It’s been two years since I was liberated from writing the Daily Bee but our vox media overlords have sent me back into the turd mines to produce daily content. This trip down nightmare memory lane leads
me to ask; how has Dortmund performed this season compared to the last couple?
Season’s Start
Under Niko Kovac, we have been heaping praise on how this team is getting results. Currently, the team is sitting on fourteen points after seven matchdays (that’s two points-per-match for you mathematical savants). Over the past 5 seasons preceding this one, Dortmund have had less than fourteen points twice; last season and the 19/20 season. The reality is, however, that this is the earliest Dortmund have played Bayern Munich in the past six years. It’s difficult to determine whether Dortmund have had a harder schedule this season considering they’ve had a mix of top teams (Bayern, Leipzig) and absolute duds (Wolfsburg, Mainz). The good news is that Kovac’s Dortmund is not too far off the mark. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Dortmund was just one point higher at this point in the season. In 23/24, Dortmund was unbeaten on 17 points after seven matchdays.
Season’s End
The unsurprising news is that Dortmund’s start through the first seven matchdays is far from indicative of the team’s success at the end of the season. As mentioned, Dortmund are currently averaging 2 points per game. If that trend continues (it won’t for better or worse) then Dortmund will end the season on 68 points. The club have only finished with more points than 68 twice over the past five seasons (71 in 2022/23 and 69 in 21/22). The good news is that if Dortmund continues to get results as they are, the side will easily qualify for Champions League and be one of the better Dortmund sides over the past five years. The bad news is that a team with 68 points hasn’t won the Bundesliga in a long time. 71 is the minimum points total to be crowned champions (Bayern in 22/23) while 90 is the highest total (Leverkusen in 23/24). If Dortmund want to compete for the Bundesliga, they have to improve and quickly.
Takeaways
The takeaways from this should be pretty evident even if you didn’t read the article. Dortmund’s current Bundesliga start is not spectacular but none of that really matters by the end of the year. The good news is that Dortmund are performing better on the ‘eye-test’ compared to seasons past and we can be optimistic that the club will improve as the season progresses. The most important takeway, however, is that the Daily Bee is, was, and always will be nonsense.
See you guys next week!
