How can Borussia Dortmund overhaul their porous defence

Stop playing Nico Schlotterback as a hybrid left-sided centre-back/full-back

Last season, we witnessed Edin Terzic use a more defensive-minded approach and it was successful, but to a limited extent. For example, it was pretty much successful during their UCL run last season as Dortmund preferred this kind of system several times throughout the tournament. But it was not beneficial in Bundesliga as evident by Dortmund's fifth place finish in the league.

As a coach still in his early days, Sahin might have thought to prefer a back three, similar to how Bayer Leverkusen played last season. But there is one difference. Unlike Leverkusen, Dortmund don't have players suitable for 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3 formation and hence it acts a roadblock in the way of Sahin to instil the mentality of playing attack-minded free-flowing football.

This approach led to a dull draw against Werder Bremen with players unable to make the most out of their abilities and last Sunday, Stuttgart exposed it too easily. Hence, with the players at their disposal, Dortmund should stick with 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 and stay in a compact narrow shape as it would help them easily funnel the ball in between while in possession. And off the ball, they can defend in a 4-4-2 block with both wingers dropping a bit. This would also help reduce some degree of pressure on the full-backs, who usually overlap and have to track back when the possession is lost.

For the time being, Nico Schlotterback and Ramy Bensebaini can share the left-back duties. For the short term, this can be a good strategy as Schlotterback likes to make forward runs and create few chances of his own too.