Borussia Dortmund striker Donyell Malen feels he is in “good form” ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt clash

Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen is feeling confident about his form ahead of the second half of the Bundesliga season.

In an interview with Patrick Owomoyela for Borussia Dortmund’s Matchday Magazine, Donyell Malen presented himself in a cool and confident manner and very much looking forward to the second half of the season. Malen’s confidence comes as no surprise considering his uptick in form in the closing stages of the Hinrunde where he scored some very important goals for his side.

Dortmund legend “Owo” asked some key questions of the Dutch international which highlighted just how much attention Malen’s change in fortunes on the pitch has garnered. Malen was quick to note that while he was in quite good form before the break, rest is also important and that he sees no reason as to why he can’t continue this vein of form in the coming weeks and months.

Owo and Malen also touched on the topic of whether adapting to the Bundesliga proved to be a challenge for the Dutchman:

"“I think that if you go to a new club there’s always a period where you need to adjust a little bit…I think overall in the season I was getting better and more comfortable. I’m happy where I am now and of course I want to improve still and score more goals.” – Donyell Malen"

While it is true that Malen struggled to perhaps find his feet early on, the struggles can in part also be attributed to the constant destabilization the team faced in the first half of the season due to player unavailability and injuries, which likely had an overall effect on the team’s chemistry as a whole. With many of those issues either resolved or coming to a resolution, we will hopefully see this play less of a role in the performances moving forward.

Owo also went on to ask Malen about any goals that he might have set for himself going forward, to which Malen stated that:

"“To be honest I just want to play good football and I know everything else comes when I do this.“"

As a follow up, the conversation steered towards improvements Malen sees that the team must make as a whole, to which he responded by saying that:

"“I think the consistency [needs to improve]…I think we’ve played some really good games and a few not so good games but we know what we need to do as a team in sticking together when times get tough and I think that’s something we’re improving on.”"

Malen’s hope for the upcoming game against Frankfurt is a repeat of the result Borussia Dortmund had on matchday 1, although I think that a clean sheet would also be a welcome sight for sore eyes.

It’s particularly important for Dortmund to win this game to capitalize on the points Bayern Munich dropped on Friday against Borussia Mönchengladbach. While the gap will remain 6 points even if Dortmund do win, it will be an exercise in developing a consistent run of form that needs to start from the first game back. One can hope that Malen, with his form on the rise, can play a pivotal role in making sure Dortmund get the right result against Frankfurt.