaker had an easy tap in. The 2nd goal came after Mkhitaryan was floored by Olexandr Kucher after jinking inside the area. The penalty was taken by Max Kruse (Marco Reus was benchedfor this game in place of Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng) his spot kick was well saved by Andriy Pyatov but the rebound was straight at Kruse and another easy tap in. The 3rd goal again heavily involved both Mkhitaryan and Kruse, Mkhitaryan with a powerful long range effort which bounced out of the hands of Pyatov and allowed Max Kruse to jump in and slide home. The final goal was one that completed Max Kruse's hat-trick, Mkhitaryan yet again was on hand to assist Kruse with a powerful cross along the floor for him too fire home and send the Ukrainians crashing out and Chelsea into the Last 16.

Bundesliga Matchdays 14, 15 & 17

Bundesliga Matchday 14: Herta Berlin 0-1 Borussia Dortmund

Reus 41'

A damp squib of a game that was won only through some brilliance from Marco Reus. After Pierre Emerick Aubamyeng cut inside and hit a cross-come-shot which Reus managed to flick past Thomas Kraft and into the net. The only other highlight was when Anis Ben Hatira crashed a volley onto the underside of the bar, and was cleared by Mats Hummels. The result was very good considering the performance was terrible.

Bundesliga Matchday 15: Mainz05 0-1 Borussia Dortmund

Kruse 52'

We played even worse in this game than before, Mainz played some superb football and wasted no time in showing they wanted to win. Shinji Okazaki went close when he flashed a shot past Bernd Leno's near post in the 6th minute, Shawn Parker forced a world class save from Bernd Leno nine minutes after that and then Jairo went on a brilliant solo run before attempting to set up Okazaki, but the Japanese striker shot straight at Leno who comfortably saved. We finally got a chance when Marco Reus drove through the Mainz defence before testing the concentration of Lorius Karius, but ultimately his shot went wide. The players got the hairdryer treatment at half time and came out fighting with a goal from Max Kruse just seven minutes into the second period. It came after a wonderful dummy from Henrik Mkhitaryan sent Stefan Bell sprawled along the floor before playing the ball to the completely unmarked Kruse who slotted the ball past Karius to give us a wholly undeserved lead. And for a while we were looking good, controlling the match and not allowing Mainz any other chances. That was until Jonas Hofmann skipped through our backline before his shot smacked the woodwork.

Bundesliiga Matchday 17: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 SC Freiburg

No Goalscorers

After two poor peformances in the previous games I picked a rotated side for the visit of relegation threatened SC Freiburg. And it showed, they set up to frustrate us and played for the draw. We tried with all our might to brek them down, but we'd used up our luck in the previous games. Nuri Sahin was teed up brilliantly by Sebastian Kehl but his shot was hit straight at Roman Burki, then Ciro Immobile curled a shot onto the upright shortly before the break. Both Marco Reus and Ashley Young went close with free kicks, the former hitting the bar and the latter had his deflected wide, and Max Kruse was denied what should have been a penalty. But neither side could break the deadlock, and 0-0 it remained.

Player of The Month

His four goal salvo and winner against Mainz just about wins Max Kruse Player of The Month. It was a very poor month in terms of performances, but his work ethic and 5 goals means he takes the December award.

Month in Pictures

Henrik Mkhitaryan was inspirational against Shakthar, ensuring we knocked out his former club.

Marco Reus celebrates his goal against Bayern.

Bernd Leno celebrates another clean sheet, and another victory.

The team celebrates wildly after the Bayern win. Now ten points clear we're almost nailed on to win the title.

Brilliant well-written story mate, love it.