Dortmund’s season so far has been a tale of two completely different faces from the first half to the second half of the season. The team suffered two heavy defeats before the World Cup against Wolfsburg & Gladbach which left us 6th in the league, far from any title race or silverware conversations.
But in 2023, things changed drastically for the team, we are now sitting 3rd in the league, Only 3 points behind league-leaders Bayern Munich – and after 6 wins in a row & 17 goals scored in 2023, we are certainly in the title race and look in absolute top form. Also, we have the most amount of substitute goals in the league this season (10) which shows how strong our squad depth is. Our main super-sub weapons are Reyna & Bynoe-Gittens.
Edin Terzic – Borussia Dortmund manager:
Terzic looks to deploy a 4-3-3 which sees young starlet Jude Bellingham being given the freedom to attack & defend as he plays next to Özcan & Can who can take the defensive burden off of him, Terzic’s style of play is not about playing beautiful football which has been the case at BVB for many years, but instead looks to play effective football. Dortmund now are playing a lot more direct, the 2 centre-backs looks to play the ball long to the striker and in our case, Haller holds up the ball to get everyone involved in the attack, thus we have reached the final 3rd of the pitch much quicker than ever before, with 17 goals scored in 2023 so far being the evidence that we are dangerous in attack.
Our key threats that Chelsea should be scared of :
1) Jude Bellingham: I can’t say enough about this prestigious wonderkid, Jude Bellingham is certainly one of the key threats for us, the recent tactical switch has allowed him to push up the pitch and we know that screams danger for opposition teams, Bellingham is also well-known to be the main man for us in European nights scoring against Man City already this season. His confidence & development keeps growing game after game and will most likely be up against Chelsea’s recent star signing Enzo Fernandez, which will be an interesting face-off to watch.
2 ) Julian Brandt: Julian Brandt is enjoying a sensational season for us, scoring 7 goals & registering 5 assists in all competitions. He works hard both offensively & defensively and his attacking flair & creativity is certainly one of the best in the Bundesliga. Brandt has been mostly deployed on the right-hand side of the attack, he looks to move centrally and allow his full-back partner to push up the pitch, He will most likely be up against either Cucurella, Chilwell or Lewis Hall.
3 ) Karim Adeyemi: Karim Adeyemi has broken the record of the fastest player in history of the Bundesliga (36.65 km/h) faster than Alphonso Davies (36.51 km/h) and has recently hit peak form after Terzic made a tactical switch to move him to the left-hand side of the attack and it’s paying off, scoring in back-to-back games against Leverkusen & Freiburg, he’ll most likely be up against Reece James.
What are the weaknesses of Dortmund that Chelsea can exploit?
Despite recent form, Dortmund are still far from a perfect team, we have conceded 6 goals in 6 games, averaging 1 goal conceded per game and the majority of those goals have come from mistakes at the back, Schlotterbeck & Hummels duo has looked shaky which has led to multiple goals conceded, the easiest way to score against Dortmund is to give us the ball, press us, and you will see us make many mistakes.
Whilst this issue has been rectified in recent games with Süle replacing Hummels in the Starting 11, the fullbacks seem to also be a bit of an issue, when they faced players like Moussa Diaby, they have struggled to handle the pace, Mudryk could be an issue for us.
Borussia Dortmund predicted line-up:
I think it will be a 4-3-3 with Kobel in-goal, Wolf/Ryerson at right-back, Guerriero at left-back, Süle & Schlotterbeck as centre-back partners whilst the midfield will see Emre Can as the defensive midfielder behind Özcan & Bellingham as central midfielders whilst upfront an attacking trio of Adeyemi, Haller & Brandt is likely.
In short term…. Kobel – Wolf/Ryerson, Süle, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro – Can, Özcan, Bellingham – Adeyemi, Haller, Brandt.
My twitter – @Fs_BVB
