Lucien Favre does not rule out return to back three formation

There is a lot of talk surrounding Borussia Dortmund and Lucien Favre’s preferred formation for the season and which way the manager will end up going.

Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre has been the topic of discussion between fans with his recent statements regarding his preference for a back four for the upcoming season. It’s a tough situation for Dortmund fans to wrap their heads around, on one hand Favre has helped the club become regular title challengers with back to back 2nd place finishes. On the other hand he found a formation that clearly worked the second half of last season, but seems determined to return to the formation that caused Dortmund so many problems in the first half of last season.

After the 3-1 defeat to Bochum, Lucien Favre confirmed they have been training with a back five as well as a back four. The Swiss tactician said that he does not have enough players at the moment to play in the back three at the moment, but did not rule out a return to the formation after he has his squad back to full strength.

"“Yesterday we worked with the three or five man chain in training,” Favre said. “We train both formations, but we can’t play with a three man chain, because we don’t have many central defenders at the moment – in the first and second test matches because of the many injuries.”"

Not only have Dortmund shown they are clearly better in a back five but the personnel available suits them in a back five more than it does in a back four. With Dan-Axel Zagadou out with injury Dortmund only have two real central defenders in Mats Hummels and Manuel Akanji.

Relying on Piszczek and Can to play in a back four is a very risky proposition. If anything that has been made clear in the past three pre-season games in which Dortmund have failed to register a win. Although they have not been playing their strongest lineups, they are still playing inferior opponents and still conceded seven and scored only three in that span.

Hopefully we’ll see the return of the back three sooner rather than later, as it is clear that it suits the Borussia Dortmund players better.