Borussia Dortmund may have 99 problems, but grinding out results isn't one of them. By hook or by crook, the side somehow manages to get the job done.
Against Stuttgart on Saturday, the BVB didn't have a single shot on target until the 70th minute, when Maximilian Beier rounded off a lovely move to earn his team a narrow 1-0 victory.
Go back a few more days to the Paderborn game, where they started off brightly but lost control soon after taking the lead which allowed the promoted side to gain a foothold in the match, unleashing wave after wave of attack which although were disjointed.
Against a stronger opponent with more clinical ability, it may have been carnage at the Signal Iduna Park, but Paderborn, as they had been in their previous two clashes too, were utterly misfiring, and were later made to pay for it with Felix Nmecha bagging a late brace.
The win over Hoffenheim, however, is a better example. 2-0 down early in the second half with a defeat staring right at their face, Dortmund turned it around in style with three goals, including two from substitutes.
This is what Kovac football has been at the club since last season: chaotic and haphazard, with individual brilliance sailing them through. But there's one notable difference this term, which is BVB holding it all together at the back.
In four Bundesliga games so far, they have conceded only two goals, the joint-lowest in the division alongside champions Bayern Munich, while keeping three clean sheets. And the best part? Dortmund are the only team in the league with a 100% win record right now. In fact, only FC Barcelona and Manchester City boast such a record in Europe's top five leagues besides them.
But while those two sides have looked dominant in most of their clashes, that's not really the case with Dortmund, a side that still appears to be in transition despite an outlay over 100 million euros in the summer transfer window.
There's no real attacking flair despite Serhou Guirassy and Fabio Silva looking sharper than ever before, while the side also cedes possession and territory quite easily. Had it not been for impact substitutions from Kovac, their reading on the Bundesliga table would have been starkly different right now.
So, are Dortmund really title contenders right now? On paper, yes. But is their playing style sustainable enough to actually win it? No way in hell.
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