Takeaways from Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 defeat to Augsburg
By Tushar Bahl
Thomas Meunier’s performance leaves a lot to be desired
Thomas Meunier was by no means the only Borussia Dortmund player to have a bad game on Saturday. But his performance on both ends of the pitch left a lot to be desired. The Belgian international was heavily involved in the team’s attacking play. However, none of his six crosses managed to find a Dortmund teammate.
Build-up play from the right side often looked slow and laboured, with Meunier obviously lacking the excellent link-up play and injection of pace that Achraf Hakimi brought to the team. The 29 year old also lost possession 23 times, with only Gio Reyna being dispossessed more often (24).
He also had a below-average game defensively, and could have done more to prevent the second goal. He got caught in a poor position then failed to keep up with Daniel Caligiuri, and was simply outmuscled by the ex-Schalke man in the end.
A part of the blame for Meunier’s poor showing also falls on Lucien Favre. You can’t replace Hakimi with Meunier and expect him to do the same things on the pitch. And you can’t have Emre Can and Meunier defending on the same side of the pitch, knowing that they both like to venture forward, and neither of them is a natural defender. Augsburg were able to exploit the spaces left behind by Can and Meunier to great effect.
Next. Borussia Dortmund player ratings from dismal defeat to Augsburg. dark
It is still early days in Meunier’s Borussia Dortmund career, and he will hopefully get better as he gets more accustomed to German football. But the start certainly hasn’t been what he would have had in mind.