Lacklustre Display vs. Cologne Shows Borussia Dortmund Can't Afford Complacency

Borussia Dortmund looked set to end their impressive Hinrunde, as the first half of the season is called in Germany, on a high note. After dispatching in-form FC Augsburg in a midweek DFB-Pokal tie, a trip to struggling Cologne didn't feel all that daunting.

The Rhinelanders had only won twice since early October and had found scoring particularly difficult, with only three goals in their last nine matches across league and cup.

As it turned out, perhaps Dortmund's players knew those statistics too well. Their performance, especially in the second half, looked that way at least. Dortmund were uninspired, grew more and more tired as the game went on and lacked sharpness and focus in the attacking third. It was, in short, lacklustre.

Head coach Thomas Tuchel conceded as much after the game, per the club's website: 

"

Unfortunately we completely withdrew in the second 45 minutes, almost exclusively had possession in our own half, played backwards an awful lot and were not as aggressive and courageous as we were in the first period. Koln showed extreme passion towards the end of the game. You could see that we were lacking in mental and physical freshness.

"

It has to be said, however, that much of the credit has to go to the hosts, who were brilliant once head coach Peter Stoger decided to move on from his game plan, which saw the Billy Goats sit deep with five at the back and play only one out-and-out attacking player.

After Dortmund went in front through a header from Sokratis Papastathopoulos, whom not one Cologne player covered at a corner, Stoger urged his team to push forward and press with much more intensity.

PATRIK STOLLARZ/Getty Images

Recent weeks have shown this is the best—and quite possibly only—way for teams that are no match for Dortmund personnel-wise to stay in the game and get a result against the Black and Yellows. Hamburger SV beat them 3-1, Augsburg kept the game close in midweek and Cologne forced them into their worst second half since the 5-1 battering at the hands of Bayern Munich in October.

Dortmund would have needed much better individual performances from many key players to pull through against inspired hosts in the second half. Aside from all three centre-backs—Sven Bender replaced Mats Hummels at half-time after the captain picked up a muscle injury—all outfield players left much to be desired.

The key to Dortmund's game is their midfield trio because they are a side that depends heavily on structured buildup play and patient passing. While Julian Weigl was OK on Saturday, Ilkay Gundogan and Shinji Kagawa quite possibly played their worst games of the entire campaign so far. 

ESPN FC's Stefan Buczko rated both 3/10, calling Gundogan's showing "reminiscent of his performances toward the end of last season, where he simply ran out of steam." He also wrote "Gundogan looked horribly off the pace in this match and could hardly help his team, as he was too easily hassled off the ball in the second half." The Germany international's display was symbolic for his team on the day.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

If the defeat to Cologne had happened on any other matchday, the one positive would be the team would have received a warning that anything but 100 per cent effort won't cut it in the Bundesliga despite the impressive season they're playing so far. With the month-long winter break, however, it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth of every Dortmund supporter.

And while there's no reason to be overly concerned about it—Dortmund had won their previous 22 games in which they'd led at half-time, per stat provider deltatre on Twitter—Saturday's second-half collapse made one thing very clear: complacency is a luxury Dortmund cannot afford.

It's probably unfair to compare the Black and Yellows to Bayern Munich all the time considering where the two clubs came from at the outset of the season, but Saturday was a reminder why there won't be a title race in 2016.

As Deutsche Welle's Alex Chaffer put it: "Bayern Munich don't make mistakes, and rarely lose in games like Dortmund did on Saturday, and certainly not in the same way. In the bigger picture, it's the difference between winning the Bundesliga title or finishing second."

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