7 points from 9 games, 15th place, and the most losses in the Bundesliga is not something who would have expected at the start of the season from Borussia Dortmund. Klopp says his club are accepting the fact that may enter a relegation scrap, and although I still don’t believe him, another dreadful Bundesliga performance means that if things don’t turn around soon another top four finish may be well beyond Dortmund.
Hiroshi Kiyotaki’s 2nd half free kick into the bottom corner was enough for Hannover-a team who before this game had the worst away form in the Bundesliga- to win 1-0. Both teams had several clearcut chances to score, Hannover took one, and Borussia took none. That has been one of the two major problems for Dortmund this season- they don’t take their chances. The other is they don’t defend probably.
Dortmund’s two weaknesses seem to be the two most common weaknesses attributed to football clubs by the analysts. Teams who are not doing as well as one would expect are either criticized for not taking their chances, not defending well, or not doing both. When you can’t do both, obviously it’s hard to win matches. No matter all the tactics talk of 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, pressing, using width, counterattacking, etc, when it comes down to it, football is about putting the ball in the back of the net and preventing the other team from getting chances to do just that.
Dortmund could do neither today. They missed several chances to score. Ron Robert-Zeler did have a few outstanding saves, but several other clearcut chances were missed by Dortmund. On the other hand, Hannover had many chances as well, and thankfully for them were able to take one.
Dortmund didn’t have their shooting boots on and their defenders did not play well either. Hannover’s chances from Hannover came from Dortmund mistakes, whether from miscommunication, poor backpasses, and lack of concentration, Dortmund’s defense was not up to par.
Tactics are important, but scoring goals and preventing them are the key in football. When I see teams who seem to have trouble doing either, it always makes me wonder what teams do in practices. If the basics aren’t taken care of, it won’t matter how much pressing and running you do. You have to be able to finish and be able to defend without making mistakes.
