Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 Borussia Dortmund: Key Takeaways

Malen, Moukoko receive little support up top as attack looks toothless

It’s been a hope of mine that down the line we’d be able to see Donyell Malen and Youssoufa Moukoko play up front together this season with the idea in mind that we would be getting a glimpse of what a potential future frontline for Dortmund may look like. Saturday’s first rendition of this front two was rather disappointing however. Both Malen and Moukoko looked very flat, particularly in the first half. Both looked sort of lost in leading the line, but it isn’t all their fault.

Taking a look at Moukoko first, he is only 16, still very fresh in terms of his professional career and shouldn’t have the weight of leading the front line for Borussia Dortmund fully placed on his shoulders. Malen, on the other hand, has been receiving quite a few minutes and while he has looked far better in previous games, he too doesn’t look, at least yet, like a player that Dortmund can rely on in terms of critical goals (at least not at the moment).

The lack of scoring opportunities is also a result of the fact that service was also hard to come by for the two young strikers. Much of Dortmund’s creative spine is out injured, and the likes of Raphael Guerreiro and Thorgan Hazard, with the Belgian international in particular, didn’t seem fully up to speed in this game. The absence of Marco Reus and Erling Haaland was profoundly felt, and that is a worrying sign.

Even with Reus on the field over the last couple seasons, the moment Erling Haaland has been missing from a game, Dortmund have struggled in an attacking sense. This has highlighted just how dependent Dortmund are on him bailing the team out of perilous situations, and this is a dangerous fact Dortmund head coach Marco Rose has to face. he must then figure out how to make this side less Haaland dependent by improving the attackers around the Norwegian international.