Picking a Possible Borussia Dortmund First Starting XI Under Thomas Tuchel

Borussia Dortmund may be deep into their pre-season, playing friendlies every other day and venturing out with new selections and tactics in every match, yet for the most part new coach Thomas Tuchel will know exactly who'll be playing in their first competitive fixture. 

On August 9, Chemnitzer will welcome the black and yellows to their ground for a preliminary DFB-Pokal clash, and assuming injuries don't ravish Dortmund's side between now and then, we should see a full-strength side to Tuchel's liking. 

Here's how we think the starting XI will look in that game and for much of this coming season. 

Defence

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In defence, things look rather straightforward, with much of last season's team remaining intact for the season ahead. Tuchel is almost certainly going to stick with the tried-and-tested partnership of Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels in the middle of defence.

Marcel Schmelzer will probably keep his spot at left-back while Jeremy Dudziak is still learning his trade, and Erik Durm will almost certainly replace an injury-prone Lukas Piszczek at right-back. 

The only stark change will be between the posts, where Roman Burki will take Roman Weidenfeller's place as Dortmund's chief shot-stopper. 

Midfield

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Tuchel has spent much of the pre-season testing out a 4-1-4-1 formation with his squad, which could suggest that we'll see Dortmund play with just one holding midfielder this season rather than two. 

The new coach has used Julian Weigl as the holding midfielder in such games, yet he'll probably resort back to Sven Bender in the competitive matches for the time being while Nuri Sahin still recovers from his mysteriously long injury. 

This will allow Dortmund to then play two central, attacking midfielders in front of the holding player, which will most likely be Ilkay Gundogan and Shinji Kagawa. 

Attack

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Although Dortmund have made astute signings this summer, Tuchel's side are still a little light on the wings, with no true right-winger of sorts standing out in this squad.

Tuchel would be tempted to play Jakub Blaszczykowski in such a position when he is fit, yet the Polish international is indeed rarely fit. The coach also has Kevin Kampl and Jonas Hofmann to choose from, but in truth, Henrikh Mkhitaryan probably stands more chance of starting on the right.

There is of course Gonzalo Castro to fill in, but for the time being it would make little sense to drop the Armenian for the new signing. Rather than a regular role at any spot, it would seem as though the former Bayer Leverkusen star may be used across the midfield when needed.  

The two other positions in turn end up picking themselves, with Marco Reus keeping his favoured left wing when fit and last season's top goalscorer, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, up front. 

Should an injury hit one of these latter two players, things could well shuffle around rather drastically, but when everyone's fit this is probably how Tuchel will line things up.