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Borussia Dortmund: Three things Lucien Favre must change in the second half of the season

By Tushar Bahl

DORTMUND, GERMANY - DECEMBER 07: head coach Lucien Favre of Borussia Dortmund gestures during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Duesseldorf at Signal Iduna Park on December 7, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images)
DORTMUND, GERMANY - DECEMBER 07: head coach Lucien Favre of Borussia Dortmund gestures during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Dortmund and Fortuna Duesseldorf at Signal Iduna Park on December 7, 2019 in Dortmund, Germany. (Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images) /
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Marco Reus and Axel Witsel are two players who always start when fit, and may need a bit of rest during the second half of the season. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)
Marco Reus and Axel Witsel are two players who always start when fit, and may need a bit of rest during the second half of the season. (Photo by Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images) /

Stop running key players into the ground

Lucien Favre is not a coach who likes rotating his team. He keeps playing the same players, no matter how they perform week in, week out. The lack of rotation hurt the team big time in the second half of last season, when fixtures came thick and fast. The likes of Axel Witsel and Marco Reus were overused and weren’t as effective as they were during the hinrunde last season.

Similarly, the lack of rotation hurt the team in the game against Hoffenheim last month. Most of the players who had been overused looked so tired that Dortmund didn’t have any answers as Hoffenheim stole all three points.

He also needs to start dropping underperforming players instead of playing them every week and hoping for an improvement. The likes of Manuel Akanji, Achraf Hakimi and Nico Schulz kept getting picked despite their poor defensive performances earlier in the season.

While Dan Axel Zagadou, Leonardo Balerdi and Mateu Morey could not buy their way into the team. Zagadou eventually got his chance when Favre switched to a back three, but the other two are still waiting for their opportunity.

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