Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovac has rued his side's sloppy play on the ball after their disappointing 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
A mistake from Ramy Bensebaini allowed Robert Andrich to fire home the opener in the 42nd minute as the BVB were unable to claw their way back into it thereafter.
Despite 13 attempts at goal, Dortmund couldn't muster a single one on target in the entire match, capping off an utterly toothless display at the Signal Iduna Park.
Kovac in his post-match presser gave no excuse for the defeat, lamenting his team's propensity to give the ball away too easily. He said:
"“We did really well in the first 30 minutes and controlled the game. But then we gave the ball away too easily a few times, let Leverkusen get more into the game, and have only ourselves to blame for that careless loss of possession that led to the goal.""said the Croatian
As Leverkusen looked to find their way past a stream of yellow shirts, Dortmund managed to interrupt their passing rhythm and regain possession. Bensebaini then loosely squared it ahead for Fabio Silva but Andrich was quick to intercept it and drive forward a few steps before unleashing a long-range effort that flew beyond goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.
Going into the break 1-0 behind, Dortmund needed a big performance in the second half but continued to struggle against their stoic visitors. Kovac felt his side couldn't produce much from the flanks while also missing in the usual boisterous energy from the home crowd.
""The second half was difficult. We need the energy of this stadium, but the medical emergency in the stands meant we didn’t have it today. We lacked penetration and tried to play through the middle too much. We should have played much more down the flanks. It was pretty similar to the match against Stuttgart last week. Today we lost the match, last week we won it.”"said the Dortmund manager
Against Stuttgart too, Dortmund were struggling to create clear-cut chances, but were able to score twice in stoppage-time to secure all three points. However, there was no such luck on Saturday and they succumbed to their third top-flight loss of the season.
With Bayern Munich going 12 points clear at the top, Dortmund's title ambitions are over as the holders need just four points to retain the Meisterschale.