Position
Borussia are looking good. The last two matches in the Bundesliga produced 3-0 wins (away to Freiburg and at home to Wolfsburg) and that followed a psychologically important 1-0 victory over Leipzig, new rivals for second spot. Despite that, there is a sombre mood in Dortmund. Are there greater expectations surrounding the current campaign with many believing Bayern could be overcome? Or could it be that good performances under Thomas Tuchel are too often compared with the incredible success of the Klopp era?
Potential
With the exception of Bayern, no other team – particularly in terms of depth – have such a strong squad as BVB. There are two players for nearly every position, which is why head coach Thomas Tuchel faces hard choices week by week. He has several options up front: In addition to top goalscorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (19 goals), new signing Ousmane Dembélé has fought his way into contention with his audacious approach.
Problems
In spite of the depth of their squad, BVB do not rely on any other player as much as Aubameyang – definitely since the departure of his deputy Adrian Ramos. The man from Gabon scored at Freiburg for the first time in nearly 500 minutes of play, making a significant contribution to the win. By the way, BVB are the only team in the league yet to score a goal from distance. This week there was another piece of news that caused concern at Dortmund. Returnee and World Cup hero Mario Götze is sidelined for an indefinite period due to a metabolic problem.
Personnel
In addition to Götze, Tuchel is unable to call on defensive specialists Sven Bender (cruciate) and Sebastien Rode (groin). The coach does have alternatives and he has also rotated his team a lot - as well as his system. Sometimes BVB play 3-4-3 with a flat back four and sometimes Tuchel prefers a 4-1-4-1 formation with a deep lying holding midfielder behind two central players.
Prediction
Regardless of the fact that the team from Munich are once again setting the standards in this championship, it could turn out to be a good campaign for Dortmund: In the Champions League BVB need to turn round a 1-0 deficit from the first leg against Benfica to progress to the quarter-finals. In the DFB Cup the chances of reaching the semi-final are good even though yesterday's tie against SF Lotte was postponed. And if Dortmund are able to continue with their league form since the winter break (ten points from five games) then nothing will stand in their way of a head-to-head challenge for second place with the new arrivals from Leipzig.
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