RB Leipzig vs Borussia Dortmund: Key takeaways from entertaining draw
By Critty Smith
In a match that had massive implications on Champions League qualification for both clubs, here is what we learned from today’s 1-1 draw between Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig.
The First Half
Borussia Dortmund’s Defense is Still Shaky
RB Leipzig brought the pressure in the first half. They were relentless and forced the Dortmund defenders into numerous individual errors. Mahoud Dahoud, Manuel Akanji, and Lukasz Piszczek all made their share of poor decisions in the first 45 minutes.
It should be mentioned that Dahoud later redeemed himself with a beautiful through ball to Marco Reus that led to a Dortmund equalizer. Regardless, there are still far too many unnecessary mistakes occurring on weekly basis.
Far too often the back four appeared disorganized. Timo Werner’s speed and the passing ability of Emil Forsberg and Marcel Sabitzer kept Dortmund on its toes.
BVB eventually conceded as an Andre Schürrle unforced error led to a 1-0 deficit, courtesy of Jean-Kevin Augustin.
The Offense is Out of Sync
BVB could have scored what seemed like four or five goals in the first half if not for consistently being flagged offside. This is the result of a squad that is lacking a cohesiveness in attack.
Dortmund has been, and continues to rely solely on the individual skills of the players rather than a well-structured offensive concept. The Black and Yellows were quite dangerous on the counter, however, their build-up play still left a lot to be desired.
Marco Reus is the Savior Yet Again
It is still unknown if Marco Reus has fully recovered from the knee injury he sustained in last season’s German Cup final. Yet, the 29 year old has been one of the few bright spots for an attack that quite often fizzles out.
Reus scored his third goal since returning to the squad against Hamburg on Febraury 10th. He has single-handedly saved points for his team in the last two matches against ‘Gladbach and Augsburg.
It is uncertain if Peter Stöger had planned to have such a dependecny on Reus this early in his Rückrunde return. What is certain is the fact that this squad would be in a lot of trouble without him these past three weeks.
The Second Half
The Old Dortmund Still Lives
For roughly five to seven minutes in the middle of the second half, BVB’s combination play was a thing of beauty. The Götze-Reus connection was especially refreshing to see.
From the left wing it was Schürrle, Schmelzer and Dahoud supplying the pressure as RB Leipzig found themselves in the midst of a black and yellow wave.
Dahoud had another brilliant moment, going for his second assist of the match, only to see Michy Batshuayi miss a three foot sitter as the ball took an awkward bounce off of his leg.
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Michy Batshuayi is Getting in His Own Way
After a scorching start to his Dortmund career which saw the Belgian score five goals in his first three matches (across all competitions), he has been held goal-less in his four most recent appearances.
His touches per match are down and opposing defenders are focusing heavily on nullifying him. The service is still coming in from the wings but the balls are simply not reaching their target.
For strikers, a hot streak is often followed by a cold streak and vice versa. There is no doubt that Michy will continue to work hard and will ultimately be burying shots into the back of the net. He need simply not overthink it.
A Much Better Overall Performance
Dortmund continue to get better results when playing away from the Westfalenstadion. Additionally, their second half performacnce today was much improved from the abysmal performance that occurred on their home pitch this past Monday.
If die Schwarz-Gelben could do two things with more consistency they would almost guarantee themselves a top four finish and with it, qualification to the Champions League.
Those two things: 1) Return the Westfalenstadion to the fortress it was under Thomas Tuchel. 2) Play a complete game. Dortmund still frequently reminds us of what they are truly capable of. They need to deliver on this for more than the occasional ten minute stretch.