Maybe you’ve noticed something in the Bundesliga table. Bayern Munich, atop the standings, have a goal differential of 29. The only other German club in double digits (pardon me, in positive double digits) is Bayer Leverkusen with 10. We’re not concerned with Leverkusen today, though. We’re looking at Borussia Dortmund and why they need a transfer.
BVB has scored 16 goals and given up 7 in the Bundesliga. It’s not like they’ve been unlucky, either. In fact, they’re sort of riding their luck, given that their expected goals calculation says that they should have scored 15.
It isn’t that they’ve been playing stingy defenses domestically. The club did score three against St. Pauli and Union Berlin early in the season, as well as two against Heidenheim. Lately, though, they only managed one goal against both Augsburg and Hamburg, both of whom are in the negative numbers in goal differential, with Augsburg having shipped a league-worst 24 goals this season.
Nor is it the fault of Serhou Guirassy. The Guinean striker has five goals so far this season, which is good enough to be tied for third on the goal-scoring charts. It may be a cause for concern that only one of those goals has come since mid-September, but strikers do go through these dry patches, and Guirassy’s track record doesn’t suggest any sort of permanent decline.
Dortmund desperately needs a playmaker in the January transfer window
The problem may be that Guirassy isn’t getting enough help. Nobody else at Dortmund has more than two goals to their name. Maybe acquiring another finisher would open up space for Guirassy, besides the goals that that player would presumably bring. Maybe a two-pronged attack would give opposing defenses a different look and cause problems.
Then again, the bigger problem might just be a lack of creativity. Dortmund has precisely one player (Norwegian playmaker Julian Ryerson) who is creating more than two scoring chances per 90 minutes of play.
The big boys in Munich have seven. Actually, forget them for a second, because they’re so far ahead of the other German teams that they’re a poor point of comparison. Stuttgart, right behind Dortmund in the table, have three. Other teams like Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig have more robust numbers, too.
Whether it comes from the wide forwards, the wing backs, or even the deep-lying central midfielders, more chances need to come. Unless Jobe Bellingham can start playing like his older brother, Dortmund need to find someone who can provide that killer ball to Guirassy. If not, they might just find themselves repeating the frustration of last season.