Borussia Dortmund's Build-Up Conundrum Laid Bare in Athletic Bilbao Defeat

Borussia Dortmund followed up an underwhelming performance against Sunderland with a true stinker against Athletic Club Bilbao on Tuesday, ending their training camp in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland, with a 1-0 defeat.

There are a number of mitigating circumstances to consider, of course.

The Basques played, by and large, with their first-choice XI, a team that came fifth in La Liga last season and only went out of the UEFA Europa League at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Sevilla in a penalty shootout.

The Black and Yellows, on the other hand, played a ragtag team, with first starts in pre-season for Lukasz Piszczek, Julian Weigl, Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle only one week after the four Euro 2016 participants joined up with their team-mates following an extended vacation.

Add in the fact that head coach Thomas Tuchel curiously opted for under-19 midfielder Dzenis Burnic in central defence over senior options Marc Bartra and Mikel Merino, who played the second half, and it's easy to see why Dortmund lacked cohesion against Athletic.

Also, as ever in pre-season, there was little regard for a test match in the training regimen, with Boris Rupert noting on the club's official website that the Black and Yellows "had a 90-minute training session in the morning."

Still, despite mentioning all those caveats, one can't quite shake the feeling that this was a particularly dreadful performance, even on pre-season scales.

Dortmund looked erratic after a positive start—Schurrle could have put them in front after just three minutes after a nice pass from Gotze—and struggled immensely with Athletic's intense pressure high up the field.

Playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation, Tuchel had opted for an attacking selection, with Weigl the lone midfielder behind a line of Christian Pulisic, Shinji Kagawa, Gotze and Schurrle. What promised offensive fireworks turned out to hurt the team time and time again, with the Liga side winning the ball early and often and going right at an exposed defensive third.

The central trio of Weigl, Kagawa and Gotze was most disappointing. The former has proved to be perfectly capable of manning defensive midfield by himself when on top form, but, obviously, he's quite a way off his best at this stage.

Kagawa, in team training far longer than the other two, should arguably have been more of a help—despite it not being his strong suit—but, much like in the entire pre-season so far, his play lacked purposefulness. Returnee Gotze, finally, was responsible for the few moments of creativity around Athletic's penalty box and rarely dropped deep to help out.

It's no wonder, then, that Weigl looked overchallenged covering for his team-mates, as Dirk Krampe of local paper Ruhr Nachrichten (link in German) opined after the match, and that the lone goal of the evening followed a turnover against high pressure.

The Germany international rarely made mistakes in his impressive maiden campaign in the top flight, but one bad touch can be enough, as the video below shows:

"

Brilliant team-goal by Athletic Bilbao forward Susaeta. pic.twitter.com/szSs8itBgD

— Free Bets (@freebetscouk) August 9, 2016"

Athletic's fantastic passing sequence notwithstanding, it was a goal Dortmund simply can't concede. And it didn't stop there, the Black and Yellows allowed another four or five big chances because of their inability to cope with the Liga team's high-intensity pressing.

It reminded of some of the precious few poor performances in an otherwise stellar first campaign under Tuchel last season. Dortmund struggled a number of times against teams engaging them high up the pitch and were outmuscled in most matches they failed to win.

Teams that gave them problems all had a similar plan: man-mark Dortmund's creative midfielders and Mats Hummels, leaving build-up responsibilities to Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Weigl, scooping up rebounds from inevitable long balls.

DANIEL ROLAND/Getty Images

The Black and Yellows still had Ilkay Gundogan, of course, one of the most pressing-resistant centre midfielders in the world, and Hummels, one of the most creative passers from the centre-back position, yet still they struggled from time to time.

Turn the page to the coming campaign and Dortmund will be without their two arguably most important players in the initial build-up phase.

Bartra is likely to slide in for Hummels at left-centre-back and seems to have the required technical qualities to be a factor in initiating passing moves, as one would expect from a player who spent his entire career with Barcelona, but the jury is still out on his ability to dominate a game like Dortmund's former captain did.

Gundogan, on the other hand, hasn't really been replaced despite the club's busy transfer summer. Sebastian Rode, who missed the match against Athletic with a slight knock, plays the position but is an entirely different player—a dynamic box-to-box midfielder without the strategic skills.

Gonzalo Castro, who had joined the club in anticipation of a Gundogan transfer that never materialised in the summer of 2015, also doesn't possess the qualities to mastermind attacking moves from a deep position, rather he's a player for short-area combinations in the final third.

It's likely going to be a work in progress, with a number of players getting a crack at it. Nuri Sahin, for example, might be the best choice at the start of the campaign thanks to his calmness and experience. 

The Turkey international has played well in pre-season, obviously benefiting greatly from the extra work he put in at the Euros. While he and Weigl looked too similar in the few games they spent on the pitch together last season, Sahin's qualities as a deep-lying playmaker could help stabilise a Dortmund side that needs to find a rhythm after making so many changes over the summer.

He could be a placeholder until Gotze is close to his best shape, after the 24-year-old specifically mentioned in a press conference at the weekend that he could see himself playing at a deeper level than the No. 10 role.

"

Götze: "I see myself as a central player. Positions 8 and 10 are where I feel most comfortable."

— Borussia Dortmund FF (@BVBfansFF) August 8, 2016"

Perhaps even Raphael Guerreiro could play in central midfield. The Portuguese played a hybrid role alternating between left-back and midfield in his only appearance for the club so far against Sunderland—he also missed the Athletic match with a knock—and showed an adequate passing range as well as technical abilities that could make him a good fit next to Weigl.

While they sort that dilemma out, Dortmund will likely rely on their attackers' brilliance, much as they did last season. And, even though they didn't score on Tuesday, the Black and Yellows had enough chances to make the result look far better.

Schurrle had his shot in the third minute and later a thumping effort from distance saved expertly by Gorka Iraizoz, whereas Pulisic first failed to fully connect with a rebound off a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shot and later hit the post after winning the ball high up the pitch. The Gabon international also missed a penalty four minutes before the intermission.

If nothing else, it's encouraging that Dortmund can play this poorly and still create so many chances against a strong Athletic side, especially considering the apparent lack of cohesion up front.

That was about the only positive from a poor evening in St. Gallen, however, one that didn't exactly whet the appetite ahead of the DFL-Supercup against Bayern Munich on Sunday.

Lars Pollmann also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.