Position
It was the much quoted "perceived defeat" for BVB on Monday night: In the top versus bottom encounter, Dortmund could only draw 0-0 with FC Nürnberg and that meant the lead over FC Bayern has shrunk to three points. "That's part of it all. That happens sometimes in a season," was the relaxed response from Lucien Favre. After an almost perfect season to date, the last few weeks have brought disappointment: three draws in the league, including a 3-3 result against Hoffenheim after being 3-0 up, plus going out on penalties in the DFB Cup against Werder Bremen, and the 3-0 defeat in the first leg of the Champions League tie against Tottenham Hotspur. Across all competitions, Dortmund have now gone five games without a win but they can look back on an outstanding first half of the season in the league with just one defeat. In the long run that may not be enough to break the run of titles for FC Bayern after seven years and people in Dortmund are well aware of that.
Personnel
Abdou Diallo on the left, Julian Weigl in the middle, Marius Wolf on the right side of the back four, plus Mario Götze as the lone striker up front: Over the last few weeks it has been striking that Lucien Favre has put players in positions usually occupied by others. A situation probably both due to the busy period of fixtures and the associated need for rotation – however, also due to a number of players being sidelined, above all captain Marco Reus (pictured above). The outstanding BVB player this season suffered a muscle injury in the DFB Cup game against Bremen and it is a race against time for him to be available to play against the Werkself. "It will be a close run thing. We are definitely hopeful," said Sebastian Kehl, head of the Dortmund first team section, following the November game. There are faint hopes of a return for Manuel Akanji. The Swiss, who stood out as the leader of the Dortmund defence with impressive performances in the first half of the season, has not played a single game in 2019 due to continuous groin problems but at least he has now returned to full training. Definitely ruled out is winger Christian Pulisic (muscle) so right back Lukasz Piszczek could return to the team against Bayer 04 and help relieve the emergency situation with full backs.
Problems
The absence of Reus has certainly made itself felt in the past few games. The Germany international is possibly enjoying the best season of his career and in 19 Bundesliga fixtures he has been involved in 22 goals. Without their linchpin, the Dortmund attack has recently looked less focused and above all in the centre they are lacking penetration. Neither Götze nor Maximilian Philipp have been able to replace Reus up to now. Goalkeeper Roman Bürki criticised the lack of penetration defensively and offensively after the Tottenham game. "We don't have any strong players up front who can hold onto the ball. With opposition set pieces, we failed to come out on top and we have to defend more rigorously," was the clear assessment of the shot-stopper.
Potential
With all the problems of the past few weeks, it has to be said: The BVB performance after a mixed pre-season is more than remarkable – above all in view of the average age of the team. The central defence, consisting of Akanji (23) and Diallo (22), had an outstanding first half of the season with Dan-Axel Zagadou (19) plus Achraf Hakimi (20), on loan from Real Madrid, having impressed in spite of the younger age and in attack the 18-year-old Jadon Sancho has had an outstanding reception in the Bundesliga having been involved in 18 goals so far. Although Christian Pulisic (20) is another top talent of international football who will be leaving Dortmund at the end of the season to go to Chelsea: The future of this young team can only be rosy – perhaps with success as soon as May.
Prediction
The young rising stars in Black and Yellow now face the first real baptism of fire. After everything went like clockwork after the start of the season, the team now has to deal with the first bad patch – and the pursuers from the deep South. How quickly Favre can get his team back on track could well be crucial in terms of BVB breaking Bayern's stranglehold on the Bundesliga title over the past seven years. At least, it should be an exciting title race this season for the first time in a while – and that is already confirmation of the outstanding work at BVB.
