Fantastic way to open the new season, against strong opposition in Leipzig. Hopefully it'll be a case of starting as you mean to go on! 
Boom! As Herr Klopp would say! That's fucking football!
CENTRAL DEFENDERS DOMINATE WITH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LOOMING
The build up to the second game of the season was overshadowed by the recent Champions League group draw, with Dortmund landing in a deceptively difficult group. Paris SG, Galatasaray, and FC RB Salzburg would join BVB in Group F with Paris SG the solid favorite to win the group. There is a strong expectation for a ticket to the knockout rounds, but the rest of the group would be no walkover especially if they can’t take any points of the potential champions. Neymar diving memes are already trending across BVB fan sites.
Bundeslia (A) : Borussia Dortmund 2 - Hannover 96 0
A trip to Hannover wouldn’t look troublesome on paper, but it would quickly develop into a defensive battle that BVB were more than prepared to weather. Marco Reus would sit this one out with a minor hamstring injury, making way for Mario Götze to run the offense.
Dortmund did manage to dominate possession from the start, but the possession was mostly in the middle third in their own half of the field. Instead of Götze running the show it ended up being Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel, with Delaney leading the team in passes completed (80) and key passes (4). Possession just wasn’t being converted into shots, and Hannover were more than happy to wait and try to collect a point. Delaney ruined their plans in the 37’ with a long ball that caught Jadon Sancho streaking past Oliver Sorg and Waldemar Anton to give him an opening to shoot that he didn’t pass up on. With the game now 1-0, BVB became even more comfortable making this a defensive fight.
Götze seemed to be having issues managing play between Hannover’s midfielders in a 4-4-2, but that problem fell away not long after halftime. Raphaël Guerreiro took a free kick from a dangerous position, on the left side of the penalty box, and send a low cross around the three-man wall to create a nightmare for Hannover. Michael Esser didn’t come out for the ball, and Manuel Akanji put his head to it sending it down to Christian Pulisic who didn’t hesitate to knock it in. With the score 2-0, this game was essentially over.
When the final whistle blew the two teams were nearly level on shots (11 to 13), but BVB troubled the keeper with (6) where Hannover only managed (2). The result would also extend Dortmund’s streak of clean sheets, something they would like to keep going into their Champions League opener against Paris SG in two weeks.
Another comfortable win and another clean-sheet, which suggests that the defence is looking rather solid thus far. A difficult Champions League group, but one you can definitely progress from in second-place. Galatasaray should be your main challengers, so a couple of results over them should do the job, as long as you beat the 'minnow' of the group RB Salzburg.
I´ve really been enjoying watching Dortmund this season. Hopefully you can bring them glory. Good luck!
HOME COOKING SINKS FRANKFURT
Bundeslia (H) : Eintracht Frankfurt 1 - Borussia Dortmund 3
It didn’t take more than a few minutes for this game to look like a team selection folly. With Paris SG a week away Favre looked to keep his starters rested against a team wallowing near the bottom of the table, apparently Adi Hütter did not get the memo. Aside from Jadon Sancho, Roman Bürki, Raphaël Guerreiro, and the central defender pairing of Abdou Diallo and Manuel Akanji, everyone else was second choice. Shinji Kagawa was dusted off at CAM to keep Mario Götze rested, with Marco Reus suffering a nagging injury Favre found himself suddenly very short of players ready to run the offense.
Frankfurt came out like they were offended by the team across from them, and played hard while aiming to clog up the middle of the field. It worked well, with Kagawa having trouble linking up with the wings. Ante Rebic broke it open for Frankfurt at 22’ after a corner kick devolved into confusion. The corner banged around the goal mouth, with Dortmund’s players closing in, and a smart pass out of the box found Rebic waiting on the penalty spot. He barely needed to hit it with nearly the entire Dortmund team a few years away. Suddenly it looked like they could pull this off.
Hütter’s team looked to strangle BVB’s attack by managing to retain possession quite well and limiting their shots. Favre decided to make a change at the 60’ mark, bringing off Sancho and Maximilian Philipp for Marius Wolf and Paco Alcácer in an attempt to bring some fresh legs to the attack. Just one minute later Frankfurt’s dreams were crushed by a Guerreiro free kick from just outside the right side of the box, a dangerous position that would make it easy for Dortmund to score. A low inward swinging delivery would be met and headed in by Akanji to make it 1-1.
Just ten minutes later an attempt to hold possession in the midfield quickly turned into a disaster for Frankfurt. Jeremy Toljan stepped into a lazy pass from Rebic and used a nice one-two with Julian Weigl to release himself down the right sideline. A series of passes from Toljan, back to Weigl, then to Mahmoud Dahoud ended at Guerreiro’s feet as he blew past the edge of Frankfurt’s defense to charge on goal and score. If Frankfurt were deterred by the first goal, this broke their back. The killing blow came thanks to Frankfurt’s Jetro Willems, who used a lazy back pass to the keeper to gift an easy goal to Alcácer who had not moved back to defend as the rest of the team had.
After looking like they might drop point, staying perfect was a good way to head into a brutal game away to Paris SG. At least everyone would be rested and ready to face the atmosphere in the Parc de Princes.
That result shows the team has enough quality to see off decent opposition, if needed. Great character shown to come back from behind and win rather comfortably in the end also.
Frankfurt were a good side last year so beating them is a very good result, well done!
2018-12-10 21:57#253328 mgriffin2012 : Frankfurt were a good side last year so beating them is a very good result, well done!
They were really good! They just made some really bad mistakes that happened to turn into goals, the Willems back pass was awful. It wasn't even rushed, he got the ball, paused for a second and turned to pass it back and Paco was standing right there.
Some very good results to begin the season. A good start to what will surely be a successful campaign!
SLOPPY PSG GIFT BVB PARC DE PRINCES VICTORY
Champions League (A) : Borussia Dortmund 3 - Paris SG 2
It’s hard to tell exactly what would send PSG into a tailspin like this, one of the favorites to win the competition playing a home game should have been a tap in. BVB went into this game just looking to get a point, dealing with Neymar would not be an easy task.
As things turned out, former Borussia Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel could only stand by and watch his team give away goals and close it out by gifting a winner to his former team. BVB held their own through the entire first half with both teams playing fairly evenly on paper, the indicator of trouble being PSG getting more shots on target. It finally became a serious issue just before the half at 45’ when Juan Berat found himself cornered by Thomas Delaney and Christian Pulisic and lost the ball, Delaney took the ball off him and Dortmund made a quick transition into attack, but Berat turned aggressor and pressured Delaney. In a panic he blindly booted the ball toward the middle of the field and found Christopher Nkunku hanging out just beyond the penalty arc. He collected it and fired an absolute laser that found its way into the upper right corner.
Things continued in this manner after the break, it looked like PSG might make it 2-0 and close the game out a number of times. Everything started to turn against them at 60’ when Berat and Thiago Silva crunched Delaney in the box, sending him sprawling to the ground and Marco Reus to the penalty spot. He easy converted and pulled BVB even 1-1.Things got worse as PSG crowded into Dortmund’s box, hitting a few shots and looking like a goal was inevitable before a sloppy pass found Lukasz Piszczek, who found Pulisic wide on the right for an incredible long ball that hit Paco Alcácer in stride between two defenders. Alcácer stopped abruptly, losing his markers, and tapped the ball to his left for a charging Reus who hammered it in to put his side up 2-1.
The mood in Paris suddenly sank, but Favre wasn’t ready to celebrate just yet with 20’ left to play. The man who had been mostly silent all game would remind everyone why they spent so much time accounting for him. Delany would make a poor header into Thiago Silva, who would pass forward to Julian Draxler on the right, who would pick out Neymar streaking down the middle. He collected the ball and did not waste an open shot on goal, slamming it in to tie things up. PSG looked like they would make it 3-2 a number of times, but Dortmund continued to deflect them and launch their own counter attacks. Finally, almost exactly at the 90’ mark, PSG put the ball in the back of the net for the final time. Unfortunately for them, Marquinhos managed to put in his own net to give Dortmund an improbable 3-2 lead. With 5’ of extra time given, BVB parked the bus and kept PSG from getting another chance.
Tuchel did not look happy, and the PSG fans filed out feeling they were deserving of a win. This one game doesn’t decide the group, and PSG are likely to advance, but losing a home game you should have won never feels good.
P$G never stood a chance!
P$G never stood a chance!
You are reading "Achtung Borusse!".
