Four takeaways from Borussia Dortmund’s win over Hamburg
By Oliver Campo
Borussia Dortmund got their second win in a row as they beat Hamburg 2-0, thanks to goals from Michy Batshuayi and Mario Gotze.
Marco Reus made his long awaited return from injury while Manuel Akanji made his full league debut for Dortmund. Here are the four things we learned from the game.
Peter Stöger changes the formation
Stöger is under three months in his time with Borussia Dortmund. His only loss to date came in the DFB-Pokal against Bayern Munich. Stöger implemented his strategies with a 4-5-1 compared to the usual formation. Now it is obvious that the system isn’t perfect, but the team reacted to the change nicely. It lacked clear passing at times, but Stöger is trusted to run the team it would appear.
Compared to the formation he was running, he has more versatile options when he sets up the team. BVB has an excess of midfielders and it is wise for Stöger to work around that.
Akanji and Reus bring solid contributions
Manuel Akanji asked for more play time and Stöger rewarded him with his first start for Borussia Dortmund. After making his first appearance the prior week, Akanji became a key in preventing Hamburg from scoring. With Borussia Dortmund set to play twice almost every week until the end of the season, fans will see more of Akanji as the season progresses.
Marco Reus made his return in black and yellow in this same match. Reus played well against the opposition and it was far better than expected. He wants to go to Russia with German National team this summer, and Reus is well on his way. He made some impressive passes and created some good opportunities for his teammates before going off at the 70th minute.
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Borussia Dortmund on the verge of consistency
Throughout the match, players found themselves slipping due to the weather. Surprising was the number of loose balls and poor control in the final third. In no way of taking away from the result of the game, Christian Pulisic’s “assist” is better summed up as a horrible shot. Mario Gotze’s run to score in the end of the game could easily be cleared away from the box.
BVB needs to focus on connecting in the way they did under Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel. Peter Stöger may get the best out of the players soon enough. As seen under those coaches, the team as a whole became a unit and the current time is starting to do that again. It is important that Dortmund players don’t rely on some of the luck they experienced on the pitch in this match.
Not all young players will be given chances to shine
Jadon Sancho had become an integral part of the side before his injury, but others are not as lucky. Dan-Axel Zagadou has gone down the pecking order since the arrival of Akanji. Alexander Isak will continue to sub on from the bench (if Batshuayi were to come off) until further notice.
Zagadou is a more interesting prospect than Isak. Sokratis can still get the job done obviously, but time will be against him. Zagadou may appear in the Europa League, but at the moment, he is forgotten.
Next: Player ratings from Borussia Dortmund's win over Hamburg
Isak on the other hand couldn’t make good on a golden opportunity. The one start he had, he failed to make a telling impact. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell how Isak will continue with BVB if he doesn’t start to impress.