Borussia Dortmund : Living Off The Fringes

By Arnav Bose
11 years Ago

Ever since the resurrection of Dortmund their primary concern has always been their squad depth. Their first team was capable of shredding any opposition but their efficacy used to wane whenever they had to depend on their fringe players. Not being so cash rich (with a wage budget of around 45m-48m last season), they did not have the luxury to have superstars on bench. It showed in the final of last seasonai??i??s Championsai??i?? league, when the team failed to find any inspirations in midfield owing to the absence of an injured Mario GAi??tze.

The continental campaign, however, did wonders to their finances. Add to that the selling of GAi??tze. Yes, replacing him was one big question at that moment, an additional one apart from addressing to the long standing question of squad depth. The assured financial windfall following the Championsai??i?? League campaign was a key motivator to find suitable answers to both these questions. The first step taken was to increase the wage budget to 68m for the present year ai??i?? the first statement of intent. Highly rated Leitner was allowed to leave on loan to Stuttgart so that he gets enough first team game experience. Another prospect Bittencourt was sold with a buy-back clause to Hannover ai??i?? shows that Dortmund still have their eyes on him.

Then came the acquisitions of Sokratis, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan. SokratisAi?? – a direct replacement for want-away backup centre half Santana; Mkhitaryan a direct replacement for Gotze and Aubameyang to bring in the additional attacking aspect. There was a wish to go for another attacking talent as well. Even though they did not get Ryu Seung Woo, the Korean prodigy, the result of showing confidence in reserves starlet Hofmann is there for all to see. Finally, it appears that Dortmund have managed address to their long standing question of squad depth.

But the fans of the yellow side of the moon probably had never thought that the nascent strength in squad depth will have a baptism by fire. We are only into the seventh Bundesliga matchday and two weeks of continental journey. But Dortmund have already been missing a number of their first teamers. It was already anticipated that Pizsczek will be missed for at least the first half of the season. But Dortmund did not expect Schmelzer, Gundogan and Kehl to prolong the list of names in the treatment table. Needless to say the occasional knocks taken by Subotic and Hummels, and Weidenfellerai??i??s suspension added more drama.

Surprisingly enough, Dortmund have not buckled under the pressure of missing important first team players unlike in their past. Winning the first five Bundesliga games on trot, losing the first game on matchday seven to relinquish the top spot to Bayern, getting their Champions League campaign back on track with a victory over Marseille ai??i?? Dortmund have done well. This has happened only because the fringe players have stood up and accounted for.

The first in the list will have to be Kevin GroAYkreutz. Despite being a regular in the sideai??i??s success in 2010-2011 title winning season, Kevin had a tough time maintaining his position in the side. His preferred position in the left was handed to PeriA?iAi?? in 2011-2012. Soon enough PeriA?iAi??ai??i??s Borussian dreams perished, mainly due to the fact that he could hardly keep the game moving the way Klopp wanted and Kevin somehow managed to held on to the left side of the midfield. After offloading PeriA?iAi?? Dortmund signed Reus and he became an automatic choice to start in the LM position, reducing GroAYkreutz again to a fringe player.But nothing could deter the confidence of GroAYkreutz. He re-iterated his interest to keep playing for Dortmund amidst interest from Premier League clubs and despite losing his first team chances he still wanted to represent Dortmund and has so far given his everything. This season was crucial for him. He started a career by playing mainly down the left-hand side of the pitch, in defense as well as in offense. Klopp took the gamble of using him as Piszczekai??i??s replacement on the right hand side. Surely, a few bad games and he would be axed in favour of Kirch or Sokratis.

But that has not happened. GroAYkreutz has not only done his first team chances no harm, he has so far been one of the most consistent players in this season for them. Played in various positions this season but mainly in RB role, GroAYkreutz has been brilliant. Of course, defensively he has to improve still. But offensively he has aided his side a great deal and has successfully implemented Kloppai??i??s aggressive all-over-the-pitch closing down concept. Ai??One of the main reasons why Dortmundai??i??s 2013-2014 campaign appears to have gotten into a strong start is because of the fact that they have not missed Pizsczek a great deal and they have not missed him because of a certain fringe player ai??i?? Kevin GroAYkreutz.

Next obstacle ai??i?? how to replace injured Schmelzer in LB? The signing of Chris Lowe did not pan out well and it was GroAYkreutz who had to take up the backup role for Schmelzer in the last season. With GroAYkreutz being dispatched at RB, Klopp needed some instinctive selection and in came Erik Durm. Ai??Durm, the German U-21 international, was signed from Mainz a season back. The fullback has done brilliantly so far in the absence of Schmelzer, having started in three Bundesliga games as well as in the all-important clash against Marseille in the Championsai??i?? League.Durm has so far been brilliant considering what he has done. Of course, he hasnai??i??t been as prolific as Schmelzer in going for overlapping runs and assisting the attacking wingmen. But defensively he has been rock-solid. He has won 63% of the tackles made as compared to 56% of Schmelzer. Even aerially he has proved to be the better of the two, winning 60% of the challenges as compared to Schmelzerai??i??s 29%.

He is not too incapable in attacking duty either ai??i?? having shown a better passing accuracy than his predecessor (76% to Schmelzerai??i??s 72%). And how could you forget the through ball to assist Lewandowski in his debut Championsai??i?? League game?Ai?? He goes for overlapping runs all right but does not make use of the by-line route yet. Either he cuts inside or passes to someone moving down the centre. If he can improve this aspect of his attacking game, he might develop into another one of Dortmundai??i??s gems.

Next in line, and is probably the most talked-about of all the fringe players ai??i?? Jonas Hofmann. Hofmann, a Hoffenheim youth graduate was signed in 2011. The attacking midfielder/winger had been brilliant with Dortmund II in the Regionalliga where he scored ten goals and provided 11 assists in debut season. His progress did not go unnoticed and he was given enough opportunities to show what he has got. And boy, has he not pounced on those opportunities?

It started with two assists in the DFB-Pokal first round game against Wilhelmshaven. In their first league game of the season against Augsburg, Hofmann again came off the bench and won a penalty for his side. His most stellar contribution came against newly promoted Braunschweig. Dortmund were not able to break the resilient defence of the minnows and it needed a cool finish from the Dortmund hotshot from a tight angle to break the deadlock. Thereai??i??s more to come. Towards the end of the game, before Braunschweig could equalize, he won Dortmund another penalty to give his side an important 2-0 lead.Dortmundai??i??s new number 7 played an instrumental part against 1860 Munich in DFB-Pokal 2^nd round victory as well. Coming off bench, it was his low and long cross to Mkhitaryan in the extra time that finally put the game beyond the oppositionai??i??s reach. Blistering pace, intelligent movements and an awareness of teammates makes him an ideal attacking cog in Kloppai??i??s armour. Needless to say ai??i?? an additional fringe player in attack who has the ability to make a difference. In the words of Klopp, he is their fourth summer signing.

There are other unsung fringe players as well. Sokratis have filled up the boots of Santana with greater impact. He has replaced Hummels at times as well as Subotic and if truth be told, Dortmund were better in defending with him at the helm. Uncompromising in tackles, Sokratis has shown good game reading capability as well. Successful passing percentage of 86% may indicate his good ball-playing capabilities ai??i?? but most of his passes were played out squarely to his defensive partners. He has won 75% of the challenges this season and thatai??i??s a tall order.

Mitchell Langerak, the rookie Australian international, was another one of the surprise package. He may have had a night to forget (not only losing a match hurts, so does losing a tooth) against Napoli when he was called on to replace Weidenfeller, he could not have done any better against Insigneai??i??s unstoppable screamer. In fact he showed much better nerves in that game, followed it up with a couple of clean slates, one against Freiburg and the second against Marseille in his Championsai??i?? League start.

Nuri Sahin is another squad player who has been bestowed with the responsibility of emulating Gundoganai??i??s role. So far he has done a good job. His defensive abilities need to improve. His ball distributions have been good. If he can improve his set-pieces and put less weight on the ball while passing in tight areas, he could very well make the holding role hisai??i??. An ill-timed injury to Nuri last night may keep him out for 2 to 3 weeks, something that may give Klopp a headache.

Marvin Duksch has got one start this season, a surprise start though. Despite the lanky forward had a shaky start, it shows that Dortmund are eager to work with their youngsters. Contracts offered to Hofmann and Durm is evidence enough that Dortmund see them as their future stalwarts. Imagine Aubameyang going off and Hofmann coming on or Mkhitaryan coming off and Kuba coming on ai??i?? no drop in calibre, much unlike the previous seasons. Moreover, the situations of Kagawa and Kevin De Bruyne have not improved in their respective clubs yet. Both are still in Dortmundai??i??s radar and if they could get any one of them Dortmund could seriously think of going for the jugular in all three competitions.

Categories: Borussia Dortmund, Features, German Bundesliga
Tags: Borussia Dortmund erik durm Jonas Hofmann

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