Three areas where Borussia Dortmund need to improve

Borussia Dortmund have made their worst start to a season since Jürgen Klopp’s final campaign at the Westfalenstadion. We take a look at some of the areas where Nuri Sahin’s side should look to improve before it’s too late to reach the season’s goals.

1. Abysmal away form

If we include last season’s final two away days, Borussia Dortmund have only picked a single point from their last five Bundesliga travels. This unwanted streak includes losing by three or more goals on three separate occasions.

Even in the historic Champions League run that ended with another Wembley heartbreak, Edin Terzic’s team showed nervousness. They were outplayed by PSV and lost to Atletico Madrid before PSG hit the woodwork four times in the return leg of the semifinal.

Sahin, who worked as Terzic's assistant during this spell, now faces similar issues in Bundesliga. Long before Nico Schlotterbeck’s red card, Dortmund failed to create clear-cut chances against Werder Bremen at the end of August.

Jamie Gittens changed the game’s complexion off the bench, but you could draw a similar pattern from the Champions League opener at Club Brugge. And, four days later, there was no chance of a late recovery at Stuttgart.

Against his former club, Serhou Guirassy’s maiden goal wasn’t the headline story because of a five-star performance from Sebastian Hoeneß’s men. Dortmund lost all three games against the same opponent last season, but the scoreline from Lucien Favre’s departing game was repeated here.

With the defeat at Union Berlin on matchday six, BVB slumped to seventh in the table. Meanwhile, they top the home standings with three wins out of three, scoring ten goals in the process.