The table doesn’t show it but the scoreboard summed it up today - Borussia Dortmund have problems. A thread with a few thoughts on what’s gone / going wrong (disclaimer - not everything…I think) 
I don’t think today’s result really comes down to Marco Rose or the players. Because it’s always been the coach or the players for some time at BVB. And when that’s the case, you have to look up to CEO Aki Watzke + outgoing sporting director Michael Zorc
Big, important parts of this squad look like they are overperforming at this level. Do you blame Zagadou or do you ask why he is continually put in that position? Same with Thomas Meunier. Looked down the team sheets today and was struck just by how much more depth Leverkusen had
Always talk at BVB about “Mentalität”, whether wanted or not. Rebranded as “Haltung” this season under Rose. Begs the question - have the right questions been asked behind the scenes about why the club finds itself in this void between chasing Bayern + being better than the rest?
Doing the post-game interviews, can sense the mood of the players + coaches. Every time BVB win right now, it feels like the players are so relieved. Like they got away with it. Compare that today with Leverkusen and you could just feel the joy.
Even the Dortmund fans today weren’t really able to sustain their support. And that is very rare from my experience of going there the past 7 years. Ok, no organised fan scene inside the ground. But being whistled by their own fans felt…weird. Think it showed the frustration.
Were the right conclusions taken away from why they were successful under Jürgen Klopp? Have Michael Zorc and Aki Watzke stayed too long? Have the large incoming transfer sums for players like Pulisic, Aubameyang, Dembélé covered up for bad business? 🤔
Like, just one example, they have been mugged off in recent years to the tune of nearly €70 million buying players from Bayern, two of them coming back in Mats Hummels and Mario Götze, who haven’t worked out at the club.
Talk this week from Michael Zorc about the club heading in the right direction under Marco Rose.
Just not sure where that direction is? Squad is not one with a clear plan / clear identity fitting to the coach and how he may want to play. So many ‘meh’ performances this season
Just not sure where that direction is? Squad is not one with a clear plan / clear identity fitting to the coach and how he may want to play. So many ‘meh’ performances this season
A Dortmund fan made a good point to me recently - how healthy a position is it for a club when the best players in the team are 21-year-old Erling Haaland and 18-year-old Jude Bellingham?
Point is: the hierarchy at the club seems to be happy enough cruising, taking in good money for young players, qualifying for the Champions League without really changing much about their approach when a lot hasn’t been really been working well for some time now. Fans seem fed up
Agree with the other examples. But…bringing back Hummels who slated Götze for going to Bayern not long before and then goes himself? What kind of message does that send? And to spend €30 million for him to come back? It was a move rooted in nostalgia.
https://twitter.com/BorussianNovel/status/1490431572293603339
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