Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Werder Bremen: Takeaways from narrow win as Felix Nmecha, Julian Brandt impress
Borussia Dortmund kicked off the return of domestic football after the international break on Friday evening by recording a narrow 1-0 victory against Werder Bremen.
Werder Bremen posed less of a threat than Borussia Dortmund were to themselves for much of the game, given the amount of chances that were squandered by the Black and Yellows before Julian Brandt eventually scored the winning goal.
Friday’s game followed the trend of many matches so far this season where Borussia Dortmund have failed to create enough chances or have trouble making the most of them. Thankfully for Edin Terzic’s side, the second-half goal from Julian Brandt was enough to secure another win in the Bundesliga.
Here are some of our takeaways from the game.
Felix Nmecha delivers another strong performance
Felix Nmecha built on his last display with another solid performance against Werder Bremen. So much so that Sebastian Kehl was particular in mentioning how well Nmecha played on Friday.
The midfielder was a commanding presence with the way he carried the ball across the pitch and balanced his defensive and offensive duties. His part in the goal was an unnoticed individual highpoint as he acted as the decoy to move Bremen’s Miloš Veljković away from the line of the beautiful pass from Emre Can to Julian Brandt.
The one criticism from his performance was the lack of discipline, as he collected a needless yellow card for a foul in the 43rd minute which made for tentative defensive actions in the entire second-half.
As his confidence grew, he found himself forward in plentiful situations but could not finish his chances. For example, late in the second-half he had a few blocked shots and should have finished off his chance in the six yard box to make it 2-0. But instead the ball went well off target.
Overall, Nmecha is building on his slow start to the season which consisted of poor cameos and poor fitness levels. Now that there is a greater understanding between the player and Edin Terzic, the fruits are starting to come out as he gets more match time under his belt. Nmecha is very much a confidence player, so having the faith and backing of his coach will be imperative in building on his last two performances.