What he didn't say: This 3-2 felt even less like a deserved away win. Hoffenheim were clearly better for an hour but failed to score a third goal. And to look at the clock: “We played a great game for 60 minutes,” said Hoffenheim goalscorer Leon Avdullahu, “but unfortunately a game lasts 90 minutes.”
Meanwhile, on the Dortmund side, the story was comprehensibly and very eloquently told how a bravely fighting team turned around a 2-0 deficit and still got back on track in the end. And from a formal point of view, that was also true because Serhou Guirassy (61') and Fabio Silva (66') neutralized Hoffenheim's fully deserved lead by Avdullahu (45') and Tim Lemperle (54') before Hoffenheim defender Albian Hajdari slid a cross from Ethan Nwaneri into his own net (87').
Internally, it remains to be hoped for BVB that the first 60 minutes will be processed in more detail than can be done publicly. Coach Niko Kovac openly admitted that he too had seen a “happy victory”. “That’s what you have to say when you win the game with an own goal.”
In the end, only Waldemar Anton remains in the defensive line
BVB actually played for an hour in a way that was described several times last season. The sequence of passes was slow and leisurely. In the forward game it often looked like the scene at the beginning of the second half when Guirassy organized a one-man press, while four or five other Borussia players behind him reorganized themselves horizontally instead of helping their lonely colleague. A few seconds later, the nimble Hoffenheim team outplayed the Dortmund midfield and had a chance through Lemperle (49').
Although: There were of course reasons for the strange discrepancies in the Dortmund game. The many new players, some of whom were signed late - like Nwaneri, who played well after being substituted on. Or the notorious Dortmund central defender dilemma, which got even worse on Saturday. As if it wasn't unfortunate enough that Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can (who can at least play this position) were out, Filippo Mane also had to leave the field after half an hour with a muscle injury. Joane Gadou, who trained at Paris Saint-Germain, was wobbly and was substituted after an hour. The last Mohican in the defense center, Waldemar Anton, also received special praise from Ricken: “Waldi not only prepared the first goal, but also started in central defense with Mane and Gadou and finished with Svensson and Reggiani.”
After the double substitution in the 62nd minute, BVB can finally see some nice combinations
But whether all these adversities explain the lack of ideas moving forward? Or the sometimes serious passing errors that cannot be solely attributed to a lack of coordination? We should know more at the end of October. Until then, Borussia have no less than ten competitive games on the program. Despite the international break.
After all: BVB came back into the game successfully after the double substitution in the 62nd minute and in the last third of this game helped the spectators see an entertaining game in which there were finally some nice combinations on the Dortmund side. Most of them involved Fabio Silva, a player who has an eventful history at BVB. Sports director Ole Book made it clear after the game that they had already discussed in private whether further collaboration would make sense. In the form of Saturday: absolutely.
When Book then emphasized that “the changes have had a clear impact,” he was also thinking of Joey Veerman. He came on at half-time for Felix Nmecha and gave Dortmund's midfield significantly more structure. The Dutchman was then satisfied – with himself and the new social environment. “The crucial thing was that we didn’t give the ball away so quickly in the second half,” said Veerman, who came to the conclusion in the first few days after his move from Eindhoven to Dortmund that he had ended up at a “very big club”. “My house was ready for occupancy in four days, and the insurance issues were all taken care of by then.” Let's see how long the team's development takes.
