Player Ratings: SC Freiburg 0-0 BVB

Well that was awful. Dortmund had no idea how to score against ten defending Freibur players even though BVB had 83% possession. If we can take anything away from this game, it’s that Dortmund still haven’t conceded a goal this season.

COACH

Peter Bosz: 5

A strange game for our coach. Two early substitutions because of injuries robbed him of some options later and clearly disrupted the flow of the game. Nevertheless the team looked out of ideas against a ten-man Freiburg team that parked the bus. The wingers moved inside a lot, crowding the middle even more, while the full backs who needed to move up to give the attack at least some width, were a non-factor.

Because of the two early subs, Bosz couldn’t bring on a new player earlier. This game would have needed the creativity of both Shinji Kagawa and Mo Dahoud. Instead Bosz decided to give Yarmolenko his Bundesliga debut, a questionable call. BVB will need to do better against deep-sitting teams.

STARTING XI

Roman Bürki: 7

Kept another clean sheet with a fantastic save in the opening minutes. Had nothing else to do for the rest of the game.

Marcel Schmelzer: NR

Came off in the 32nd minute with an injury.

Marc Bartra: NR

Came off in the 18th minute with an injury.

Sokratis: 4

Was more in Freiburg’s half than in Dortmund’s, that should tell you quite a bit about this game. It’s not really job to make creative plays but his constant shots from a distance whenever our attack ran out of ideas was counterproductive.

Lukasz Piszczek: 4

Had nothing to do on defense and had absolutely no impact on offense.

Nuri Sahin: 4

After the great start to the season, this was a disappointing performance from Sahin. Unfortunately Sahin lacked creativity today, a lot of sideways passes and no ideas how to break down Freiburg’s defense.

Gonzalo Castro: 5

Castro’s crosses actually led to the only dangerous attacks in Dortmund’s game today but that’s just not enough from a guy that is supposed to help decipher deep-sitting teams.

Mario Götze: 6

He had a few good passes during the game that led to good goal-scoring opportunities. Out of the three players in midfield he was the best but that is not saying much.

Christian Pulisic: 4

One of the worst games from the young American in a BVB-jersey. Made one good run where he could have scored and that was about it.

Maximilian Philipp: 3

Philipp with another rather disappointing game. He will need to step up his game if he wants to start once Yarmolenko, Reus, Schürrle and Sancho are ready to start.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: 5

Invisible is the best you could say about him today. However his teammates did not help him enough up front.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Ömer Toprak: 4

Was asked to do too much on offense, something that is clearly not his strength.

Dan-Axel Zagadou: 5

It’s difficult to fault him for not being comfortable on offense, he is a center back after all. Did his best but BVB desperately need Schmelzer, Guerreiro or Durm back against defending teams.

Andriy Yarmolenko: NR

Came on in the 79th minute for Götze.