Breaking Down Marco Reus' Performance for Borussia Dortmund vs. Hamburg

Borussia Dortmund hit a minor blip on Saturday when a stubborn Hamburg side played host, and ultimately ensured a point apiece with some excellent defensive play. 

It was Jurgen Klopp's key man, Marco Reus, who dictated most of the column inches following an injury in the mid-week cup clash with Dynamo Dresden, only to appear on the pitch on Saturday and put on a forgettable performance. 

Dortmund looked blunt in attack—and at times all out of ideas—and much of that came down to Reus' form on the day. 

A Lack of Shots

The most notable failing on Reus' part Saturday was his complete inability to get shots away throughout the match.

According to WhoScored.com, Reus is averaging 3.6 shots per game in the Bundesliga, yet on Saturday he only managed to get a solitary target on goal in the 57th minute. Reus really struggled to put himself in the right positions to score and dictate the game as he usually enjoys doing. 

There were, of course, a few reasons for this—which we'll discuss in detail—but on the face of it all it was an afternoon for Reus and Dortmund's attack to quickly forget. 

Struggled to Cut Inside

Squawka

One of the biggest and most important aspects of Reus' game is his ability to cut inside and dictate play from the middle of the pitch. Jinking past that first full-back and then attacking the central defender is every back line's nightmare, yet the German international simply couldn't manage it against Hamburg on Saturday. 

When we take a look at the left-sided attacker's passing throughout the match, via the handy Squawka graphic above, we can see that Reus was limited to his own wing, very rarely managing to cut inside and make a completed pass. 

According to Squawka, the attacker only completed 66 percent of his passes, which will come as little surprise when we look at how many through balls simply didn't come off throughout the match. Reus couldn't pass and set up chances like he usually does, and as such, Dortmund's attack struggled. 

Hamburg's Key Interceptions

Part of the reason for Reus' struggles in the final third was due to the home side's great effort in closing the forward and his teammates down on the right flank.

Taking a quick look at WhoScored.com's graphic below, which shows the interceptions made by both sides throughout the match (Hamburg in blue), we can see just how congregated the Hamburg defence are on Reus' position:

Whoscored

One of the most notable examples of this uber closing down was from Valon Behrami, who was constantly shuffling over to the right wing to help his full-back out. Add to that the physical and industrial tracking back of Nicolai Muller, and you have a right wing that was well and truly hunkered down for the coming Reus attack.

In the end, it was Hamburg and their rigid defensive system who walked off the park with their heads held high and their chests swelling with pride. They'd successfully closed down and neutralised one of Germany and Europe's most potent attackers and ultimately forced him to accept defeat. 

@Sbienkowski