Three Takeaways from Borussia Dortmund’s disastrous 2-1 loss to Bologna in the UEFA Champions League

Another day, another Borussia Dortmund loss. The new year has not been kind to BVB fans as we’ve watched our team fall to their fourth defeat in a row. This performance was just as hapless as the last. 

The match started with some decent runs from Maxi Beier and Julian Duranville, highlighting their pace, but those were but glimpses of their skill as both players’ couldn’t make a real impact on this match. 

Borussia Dortmund took the lead through a rather soft penalty in the first half, and scraped through to halftime, maintaining their lead. After the goal, BVB was on the backfoot constantly defending the onslaught of Bologna attack. They were lucky to carry the lead into halftime. 

Sometimes all it takes is two minutes to turn a win into a loss, and this match was a prime example of such an instance. Dortmund’s defense was far too relaxed, and Bologna pierced it with ease, scoring through Samuel Iling-Junior and Thijs Dallinga in the seventy-first and seventy-second minute respectively. 

This was a match in which Dortmund were fundamentally defeated, and for that I’m simply disappointed. We can only hope for an improvement against Werder Bremen this weekend. Until then, here are my takeaways from this loss I’d like to forget. 

Nuri Sahin’s job is in jeopardy. 

I’ll start by addressing the elephant in the room, and point out the obvious. Four losses to open the year is a bad look for any manager. Once again, we’ve seen a change in system and witnessed the same problems: a lack of cohesion between players, phantom runs, stray passes, frustrated faces, and a complete lack of creative output. It’s fortunate Guirassy can convert a penalty, but the team, as a unit looked utterly confused. 

I know the problems at Dortmund run much deeper than Nuri Sahin, but something needs to change, and if recent reports are to be believed, the writing may already be on the wall. Sahin keeps trying new things, and they simply aren’t working. Even a change in his Starting XI couldn’t secure a win. 

The midfield was missing 

Julian Brandt and Emre Can have been heavily criticized in recent weeks and they were both rightfully benched for this match. Yet Sahin’s midfield and attacking choices for this match made almost no impact. 

Both Gio Reyna and Maxi Beier were absent for large portions of this game, achieving far fewer touches on the ball than someone in their position should making. The communication between the midfield and attack was nonexistent with Felix Nmecha wandering into no-man’s land and forgetting how to pass or defend at times.

Jamie Gittens could barely find any space up the wing, and didn’t have many opportunities with Dortmund’s tendency to give up the ball.  Even when Brandt and Adeyemi were introduced, they couldn’t do anything to impact the game. With no midfield cohesion, how can any team expect to win?

It’s still possible for Dortmund to finish in the Top-Eight.

It’s difficult to estimate since half of the games of round seven are still to play, but Borussia Dortmund has a respectable twelve points in the league table, and winning against Shaktar Donetsk next week, as hard as that might be to imagine, would see the team finish the league phase on fifteen points. That could be enough, but will likely depend on other results. I'm choosing optomism.

I know Borussia Dortmund isn’t terribly fun to watch right now, but let’s stand by our team through this rough patch, because we’ll all end up better for it.