BVB 2-0 HSV: Player Ratings From Sloppy Home Victory

Borussia Dortmund beat Hamburg 2-0 at home to jump into third in the Bundesliga table. While they scored a couple of goals and got all three points, their play was messy and boring for most of the game.

The win lifted Borussia Dortmund to third in the table. Here are the player ratings for Peter Stöger’s side from the game.

Roman Bürki (6/10)

Bürki was called into action a fair amount during this game, but didn’t have to do anything too spectacular to earn his clean sheet. He made the saves he needed to make. Bürki and his defense miscommunicated a few times, but they didn’t result in any real dangers.

Jeremy Toljan (6/10)

Toljan is more comfortable playing in Stöger’s system, and it showed against Hamburg. He’s usually not one to try and dribble away from defenders, for example. Toljan tends to try to get rid of the ball as soon as possible, but today he had at least one clever dribble around a Hamburg defender.

Hamburg’s attackers got the better of him a few times, though. Toljan struggles to defend in one-on-one situations, and often has to get help from a winger or midfielder.

Ömer Toprak (7/10)

Toprak (along with Shinji Kagawa) has been Dortmund’s most in-form player in 2018, and his performance against Hamburg was no different. His defending was confident and consistent. Toprak had a fantastic slide tackle in Dortmund’s box to steal the ball from a Hamburg attacker. That type of aggressive tackle can be risky in the box, but Toprak knows how to time his tackles.

His ball playing was calm and creative as well. He had a number of long balls over the top for Marco Reus or Christian Pulisic that nearly created chances for Dortmund. Unfortunately, Dortmund’s play as a whole was erratic. While Toprak helped link the defense to the attack with his clever balls, he alone couldn’t get Dortmund going.

Manuel Akanji (6/10)

Akanji played well on his home debut. It’s clear he’s going to be a world class player, and his raw talent was on display for everyone to see against Hamburg. He’s very quick, and times his tackles to perfection, especially for such a young player. Akanji had a few giveaways, though, and Hamburg were quick to chances from them. His ball playing abilities are highly rated, but Akanji wasn’t quite on his passing game today. We can chalk it up to nerves on his home debut.

Łukasz Piszczek (6/10)

Piszczek played fine. He and Pulisic are building a rapport on that right side, and linked up frequently against Hamburg. Piszczek whipped a couple of dangerous crosses in as well, but had a number of giveaways that led to chances for Hamburg. Overall, it was a decent performance from the Polish international.

Julian Weigl (5/10)

Hamburg made Weigl’s life difficult by essentially triple-covering him when Dortmund had the ball. Weigl is critical to Dortmund’s build up play, and it hamstrung their offense to have him so tightly guarded. Even when Weigl did get the ball, he wasn’t able to do anything meaningful with it. The vast majority of his passes went to his center backs, so his high pass success rate didn’t actually help his team. Weigl’s been in a funk this season, and it’d be great to see him break out of it.

Shinji Kagawa (6/10)

Kagawa’s performance was fairly unremarkable. He’s been such a consistent performer for Dortmund as of late, but the whole team struggled to threaten for most of the match against Hamburg. With Reus playing centrally, Kagawa was also forced to play in a deeper midfielder role than he’s used to, which certainly put a damper on his performance. It was a blow to the team when Kagawa had to leave the game early due to injury. We have to hope that his injury is minor.

Marco Reus (6/10)

He’s back! Reus should almost get a 10/10 for returning to the pitch. Reus’ first touch after being sidelined around eight months due to injury was a gorgeous, defense-splitting pass to Schürrle on the left. It didn’t result in a goal, but it was clear that Reus doesn’t need any time to get back in the flow of things.

DORTMUND, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 10: Marco Reus of Dortmund controls the ball during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV at Signal Iduna Park on February 10, 2018 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /

Reus played as a central attacking midfielder, rather than his usual position on the left wing. He popped up all over the pitch to get involved. Reus will get the hockey-assist for Dortmund’s first goal as well, with his pass to Pulisic creating the opportunity for the goal.

The best part of Reus’ performance was that he started the game and played over 70 minutes. It’s a great sign for his fitness.

André Schürrle (7/10)

Schürrle’s big moment in this game was Dortmund’s second goal. The German winger created it all on his own, dribbling brilliantly past two Hamburg defenders. For a moment, it looked like Dembele still played for Dortmund. Schürrle then passed the ball to Mario Götze, who put it away perfectly, in a remake of their goal to win the 2014 World Cup. It was easily Schürrle’s best 10 seconds in a Dortmund jersey. Other than the goal, Schürrle’s play was decent but unremarkable.

Christian Pulisic (6/10)

Pulisic did not have a stellar game. He assisted Dortmund’s first goal by smashing the ball across the goal to Michy Batshuayi, but it looked like Pulisic might’ve been going for goal himself. He also had two golden opportunities to put Dortmund up 2-0 in the second half, but missed both. They were strangely similar cases in which the ball was crossed to the near post, and the keeper was off his line. In the first case, Pulisic put the ball over the bar with an ugly shot. In the second, the young winger was not quite quick enough to get on the end of the cross. It was a forgettable performance from the American international.

Michy Batshuayi (7/10)

The Belgian striker is on the scoresheet again. Three goals and an assist in two games is not a bad way to start your Dortmund career. Batshuayi showed two important things with his performance against Hamburg. First, he can play with the ball at his feet. Bats isn’t just a finisher like Aubameyang. He can pass and dribble (and the lad’s got tekkers). Second, he’s fast enough to contribute to Dortmund’s quick attacks in transition. Instant counter-attacks have always been a part of Dortmund’s style, and Batshuayi has no trouble keeping up with them. Plus he did a cartwheel-backflip for his celebration, as if you needed any more reason to like him.

Mahmoud Dahoud (7/10)

After an abysmal game against Freiburg last week, Dahoud bounced back with a decent half-hour performance. He looked sharper on defense and wasn’t turning the ball over constantly. Now, he just needs to play like that consistently.

Mario Götze (8/10)

It’s tough to give a player who was on the pitch for 20 minutes an 8/10, but Götze scored Dortmund’s second goal to finish off the game. If anything, he did more with less. The goal was absolutely critical for Dortmund, as Hamburg had begun to dominate the game in the last 15 minutes or so. It’s not a stretch to say that Götze won that game for his team. Most of the credit for the goal itself will (and should) go to Schürrle. But Götze’s finish was inch perfect. Very solid outing from the German international.

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Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Hamburg: Player ratings from sloppy win over relegation candidate

By Asher Woodbury | Feb 10, 2018