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| photo by Peter Fuchs |
- by Jonathan Nebel, writing from Overland Park, KS
Borussia Dortmund are an interesting team, to say the least. After a surprising domination of the league last year, many are questioning whether or not they have the ability to defend their title. Most commentators are saying that BVB are capable enough to finish in the top 4, but would struggle to defend the title that nearly everyone is handing over to Bayern Munich. I think people are generally underestimating this Dortmund team, much like last year, and--don't take this the wrong way--are overstating the impact of Nuri Şahin's loss.
The main reason that people see Dortmund falling down the table is the loss of the amazing Turkish midfielder to Real Madrid. Şahin is an absolutely fantastic player. He sprayed the ball around expertly to his forward midfielders and was a goal threat on late runs. It appears that Dortmund will not be able to replace him. And, I believe that appearance is true. But, Dortmund doesn't need to replace Şahin to be just as good or even to get better. Dortmund simply needs to adapt to their new players and work with who they have. Ilkay Gundogan doesn't need to play exactly like Şahin, he needs to play like Gundogan. The production that Şahin brought does not need to be replaced one-for-one, but rather needs to found throughout the squad. If Dortmund have anything, they have the ability to improve on last season, because they are such a youthful squad.
For instance, last year, Şahin did not lead the team in assists, Mario Götze did. Götze just turned 19 (yes, 19!) over the summer. The potential that he has is going to continue to be found. If he manages to just improve on his game by 10%, it would go a long way towards finding a way to fill the gap left by Şahin's departure. Add to this the myriad of last year's players who are still on the upside of their career (Lucas Barrios, aged 26; Kevin Großkreutz; 23; Sven Bender, 22; Shinji Kagawa, 22; Łukasz Piszczek, 26; Marcel Schmelzer, 23) and the newcomers who are even younger, yet are already showing 1st team ability (İlkay Gündoğan, 20; Julian Koch, 20; Ivan Perišić, 22; Chris Löwe, 22; Moritz Leitner, 18) and you have a huge amount of potential ability that is just beginning to be realized. All the players listed there could easily be better this season than they were last season. Just pure increased experience and talent level from growing as a player could eat up the Şahin gap.
Outside of Götze, players like Bender and Kagawa, who were both outstanding last year, are both available to take up the creative helm. Some even argued that last year Bender was the more important of the two holding midfielders in BVB's 4-2-3-1. He's going to get better this year. Kagawa's return from injury has been a glory to behold for the fans in the Yellow Wall. His darting runs and clever inter-play add a lot to Dortmund's attack and will only improve this year.
Dortmund certainly has the talent to maintain their dominance over Bayern Munich, but the more important factor is more intangible. It's the team spirit surrounding Westfalenstadion. Jurgen Klopp has these players playing as one entity. He has found that delicate balance between creating a well-oiled machine that still allows the individual parts to show some individuality. The team runs fluidly no matter who is out there. You could see that at the LIGA total! Cup. Even after half the team subbed out, Dortmund still flowed beautifully. Passes linked up. Runs were timed right. Balls were placed perfectly for Lewandowski to shank it wide right (hey, they can't be perfect).
More than the tactics, though, the players love playing for Dortmund. You can feel that sense of pride and joy that they get when they pull that jersey on a run out in front of 80,000 screaming fans. No other team has this to quite this extent, especially Bayern. Bayern have struggled when their main players go out with injury, unable to find that same ability elsewhere. This is a huge problem when Robben and Ribery are effectively guaranteed to be injured for extended periods during the year. Off-field problems, mostly surrounding the signing of Manuel Neuer, have already afflicted the team. You simply don't find these things at Dortmund. Even if Bayern are the more talented team, which may or may not be true, that doesn't mean they will win the league. On paper, Manchester City might have been the better team than Manchester United, but off-the-pitch problems and poor tactics left City behind United in the league.
Even though it's a cliché, there is some important truth in the idea that defense wins championships. Dortmund had one of the best defenses in Bundesliga history last year and none of those pieces are gone this year. Hummels and Subotić form a powerful duo flanked by two full backs in Schmelzer and Piszczek who have received huge plaudits for their work on the attack, but show great ability in defense as well. Even with the addition of Neuer and Boateng, it's difficult to argue that Bayern have surpassed Dortmund in defensive ability and solved the decade long problem at Allianz Arena.
Predicting the outcome of sporting events is guesswork as is, especially when dealing with the Bundesliga, but Dortmund are a safe bet for at least being a top 4 team. I'm not going to say that they will win the league for sure, but that they are not a team to write off like so many people seem to be doing. Not that they mind. It'll just make it that much sweeter when they defend the title.
