How Borussia Dortmund Can Cope Without First-Choice Back 4 After Hummels Injury

Borussia Dortmund haven't had the best of luck with injuries this season as they attempt to overthrow Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich, and the news that Mats Hummels will miss two months with a broken foot isn't going to make things any easier.

Goal.com report that Hummels suffered the metatarsal injury in the international friendly match for Germany against England on Tuesday night, and that he will not now return until mid-January, after their winter break.

While the longer-term ramifications of that particular injury will be addressed by simply slotting in newcomer Sokratis Papastathopoulos at centre-back, BVB manager Jurgen Klopp now faces the unenviable task of replacing his entire first-choice defensive quartet.

Attacking right-back Lukasz Piszczek has been sidelined with a long-term injury and could be missing until December at the earliest, but potentially until the winter break.

On the opposite side of defence, Marcel Schmelzer also got injured with Germany this week, suffering a calf strain.

And Klopp has lost both of his centre-backs in the space of two weeks—Neven Subotic ruptured his ACL ligaments not long ago, before Hummels' broken foot sustained on Tuesday.

Dortmund are already four points behind Bayern in the league table, and the two face each other on Saturday in the big game of the weekend.

Even worse for Dortmund; while Hummels and Schmelzer got injured on international duty, Marco Reus, Sven Bender and Roman Weidenfeller were all also in action against England, while Bayern's contingent including Philipp Lahm and Manuel Neuer returned home early.

So how do Dortmund counteract these absences in defence and stop Bayern extending their lead at the top?

Kevin Grosskreutz, usually a midfielder, has been playing right-back of late and will likely continue to do so. Holding midfielder Sven Bender will almost certainly drop back into a central-defensive role, partnering Greek centre-back Sokratis. On the left, young full-back Erik Durm would be the natural replacement—if fit.

There are very few other options open to Klopp, whose defensive squad players will otherwise feature more out of position than ever, or else largely untested youngsters—such as 19-year-old Koray Gunter—will have to be handed the responsibility.

Beyond the Bayern game, perhaps the key issue is whether the Bender-Sokratis partnership is sustainable and successful enough to see Dortmund through until January. They may then reinforce the squad, presumably with a versatile full-back at least, but there are five Bundesliga games to get through first while remaining in touch with the leaders.

Just as critically, Dortmund face two more key Champions League ties too, with the group balanced on a knife-edge at present. Napoli at home and Marseille away could realistically make or break Dortmund's season, having gone all the way to the Champions League final just last season.

Klopp will have to entrust his second-string defence in the biggest game of the season this weekend, and some of them for some time after that.

Pressing high up the field and defending from the front, denying the opposition the opportunity to attack the weakened defence at all, could once again become the most important factor in Dortmund's style of play.

Get through to mid-December and the team can regroup from there—but Dortmund have a lot to lose before then if they cannot cope with all the absentees from their first XI.

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