Why Erik Durm Will Be Borussia Dortmund's X-Factor in Remaining Months of Season

The first half of the 2015/16 season couldn't have gone much better for Borussia Dortmund. Considering their poor performance in the previous campaign and a subsequent coaching change, it went better than anyone would've dared to hope for.

Football writer Raphael Honigstein astutely wrote that newly appointed head coach Thomas "Tuchel's first months in charge have been a triumph of many small tweaks, on and off the pitch."

For two players, however, the Hinrunde, as the first half of the season is called in Germany, couldn't have gone much worse.

One of those two is Nuri Sahin. The 27-year-old's struggles continue to this day, as he's yet to make his season debut. He hasn't appeared in a competitive match of football since February 28, 2015. Problems with a tendon in his adductor muscle have sidelined him since.

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Add in the fact that he had knee surgery in autumn of 2014, and it's understandable he's only played in nine games since the end of the 2013/14 season.

He seems to be close to a return in the coming weeks, however, seeing as he's participated in team training sessions since the turn of the year. Tuchel lauded his central midfielder in a recent press conference, as relayed by Dortmund-based writer Stefan Buczko:

Sahin could indeed play an important role for the Black and Yellows this season. Julian Weigl is struggling to find his excellent form from earlier in the campaign and has seen Matthias Ginter start in his place in defensive midfield in games against VfB Stuttgart and Hannover 96 earlier this month.

Ginter himself has done OK in those games, but it stands to reason that a fully fit Sahin would be the No. 1 option in that role. With his passing range and experience, he could be an important part of the club's UEFA Europa League challenge, for example.

That being said, expectations shouldn't be too high right away. The Turkey international will be rusty after a full year out of action and won't be close to his full capacity until next season, most likely.

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The other player whose Hinrunde didn't go according to plan is already close to 100 per cent, if his recent performances are any indication. Erik Durm made his debut in a competitive match under Tuchel in the first game of 2016 against Borussia Monchengladbach, after missing the entire campaign to that point following knee surgery.

In that 3-1 win of the Ruhr side, the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner somewhat surprisingly played on the left wing as a substitute. At the time, it seemed like a one-off seeing the full-back in an advanced role, but he's since even started at left-winger.

His performance against Stuttgart in the DFB-Pokal was so impressive that Durm has to be considered a viable option on the wing now. Tuchel acknowledged as much in his press conference before the Bundesliga game against Hannover at the weekend, per Buczko:

The added versatility is important for Durm, who was in a tough spot going into the second half of the season. Following his surgery, the club signed a true back-up to left-back Marcel Schmelzer for the first time in years in Joo-ho Park. Add in Ginter's surprising emergence as a viable alternative at right-back, and one could've thought Durm would find himself with a mountain to climb to receive meaningful playing time this season.

A few weeks into the second half of the campaign, it's not a stretch to call him a potential X-factor for the rest of the way.

His start in an advanced role against Stuttgart was part of a tactical change from Tuchel: The full-backs positioned themselves much deeper than usual, with the wingers providing the width in Dortmund's play.

That game plan aimed to nullify the Swabians' strength in the counter-attack. By now, everyone knows that Dortmund are susceptible to teams trying to hit them on the break, and it's possible, perhaps even likely, that Tuchel will select the same approach again.

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All the other alternatives for a spot on the wing—be it Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Gonzalo Castro, Adrian Ramos or Christian Pulisic—much prefer playing in the middle, unlike Durm, who holds his position at the flank throughout the game.

That, and the fact that he's likely the first-choice back-up at both full-back spots, makes the 23-year-old a very important part of Dortmund's squad. And, quite possibly, an X-factor in the coming months.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.