What Thomas Tuchel Learned About His Dortmund Squad Against Odd Grenland

In what was supposed to be a routine away win for German giants Borussia Dortmund, Thursday night's Europa League first leg against Odd Grenland turned into something of a fiasco. 

After just 22 minutes in the Skagerak Arena, Norway Thomas Tuchel's side were three goals down and looked set to crash out of European competition through embarrassing circumstances. 

Although Dortmund came back to claim the game as their own, with goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to make it 3-4 in the end, there were plenty of things to note over the course of the game. 

Tuchel will have learned a lot about his side this week. 

Gonzalo Castro Is Not a Right-Back

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Tuchel raised a few eyebrows on Thursday when he chose to deal with the lack of right-backs in his squad by placing new signing Gonzalo Castro on the right side of defence. 

The former Bayer Leverkusen star is primarily a central midfielder but has in the past played on the wings for the Bundesliga side and even dabbled at right-back. But that was some time ago. 

Unfortunately for the new signing that was all rather evident as Odds left winger Rafik Zekhnini tormented the makeshift defender for the duration of the first half. 

Tuchel had seen enough by half-time and brought on Sokratis Papastathopoulos in place of Castro. A tactical move we shouldn't see again any time soon.

Although, Matthias Ginter Might Be a Right-Back

Michael Probst/Associated Press

One consequence of swapping Castro for Sokratis at half-time was that central defender Matthias Ginter was then asked to play in the full-back position rather than his Greek teammate. 

Ginter has never played at right-back for Dortmund in a competitive game before yet the 21-year-old looked far more comfortable on the wing than he ever has done in the centre of defence for either Jurgen Klopp or indeed Tuchel. 

Dortmund may have two competent right-backs in Lukasz Piszczek and Erik Durm but should both injuries continue, they may have a decent alternative in Ginter. 

Julian Weigl Has Replaced Sven Bender

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Once Dortmund began the second half and quickly picked up a second goal through Kagawa in the 47th minute, the German side went on the complete offensive with high hopes of notching up as many away goals as they possibly could. 

Yet the floodgates never truly opened until Tuchel swapped Sven Bender for Julian Weigl in the middle of the pitch. Then, with a technical, ball-playing midfielder in the hole Dortmund looked far more cohesive and very quickly grabbed another two goals to seal the result. 

Another good result at the end of the day but also another game in which Weigl has far outshone Bender in the very same position. The jury may still be out on this one but, as things stand, it seems as though Bender has been demoted behind the new, young star in midfield. 

Tuchel Will Be Glad He Signed Roman Burki

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Roman Weidenfeller wasn't at fault for Odd's first two goals on Thursday. The first, a diving header from Jone Samuelsen, came from Castro's inability to close down Zekhnini and the second was simple a case of Fredrik Nordkvelle running through the hole Ginter had left in the middle of defence. 

Yet the third Odd goal was entirely his fault. 

As Dortmund fans have seen a dozen times over the past few seasons, when a hard shot is aimed at the German keeper the very best he can do is flap at it and hope for the best. That's what he did on Thursday and it led to Espen Ruud perhaps scoring the best goal of his career. 

Although it may ultimately mean very little over the course of the season, Tuchel would have taken solace in one thing on the long trip home that night: Thank God he signed Roman Burki.