Why Ciro Immobile Is Under Most Pressure for Borussia Dortmund After Mainz Game

We may only be allowed to whisper it at the moment so we don't jinx such a phenomenon, but sure enough it looks as though Borussia Dortmund may be on the cusp of turning their season around. On Friday, they came from behind to beat Mainz, 4-2, drag themselves out of the relegation zone and put two consecutive wins together for the first time in quite a while. 

Yes, Jurgen Klopp's side looked like their old selves once they put the first goal behind them. Nuri Sahin and Ilkay Gundogan swarmed in midfield, Marco Reus pulled the strings up front, but most importantly, the goals were flying in from every angle. 

Yet, one notable omission from Friday's squad will have made for a minor caveat for any eagle-eyed fan at the Westfalenstadion: New striker Ciro Immobile never made an appearance, and unfortunately for the Italian, the team looked all the better for it.

Immobile's start to life at Dortmund is one that seems to be all too familiar and quite unique all at the same time. 

The striker joined the Bundesliga side from Italy last summer and almost immediately struggled to fit in to a system that Klopp lives and breathes by. Fortunately for Immobile, this isn't anything new.

As we've seen through the years, Dortmund's style of football requires—or at least did before the crisis this season—the squad to close down their opponent at all times and to play a very quick-paced game of football. 

Reus joined in 2012 and made an instant impact through simply being an outstanding player, but when we take a look at Klopp's recruits one year later in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Milos Jojic, we clearly see that it takes new players quite some time to adjust. 

Armenian attacking midfielder Mkhitaryan did well initially last season but has since slumped out of favour, Jojic has fallen off the face of the planet and Aubameyang has only just really begun to settle into this team. And let's not even get started on Immobile's comrades in last summer's transfer window: Matthias Ginter and Adrian Ramos.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

In truth, very few players ever come to Dortmund and settle straight into Klopp's style of football. They need time and patience to adapt, and that's exactly what this troubled striker should be afforded right now. 

The other serious point that continues to undermine Immobile's start to life in Dortmund is one man: Robert Lewandowski. The now Bayern Munich forward left just as Immobile was walking in the door, yet since then, Klopp's team have still being playing as if the Poland international never left. And it's destroying any hope of Immobile settling into this side. 

The Italian striker is one who benefits from playing with the ball on the ground and running onto passes while facing the goal. Yet all he's received from a hatchet-wielding defence and a bitter midfield is long balls and punts up the park.

Where Lewandowski would once happily pick passes out of the air while single-handedly wrestling two central defenders to the ground, Immobile has simply failed—through no real fault of his own—while Klopp has stuck with his old tactics of attacking.

Immobile is a square peg that Klopp has spent the best part of this season trying to squeeze into a round hole. A problem left by Lewandowski that hasn't been solved, nor will it be unless the manager fixes his system up front. 

Throughout this transitional period, we've now seen Aubameyang really come to the fore as Klopp's best option alongside Reus in attack. The Gabon striker has pace to burn and doesn't shy away from challenges in the air, making him the perfect candidate for anything the back line decide to fling up the park. 

Yet the pacy forward can also play football, rather well in fact, and was at his best when asked to play between the lines and offer an outball to the more intrinsic passing of Gundogan, Reus or even new signing Kevin Kampl.

According to Transfermarkt, Aubameyang now has 14 goals and nine assists in just 28 games this season, and for a team such as Dortmund, who have struggled to score goals this season, that's as close to gold dust as you'll get in this game. 

Immobile will be given the benefit of the doubt from now until May and will undoubtedly work his socks off to get back into this team and begin scoring goals. Yet, for every week he remains on the bench and the likes of Aubameyang keep scoring, the hope of him being a hit for German giants Dortmund get smaller and smaller. 

@Sbienkowski