Player Ratings: Dortmund vs Augsburg

Dortmund ended 2016 with a disappointing tie to FC Augsburg at home. The first half of the season hasn’t been going well for BVB, and games like this show exactly why.

Here are our player ratings:

Manager: 4

Tuchel made two major mistakes in this game. One was playing Bartra, who hasn’t played good football in over two months and has cost us quite a few points. Second was playing Both Kagawa and Gotze in the midfield. Its understandable that there are a lot of injuries, but playing two very offensive-minded attackers in the midfield gave us no stability in the center of the pitch.

Roman Weidenfeller: 5

With no impressive saves and no howler goals, Weidenfeller didn’t make much of an impact on the game. Many think that he should have been able to save the Augsburg goal, but the fact is a goalkeeper never has much of a say in things when the shot comes off the break.

Matthias Ginter: 5

Ginter played well in the three-man back-line. He made no big defensive errors and was able to lock down attackers for most of the game. He was caught on the break a few times but the goal wasn’t on him. Overall he is shaping up to be the best option in our injury ridden defense.

Marc Bartra: 1

If you watched the game you know why he gets a 1. If you didn’t all you need to know is that he is at fault for the goal, and could’ve caused a few more. Disappointing.

Mikel Merino: 6

Mikel Merino making his first start for BVB in the league was one of the high points of this game. He played OK for most of the game, but mostly wandered into the midfield rather then stay put in defense. He whiffed on a shot that would have put us up, but was a dangerous threat in the midfield. Since midfield is where he played last season maybe Tuchel should start playing him there instead of a guy like Rode or Castro.

Marcel Schmelzer: 6

Marcel played well this game. He was a good threat in the midfield and was able to rush back in defensive emergencies. He wasn’t that much of a threat in the final third however and was absent or useless there most of the game. He should have been more forceful with the referee after we were hacked again and again, as that’s the captains responsibility.

Mario Gotze: 4

Its hard to blame Gotze for being bad this game. He has no business being a central midfielder, and it showed. He gave up more then a few balls and wasn't very useful on the defensive side of the ball, as should be expected for an attacking player.

Julian Weigl: 7

Weigl was Weigl not much more to say then that. Passed the ball, ran the offense, didn’t lose the ball. Classic Weigl game without the classic Weigl result.

And we’re all happy to see him get a new contract!

Christian Pulisic: 6

This kid is so good at making dribbles down the sideline and into the center its ridiculous. What’s even more crazy is he’s not even the best at doing it on the team. Pulisic tried and tried to make a big difference in the game but his chances always fell short. Sometimes it was getting off a pass to soon, sometimes it was a cross that went over the target. But even creating so many chances is impressive, especially against a very physical Augsburg side.

Ousmane Dembele: 9

Hot take: Ousmane Dembele is the next big thing in world football.

Dembele has had another great game in black and yellow, scoring our only goal of the day. His ability to make runs into the box and make key passes is starting to become unrivaled on the team. If he wasn’t fouled as much as he was without punishment by Augsburg, he may have been able to do more. Hopefully his days of incredibly bad shots and hot tempers are behind him and he can becomes one of the centerpieces of this team.

Shinji Kagawa: 6

Kagawa was not great this game. He made plenty of mistakes and gave the ball up quite a bit. However he assisted our only goal, so he was able to partially make up for his poor play by helping us get the point.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 7

A usual performance for Aubameyang. Lots of chances on breaks, on through balls, and off crosses, yet no goals. While it’s hard to be critical of our leading scorer, its been games like these where him failing to finish has cost us dearly. As the center of our attack it hurts the team when so many chances are made for him and he fails to do anything with them. Still, he’d be the hero if he’d hit any of those chances, which may have just come down to luck.

Subs

Sven Bender: 7

Sven came on to try and put out the dumpster fires that Bartra had lit. He did well! it is obvious that he is one of our best possible options at CB as long as Sokratis is out. He had a few great plays where he was able to shut down breaks from Ji-Dong. His physicality is something BVB needs as long as we have a weakened back line.

Gonzalo Castro: N/A

On the pitch for 20 mins, invisible.

Andre Schurrle: N/A

Whiffed one of the best chances of the game but was only on for 10 mins.