Inconsistent Borussia Dortmund to Pick Up Momentum in Cup Tilt with Union Berlin
There is no way around it. At the moment, Borussia Dortmund are stumbling through the 2016/17 season.
Having won only one of their last five matches across all competitions and sitting sixth in the Bundesliga table after Matchday 8, their lack of consistency has showed up time and time again.
Since beating SC Freiburg on September 23 to cap off a four-game winning streak in which they outscored opponents by 20 goals to two in a span of 10 days, there seems to be a spanner in the works for the Black and Yellows.
Interestingly, that is especially true for their domestic games. In the UEFA Champions League, a 2-2 draw with holders Real Madrid and a crucial 2-1 win at Sporting CP have seen the Ruhr side well on track to advance to the round of 16 after just three rounds of matches.
In the Bundesliga, however, a record of two points from three matches is simply not enough, even for a Dortmund side that many predicted would have a slow start to the campaign. A wholeheartedly disappointing 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, a 1-1 draw with Hertha BSC and a dramatic 3-3 draw at FC Ingolstadt were not acceptable.
Of course, there were mitigating circumstances—first and foremost the club's dire personnel situation. Up to 10 players were out over the last few weeks, and key performers such as club captain Marcel Schmelzer, midfielder Raphael Guerreiro and attackers Marco Reus and Andre Schurrle remain out for the time being.
However, Dortmund still have too much quality to be satisfied with their recent run of results. Perhaps not enough to win at Leverkusen, who had a strong day, but certainly enough to beat a last-placed Ingolstadt side that had lost six straight games in the German top flight.
Fans had circled that match as an opportunity to pick up some steam ahead of a number of crucial games, with the Revierderby against archrivals Schalke 04 lurking at the weekend, and the return leg against Sporting and a meeting with bogey team Hamburger SV on the horizon.
Luckily for Dortmund supporters and their team, Wednesday should provide another such opportunity. 2. Bundesliga side Union Berlin come to town for the second round of the DFB-Pokal. Make no mistake about it, there will be no excuses if the Black and Yellows do not come away with a resounding victory.
Six wins in seven see Iron Union—as fans lovingly call their team—in decent form. The club from the capital are second in the table with 20 points from 10 matches. The club are marketing the game as one of the biggest away trips in the team's history, with about 10,000 fans travelling to the Westfalenstadion, per the club's website (link in German).
Still, though, head coach Jens Keller does not harbour any illusions. The former Schalke coach said in his press conference (link in German) that he would have preferred an easier draw for the second round.
His counterpart in Dortmund's dugout, Thomas Tuchel, will probably perform his usual routine before the match, talking up Union as if his side were going up against a Champions League opponent. That said, the 43-year-old must know that anything other than a win against a 2. Bundesliga team would turn faint criticism into a veritable storm.
Dortmund, quite frankly, need to pick up some momentum against Union.
Their recent record in the cup suggests they will do just that. Long gone are the days when fans had to fear embarrassing losses against lower-division opponents. The 1990s and early 2000s were full of those disappointments, but Dortmund have developed into cup specialists over the last few years.
Having reached the final in four of the last five seasons, they have not lost to a side other than Bayern Munich or VfL Wolfsburg since the 2010/11 DFB-Pokal campaign, when star strikers Lucas Barrios and Robert Lewandowski missed penalties in a shootout defeat against Kickers Offenbach.
Perhaps it is a good omen for the Ruhr side that the meeting with Berlin will take place one day before that defeat against Offenbach has its sixth anniversary.
Add the fact that Dortmund have only been eliminated from the cup at home twice since the turn of the millennium, and all signs point to a win on Wednesday evening.
Of course, Tuchel and his players will not rely on omens and signs, rather they will want to show an improved performance on the pitch.
During their recent rough patch of domestic results, Dortmund largely lacked creativity going forward, while numerous changes to the back line that were caused by injuries saw them ship too many simple goals.
That said, conceding three goals during that time from set pieces—the openers against Leverkusen and Ingolstadt, and the Bavarians' second goal on the weekend—has nothing to do with personnel and everything with being alert and focused on the task at hand.
With an underdog coming to the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday, defending the occasional free-kick from the wings or corners will be crucial, as those situations could allow Union into the game.
It should be more about how Dortmund attack, however. Despite their three goals against Ingolstadt—and it could have been more—the Black and Yellows have looked far removed from their goalscoring extravaganza in mid-September.
Being without Guerreiro, Schurrle and, for a while, Gonzalo Castro hurt, but fans can expect much more from the players who were available. That holds true for star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose 10 goals this season cannot hide the impression that he has not quite reached his best form yet, as well as for summer signings Mario Gotze and Ousmane Dembele.
Gotze's form seems to be on the rise, with the 24-year-old playing well against Sporting in his first completed 90-minute match for Dortmund since returning from Bayern, as well as off the bench against Ingolstadt.
Still, as this writer detailed in an earlier piece, BVB's No. 10 has to become more involved in his team's play. Dortmund have a desperate need for structure and creativity in midfield, having failed to replace mastermind Ilkay Gundogan one-for-one in the summer.
As for Dembele, the Frenchman's performances include the variations of light and shade. The 19-year-old is capable of incredible things on the ball, but his decision-making remains a work in progress, to put it mildly.
It can be maddening to watch the summer signing, just as much as it can be a lot of fun. No game showcased Dembele's up-and-down nature early in his Dortmund career better than the tilt at Ingolstadt. He was arguably the worst player on the pitch in the first half but later created two goals to pave the way for his team's comeback in the second period.
It remains to be seen, of course, if Dembele will even play.
Usually, a home cup match against a 2. Bundesliga side would be the perfect opportunity to tinker with the squad, giving a number back-ups some vital playing time.
Emre Mor, who will serve the second and final game of his suspension on Saturday following his push on Hertha's Sebastian Langkamp, would seem like a prime candidate to start in Dembele's place given how strong Christian Pulisic played off the bench on the other wing.
However, looking at Dortmund's inconsistent showings at this stage of the campaign and their need to pick up momentum ahead of the next few matches, the chances are that Tuchel will opt for a full-strength lineup.
Their slip-ups to this point were disappointing and annoying, but hardly put the team in a hole in terms of this season's target; winning direct qualification to the Champions League next season. A gaffe against Union, though, would be devastating.
Lars Pollmann also writes for The Yellow Wall. You can follow him on Twitter.
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