Match Ratings: Werder Bremen 3-2 Borussia Dortmund

Being a Borussia Dortmund fan is never dull. We’ve watched 24 goals in the last 4 games, 17 of which were scored by Dortmund. BVB have also gone from being out of the title race, to within 3 points of the league leaders Bayern, and in a four-way fight for the Meisterschale, in just three games. Unfortunately, we have also gone from in the DFB Pokal, to out of the DFB Pokal, in one game.

Tuesday’s cup exit at the hands of Werder Bremen was an all-round bad performance. Here are the ratings for the players that orchestrated that bad game:

Starting XI

Marwin Hitz

Paul: 4

Well I guess that settles any debate about making Hitz the starting goalkeeper. Bench players have to take their chances when they get them... Hitz did the complete opposite.

Mats Hummels

Paul: 6

Hummels was slow to respond on a couple plays, including the 3rd Bremen goal, which knocks my rating down a mark, but otherwise I thought he was assured defensively and had another solid passing game. He has been consistently our best defender this season, though at times the competition for that spot has been totally non-existent.

Manuel Akanji

Paul: 5

Akanji was far from the worst player on the pitch, and his only major error was responding slowly to Hitz spilling a shot, which ultimately led to Bremen’s first goal. That wasn’t great play on his part, but to be fair, several players had already made some much bigger mistakes in the moments before that. Otherwise, I thought this was an okay performance, but he isn’t exactly filling anyone with confidence. I’d like to see Akanji return to the self-assured, dominant center back he was before, but he has a long way to go yet.

Dan-Axel Zagadou

Paul: 6

Zagadou didn’t look particularly sharp, which is to be expected given that he has recently missed a few games. He didn’t do a whole lot wrong, but he didn’t stamp his authority on the game either. Hopefully he’ll be back to his best against Leverkusen.

Nico Schulz

Paul: 3

Schulz was legitimately very bad. He looked awful all game long. I can’t remember him doing anything good.

Achraf Hakimi

Paul: 5

This was a poor game for Hakimi, after a couple relatively quiet games in recent weeks. The problem with Hakimi is he lives and dies on his attacking performances, which are a little inconsistent. If he could stay locked in on the defensive end of the game, his quiet games would just be net neutral, but because he is poor defensively, quiet games quickly become bad.

Axel Witsel

Paul: 6

Witsel looked off the pace early on, and for much of the game I didn’t really notice Witsel’s presence. That is usually a bad sign for a player that consistently dominates opponents in the middle of the park. Perhaps he needs a rest in the near future. Shame that Favre thinks “rotation” is a slur.

Julian Brandt

Paul: 8

Brandt was quiet in the first half, but he really got going in the second half. He has consistently shown the ability to put this team on his back when they’re struggling, and this was another of those moments. He provided the assist for both of the goals, and he was responsible for most of the positives in the game. He was one of few positives.

Jadon Sancho

Paul: 6

This was a pretty quiet game by Sancho’s standards, though he wasn’t exactly bad (certainly not compared with his teammates). He just didn’t do enough to impose himself on the game. He had a couple flashes of brilliance, but this was not the kind of performance we’ve come to expect of Sancho.

Thorgan Hazard

Paul: 5

Hazard barely registered any moments of note. I guess that’s not such a bad thing when most of Dortmund’s noteworthy moments were bad...

Marco Reus

Paul: 5

Reus had a couple good chances in the second half, but his finishing was poor. If he had been able to maintain his recent scoring run, Dortmund might have made it through to the next round of the cup. He was eventually substituted late in the second half, and we have since learned that he picked up an injury and will be out for up to a month. Despite some complaints about his performances this season, I think he has still been important in our best games. We will miss him over the next month.

Substitutes

Gio Reyna

Paul: 7

A brilliant goal capped off an all-round quality performance. He was really lively when he came on. With Reus injured, he might be looking at some significant minutes over the next few weeks. It’ll be a great chance for him to build on his good start for Dortmund.

Erling Håland

Paul: 7

Paul: Another goal for Håland, and another decent performance. He had a couple chances to increase his tally, and might have had an assist if not for a heavy touch by Sancho. His presence on the pitch gave Dortmund life, as has been the case every time he has come on as a sub.

Emre Can

Paul: N/A

Your Thoughts

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