Key Takeaways from Borussia Dortmund’s season so far

Salih Özcan’s presence in midfield is crucial to Borussia Dortmund’s defensive success

Moving on to Borussia Dortmund’s defensive end of the game, there was much speculation going into the season as to whether or not the additions made over the summer would help to solidify the back-line. Last season, the addition of Gregor Kobel meant that BVB had added a keeper who would do much to aid them in future seasons, but the Swiss shot stopper lacked the proper personnel in front of him. Both injuries and overall sub-par performances were once again the cause of a major defensive headache for the club to solve.

BVB worked hard to address this issue by bringing in Niklas Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck, but also looked to reinforce the midfield in front of them with the signing of Salih Özcan.

Özcan’s arrival at the Westfalenstadion was not regarded as a “big name signing” by any means, but the Turkish international’s addition to this Dortmund side was absolutely necessary. Aside from having issues with their back-line, Dortmund’s midfield often lacked a level of steel last season that allowed for teams to walk through and put pressure on the defense with far too much ease. The addition of Özcan has helped remedy this.

The difference between the amount of goals leaked since Özcan has slotted into Borussia Dortmund’s midfield vs the amount of goals prior to his presence in the middle of the park is telling. Out of 6 appearances across all competitions so far, Özcan was on the field for 4 clean sheets. Last season, coming across a Dortmund clean sheet was akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Barring the 3-0 capitulation against Leipzig and the loss against Manchester City, Özcan’s presence on the field has led to far less chances for the opposition to put Dortmund on the back foot.

The reason for this comes down to Özcan’s overall style of play. When the Turkish International joined Borussia Dortmund, he was very clear about what he wanted to bring to the club: physicality and fight. He has done so quite resoundingly, and the numbers back this up nicely.

Over the course of the last year, Özcan has put himself firmly in the top 96th percentile terms of interceptions (2.73) and the 88th percentile in terms of aerials won (2.46) when compared to similar players in his position across the top 5 leagues. One of Borussia Dortmund’s main issues last season was the inability to intercept the ball in midfield to quell opposition attacks. This lackadaisical approach allowed so many sequences of play to go through the middle of the park that shouldn’t have been allowed to occur in the first place. Alongside Jude Bellingham, Özcan has formed quite the energetic midfield partnership that is miles ahead in terms of what the team had available last year.

Unfortunately for Özcan and Dortmund, he is dealing with an issue on his foot. However long the layoff may be, his absence will be felt in the lineup that he was doing such a good job of stabilizing, and one can only hope that the layoff is short and his recovery is swift.