Borussia Dortmund Fans Not Ready to Readjust Bundesliga Expectations Just Yet

Seven matchdays into the 2016/17 Bundesliga season, Borussia Dortmund are fifth in the table.

"Only fifth," many will say, a superb maiden campaign under head coach Thomas Tuchel fresh on their minds. In that first year with the 43-year-old at the helm, the Black and Yellows were in a league of their own. Finishing as runners-up, they were 10 points adrift from Bayern Munich and a whopping 18 ahead of the third-placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Even with a mass exodus of star players in the summer—since their renaissance under Jurgen Klopp, they had never lost more than one key performer in a transfer period—many expected Dortmund to at least come in second comfortably again.

The losses of team captain Mats Hummels and midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan weighed heavy, but the feeling was the club did well in replacing them with no fewer than eight signings.

If the team clicked quickly enough, perhaps they could even challenge serial champions Bayern, optimists reckoned. Given the Bavarians look far less formidable under Carlo Ancelotti than they did at any point under Pep Guardiola, perhaps those hopes were not too far-fetched.

However, Dortmund have yet to find the form that made them one of the best sides in Europe last season. Coupled with the fact the rest of the Bundesliga seems to have made important strides, the Ruhr side and their fans could well be looking at a number of unexpected rivals for the honeypots.

It is telling that no fewer than four teams have yet to suffer a league defeat this season, with Bayern joined by Cologne, RB Leipzig and 1899 Hoffenheim in that regard. While it is far too early to declare one of those teams a "German Leicester City," it has to be noted that Cologne and Leipzig look like they are here to stay.

The Billy Goats won a point at Munich's Allianz Arena and, fueled by the rampant Anthony Modeste's seven goals, have added more of an attacking threat to an already solid defence, conceding only four goals so far—level with Bayern for the best defensive record in the division.

Newly promoted Leipzig famously beat Dortmund in their first Bundesliga home match and generally look the part of a contender for a top-four finish. "For all their critics, Leipzig are ostentatiously the most interesting team in the Bundesliga," Ross Dunbar wrote for Fox Sports Asia. "The club, backed by Red Bull, are impudent and gallus, unafraid to knock the status quo out of position."

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Even with bigger clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach and Schalke 04 not yet fulfilling their potential this season, the Bundesliga looks more competitive for Dortmund.

Add the Black and Yellows' somewhat streaky form, and high expectations may have to be adjusted at some point. Away defeats to Leipzig and Leverkusen will likely not look too bad in retrospect, but the fact Dortmund created next to nothing going forward in both matches does not bode well.

A 1-1 draw against Hertha BSC, another team in surprisingly strong early-season form, can probably be chalked up to a dramatic personnel situation, with Dortmund missing at least five or six regular starters against the capital club.

An earlier run of three wins and 17 goals against Legia Warsaw, Darmstadt 98 and VfL Wolfsburg in seven days showed that the Black and Yellows are capable of the extraordinary, but other games proved they are also capable of looking extremely ordinary.

With all that in mind, B/R took to Twitter to gauge the sentiments among Dortmund fans: Have their expectations changed? Do the strong surprise teams of the Bundesliga and their club's streaky form make a difference?

Interestingly, not one fan participating in the poll has drastically changed their outlook on the season. Of course, a quick Twitter survey is anything but representative of an entire fanbase, but it seems as though people are far from hitting the panic button with around 20 per cent of the Bundesliga campaign in the books.

One reaction that summarises the sentiments of many came from Dortmund blogger Adam Snavely:

A number of fans dreamed of bigger things after many of the summer signings made positive first impressions, be it Ousmane Dembele or Raphael Guerreiro or even Andre Schurrle, whose arrival was met with much scrutiny.

The aforementioned three-game spell in in mid-September turned heads and invited fans to dream of a trophy or two this season.

Dortmund had already lost to Leipzig at that point, but the team's reaction—a fourth win on the spin against SC Freiburg almost got swept under the table because it was only 3-1—was so positive that their mentality was considered another strength.

A minority still believe in Dortmund's title credentials, especially looking at Bayern's sketchy form:

Lest we forget, however, Bayern already hold a four-point advantage over their rivals from Westphalia. Dortmund had a big chance to make up some ground on Matchday 6, when Ancelotti's XI drew with Cologne, but they fell to Leverkusen on the same evening.

Even if the Bavarians are not playing up to the lofty standards set by Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes, it seems unreasonable to expect them to drop enough points for a Dortmund side still finding its feet to challenge for the title.

That said, fans still firmly expect a second-place finish.

It would be a disappointment if Dortmund were to fail to come in second. However inconsistent they may have looked so far, they still have far more quality in their team than 16 of the other 17 Bundesliga sides.

They are only two points behind Cologne and Leipzig and one behind Hertha, which is not too bad a position to be in at this stage. As one fan pointed out and as was predicted in an earlier piece, a slow start was always a distinct possibility:

In that sense, people should not be too disappointed with Dortmund's early-season performances. Take the UEFA Champions League into account—the Black and Yellows will qualify for the round of 16 with a win against Sporting CP on Matchday 4—and things are not looking too bleak.

One level-headed fan summed things up nicely:

Dortmund are indeed a young team, not only due to the current injury crisis. Even when senior players such as Marco Reus, Schurrle or Gonzalo Castro return to the pitch, the Black and Yellows still have to find a collective identity after the club's summer of upheaval.

With that will come growing pains and, perhaps, a few more disappointing results. Expectations, however, have not changed just yet.

 Lars Pollmann also writes for The Yellow Wall. You can follow him on Twitter.