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A little bit of this, a little bit of that? and Marco Reus

30.09.2012, 21:34 Uhr von: Redaktion

The winning streak against the „wrong“ Borussia from Gladbach continues with victory number ten. Nearly half an hour Gladbach could stand up to Dortmund until the squad of Juergen Klopp released the handbrake and worked itself up into a real goal-frenzy. With 5 – 0 goals, the entire team showed a performance which we were used to from matches like the national cup final against Munich: united, hungry and determined. By winning these three important points impressively, Dortmund does not only keep the connection to the top of the table, they also calm down the concerns about the shape of the team after mere one point out of the last two games. Each of the eleven puzzle pieces on the pitch improved in contrast to these games against Frankfurt and Hamburg, regardless of whether defense, midfield or forward line. Lets see how the jigsaw of this victory is compounded.

Step 1: The sorting

After the 3:3 in Frankfurt, coach Klopp changed the line-up in three positions: for Leitner, Guendogan joined the squad who needed his time to recover from his illness he had in the last two weeks. The abstinence of Guendogan in Frankfurt and Hamburg showed his importance for the squad. Even if Leitner in regard of his age is already a good defensive midfielder, he could not replace Guendogan. Especially when it comes to the game build up after gaining the ball, it was obvious that Leitner was missing playing time with his teammates. Guendogan vice versa really developed himself and the squad without him is nearly impossible to image. For Ivan Perisic, the best player on the pitch against Hamburg, Goetze started in the offensive midfield. To the surprise of many, even Robert Lewandowski had to take a seat on the bench, a situation quite unknown for him. Schieber replaced him as forwarder. Although Schieber did not really have the chance to show his potential yet, he delivers a strong training performance week for week and deserved this nomination for the starting formation. Especially with a match against Manchester City ahead, Robert could benefit from a small break to recover from the past weeks including the European Championship.

Our opponent Moenchengladbach however seems to underperform at the moment. The transfers from Reus, Dante and Neustaedter to Dortmund, Munich and S03+1 tried to be absorbed by spending the second highest amount of transfer fees behind Bayern Munich. With de Jong, Xhaka and Dominguez however , they invested nearly 30 million euro, but they also missed the direct champions league qualification which they worked hard for last season. In addition, with only 6 points out of five matches the squad clearly cannot fulfill the expectations of a table position that qualifies for the international competitions. Facing this pressure, Gladbachs coach Lucien Favre slightly changed his starting formation: Defender Stranzl who saw the red card in the last match against Hamburg was replaced by Brouwers and striker de Jong who suffers from a foot injury was substituted by Igor de Camargo.

Step 2: Orientation (1st half)

The boys from Gladbach had a better start into the game. After an unsuccessful attempted clearance from Blaszczykowski, Hanke got the ball and was free in front of the goal, but Weidenfeller cleared the situation with a strong play one versus one. Dortmund in the beginning was careful with a controlled offensive. A corner kick situation in minute 12. raised the noise in the Westfalenstadium for the first time, when Subotic headed the ball against the bar. Gladbach continued with a good organization in the defense, making it hard for Dortmund to build up their offensive play. Additionally, Gladbach switched quickly from defense to offense after gaining the ball, developing some good opportunities for themselves.

It was again Hanke who forced Weidenfeller with a fluttering distance shot to a punched clearance (21.). Dortmund in the meantime still with problems against the Gladbacher defense. Only in set-piece situations or when Reus had the ball it was dangerous around Gladbach keeper ter Stegen. In Minute 33., it was Hummels with a beautiful long ball to Mario Goetze behind the Gladbacher defensive line, but Marios shot was saved by a nice parry from ter Stegen. Shortly after, Borussia gained the lead: Reus snatched the ball at the halfway line and started his fast paced solo run which he finished off with a dry shot through the legs of his old colleague (35.). In order to show his old club respect, Marco rejected to celebrate this goal, however, 1-0 for Borussia! Five minutes later it was Subotic with his third and this time successful attempt to overcome ter Stegen: a corner from Schmelzer came flat to Kuba outside the box, his cross was then headed by Neven from 10 meter distance into the net. Closely before the break, ter Stegen once again proved why he is one of Germany’s internationals when he prevented Reus, who was released perfectly by Goetze, to score.

Step 3: Assembling (2nd half)

In the second half, Dortmund continued where they stopped before the break: with excellent ball combinations and high pace. The only accusation you could do at this time was the poor usage of the well-created opportunities to score. Gladbach on the other side could not rebuild the defensive structure they had during the first half. Only one header from de Camargo which was saved by Weidenfeller (51.) marked one of only few promising chances on their statistic sheet in the second half. Apart from that, only Dortmund made the running. However, they needed until minute 70. to convert their dominance into goals: Marco Reus with a goal from the category just amazing. Reus gets the ball at the right corner of the box. Where everyone else now expected a run to the baseline for a cross, Reus turned and shot in one move over ter Stegen in the left corner of the goal – brilliant. Fortunately for ter Stegen, his working day ended in minute 77., as he suffered too much from a back injury he received by landing on the ground hardly after smashing together with his own teammate. For him, Heimeroth came into the game accompanied by shrill whistles due to his past at Scheisse 03+1.

As deserved, Heimeroth had to get the ball out of the net only minutes later. Kuba on the left wing with a beautiful flat cross to Guendogan into the back of the defense that Ilkay could easily convert to 4-0 for the BVB (79.). After two good chances for Gladbach from de Camargo and Hrgota (83.), Kuba completed his performance after two assists with a goal himself: Bender, meanwhile substituted for Marco Reus who left the pitch under standing ovations, snatched the ball away from Gladbach in the midfield and directly sent Guendogan on its way. Ilkay then with all his overview and routine passed the ball to the free Kuba on the left who just had to finish this beautiful combination off with his goal to 5-0 (85.).

Step 4: Picture complete

After a good beginning, Gladbach could not keep the pace with the Dortmunder combination football. An all around excellent team performance results in a deserved win for Dortmund with 5:0 goals. Especially the difference between having or not having someone like Marco Reus in the team was pointed out obviously. It seems that Kloppo made the right adjustments to the team, both personally and tactically after the two matches against Hamburg and Frankfurt. With the confidence of such a victory against a Champions League qualification round participant in the luggage, the journey to Manchester can start.