There has been a lot of talk in the media regarding Borussia Dortmund’s disastrous domestic campaign which sees them languishing in 17th place.
Last season’s runners up are 17 points off the top spot and are level on points with Werder Bremen who are at the bottom of the league in a 18 team league.
Le Borussien are sitting atop their Champions’ League group. This is in stark contrast to their position in Bundesliga. So what has really gone wrong for them?
On looking at them it is impossible to see any crisis at the Westfellenstadion but on microscopic inspection it is clear that the club is struggling big time. First and foremost, the financial muscle of Bayern Munich has killed any sort of competition they faced in Bundesliga.
Dortmund with their shoe-string budget are struggling to hold onto their players and alsi are unable to recruit a world class player in his prime. Along with this, they have lost two of their best players to title rivals Bayern in two successive seasons.
The Ruhr side are also facing an injury crisis as they have lost all of their key players to injury at some point or the other. Never in the league has this Dortmund side had the luxury of playing their desired XI. Defensive pair of Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic has seldom played together this season.
Also the loss of Robert Lewandowski has weakened them considerably at the front. Despite recruiting Ciro Immobile, Adrian Ramos and Shinji Kagawa the Black abd Yellows have failed to score enough goals, they have only scored 10 goals in the league in as many games. Manager Jurgen Klopp’s quotes nicely sum their situation up.
‘Teams performing at contrasting levels in different competitions happens quite a lot,’ he said.
‘You could also point towards it being a psychological problem because Dortmund have nearly always been the better side this season, especially on home soil. They just seem to have forgotten how to score goals. ‘The players’ confidence also takes a knock with each defeat. Then they become too eager to push forward in search of goals and the dilemma becomes bigger.’
‘Common sense is my biggest skill,’ he said. ‘To understand life, and to see football as only a part of this, then to help my players understand what happens at a given time on the pitch or during the season.
‘Players are handled like superstars and sometimes need help to find the right way — and that’s my job. It’s not wholly important whether you win or lose the last game. It’s about the answers rather than the emotion of the moment. ‘There will always be questions and, as a coach, you have to have the answers.'
Well, Dortmund may be facing a crisis but in Jurgen Klopp they have a manager who can turn things around in no time.
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