Back to the daily business

Although the match against City and the positive feedback received afterwards for both the team on the pitch and the supporters on the stand is still present in our minds these days, the daily business in the Bundesliga continues for our Broussia already this sunday with the away match against Hanover 96. Thinking back to the last season, the match in Hanover took place under quite similar circumstances. It was matchday number 6. (the current is number 7) when Dortmund travelled to the capital of Lower-Saxony. With merely 7 points out of 5 games and 5 points distance to table leader Bayern Munich, Dortmund did not start the season 2011/2012 as good as expected. After leading the game in Hanover with 1-0 by a goal from Kagawa in minute 63., a match that could already be counted as a victory was turned by Hanover within the last couple of minutes and goals by Haggui (87.) and Ya Konan (89.) to a 2-1 defeat. After this last minute defeat, Dortmund found itself 8 points behind Bayern Munich and the title defense seemed to be miles away.

Luckily, this game did not mark the point where things started to get worse, quite the contrary: After losing 2-1 in Hanover on matchday 6. in season 2011/2012, Dortmund started an unbelievable streak of 32 unbeaten national games in a row that was stopped just a few weeks ago with a 3-2 defeat in Hamburg. As already mentioned, the present situation does not look very different. With 11 points out of 6 matches and now 10 points deficit behind Bayern Munich (they won today against Hoffenheim) Dortmund is still in the top area of the table, however, the performances on the national pitches were still lacking consistency. To sum it up, Dortmund does not necessarily have to lose this match against Hanover to start such an impressive run again, lets just start it with a victory tomorrow!

The game in Manchester of course cost power and men. Ilkay Guendogan, who made one of his best performances in the yellow jersey against Manchester City, received a back injury and will have a lay off for approx. two weeks. For him, most likely Leitner or Sven Bender, who made such a strong comeback to the starting formation in Manchester, will field beside Sebastian Kehl in the defensive midfield. In addition, the appearance of Mats Hummels is still questionable as he also received a back injury during the match against the boys in light blue. For him, the best “third” centre defender of the league Santana would be a more than appropriate substitute.

Our opponent Hanover had a good start into season 12/13, in both national and international competitions. With 10 points out of 6 games, they currently rank 5th right behind our Borussia. They proved their good shape with an excellent fighting performance in the Europe League against Levante during this week in which they turned around an 1-0 deficit and an early red card for their defender Haggui into a 2-1 victory with goals from Huszti and Ya Konan in minute 21. and 49.The first mentioned Huszti can be considered as Hanovers success guarantor these days. The 29 year old midfielder came back to Hanover after playing three years in Saint Petersburg. With currently 3 goals and 7 assists in 5 league games, he is the midfield engine of Hanover 96 and responsible for their fast and dangerous offensive play. Therefore, the key to a victory will be to keep Huszti out of the game.

Juergen Klopp himself said before the match that Hanover would be the outstanding development of the last couple of years if Dortmund would not be it. “Hanover has a clear idea of their game, a good mentality and a sensational fast shift from defense to offense”, said Kloppo. He expects a hard and intensive match and a difficult task to take three points back home to Dortmund. Beside that, the games against Hanover have always been some kind of special. Within 43 games against each other, no single game ended without less than two goals scored. After Klopp, it will be „a real top clash, because there will be playing two really good squads against each other. We have to present ourselves in a brilliant shape in order to take something back home. Hanovers offensive is strong and they are well organized in the defense“.

For our BVB a victory against Hanover would be extremely important to keep the connection to the top of the table. Furthermore, after the match against Hanover, there will be a two week break for international games in which everyone can recharge the batteries a little bit. This is necessary because after these two weeks, Dortmund will face S03+1 in the Derby and welcome Real Madrid in the hell “Westfalenstadion”. So please, start a new streak now black and yellow and continue to deliver us all this positive emotions and excellent plays just like you did during this week!

Hanover 96 vs Borussia Dortmund

Kick-Off: 5.30 p.m. / AWD Arena Hanover

Possible Line-Ups:

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels (Santana), Schmelzer - Leitner (Bender), Kehl - Blaszczykowski, Goetze, Reus (Großkreutz) – Lewandowski

On the bench: Langerak - Kirch, Loewe, Santana, Bender, Perisic, Grosskreutz, Schieber

Hanover 96: Zieler - Cherundolo, Eggimann, Haggui, Rausch - Schmiedebach, Pinto - Stindl, Huszti - Schlaudraff, Sobiech

On the bench: Miller - Felipe, Diouf, Schmiedebach, Sakai, Pander, Abdellaoue

Referee: Peter Gagelmann from Bremen

Spectators: 49.000 (sold-out, expected BVB supporters: 9.000)

Humpi 06.10.2012

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