Borussia Dortmund end of season review: Lucien Favre

What Favre got right and wrong

Lucien Favre did a lot of things right, but also made several wrong decisions last season. His stubbornness and his rigid tactics saw him lose faith of a large number of supporters. Especially in the first half of matches, Borussia Dortmund were far too patient and passive, resorting to sideways passing instead of taking the initiative early on. But to Favre’s credit, his tactics did work in a lot of the games, as Dortmund were able to take advantage of tired legs and were able to find more spaces after the break.

That passiveness also extended to his in-game tactics in a number of games, most notably in the second leg of the PSG tie. More often than not, Favre is reactive and too late when it comes to his substitutions and tactical switches.

Even though it took him a long time to do it, Favre did really well to finally change his system to a back three when his job was on the line in November. The formation change definitely led to an improvement in results, and helped bring the best out of the players, both in defence and attack.

The Swiss tactician played a crucial role in the developments of a number of youngsters, including Achraf Hakimi, Jadon Sancho, Gio Reyna and Dan Axel Zagadou, and he also helped Erling Haaland make a quick transition into the side after his January move from RB Salzburg.

It is also fair to say that factors beyond Favre’s control, such as injuries to key players, sloppy mistakes leading to opposition goals, and poor refereeing decisions in crucial games really hurt Dortmund’s chances of winning the Bundesliga title.

Although what hasn’t helped is Favre’s poor man management, and his lack of rotation of players. Far too often over the course of the last two seasons, Favre has overplayed key players, leading to a number of injuries. While some of the others have found it hard to get a look in, and when they do come in due to injuries to starters, they often look rusty and make errors.