Key Takeaways from Borussia Dortmund's unnecessary loss to Leverkusen

Key Takeaways from Borussia Dortmund’s unnecessary loss to Bayer Leverkusen

08 February 2020, North Rhine-Westphalia, Leverkusen: Football: Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen - Borussia Dortmund, 21st matchday in the BayArena: Coach Lucien Favre of Dortmund takes a seat on the bench. Photo: Bernd Thissen/dpa - IMPORTANT NOTE: In accordance with the regulations of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and the DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund, it is prohibited to exploit or have exploited in the stadium and/or from the game taken photographs in the form of sequence images and/or video-like photo series. (Photo by Bernd Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Images) /

3 of 5

dpatop – 08 February 2020, North Rhine-Westphalia, Leverkusen: Football: Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen – Borussia Dortmund, 21st matchday in the BayArena: Coach Lucien Favre of Dortmund before the match. (Photo by Bernd Thissen/picture alliance via Getty Images) /

Lucien Favre gets it wrong

Borussia Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre has been subject to a lot of criticism in the last few months. But he just doesn’t help himself with some of the decisions he makes.

On Saturday, he changed his formation to a 4-2-3-1, with Manuel Akanji playing at right back, and Achraf Hakimi getting the nod to start on the wing. Akanji had a torrid time in his new role, and did not look comfortable at all. Neither did Hakimi, even though he got the assist to Raphael Guerreiro’s goal.

Favre then brought on Gio Reyna at half time, when bringing Thorgan Hazard on would have been a better call. Reyna showed his inexperience by fouling Lars Bender in the build-up to Sancho’s goal, and VAR chalked the goal off as a result. Reyna may have potential, but he isn’t ready to make a difference for the team week in, week out.

He also left it too late to take off Emre Can, who did not look fully fit for the majority of the game. Favre often makes the mistake of saving his substitutions for the last ten minutes, and that has cost the team time and time again.

It’s also very easy to blame the defenders for the goals Dortmund keep conceding, but when it happens every week, one has to wonder if the level of coaching is good enough.

Home/Borussia Dortmund News