Match Preview: A positive preview of Dortmund’s game against Bayern Munich

Folks, It is not looking great for BVB. We have one win in a month of games, losing to newly promoted Hannover 4-2, tying APOEL twice, and a home loss to Leipzig. Now we play Bayern Munich, the super team that has beaten us for the league every year since 2013. It is not going to be an easy task, but instead of focusing on the many negatives we could for the game lets look at what BVB can do to beat the 5 time defending champs.

First lets look at out best possible lineup up for this match. I’d say Burki-Raph-Bartra-Sokratis-Schmelzer-Weigl-Dahoud-Gotze-Yarmolenko-Pulsic-Aubameyang with at least Phillip, Kagawa, and Sahin as available subs. Now Burki is an obvious choice, he is still our first choice goalkeeper. As for our fullbacks, you probably notices I put both Raph and Schmel in the lineup. That’s not a mistake, with the way Toljan has been playing and Bartra not being very good there it is better for Raph to play n the wrong side then anything else. That may sound dumb but honestly the kid is resourceful and we have seen him play both sides before. The center back pairing is still our best choice. A Weigl-Dahoud-Gotze midfield gives us control. Weigl and Dahoud are controlling midfielders who can also play on the defensive side of the ball. With them we actually have a chance of keeping majority possession and controlling the pace of the game at home. Gotze has been one of our better players so far this season and can keep the ball better then Sahin or Kagawa. The first choice wings should be Yarmolenko and Pulisic. Yarmo because he is our most talented winger and Pulisic because, while he is about equal to Phillip on a good day, he really doesn’t have bad games. We are going to need a reliable guy like Puli to make chances out of nothing to pick apart Bayern’s defense. Aubameyang up top because of course hes up top don’t be silly.

As for tactics this may come as a surprise to you but the high line needs to be sidelined for now. If we hope to beat the evil empire we need to try to press them hard and force mistakes. This team is one of the best in the world at taking advantage of a forced bad pass or a ball tackled free, that will be key to taking points. Also here is a take that many may not like, if we go up we must park the bus to the extreme level. Our defense has been full of holes for a month, we can’t trust in us keeping a one goal lead. If we do take a lead the team should do everything to keep the clean sheet, otherwise risk Bayern’s momentum overrunning us.

So what do you think we must do to win the game?