Who Should Form Borussia Dortmund's Centre-Back Pairing Until the Winter Break?

With only four games to go until German football embarks on its month-long hiatus, Borussia Dortmund are in the final sprint of their busy Hinrunde, as the first half of the season is called in Germany.

The Black and Yellows face PAOK Salonika in the UEFA Europa League—a game that is likely to be inconsequential for both teams—host Frankfurt in the Bundesliga and travel to Augsburg in the round of 16 of the DFB-Pokal, before a league game at Cologne marks the end of the footballing year.

Dortmund's prolific attack is functioning like a well-oiled machine these days and chances are that will remain this way in the remaining four contests: They have already reached their goalscoring total from last season across all competitions. 

Their defence, however, has struggled for good parts of the campaign. The makeup of their back line—and particularly the centre-back pairing—is worth a look in preparation of the final four games of the year. 

The first question head coach Thomas Tuchel has to answer for himself pertains to his captain, Mats Hummels, whose struggles have been well documented this season.

Tactics blogger Constantin Eckner wrote in a piece for Yellowwallpod: 

"

You know going into a match that whichever performance he shows will take some time to digest. It is either world-class or annoying in the extreme. There are no shades of grey. With Mats Hummels, it is black or white. He is able to out-play anyone at any given time. He can slaughter opposing pressing blocks. But then, at one point, the sloppy version of him shows up, delivering a horrendous pass right into the feet of an opponent.

"

We made the case for Hummels' benching after his performance against Hamburg, where the whole team looked off and the skipper scored an own goal ending all hopes of a comeback. Tuchel agreed and sat him out for the next Bundesliga match against Stuttgart, while Hummels missed Dortmund's last game at Wolfsburg with a stomach bug. 

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Considering the captain's excellent showing in the Europa League at Krasnodar, however, where he gave away a penalty in the first minute but played great for the other 89, and the fact that Tuchel made crystal clear that he was rested—and not benched for performance reasons against Stuttgart—one can assume Hummels will take up his usual spot in the starting XI whenever he returns to full health.

But who should be his partner in central defence?

Greece international Sokratis Papastathopoulos has held that role the entire season: He was rested a few times and, too, missed the Stuttgart match with a stomach bug. The familiarity between him and Hummels should speak for the pairing remaining the same as it's been all season, but the results were up-and-down.

Too often it seemed like the understanding of Sokratis and Hummels was lacking, as both interpreted their roles somewhat loosely. Both the 27-year-old and the captain try to play on the front foot, going for interceptions in advanced positions, which has led to Dortmund's defensive third being exposed time and time again. 

The alternative to Sokratis is Sven Bender. A converted defensive midfielder, the 26-year-old has played very well in central defence in his side's three last games. Per WhoScored, he made 10 tackles, eight interceptions and 12 clearances combined in the games against Krasnodar, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, while also blocking four shots.

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Bender also is one of his team's most accurate passers with a completion rate of 90 per cent, and he initiated Dortmund's second goal against Stuttgart from an advanced position, showing not all his passes are safely horizontal.

Finally, there's Neven Subotic. The Serbian resurfaced—after not playing since October 1—against Wolfsburg because of the absences of Sokratis and Hummels, but it's likely his appearance was a mere cameo.

Per Matthias Dersch of local paper Ruhr Nachrichten, Subotic himself doesn't expect his fairly strong performance against the Wolves to lead to more opportunities in Tuchel's side (link in German).

Thomas Hennecke of German magazine Kicker, meanwhile, reported this week that the club will talk to their centre-half in the winter about a possible move away from the club, although sporting director Michael Zorc doesn't see an inclination to sell (link in German).

All things considered, a strong argument can be made that Bender should keep his spot in the starting lineup for the remainder of the year, at the expense of Sokratis. Judged on merit of recent weeks alone, the 26-year-old Germany international should actually be the first name on the team sheet.

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