Borussia Dortmund finished the month of October in the Bundesliga in Horrifying fashion, falling to Hannover 96 4-2.

Coach

Peter Bosz: 1

Zero, one, two, whatever. From the squad selection to his stubborn tactics, his decisions were maddening. Hannover took advantage of Dortmund’s aggressiveness from beginning to end, catching the back line in fast breaks over and over again.

After the match, Bosz commented to the press that it wasn’t the tactics that were the problem, but the intensity. Dortmund didn’t create enough pressure to defend effectively as a system. My question would then be, if you notice that your side isn’t playing with the intensity necessary for a high pressing system, why don’t you... change systems? Personally, I don’t think a midfield of Castro, Sahin, and Götze was ever going to press that well. They just don’t have the pace for it. Instead, Bosz kept doubling down, and he got burned.

Starting XI

Bürki: 5

The first goal, specifically the foul that led to the penalty, was absolutely his fault. The rest, not so much. He actually made some huge saves that theoretically kept Dortmund in the match.

Schmelzer: 4

If you watch the highlights from yesterday, you’ll see that on almost every single Hannover chance, the full backs were out of position, scrambling back to try and get into the play. I really don’t want to blame Schmelzer for this, though, because it’s clear that he’s following Bosz’s instructions. He tried to track back defensively, and he actually made some key tackles, but as the scoreline shows, he was unable to make a difference.

Zagadou: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Scored his first Bundesliga goal, prompting Brian to change our Twitter name to Fear the Zagadou. He then got a red card, prompting Brian to change it back. Funny how life works, isn’t it?

Sokratis: 4

It’s hard to defend well when you constantly have waves of forwards running at you, your fellow defender is a 19 year old rookie, and your full backs are nowhere to be seen. Sorry Papa.

Bartra: 4

He is not a right back.

Sahin: 3

Was tasked with shielding the back line, and did an exceptionally poor job. To be fair, I don’t think a tank could have shielded that back line.

Castro: 3 Castro-o-Meter™: 15%, certified #badcastro

Was as effective as the 113th Congress in midfield. Was rightfully subbed off after 45 minutes.

Götze: 3

I just do not get it. Pundits everywhere are saying that he’s the only bright side, that he’s finding his old form, turned over a new leaf, et cetera. I just don’t see it. He didn’t produce, didn’t defend, didn’t create any significant chances that I can remember.

Pulisic: 8

He was fantastic. Far and away Dortmund’s best player. He was the only one who did anything to create chances (two that should have been tap-ins), and he was the only one who showed lasting intensity.

Aubameyang: 2

Contributed nothing in the buildup of play, and missed a tap-in.

Yarmolenko: 4

Missed one of the easiest sitters I’ve ever seen, and made up for it by scoring a ridiculous goal where he was falling down and managed to score from 20 yards away.

Substitutes:

Kagawa: 5

He actually did some stuff in midfield!

Guerreiro: 5

Neither here nor there. Didn’t really make much of an impact.

André Schürrle: NR

I didn’t even remember that he played until I double checked the game summary.