Two Questions After Dortmund’s Frustrating 1-1 Draw Against Lazio

Man, that kind of sucked yesterday. In MD5 of Champions League play, Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 with Lazio after a dubious penalty call against Dortmund. While it would’ve been nice to lock up the top spot in the group with a win, the draw guarantees qualification to the knockout stages.

Let’s see what kind of questions we can gather from that performance yesterday...

Erling Haaland is out until January. Now What?

Prior to yesterday’s Champions League match, the club reported that Haaland suffered a hamstring injury and would be unavailable for the match against Lazio. It was later announced that his injury was severe enough that he will be out for the remainder of the Hinrunde and into January. No one knows how far into January he will be out until, but he will definitely be out for the remainder of December.

It should go without saying, but this is bad.

I’ve written this so many times, but Haaland is our attack. Yes, you’ll see the occasional goal from Guerreiro, Hazard, Reus or even Sancho if Dortmund earn a penalty, but Haaland has scored the lion’s share of the team’s goals this season and is who many of our guys are looking for when they drive at the opposing defense. With his injury and absence, that will require change from everyone

As much as I would love to see Moukoko starting from this point forward, I don’t see it consistently happening with some of our toughest opponents (Wolfsburg, Leipzig, Leverkusen) still left on the schedule. But who we have at forward doesn’t matter (unless it’s Brandt, then you might as well not even play a forward if he’s there) if the other attacking players aren’t stepping up and getting it done on offense.

So Sancho, Reus, Reyna,, Brandt, Witsel, etc., y’all need to get yourselves out of whatever scoring funk you’ve been in this season and start finding the back of the net or else it’s going to be a loooong December until Haaland returns.

Can we have more Mateu Morey please?

I feel like yesterday was the first time in a long time that Morey saw the field, not since his late cameo against Club Brugge on November 24. And he looked like he’s been seeing the field every match for the most part against Lazio. He’s competent enough in defense and attack to not look out of place amongst fellow Bundesliga players, and he appears to be well-liked enough amongst the squad.

So why hasn’t he played more? It shouldn’t take a lengthy injury to Thomas Meunier to force Favre into playing Morey more, right?

Since arriving from Barcelona in 2019, Morey has only appeared in eight total games. Most of that was due to his injuries suffered since joining Dortmund, but for the times he was healthy, he either didn’t leave the bench or was left out of the match day line-up entirely. Yes, his injury problems are probably what’s keeping him from consistently putting together enough performances to warrant consistent minutes or even inclusion in the squad, but that doesn’t mean you completely discard a player because they’re injury prone. If that were the case, then Marco Reus would’ve never worn a Dortmund jersey again after all his injuries.

Again, it shouldn’t have taken an injury to a starter for Morey to see the field, and this may not even be an indicator that he’s ahead of Passlack on the depth chart. But I think I speak for the majority of Dortmund fans when I say this: Play Mateu Morey more, please.

Let me know in the comments what questions you’ve got, or even your answers, following the draw against Lazio.