Borussia Dortmund 3-2 TSG Hoffenheim: Key talking points

Donyell Malen continues to grow in confidence

While it would be easy to talk about Erling Haaland once again and the immense role he played in making sure Dortmund walked away with all three points, it is far from surprising that he was the one to bail us out in the end. I instead wanted to turn the focus to his new strike partner, Donyell Malen.

Malen’s start to life at the Westfalenstadion has been a quiet one so far. The Netherlands international has yet to find the back of the net in a competitive fixture for his new club, but all the signs are pointing to this happening sooner rather than later.

As the former PSV striker gets more minutes under Marco Rose, it’s clear to me that he is growing in confidence. Whereas he was very quiet against Freiburg and only found himself on the end of one big chance, Malen’s play against Hoffenheim was far more creative and energetic, with the player working hard to take on the opposition in one on one situations, creating chances for his teammates, and creating space for his own chances with his movement.

It will be very important for Malen to get off the mark sooner rather than later so that he can get into the flow of scoring for his side. As he continues to build chemistry with his teammates, we can expect his play to become far more intricate, which will bring him closer to being the player that we saw notching double-figure goal tallies a season at PSV. You could already tell in this game that he was creating problems for Hoffenheim’s defenders to think about. Continued progress in this vein will make Dortmund’s attack far more lethal as defenses will have to worry about not one but two clinical strikers.

Final thoughts

Borussia Dortmund’s form over the course of the last three Bundesliga games has been far from conclusive in indicating just where the team stands in terms of readiness to compete this season.

We’ve seen the highest of the highs (Frankfurt) and lowest of the lows (Freiburg), and a mixed bag that was this Hoffenheim game. It is clear that the team is up for the fight, but it’s also clear that they need one or two additional reinforcements to make that fight count for something.

The main take away we are able to glean from all this is that much of Borussia Dortmund’s progress in the coming games will be determined by when key players return from injury and what final moves are made in the transfer window to help shore up the side.

There are two full days left for Dortmund to really push to improve the team, so let us hope they utilize that time to make the side more competitive going forward.