fear the wall 
29-04-2024 11:57
29-04-2024 11:57
Match Ratings: Leipzig Pummel Dortmund in Fourth Place Clash
In the battle for fourth place, Borussia Dortmund were taken behind the shed and put out of their misery by the Cans. Any aspirations Dortmund had at climbing the table were put to the sword and Terzic’s second full Bundesliga campaign has come to a swift end. Here are our match ratings from Dortmund’s drubbing.
Starters:
Gregor Kobel
Patrick: 4
Gregor Kobel played this game behind a paper mache defense that did nothing to help the Swiss Keeper. That being said, Kobel only made three saves, including one that pushed the ball toward Leipzig’s Daniel Schlager for their second goal. It is very hard to criticize him for Leipzig’s first and third goals.
Yash: 4
Could likely have done more for the second and fourth goals, but that’s neither here nor there. Hung out to dry by some dreadful defending.
Sean: 4
I don’t think any of the goals were howlers necessarily, but on a good day Kobel could have saved at least one of them. On Leipzig’s second goal he deflected a shot from Xaver Schlager right back in front of goal that I would have liked him to catch or push more wide.
Julian Ryerson
Patrick: 5
Poor timing held Xavi Simons onside for Leipzig’s first goal. Ryerson actually knew he was holding him onside and tried to step up but it was too late. He should have had a goal in this match but fluffed his 1-on-1 from an acute angle. I know Ryerson has spent large portions of his career as a left back but I thought he was poor in possession for this game. He was involved in 13 duels and only won 4. He did have a wonderful switch to find Marius Wolf during the buildup of Dortmund’s lone goal.
Yash: 5
Sean: 5
He held Xavi Simons onside on Leipzig’s first goal, but otherwise was fine.
Nico Schlotterbeck
Patrick: 4
Displayed some of the worst defending I have seen this season on Leipzig’s third goal. Often felt like he was chasing shadows and out of position throughout the match,
Yash: 3
Schlotti must hate Leipzig with the way they’ve exposed him every game of the season. Last week, I recorded (with pleasant surprise) that Schlotti had gone a short string of matches without suffering any moments of the inexplicable headloss that plague his game. Serves me right.
Sean: 3
He was the last man defending on Leipzig’s third goal, so what did he do? He stepped up to try to catch Openda, who was at least 15 feet further back than him, offside. He didn’t get anywhere close. That was just one mistake - he was drawn out of position on Leipzig’s fourth goal.
Mats Hummels
Patrick: 4
Like Schlotterbeck, Hummels overcommitted for Leipzig’s third goal and his pace was exposed for Leipzig’s first two goals. Came off injured in the 51st minute.
Yash: 4
Sean: 5
Marius Wolf
Patrick: 3
Marius’s cross led to Sancho’s opening goal but it was completely miss-hit and only kept in by boneheaded defending. Wolf was caught out high up the pitch for Leipzig’s second goal and showed very little effort to get back despite Xavi Simons running into the space he created. Did not follow his man back on Leipzig’s third goal and was repeatedly caught overcommitted or failing to run back. There were at least two other chances where Wolf was jogging back while Leipzig were running in behind him. Wolf was far from the only problem in Dortmund’s defense but he repeatedly left his center-backs without support. In possession, Wolf is not good enough to be a defensive liability and offered little on the ball.
Yash: 5
Sean: 5
Reading Paddy’s description does make him sound pretty bad, but maybe my expectations for him are so low already.
Salih Özcan
Patrick: 3
From the base of Dortmund’s midfield, Salih Özcan had minimal progressive passes, low progressive passes into the final third, and only two successful long passes. On the defensive end of the ball, things did not look much better with only one successful tackle of four attempts, and twice being beaten on the dribble.
Yash: 4
Oz is a simple player: he wins the ball and he plays it short. Expecting him to take on Can’s slightly more progressive mandate felt like a stretch, and, even with Brandt dropping in to try and help with that, he struggled.
Sean: 5
Was mostly a non-factor on the ball, really only existing to pass the ball back to the center backs.
Felix Nmecha
Patrick: 2
Terrible.
Yash: 2
Shockingly bad today, as he lumbered around the central area with all the grace and industry of a sloth bear on sleeping medication. Loose in possession, slack in defence and rarely offered himself as a passing option, forcing a lot of his teammates to assume unnatural positions to cover for him. Very frustrating to watch, especially after we’ve seen the kind of heights Sabi can hit.
Sean: 3
Played 90 minutes and did... something? Presumably? Did he actually do anything? I frequently saw him out there on the pitch kind of in the background, so I can assure you he actually played, but I’m not sure he actually contributed anything. 0 progressive carries, 2 progressive passes, and still only 77% pass completion.
Karim Adeyemi
Patrick: 3
Least amount of touches on the team and was yoinked off at halftime. Another bad game in a string of bad games.
Yash: 2
I completely forgot he was playing for us until he was subbed off. Utterly invisible.
Sean: 3
Was a total non-factor. Would get the ball, dribble right into a defender turning it over, and walk sullenly away. Rinse, repeat.
Julian Brandt
Patrick: 4
Yash: 6
Forced a lot deeper than we’d have liked due to the lack of the more progressive Sabi-Can double pivot. Still, created three chances and accumulated an xA of 0.41 and his struggles (much like Sancho’s) looked a lot more due to his teammates than any fault of his own.
Sean: 5
He had a pretty quiet night overall. His progression stats were actually pretty solid but ultimately they never turned to much.
Jadon Sancho
Patrick: 7
Fantastic in the first half and capped it off with a great goal. Sancho looked like Dortmund’s only productive player. He could of had an assist but Füllkrug’s header went wide.
Yash: 7
Wonderful, wonderful goal from him. He also looked a lot more lively and involved than he has been recently, and, while he did account for a large number of our losses in possession, I’d argue that this was more down to a lack of support than anything else.
Sean: 7
Dortmund’s lone bright spot by a wide, wide margin. Yes, he attempted a lot of take-ons that didn’t succeed, but that was far above what everyone else was doing.
Niklas Füllkrug
Patrick: 4
Had two opportunities from headers but they were far from easy. Apart from that, the big German had minimal service.
Yash: 3
Lacked service for the vast majority of the 90. Could he have done better with his chances? I’m not sure.
Sean: 3
Headed two point-blank headers over the bar. Aside from that, did nothing.
Substitutes:
Marco Reus
Patrick: 5
Came on at halftime. Reus almost had a header goal. One thing I will give Reus credit for - when looking back at Leipzig’s goal, you can see Marco Reus track back for both of them. Unfortunately, he had little impact on the game.
Sean: 5
Yash: 5
Niklas Süle
Patrick: 5
Came on in the 51st minute. He did not make the defense worse or better.
Sean: 6
He took a few weight-related strays from the broadcast booth, but regarding his play on the pitch, he was fairly solid.
Yash: 6
From where I stood, he was the least culpable of any of our defensive players, making him the least bad of a disappointing bunch.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
Patrick: 5
JBG looked threatening on the ball and was able to carry into possession. Unfortunately, he only had 12 touches.
Sean: 6
Yash: 3
JBG takes time to warm to games, and he was given very little chance to do so here. Spent the entirety of his performance running straight into opposition players with his head down.
Youssoufa Moukoko
Patrick: 5
Hard to give Moukoko a rating here. He only had 8 touches and most of them were with his back to goal.
Sean: 5
Yash: 4
Didn’t do very much at all, but wasn’t given a chance to do so.
Overall
Patrick: 2
No excuses to lose 4-1 in a vital 6-point head-to-head match. Borussia Dortmund are very lucky that the Bundesliga will be receiving a fifth Champions League spot. The defense was abysmal, the attackers could not retain possession, and the only bright spot came from a Jadon Sancho wonderstrike.
One notable takeaway from this match is that Borussia Dortmund were continually exposed by Openda, Sesko, and even Simakan running into space while Xavi Simons fed them through balls. Dortmund will now have to face an even more lethal front three in the form of Mbappe, Dembele, and Barcola when they square off against PSG. If the same problems are displayed in this game, it will be a blood bath.
The second takeaway is that Mats Hummels did not play well but he will be needed on Wednesday against PSG. He limped off the field and I have not seen any updates on his condition.
Yash: 2
Barring Stuttgart away, I don’t think we’ve looked worse all season. Shoddy defending and poor progression formed the foundation for a really poor attacking performance, with only a couple of bright moments unable to move the needle in our favour. If anything, this game just goes to show just how far behind the likes of Leverkusen, Leipzig and Bayern we are in terms of squad quality. While the two XIs are not poorly matched on paper (though I’d say Leipzig’s XI was at least slightly better than ours), the benches were where the gulf in quality showed; while Leipzig were able to replace their starters essentially like-for-like, with players who have established their quality, our bench contained only three established senior outfield players, one of whom (Sabi) was likely too tired to really feature. Apart from them, all Terzic could call upon were a bunch of essentially unproven teenagers, which isn’t the ideal situation going into a game of this significance. Sure, we were missing three regular starters, but the fact that our bench is so thin is a real concern.
As for the actual performance, I’m hoping that they’ve gotten the mistakes out of their system as the focus turns to the more pressing midweek game against P$G.
Sean: 3
Overall, a pretty abysmal showing that’s basically a step-by-step checklist of everything that is currently wrong with Borussia Dortmund. Lack of depth in defensive midfield, uninspiring full-backs when Maatsen is out, inconsistent wingers, an aging striker with high wages that we’re on the hook for the next three years for, overly reliant on a veteran center-back who wants to retire, a single offensive player in Brandt that we’re gradually running into the ground, young players that have not been able to find their form because they never play, a coach whose system collapses under any external pressure, a €30 million midfielder who gets a nice 90 minute jog in.
Starters:
Gregor Kobel
Patrick: 4
Gregor Kobel played this game behind a paper mache defense that did nothing to help the Swiss Keeper. That being said, Kobel only made three saves, including one that pushed the ball toward Leipzig’s Daniel Schlager for their second goal. It is very hard to criticize him for Leipzig’s first and third goals.
Yash: 4
Could likely have done more for the second and fourth goals, but that’s neither here nor there. Hung out to dry by some dreadful defending.
Sean: 4
I don’t think any of the goals were howlers necessarily, but on a good day Kobel could have saved at least one of them. On Leipzig’s second goal he deflected a shot from Xaver Schlager right back in front of goal that I would have liked him to catch or push more wide.
Julian Ryerson
Patrick: 5
Poor timing held Xavi Simons onside for Leipzig’s first goal. Ryerson actually knew he was holding him onside and tried to step up but it was too late. He should have had a goal in this match but fluffed his 1-on-1 from an acute angle. I know Ryerson has spent large portions of his career as a left back but I thought he was poor in possession for this game. He was involved in 13 duels and only won 4. He did have a wonderful switch to find Marius Wolf during the buildup of Dortmund’s lone goal.
Yash: 5
Sean: 5
He held Xavi Simons onside on Leipzig’s first goal, but otherwise was fine.
Nico Schlotterbeck
Patrick: 4
Displayed some of the worst defending I have seen this season on Leipzig’s third goal. Often felt like he was chasing shadows and out of position throughout the match,
Yash: 3
Schlotti must hate Leipzig with the way they’ve exposed him every game of the season. Last week, I recorded (with pleasant surprise) that Schlotti had gone a short string of matches without suffering any moments of the inexplicable headloss that plague his game. Serves me right.
Sean: 3
He was the last man defending on Leipzig’s third goal, so what did he do? He stepped up to try to catch Openda, who was at least 15 feet further back than him, offside. He didn’t get anywhere close. That was just one mistake - he was drawn out of position on Leipzig’s fourth goal.
Mats Hummels
Patrick: 4
Like Schlotterbeck, Hummels overcommitted for Leipzig’s third goal and his pace was exposed for Leipzig’s first two goals. Came off injured in the 51st minute.
Yash: 4
Sean: 5
Marius Wolf
Patrick: 3
Marius’s cross led to Sancho’s opening goal but it was completely miss-hit and only kept in by boneheaded defending. Wolf was caught out high up the pitch for Leipzig’s second goal and showed very little effort to get back despite Xavi Simons running into the space he created. Did not follow his man back on Leipzig’s third goal and was repeatedly caught overcommitted or failing to run back. There were at least two other chances where Wolf was jogging back while Leipzig were running in behind him. Wolf was far from the only problem in Dortmund’s defense but he repeatedly left his center-backs without support. In possession, Wolf is not good enough to be a defensive liability and offered little on the ball.
Yash: 5
Sean: 5
Reading Paddy’s description does make him sound pretty bad, but maybe my expectations for him are so low already.
Salih Özcan
Patrick: 3
From the base of Dortmund’s midfield, Salih Özcan had minimal progressive passes, low progressive passes into the final third, and only two successful long passes. On the defensive end of the ball, things did not look much better with only one successful tackle of four attempts, and twice being beaten on the dribble.
Yash: 4
Oz is a simple player: he wins the ball and he plays it short. Expecting him to take on Can’s slightly more progressive mandate felt like a stretch, and, even with Brandt dropping in to try and help with that, he struggled.
Sean: 5
Was mostly a non-factor on the ball, really only existing to pass the ball back to the center backs.
Felix Nmecha
Patrick: 2
Terrible.
Yash: 2
Shockingly bad today, as he lumbered around the central area with all the grace and industry of a sloth bear on sleeping medication. Loose in possession, slack in defence and rarely offered himself as a passing option, forcing a lot of his teammates to assume unnatural positions to cover for him. Very frustrating to watch, especially after we’ve seen the kind of heights Sabi can hit.
Sean: 3
Played 90 minutes and did... something? Presumably? Did he actually do anything? I frequently saw him out there on the pitch kind of in the background, so I can assure you he actually played, but I’m not sure he actually contributed anything. 0 progressive carries, 2 progressive passes, and still only 77% pass completion.
Karim Adeyemi
Patrick: 3
Least amount of touches on the team and was yoinked off at halftime. Another bad game in a string of bad games.
Yash: 2
I completely forgot he was playing for us until he was subbed off. Utterly invisible.
Sean: 3
Was a total non-factor. Would get the ball, dribble right into a defender turning it over, and walk sullenly away. Rinse, repeat.
Julian Brandt
Patrick: 4
Yash: 6
Forced a lot deeper than we’d have liked due to the lack of the more progressive Sabi-Can double pivot. Still, created three chances and accumulated an xA of 0.41 and his struggles (much like Sancho’s) looked a lot more due to his teammates than any fault of his own.
Sean: 5
He had a pretty quiet night overall. His progression stats were actually pretty solid but ultimately they never turned to much.
Jadon Sancho
Patrick: 7
Fantastic in the first half and capped it off with a great goal. Sancho looked like Dortmund’s only productive player. He could of had an assist but Füllkrug’s header went wide.
Yash: 7
Wonderful, wonderful goal from him. He also looked a lot more lively and involved than he has been recently, and, while he did account for a large number of our losses in possession, I’d argue that this was more down to a lack of support than anything else.
Sean: 7
Dortmund’s lone bright spot by a wide, wide margin. Yes, he attempted a lot of take-ons that didn’t succeed, but that was far above what everyone else was doing.
Niklas Füllkrug
Patrick: 4
Had two opportunities from headers but they were far from easy. Apart from that, the big German had minimal service.
Yash: 3
Lacked service for the vast majority of the 90. Could he have done better with his chances? I’m not sure.
Sean: 3
Headed two point-blank headers over the bar. Aside from that, did nothing.
Substitutes:
Marco Reus
Patrick: 5
Came on at halftime. Reus almost had a header goal. One thing I will give Reus credit for - when looking back at Leipzig’s goal, you can see Marco Reus track back for both of them. Unfortunately, he had little impact on the game.
Sean: 5
Yash: 5
Niklas Süle
Patrick: 5
Came on in the 51st minute. He did not make the defense worse or better.
Sean: 6
He took a few weight-related strays from the broadcast booth, but regarding his play on the pitch, he was fairly solid.
Yash: 6
From where I stood, he was the least culpable of any of our defensive players, making him the least bad of a disappointing bunch.
Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
Patrick: 5
JBG looked threatening on the ball and was able to carry into possession. Unfortunately, he only had 12 touches.
Sean: 6
Yash: 3
JBG takes time to warm to games, and he was given very little chance to do so here. Spent the entirety of his performance running straight into opposition players with his head down.
Youssoufa Moukoko
Patrick: 5
Hard to give Moukoko a rating here. He only had 8 touches and most of them were with his back to goal.
Sean: 5
Yash: 4
Didn’t do very much at all, but wasn’t given a chance to do so.
Overall
Patrick: 2
No excuses to lose 4-1 in a vital 6-point head-to-head match. Borussia Dortmund are very lucky that the Bundesliga will be receiving a fifth Champions League spot. The defense was abysmal, the attackers could not retain possession, and the only bright spot came from a Jadon Sancho wonderstrike.
One notable takeaway from this match is that Borussia Dortmund were continually exposed by Openda, Sesko, and even Simakan running into space while Xavi Simons fed them through balls. Dortmund will now have to face an even more lethal front three in the form of Mbappe, Dembele, and Barcola when they square off against PSG. If the same problems are displayed in this game, it will be a blood bath.
The second takeaway is that Mats Hummels did not play well but he will be needed on Wednesday against PSG. He limped off the field and I have not seen any updates on his condition.
Yash: 2
Barring Stuttgart away, I don’t think we’ve looked worse all season. Shoddy defending and poor progression formed the foundation for a really poor attacking performance, with only a couple of bright moments unable to move the needle in our favour. If anything, this game just goes to show just how far behind the likes of Leverkusen, Leipzig and Bayern we are in terms of squad quality. While the two XIs are not poorly matched on paper (though I’d say Leipzig’s XI was at least slightly better than ours), the benches were where the gulf in quality showed; while Leipzig were able to replace their starters essentially like-for-like, with players who have established their quality, our bench contained only three established senior outfield players, one of whom (Sabi) was likely too tired to really feature. Apart from them, all Terzic could call upon were a bunch of essentially unproven teenagers, which isn’t the ideal situation going into a game of this significance. Sure, we were missing three regular starters, but the fact that our bench is so thin is a real concern.
As for the actual performance, I’m hoping that they’ve gotten the mistakes out of their system as the focus turns to the more pressing midweek game against P$G.
Sean: 3
Overall, a pretty abysmal showing that’s basically a step-by-step checklist of everything that is currently wrong with Borussia Dortmund. Lack of depth in defensive midfield, uninspiring full-backs when Maatsen is out, inconsistent wingers, an aging striker with high wages that we’re on the hook for the next three years for, overly reliant on a veteran center-back who wants to retire, a single offensive player in Brandt that we’re gradually running into the ground, young players that have not been able to find their form because they never play, a coach whose system collapses under any external pressure, a €30 million midfielder who gets a nice 90 minute jog in.