Julian Brandt: Sloppy ball losses contributed to Borussia Dortmund's defeat to Hoffenheim

Julian Brandt blamed Borussia Dortmund's unnecessary ball losses and lack of control for their 3-2 defeat to TSG Hoffenheim on Sunday.

Borussia Dortmund's rough week ended with more disappointment on Sunday as they let their half-time lead slip against a struggling Hoffenheim side. A second-half brace from Maximilian Beier gave Hoffenheim their first win since December, and handed BVB their first defeat of 2024 in the process.

Sloppy defending cost Borussia Dortmund time and time again, with errors at the back resulting in all three goals. Julian Brandt felt that Borussia Dortmund did really well to respond to the early setback of going behind, but added that the overall choas of the game brought about wrong decisions from the team.

The playmaker also told DAZN that their defending simply wasn't good enough over the course of the 90 minutes. "We had a poor start to the game," Brandt said. "We made a mistake and it was punished. But we got ourselves out of the situation by scoring two nice goals. In the second half, we brought Hoffenheim into the game by sloppily losing possession in our own half."

"We lost control of the game and allowed a lot of high balls. We got restless, things became chaotic. Then we left our positions because there was unrest in the stadium, because we wanted to turn the game around, because we wanted to score a goal. In the end, it was chaos."

The defeat to Hoffenheim leaves Borussia Dortmund in a precarious position once again, with the fifth placed RB Leipzig still only one point behind. BVB's lack of consistency has cost them time and time again this season. And their season could quickly unravel if improvements aren't made quickly.