Henrikh Mkhitaryan's Return to Form Is the Spark Borussia Dortmund Needed

Borussia Dortmund's resurgence to start the 2015/16 Bundesliga season has a lot to do with the coaching change, transfers and players rediscovering their form. Thomas Tuchel replaced Jurgen Klopp as head coach, new signings Julian Weigl and Roman Burki have started every game in the Bundesliga and players like Ilkay Gundogan have returned to playing like they did in the successful years of the Klopp era.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan, however, is the best example of Dortmund's revival. Gundogan's return to form can largely be attributed to his being fully fit again after he was injured for 14 months between August of 2013 and October of 2014. Mkhitaryan was always fit. His problem was a deeper lying one. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was a broken man. 

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Devoid of confidence and denied the love of the Westfalenstadion, the Armenian's brilliance was hidden away behind a sad face. It took Mkhitaryan until the end of February to score his first league goal of the season. Despite an uptick in performance towards the latter stages of the campaign (he scored or assisted six goals in the last six Bundesliga games of the season), his future at the club was in doubt. 

Tuchel, however, had none of that. He convinced Mkhitaryan that he had a future in Dortmund in a one-on-one conversation, as the Armenian told German magazine stern (in German). Tuchel made him feel the confidence the new coach put in his midfielder and assured him that his qualities would shine in the attractive football Tuchel wanted his new team to play.

Mkhitaryan hasn't looked back since. He's enjoying an incredible campaign so far, as he contributed to 17 goals in the club's record-breaking 11 wins in all competitions to start the season.

He plays an integral role in Tuchel's hybrid system that depends heavily on overloading the left half-space in possession. As Tom Payne from tactics blog spielverlagerung.com notes, Mkhitaryan has formed a fruitful partnership there with Japan international Shinji Kagawa. Combinations in that part of the field have been essential for the majority of attacks Dortmund have created.

One beneficiary of the brilliance of Mkhitaryan and Kagawa's interplay has been Matthias Ginter. The 20-year-old center-back-turned-right-back has eight assists in 10 matches. They've almost exclusively come after Dortmund overloaded the left half-space and shifted the ball to Ginter on the right, where one touch was often all he needed to find a teammate in the box. Mkhitaryan himself scored a beauty following this blueprint in the win at Hannover.

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The Armenian looks at ease under the tutelage of Tuchel, as he acknowledged to stern himself, talking about how in the past, during last year's difficult spell, he'd think to himself that he needed to do everything on the pitch. This year Mkhitaryan's content to do the simple things, as he doesn't let things affect him as much.

Mkhitaryan's importance to Dortmund's success was evident in the club's recent dry spell of four winless games as well. For the first time all year, Tuchel rested Mkhitaryan against Hoffenheim. The team promptly played the worst 45 minutes of the campaign, and Mkhitaryan was substituted on for the second half. He was easily the best player in a yellow shirt on the pitch and helped turn the game into a draw. 

Tuchel himself has realized sitting Mkhitaryan might not be a good idea, as he jokingly told German TV station Sport1 before last week's Europa League clash with PAOK Saloniki, as relayed by ESPN FC writer Stefan Buczko:

Mkhitaryan's worst performance of the season came this last Sunday in the 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich, as he missed a few chances and gave away a penalty to Thiago Alcantara.

As it turns out, Dortmund need Mkhitaryan at his best if they are to achieve greatness in this campaign. What a difference a season makes.

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Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on all things Borussia Dortmund.

He also writes for www.yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.