Why Roman Burki Is the Player Who Must Step Up for Borussia Dortmund

Being the man between the sticks for a top club can get very lonely. Roman Burki has experienced that in his first months at Borussia Dortmund. The Switzerland international was one of the Bundesliga's best 'keepers for SC Freiburg last year—German magazine Kicker graded (in German) him as the second-best in the league—despite the club from the Black Forest getting relegated at the end of the campaign.

Squawka's Jack Marshall highlighted the then-24-year-old's impressive season with Freiburg:

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Burki kept nine clean sheets in 34 matches; more than second-placed Wolfsburg’s Diego Benaglio, sixth-placed Schalke’s Ralf Fahrmann, eighth-placed Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann, ninth-placed Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp, 10th-placed Werder Bremen’s Raphael Wolf and more than incumbent Dortmund number one Roman Weidenfeller.

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After Dortmund had rotated longtime stalwart Roman Weidenfeller and Australian Mitch Langerak in goal in the 2014/15 season—not by choice of Jurgen Klopp but out of necessity, with neither one of the two playing all that well—the arrival of Burki was met with excitement by most of Dortmund's supporters. There was a minority of fans who would have preferred to see Langerak given a chance at the status as No. 1, but the 27-year-old moved to VfB Stuttgart a few days after Dortmund announced the signing of Burki.

Dortmund's new head coach Thomas Tuchel didn't make the announcement until August (via Kicker, in German), but it was widely regarded as a fait accompli that the arrival would become his side's first-choice goalkeeper. Burki only gets to play in the domestic competitions, however, with Weidenfeller the man between the sticks in the UEFA Europa League. 

Burki has played in 16 of Dortmund's 23 matches across all competitions. In most of those games, the Swiss didn't have to do much, with his team-mates dominating in terms of possession and goalscoring. Burki's qualities with the ball at his feet shined through at times, completing 82 per cent of his distribution attempts. Overall, the Switzerland international's biggest advantage over Weidenfeller (and Langerak) lies in his quality on the ball. In the 2014/15 campaign, both Dortmund 'keepers managed a measly 69 per cent accuracy.

He has so far largely failed, however, to be the expected upgrade in terms of shot stopping. Marshall wrote: "Burki has the skills to turn the frustrating narrow losses by a single goal, of which there were 10, into wins and cut out the early mistakes." 

In his 13 appearances in the Bundesliga, Burki has made 1.35 saves per goal conceded. Weidenfeller's number in 2014/15 was at 1.68, Langerak's at 1.4. The 25-year-old was sensational in this category at Freiburg, with 2.59 saves per goal.

These numbers are a testament to the vast change in playing style Burki has gone through with his move from relegation strugglers to Champions League aspirants. It is a change that he still has some problems with, as he acknowledged in an appearance on German TV station ZDF's show Das Aktuelle Sportstudio on Saturday.

Burki has yet to make the adjustment to playing for a team that won't concede many shots to most of their opponents. At Freiburg, he made 3.5 saves per game. For the Black and Yellows, that number is cut in half.

VI-Images/Getty Images

With no quick fix for the well-documented problems in defence—ever so apparent in the 3-1 loss at Hamburg on Matchday 13—in sight, the club desperately need Burki to play at a higher level. 

One area where Burki has to improve dramatically is his decision making. In the 5-1 battering by Bayern Munich, he "made two critical positioning errors on the first strike of each half," as Bleacher Report's Joe Tansey put it. In Dortmund's other defeat, Hamburg only mustered two shots on target, one of which was a penalty needlessly given away by the goalie himself.

Burki has played well in other games, most notably with a clean sheet against Mainz 05 and a brilliant save in Dortmund's narrow win over Schalke 04, but his lack of consistency is a disappointment at this stage of the season.

All stats via Squawka.

Lars is a featured columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for Yellowwallpod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.