Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Hat-Trick Covers Up Defensive Woes in Dortmund Win

Borussia Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel was satisfied after his team's win in the Europa League on Thursday against FK Qabala, but he wasn't happy.

He acknowledged, via WAZ, it's tough to beat the Azerbaijanis on the road, seeing as they hadn't conceded a single goal in this year's European campaign beforehand. But the expected win and the comfortable-enough scoreline didn't see the coach gloss over his side's defensive woes.

Tuchel knew he had one man to thank for the three points in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He appropriately praised his hat-trick hero, calling his hunger and dedication "exemplary" after the game, via Kicker.

The Gabonese's individual brilliance on the evening can't be applauded enough, as he was easily the best player on the pitch. Team-mate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who chose to stay in Dortmund because of safety concerns, tweeted out one thought many defences will have to agree with: Aubameyang is unstoppable right now.

The 26-year-old effectively killed the game with two beautiful goals in a span of seven first-half minutes, as the Vine below shows.

Dortmund were very fortunate, however, that Aubameyang's goals put them in front. His second could easily have been an equaliser.

It was the hosts who had the better chances to start the game, as Dortmund could very well have looked at a two- or even three-goal deficit after just a quarter of an hour.

They would've conceded the opening goal for the third time in as many Europa League matches, which is simply unacceptable considering the gargantuan gap in quality between Dortmund and their three opponents in group C.

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Asked about his team's defending after the game, Tuchel lamented, via the team's website: "We were missing the necessary focus and venom in our challenges. We defended poorly in all areas, both in the switch play of our offensive ranks and the challenges themselves."

Tuchel had already called for higher attentiveness in defence after the thrashing at Munich, saying his team needed to work on defensive details and positioning. 

The latter was a constant problem on Thursday, with captain Mats Hummels especially eager to leave his spot and expose Dortmund's defensive third. Local paper Ruhrnachrichten graded Hummels as the worst player on the pitch, with a grade of 5,0. That translates to a rating of 2/10.

After conceding five goals to Bayern Munich and a clean sheet at Mainz that was mainly down to goalkeeper Roman Burki having his best day for the club since signing in the summer from relegated SC Freiburg, Dortmund's defence remains a worry.

Following SB Nation's Michael Caley's expected-goals method, Dortmund have given up a lot of quality chances over the course of the last three games. According to his tweets, Dortmund allowed a rough expected goals sum of 1.6 at Qabala, 1.4 at Mainz and 3.2 at Bayern. 

"

xG map for Qabala-Dortmund. That's quite a few chances for the Azerbaijani side. pic.twitter.com/WUx9d6aYfp

— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) October 22, 2015"

One of the main reasons for Dortmund's dip in defensive performance seems to be the centre-back pairing of Hummels and Greece international Sokratis Papastathopoulos. 

Both have a tendency of getting sucked up the pitch trying to intercept passes, which is fine—as long as it works. Too often, however, it doesn't work and leaves the opposition with a lot of grass in front of them. 

Whether it's a lack of communication or two strong personalities not willing to give in, Dortmund's centre-backs aren't really playing well next to each other at the moment.

DANIEL ROLAND/Getty Images

Sokratis is clearly in better form than the struggling skipper, but the hard-nosed, uncompromising Greek doesn't offer his team much in the buildup, where Hummels shines. 

Neven Subotic, meanwhile, hasn't even been in the squad for the last two games for reasons relayed by ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko.

With the way Dortmund are defending right now, Tuchel would be well advised to think about inserting Subotic into his lineup. While it would be harsh on Sokratis, the tried-and-tested pairing of Hummels and Subotic could help Dortmund's defence get back on track. 

Lars is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.