Let me be totally honest with everyone here: after that first half, I almost talked myself into not watching the second. 26% ball possession and xG of exactly 0.00 is absolutely not what you want to see from your team, no matter the opponent. But because I’m a deluded BVB fan, I decided to strap in for 45 more minutes of what I could only imagine ending in an absolute slaughter. Luckily for me, BVB showed some real fighting spirit and played some pretty decent football in the 2nd half. It was almost so good
that you could argue that a draw would have been a fair result. Unfortunately, a corner kick and a failed clearance ended up being just enough for Bayern to grab all three points. This now leaves Bayern seven points ahead of The Black and Yellows, and mounting a serious title challenge now looks extremely difficult. I came away from this game feeling mostly okay, so I guess that’s good?
Here are my observations from tonight’s 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich.
Kane and Olise are Simply Brilliant
I am wholeheartedly of the opinion that you as a fan of one team are allowed to praise your opponents players when it’s appropriate—I am a fan of Dortmund first and foremost, but I’m also a fan of good f*cking football. I haven’t watched Bayern that much over the last year, but you absolutely get why paying 53 million euros for Michael Olise makes Crystal Palace’s negotiators look like some of the worst in the world. The 23-year old Frenchman is simply a joy to watch. Quick on his feet, elite decision making and insanely hard work off the ball. Tonight it paid off a tad bit extra, as he rushed to challenge Jobe for a ball inside Dortmund’s box, resulting in the goal for 2-0. Praise must also go to Harry Kane for basically being a complete footballer: dangerous in the box, an elite creator and a threat on set pieces (yikes). I actually think Kovac’s team did very well to keep them from doing too much harm tonight (I thought Svensson was especially impressive against Olise). If you wanna test yourself, you have to do it against the best in the world, and I think the team held their own on an admirable level against two of the best offensive players in the world tonight.
A Divine Performance From Schlottigott
This guy man… Liverpool wants him, Real Madrid wants him, and Bayern (ugh) of course wants him—everyone in world football is looking at this 25-year old German central defender running around in the Ruhrgebiet, and with good reason. With a performance such as the one tonight, you can absolutely see who the rightful heir to Mats Hummels’ throne is. Nico Schlotterbeck’s team lost tonight, but he absolutely led the team on the field with one of the best defensive displays I’ve seen from a single Dortmund player in a while. Schlotti showed his entire skillset tonight—from long balls to dribbles out of pressure to last ditch tackles. This guy does quite a lot of things, and he does so at an unusually high level. It’s rare that we highlight a single players performance after a loss, but I guess tonight is an exception. I celebrated that last ditch tackle on Olise like you would celebrate a goal. If Ricken, Kehl and co. can manage to extend with Nico Schlotterbeck, I am 100 % sure that he will go down as one of the great BVB defenders in the future.
We Lost, but I’m Somehow Fine?
I feel like there are two ways to look at this game. You can feel like BVB absolutely deserved something from this game in terms of points, and you can be partially happy about what you witnessed. I think we can all agree that the first half was completely crap and the worst of the season, but the second half was also where BVB showed how they can really measure up against some of the best teams in the world. No team in the Bundesliga goes to the Allianz Arena expecting points, and an important distinction here is, that this is not the same as not believing you can win. From what I saw today, Kovac’s team absolutely believed they could square up against this Bayern side—at least when they got into gear. The first half I think is partially just Bayern being good at football, but I also think a sliver of it at least is, that BVB perhaps showed them a bit too much respect. I saw nothing tonight that indicates to me that this BVB side can’t go out and challenge some of the best teams in Europe, and I think the form still looks very good in terms of finishing with a high points tally in the Bundesliga this year.
Would I have done anything different? Hard to say. The commentators on my TV were especially hard on Pascal Groß after the first half, and you also saw a half admission from Kovac, as Groß was then moved further up the field in the second half—a tweak that worked wonders for BVB’s ability to progress the ball in the 2nd half. Every coach in the world can get something wrong—that’s football, but I find solace in the fact that Kovac so accurately was able to move around pieces at the break that really made The Black and Yellows competitive in the second half. It didn’t really help either, that Serhou Guirassy really seemed to have an off game tonight. Maybe he wasn’t fully fit when he was placed in this starting XI. Well—at least Fabio Silva looked very bright!
What’s Your Opinion?
What is your gut telling you about this game? Are you fine just as I am, or are you madly irritated because Bastian Dankert seemingly hates BVB? Let me know in the comments below!
