Borussia Dortmund came to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester and fell 4-1 to Manchester City. While the scoreline definitely makes it seem like a paddling, this game wasn’t quite as one-sided as 4-1 would indicate. BVB pressed very hard in the first 20 minutes and City looked quite uncomfortable. A late set-piece goal from Waldemar Anton and a last-minute surge made a comeback from a 3-0 deficit seem possible for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Dortmund could not match their opponents’ offensive firepower,
and walk away disappointed.
The reality is that BVB are far from the first team to limp out of the Etihad with a lopsided defeat. When Manchester City are firing on all cylinders, very few teams will be able to stop them. Those two goals from Phil Foden were pure class and I really don’t see much that BVB could have done better. Haaland’s goal was also a work of art, created by a brilliant move by Jeremy Doku. I mention the quality of the goals not to make an excuse necessarily, but to point out that sometimes the result isn’t exactly entirely under your control when the other team is playing at their best.
That being said, there are things BVB could have done better.
Weak Night for the Wing-backs
Julian Ryerson and Daniel Svensson have been two bright spots for Borussia Dortmund this season, but they both had nights to forget. Dortmund’s troubles started in the 15th minute when Savinho rocketed around Svensson with ease, forcing the Swede to pull him down and collect a yellow card. Throughout the rest of the game, City took full advantage, and Svensson was forced to defend take-ons again and again. He was dribbled past four times. Julian Ryerson was also dribbled past four times, and one of those resulted in a goal for City. Jeremy Doku beat Ryerson clean with a burst of speed and hit a perfect cross right to Erling Haaland, who smashed the ball into the net.
An Aggressive Press Broken
For all you can say about Niko Kovac’s tactics today, you can’t say he was passive or overly defensive. The front three of Adeyemi, Beier, and Guirassy tried to maintain pressure on City’s ball-playing center-backs, while Sabitzer and Nmecha were close behind, marking Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez, the first two passing options for City. The problem was that there was no support behind Sabi and Felix to make sure nobody snuck in behind them. In the lead-up to City’s first goal, Phil Foden just dropped a little deep to sneak behind Sabitzer and Nmecha. Nobody picked him up, and in turn, and was free to run towards the goal.
Other times, it was Haaland dropping deep. Other times it was Nico Gonzalez advancing. The point is that BVB’s front lines were easy to break because there was nobody covering the space between them and the back line.
Other Thoughts
- Gregor Kobel had a strong performance, despite conceding four goals. City notched 11 shots on target. Foden’s goals were inch perfect. One of Kobel’s saves was from a point-blank shot by Nico O’Reilly.
- Karim Adeyemi got into numerous strong positions and found himself in open space often in the attacking third, but he couldn’t create any goals. Against teams like Manchester City, Dortmund can’t afford to have Karim be so un-clinical.
- I liked Niko Kovac’s subs, but once again he made them too late. Emre Can provided the defensive backup that BVB were lacking while Carney Chukwuemeka was a bit more dynamic than Marcel Sabitzer and Felix Nmecha going forward. Unfortunately they had less than 30 minutes to come back from a two goal deficit.
Your Thoughts
What do you think? Am I giving Kovac and the players too much of a benefit of the doubt?
