First and foremost it’s important to talk about Konstantinos Karetsas. The 18-year-old was taken off on a stretcher at the 27th minute and later went to the hospital due to ‘circulation issues’. Hopefully Karetsas is okay, getting any/all care he needs, and will be back playing when he’s healthy. I am not going to speculate on what the problem may be and I think anyone wanting to speculate should do so somewhere else. We’ll update everyone when we hear more news and we’ll leave it to the medical
experts. Now, onto the game.
Borussia Dortmund opened their Champions League campaign to a turbulent 3-2 win over Villarreal at the Westfalenstadion. Niko Kovac rolled out the 3-4-2-1, which I will talk about in a moment, and inserted Marcel Sabitzer and Joey Veerman, who I will also talk about later, into the starting eleven. Both teams failed to imprint themselves on the game in the first half and were susceptible to counterattacks. Dortmund, who had the lion’s share of the possession in the first 45 minutes, conceded the first big chance with Pau Navarro glancing a header across Kobel’s goal. Dortmund responded minutes later with their best chance of the half as Maximilian Beier burst down the left side and played a cutback inches away from Serhou Guirassy’s diving foot.
The second half was a different story, however. Dortmund opened the scoring eight minutes into the half as Beier once again burst down the left side and tried to find Guirassy for a cutback goal. This time, Renato Veiga intercepted the ball… and scored into his own net. It was a well-worked goal down the left side and ultimately Veiga couldn’t do anything besides the own goal! The game quickly opened up after the goal with Canadian international, Tajon Buchanan particularly threatening. A fellow Canadian Tani Oluwaseyi, almost scored in the 58th minute, and Comesa should’ve had the equalizer, but Kobel made a great save that led to an injury scare. The ensuing corner saw Mikautadze find Santiago Mourino on the near post and the right-back shot it past a shell-shocked Kobel.
At 1-1, the game hit overdrive. Buchanan nearly scored on two separate occasions just minutes later with Kobel making two great saves. Guirassy almost scored a header on the other end and Niko Kovac brought on both Fabio Silva and Jobe Bellingham. Look, I’m still not sold on Silva. He’s done great in his substitute role this season but only has six goals across his tenure in Dortmund. Still, the striker helped change this game. Silva almost scored immediately after coming on and notched a great assist to help Guirassy restore Dortmund’s lead. This goal was tremendous. Ethan Nwaneri’s free kick hit the wall and Ryerson helped circulate possession to substitute Jobe Bellingham. Jobe played an inch perfect assist to Silva who found Guirassy on the doorstep. It was vintage football and highlighted all three players’ skill-sets.
Guirassy found his second in the 85th minute after winning a pretty suspect penalty following a corner kick. Silva almost scored another but it was teammate, Guirassy, who scored the final goal of the match. Unfortunately for Kobel, it was on the wrong end of the field. A free-kick just outside of Dortmund’s box created chaos in front of the box and Kobel ultimately cleared the ball off of Guirassy’s face and into his own net. There was little either player could do. The game ended 3-2 and left every Dortmund fan sweating.
Here’s the match highlights (Please watch the Jobe Bellingham pass on Dortmund’s second goal):
And here are my thoughts:
Serhou Guirassy is a World Class Striker and We’re Lucky to Have Him
For whatever reason, Guirassy’s two years in Dortmund’s have been divisive. I say ‘for whatever reason’ because the Guinean is a world class striker who does everything a team would ask of a striker but still gets criticize. In his 100th game for Dortmund, Guirassy notched a brace that highlighted his positioning and work rate. I would even give him some credit for the own goal – his run to the back post forced Veiga to make contact with the ball and bundle it into his own net. On club football’s biggest stage, Guirassy has scored 19 goals in 25 games for Dortmund and he is now the club’s second highest goalscorer in the UCL. If you have qualms with Guirassy’s style of play, I got bad news for you; I see no sign of him stopping!
The Back Three Conundrum
There’s a lot to be said on Niko Kovac’s use of the back three and I won’t be able to say all of it here. That being said, two things can be true at once: (1) Playing in a back three has been/is extremely fruitful; and (2) Dortmund currently struggle in several game states when playing in the back three.
When Kovac took over, he realized that Dortmund’s defense was shipping goals, struggled to progress the ball out of the back, and failed to create meaningful chances under Nuri Sahin’s 4-3-3. His solution, and preferred style, is the 3-4-2-1 where two attackers occupy the half spaces behind Guirassy. It added more stability behind and allowed Nico Schlotterbeck (or Rami Bensebaini) to step up to play line-splitting passes that found Dortmund’s attackers in the half spaces. That last part is critical. Dortmund’s midfield lacked capable and physical passers who could shield the defense like you would expect a rangy defensive midfielder to do. Dortmund’s two best passers, Schlotterbeck and Bensebaini, had cover behind them to play the passes into midfield that we’ve come to expect from them. When they’re unavailable, things tend to fall apart; Dortmund struggles when defending and when progressing the ball out of the back. Dortmund’s lack of center-back depth means Svensson has played center-back and it simply isn’t working. He lacks the physicality, passing range, and his repositioning forces Maxi Beier to play wing-back. Anton is a great defender but he cannot make line-splitting passes and Joane Gadou is a great one-on-one defender but his time on the ball has been dangerous in all the wrong ways. Despite flashes in attack, Beier’s defensive work has been poor with only two defensive contributions and several poor passes in Dortmund’s half. There’s currently a Schlotterbeck-sized hole in Dortmund’s backline.
There is a silver lining to this conundrum, however. Bensebaini, who is a fantastic deputy for Schlotterbeck, is once again available after two simultaneous suspensions and Schlotterbeck should be back soon. Additionally, Dortmund have found a midfielder who can play passes like those two; Joey Veerman. The Dutch international made 27 line breaking passes, 11 passes into the final third, and 5/5 accurate long balls. He acted as Dortmund’s metronome throughout the game. That solves the progression issues but not the defensive ones: Veerman is a bad defender and the rest of Dortmund’s midfield would struggle to make up for that. Ultimately, I don’t think the long-term solution for Dortmund is to permanently play in a 4-3-3 or something similar. I do think, however, that the 4-3-3 could be a solution while Schlotterbeck and Bensebaini are absent. Veerman’s defensive shortcomings are on par with the defensive shortcomings that come with a Svensson-Beier defensive combination on the left side and a switch to a back four would allow Dortmund to play both of those players in their preferred positions.
Quickfire Takes
- Fabio Silva has taken a step up. He was fantastic today and was arguably the best player on the pitch when he came on. More importantly, he has grown into a role alongside Guirassy and their link-up play is leagues above where it was last season. Silva should not fight Guirassy for his number 9 spot, however. Silva doesn’t play like a traditional number 9. Last season, he was in the 45th percentile for shots, 33rd percentile for shots on target, and 21st percentile for xGoT. Your boy is not a shooter and Dortmund needs a shooter.
- Don’t fall in love with a loan player. Ethan Nwaneri is legit. He’s still coming up to speed and fitness after joining but looked great for the 55 minutes he played. Unlike Silva, Nwaneri is a shooter and had a few great looks at goal. He’s a solid addition to this team. Credit to Ole Book and co for getting his loan over the line at the last minute.
- It’s a close fight for minutes amongst the attackers. Niko Kovac must have the world’s biggest headache trying to determine which of Dortmund’s attackers make it into the field. Karetsas and Sabitzer started this match. Nwaneri featured for 55 minutes, Chukwuemeka came on late, and Silva impressed. It will be curious to see the starting XI against Paderborn on Saturday.
Your Thoughts
Do you think we should use a back four or back three? Is Guirassy fantastic or are you insane? Who should behind Guirassy? Let us know your thoughts below! MOTM poll will be out tomorrow.
