Borussia Dortmund vs Mainz Match Ratings

Warning: we won’t be giving out ratings that are terribly favorable for some Borussia Dortmund favorites, so be prepared.

GK: Roman Burki: 5.5

The Borussia Dortmund goal keeper was exactly average on the evening. It is to be expected when he only faces one shot all match and it goes in. Burki did make a nice play coming out on a through ball that earned him a half point.

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RB: Lukasz Piszczek: 5

Piszczek didn’t show up that much for me. He contributed well in possession and did the little defensive work asked, but I’m going to give at least some of the blame for the Mainz goal to Piszczek because it came on a back post cross that either he needed to cover or communicate to the central defender to cover and it wasn’t done.

CB: Matthias Ginter: 6.5

Ginter somewhat stood out to me, he made some nice plays in defense, but can’t be given a higher score because he contributed to the long ball fest that marred the match for Borussia Dortmund.

CB: Sokratis: 6

Sokratis looked like a baby deer on a play early in the match but recovered nicely. Again much like Ginter, he was asked to play cutting passes when that is simply not the strength of his game. It didn’t look to be either and he failed at the task.

LB: Marcel Schmelzer: 6

The captain allowed the crossing sequence that led to the goal. Aside from that, he was a nice highlight going forward and the lack of punch wasn’t his fault.

DM: Julian Weigl: 6.5

Weigl was his normal effective self against Mainz. He circulated the ball well but failed to initiate much in terms of cutting through balls. Borussia Dortmund needs that kind of passing from someone and it is disappointing not to see Weigl be more of a risk taker at times.

CM: Gonzalo Castro: 5.5

I thought Castro was again extremely average on the day. BVB need their midfielders to create movement when the opposition packs in defensively, which is exactly what Mainz did. Castro also fluffed a shot that could have been the killer goal when he was 1v1 with the goal keeper.

CM: Raphael Guerreiro: 7

Perhaps the man of the match, Guerreiro was one of the few energetic Borussia Dortmund players. He set up a few wonderful chances that should have been goals. It was an encouraging first fullish game back.

RW: Andre Schurrle: 6

Schurrle might be the primary factor behind the fast start, but also flagging off after only 15 minutes. He was very good on the counter, with a strong tackle and nice (if easy) pass to set up the Reus goal. After the first few minutes, though, Schurrle had a difficult time making much of an impact.

LW: Marco Reus: 6.5

The same as above for Schurrle could be said of Reus. He finished an easy chance and didn’t do much after that. BVB need more from these wide players and their scores would have been much, much lower if it wasn’t for the goal.

FW: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 5

I thought there was a chance Aubameyang wouldn’t start his first game back and it was probably a good call. With a heavy travel schedule and plenty of high leverage matches, Aubameyang didn’t provide the speed or spark that was required on the afternoon.

Next: Borussia Dortmund vs Mainz post match comments

Subs:

Ousmane Dembele

Mario Gotze

Christian Pulisic

I’m just going to go ahead and give all three subs a 5. None had any influence on the match and Gotze was probably a negative. I forgot he came onto the field. Dembele at the very least attempted to put his imprint on the match with his dribbling skill, but it didn’t come off and he was frequently dispossessed in dangerous positions. Pulisic just didn’t have enough game time to do anything after coming on in the 86′

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