Nico Kovač’s Disaster-class
Borussia Dortmund has looked nearly as inconsistent under Niko Kovac as they did under Nuri Sahin, and we blamed Sahin more than a few times for his dunderheaded systems, but today’s lineup just baffled me. After coming off two strong wins with a five-player midfield, and paired strikers up front, Nico Kovac reverted to a system most similar to what we saw in the losses to Leipzig and Augsburg.
While a 4-2-3-1 should benefit a traditional number nine like Guirassy, it hasn’t been working lately. What has been working, is the 3-5-2, which Guirassy scored in when he played last weekend. It brings out the best in both Adeyemi and Beier, and Guirassy has shown he can adapt to it. So why make this system change, unless the goal was to integrate Gittens on a wing… but he also scored last weekend in a different system.
The midfield double-pivot was set up to fail. I’ll give Felix Nmecha some lenience because he’s returning from a long-term injury and has only made a single substitute appearance under Kovač prior to this match. He wasn’t ready for a game like this, nor was loanee, Carney Chukwuemeka, who was involved in a couple decent plays, but ultimately made a mistake which led to a goal. It felt like Gittens was out there because we need to raise his market value, and Chukwuemeka was out there because we’re blindly hoping he’s the answer to our midfield problems.
Whatever the reasons, it doesn’t matter. Niko Kovač and his squad have ensured a European exit with the home leg still to come.