Borussia Dortmund v Hoffenheim: Match Ratings
By John Harbeck
Today I bring you my first Borussia Dortmund match ratings. I’m not reinventing the wheel, the rating go from 1-10 with ten being the maximum score. Enough chit-chat lets get to work.
GK Roman Weidenfeller: 4.5
The second goal can’t be blamed on Weidenfeller as it took an extremely late deflection, however, he was very poor on the first goal. In a clear 1v1 situation the worst thing a goalkeeper can do is hesitate, which is exactly what Weidenfeller could be found doing. That hesitation allowed the Hoffenheim attacker to skip past him for an easy finish.
Beyond that mistake, Weidenfeller was just fine. He made one save in particular on a poorly struck shot that was important and was ok in possession and distribution.
LB: Marcel Schmelzer: 6.5
I found that Schmelzer had one of the better matches on the Borussia Dortmund side. He quietly stuffed the stat sheet with three tackles, three clearances, one interception and four shots according to whoscored.com.
What brings down Schmelzer’s score is that two of his chances should have had a better result. Particularly the early header that he skied over the goal should have been better. On the plus side, I didn’t notice hardly any of the Hoffenheim attack coming down Schmelzer’s side despite the red card to Marco Reus leaving him on an island for much of the evening.
CB: Marc Bartra: 5.5
I didn’t notice Bartra much in this match which is probably a good thing for a central defender. It is more likely in this case that his center back mate Sven Bender took my attention away from Bartra because he was so poor.
I do remember Bartra making several important blocks and he was solid enough in possession, even wondering forward on several occasions. This all adds up to slightly above average for his rating.
CB: Sven Bender: 4
As much as we all love Bender, it was apparent that he hadn’t played in two years. He was a step slow on multiple occasions and on the second Hoffenheim goal his man had the all important deflection. Sure it wasn’t exactly his fault as Wagner pushed off, but still the foul wasn’t called so he has to be held responsible.
RB: Matthias Ginter: 5
Young Ginter didn’t do much for me this match. He seemed to recover very slowly from an early head injury and was foggy looking all evening. Ginter’s passing percentage was also below the 80% that I expect from a guy who played much of the day at center back.
DM: Julian Weigl: 6
The match dictated that Weigl had to play on the back foot more than usual because of the red card, but he made the most of it racking up the defensive stats. His defensive positioning was critical in breaking up many Hoffenheim attacking moves and his six interceptions per whoscored also confirms that feeling. In possession, Weigl was his normal self, helping the cycle ball to play makers all over the field.
MF: Mario Gotze: 7
Gotze was forced to play defensively following the red card, but before that he was a dangerous attacker. He notched the first BVB goal of the match on a nice run that found him wide open. While Gotze isn’t known for his defensive work, I was impressed by the work rate he kept up through the late stages of the match.
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LM: Marco Reus: 4
Red card, red card, red card. The early sending off of Reus was difficult for BVB and very harsh by the official. Reus was dangerous before being set off, but the result of receiving a red card more than undoes the good done. It is tough to say, but knowing how poor the official was, Reus should never put himself in a position to put any doubt that he was fouling on his second yellow.
RM: Christian Pulisic: 5
An exactly average rating for Pulisic seems right as he essentially was taken out of the match by the tactics. Some outlets had BVB set up with Pulisic listed as a wingback, certainly not a position he is comfortable playing. It showed and he had almost no impact positive or negative in the match.
AM: Ousmane Dembele: 9
I might be overrating Dembele’s contribution, but my excitement over how well he played can’t be restrained. He beat every defender Hoffenheim threw at him and the only way he was stopped was by fouling (fouled 4 times).
His charging runs opened up space for both goals and as a result, he tallied two assists.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 7
For the second straight match, Aubameyang wasn’t given much opportunity on the ball. The second half opened up much more but still, much of the responsibility was given to Dembele to create.
Aubameyang did make a nice run on his goal and cooly finished it. It is amazing how indifferent Aubameyang can play and in a flash he changes the narrative on the entire match.
Subs:
RM: Emre Mor: 6
Mor was the only sub to receive a score and he was solid defensively and set up one notable change. For the time he was given he didn’t have a huge impact, meaning a 6 seems about right.