Donyell Malen’s form and performances are on the rise for Borussia Dortmund

Donyell Malen’s performances have continued to improve for Borussia Dortmund, with the Dutch international scoring 3 goals in his last 3 games.

Moving from one league to another can often come with some growing pains. Donyell Malen’s move to the Bundesliga from the Dutch Eredivisie came hand in hand with such difficulties. A player who joined Borussia Dortmund with high expectations, his performances up until recently were beginning to instil some worry for those involved with the club. These expectations were made far heavier by the absence of Erling Haaland in Dortmund’s starting 11. The impetus to score goals was far greater than it was with the Norwegian leading the line, assuring Dortmund had a very threatening outlet to fall back on.

Luckily for everyone involved, it truly seems as if Donyell Malen has finally arrived in Dortmund. The Dutch international has now scored three goals in the last three games. His goal over the weekend against Wolfsburg was particularly critical in helping Die Schwarzgelben keep pace with Bayern Munich at the top of the table.

In the 54th minute, Marco Reus played the ball to the Dutchman, who was well positioned on the edge of the box. After taking the ball infield he let fly, beating Wolfsburg’s Pavao Pervan at the near post. This sequence of play was a glimpse of the player we all expected to take the field for Borussia Dortmund when his signing was announced.

The goals themselves aren’t the only feature that highlight the improvements to Malen’s game, however. They are a result of the Dutchman being able to do more with less possession and less touches of the ball.

If we look at Malen’s performance against Borussia Mönchengladbach, which was arguably one of the worst performances for the entire team in the league this season, Malen’s numbers show 32 touches, zero successful dribbles with a total of two attempted, and a 94.7% pass success percentage. He also had one shot attempted, with his only effort very much off target.

The game against Wolfsburg saw Malen take a total of 28 touches, which led to three attempted dribbles, two of which came off in his favor. His pass success percentage dropped to around 80%, but this is accounted for by the fact that his progressive distribution against Wolfsburg (51) was much higher than against Gladbach (21). This alone indicates that more of his passes traveled in the direction of the opposition goal, and were therefore more threat oriented and forward thinking.

Malen also took a total of three shots, with two on target, one of which was his goal for 2-1. He was more active, linked up well with his teammates and also posed a threat with his movement without the ball.

Both the improved number of shots and progressive movement of the ball indicate that Malen is a player finally finding his feet in the league. They are a sign of his growing confidence, which will be pivotal for Malen to maintain his form heading into a very important month for Borussia Dortmund this December.

With a pivotal clash against Bayern Munich coming up this weekend, followed by must win games against VFL Bochum and SpVgg Greuther Fürth, Malen will have every opportunity to continue to justify the patience and support shown to him by both Marco Rose and the club hierarchy as a whole.