Areas Where Borussia Dortmund Are Actually Better Than Last Season

Borussia Dortmund's season is as different to their ill-fated campaign of 2014/15 as day is to night. One would be hard-pressed to come up with another club in European football that comes even close to the turnaround the Black and Yellows have accomplished.

Dortmund are on a seven-game winning-streak going into the November international break, and they had won 11 games out of 11 in all competitions to start the campaign, setting a new club record in the process (via Stephan Uersfeld of ESPN FC). Last season, they failed to win more than three games on the spin the entire campaign.

With 29 points out of their 12 Bundesliga games, Dortmund sit second in the table. Last season, they reached 29 points after Matchday 24—in March. They were 10th at the time and managed to salvage a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers at the end of the season. Anything other than a finish as runners-up to Bayern Munich would be a major disappointment this season, seeing as Dortmund have opened up a gap of eight points to third place.

Even if one considers Jurgen Klopp's last year at the club an outlier, the Dortmund of 2015/16 is up to the test. It is, in fact, the "second best season of all time" for the club at this stage, as the Black and Yellows headlined on their official website after the 3-2 win over Schalke 04 in the "Revierderby." They had 31 points after 12 games in Klopp's first championship season, 2010/11.

Compared to last season, it would be hard to find areas where Dortmund haven't improved. Both statistically and by just watching them play, they are better in virtually every category one could think of.

With that in mind, here are three key areas where Dortmund are actually better than last season.

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Possession Play

Klopp's successor Thomas Tuchel has quickly created a unique playing style. Michael Caley of sbnation.com noted: "Instead of discarding what worked well, Tuchel has added improved possession attacking and positional play to the side's arsenal without diminishing their strengths." 

Thanks in large part to the resurgence of Ilkay Gundogan and the emergence of Julian Weigl, Tuchel has a very dominant midfield at his disposal. Gundogan actually leads the league in total touches, according to Inside11.de (in German). 

Germany international Gundogan attributes Dortmund's impressive start to the season to Tuchel's tactics. He told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German) that it's the result of an established brand of football and a clear plan, saying one of the best parts about this season is the players always know what they have to do on the pitch.

Conversion Rate

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One improvement is directly tied to Dortmund's improved possession play: They are markedly better at converting goalscoring opportunities. The Black and Yellows' conversion rate was always a much-discussed topic among supporters and onlookers alike. Last year, they ranked 16th in the Bundesliga, converting only 12.3 percent of their shots, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk.

This year, they are converting a lofty 25.2 percent. While that number is bound to go down over the course of the rest of the season, it is evident that Dortmund are using their chances better. Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang paced his team with 25 goals in all competitions last season—he's already at 21 for this campaign.

Better Luck

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One major reason for Dortmund's rotten form last season was, quite simply, bad luck. They endured countless injuries, which never allowed Klopp to settle on a team.

Despite their more hectic start to this year, with the Europa League qualifiers seeing them in action as early as late July, Dortmund have suffered a very low amount of injuries so far. Tuchel had to do without a member of his first-choice XI just six times in the Bundesliga this season, per Transfermarkt. 

While it's virtually impossible to say with any authority whether it's coincidence or thanks to different methods in training, one injury-preventing factor that can be attributed to the coaching change is the more efficient playing style.

Thanks to their embracing possession, Dortmund don't have to chase their opponents nearly as much as they did when Klopp's "Heavy-Metal Football" was in vogue (h/t Tim Poole of Goal.com).

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