Hannover 0-0 Dortmund: Dreadful 90 minutes of football

BVB started the season with an exciting 4-1 win over RB Leipzig but could not follow it up, following it up with a dreadful 0-0 draw in Hannover.

Uneventful first half....

Dortmund did not have the best start to the game, Hannover pressed high and dominated the midfield helped by very sloppy play from BVB’s midfield-trio. There was never any sense of rhythm in Dortmund’s game partly because André Breitenreiter prepared his team perfectly for the game. Hannover knew exactly how to defend well against BVB’s attacks and it showed.

Especially Dahoud and Delaney had trouble with the aggressive play from Hannover, losing the ball on countless occasions. However the 96’s couldn’t create any dangerous situations throughout the first half even though they had more possession than BVB (54% to 46%).

From the 35th minute onwards Lucien Favre’s team got better and created the two best chances in the first half. On both occasions the black and yellows pressed high, dispossessed their opponent in their half and through quick combinations created clear chances for Reus. Sadly it did not result in a goal for BVB, Hannover’s goalkeeper Esser barely denied Reus’ shot on goal and on the second chance Reus’ shot got deflected by the crossbar.

....followed by an even less eventful second half

In the second half both teams seemed even less inclined to attack. Dortmund had more possession but couldn’t create any real chances mostly because the midfield continued to struggle with their precision.

Meanwhile Hannover looked satisfied with a draw and focused on their defensive efforts. Throughout the entire game they did not have a single clear cut chance.

Surprisingly Lucien Favre did not make a sub until the 79th minute when he finally brought on Sancho for Philipp. BVB’s new coach made only one more change bringing on Guerreiro for Dahoud in the 86th minute. Both substitutions came on way to late and Favre could (or should) have subbed in Götze who could have helped with Dortmund’s lack of creating chances.

In the end it was a boring goal-less draw that no team really deserved to win.

Observations

• A midfield consisting of Witsel-Delaney-Dahoud didn’t have enough creativity to break through a stout defense, a more risky approach with someone like Götze or Kagawa could help
• BVB were desperately missing a prove striker and more pace on the wings. Favre couldn’t really do anything about the striker situation for this game and Pulisic’s injury is unfortunate but leaving Sancho on the bench for 79 minutes was a mistake.
• To end on a positive note both Diallo and Akanji had really good games keeping BVB’s first clean sheet of the season.