Dortmund Match Preview: BVB take on a stubborn Eintracht Frankfurt side

With the international break over we can finally get started again with our season. First up is Eintracht Frankfurt. Frankfurt have 3 points through 2 games with a win and a loss.

In his presser earlier this week Favre said hat Toprak and Raphael would not be available. Since then reports have said that Pulisic would not be available as well. With Witsel playing 90 mins both games this break, I would not expect him to play either. Thankfully we are quite a deep team aside from our back 4.

For our CB’s, I’d expect our all star pair up of Akanji and Diallo again. Not only are they our first choice but I’d expect Frankfurt to play for breakaways this match, something both of them have shown to handle well. Our fullbacks will almost definitely be Schmelzer and Piszczek, both of whom have been struggling. Maybe this game they will find their step again, if not Favre will have to consider other options, as hard as it will be.

At midfield we still have a bevy of options if Witsel doesn't play. The Dahoud and Weigl tandem may make its comeback despite Dahoud’s struggles this year. Dahoud has been awful at dealing with the press this year and regularly misplaces paces. Also his long shots waste valuable final third possession. Despite this, he played his best under Favre in the past and has a lot of potential to work well with Weigl. This could be the game we finally see Gotze or Kagawa added to the starting lineup to give Delnaey time off. Both have the ability to be elite players at CAM and should be given a chance against a Frankfurt side that will sit back against us.

On the wings Reus is the obvious choice but the other winger is a little tougher. Wolf,Sancho and Jacob Brunn Larsen are all great picks. While I think Sancho is clearly the better of the three it may serve well to give JBL a shot with his stellar pre-season and last weeks friendly performance. Whoever Favre chooses we’ll be fine at that position. Up front I’d love to see Paco, but since Favre indicated he wants to introduce him to the team slowly we will probably see Phillip.

Last time we played Frankfurt, Timmy Chandler and Marco Russ both provided us with lots of trouble. They are both injured this time around, a lucky break for BVB. However, Kevin Trapp will still be in goal, ome of the best GK’s in the league. I think that Frankfurt will try the classic sit back and breakaway tactic that most non-elite teams try on us. It works great against a team with weak fullbacks and midfielders with less defensive prowess. However, we have also seen teams press Dortmund hard, a tactic that used to not work on us when Weigl was at his peak, but has been used more as him and Dahoud have struggled.

No matter the tactic, with one convincing victory and one disappointing draw, this game will show us a lot about Favre. He has had a two week break to make a new game plan, lets hope he enacts it.

Who do you think will start for Dortmund today?