Dortmund Match Preview: BVB take on red hot Hertha

The Bundesliga season continues. Dortmund will be playing Hertha Belrin at home, in a empty stadium yet again. Hummels, Dahoud, Reus are all not available, Haaland is a toss up.

With no Hummels, Favre has a tough choice to make in the backline. Balerdi will have to start in the backline I imagine. Favre has not used Balerdi as anything more then a victory cigar up until now. If we do run a back three it will be Baleridi-Akanji-Piz. When Balerdi has subbed on in the past he has fit int the three back system so I’d expect Favre still tries that out. In the midfield we will probably see Can and Witsel. Witsel has only come on as a sub the last few games. With the other injuries and the time he got last weekend, he is the best available player in the midifeld. The rest of the lineup will remain the same if Haaland is still out. Raph and Hakimi as wingbacks, Brandt and Sancho on the wings and Hazard up front.

Hertha have been playing very well since the Bundesliga restart. They have scored at least twice every game and the only game they did not win was away to RB Leipzig. Players like Vedad Ibišević and Dodi Lukebakio have been good threats against teams that have tried to lock down vs Hertha. If Hertha don’t come out of the gates running vs us, they will play the defensive style they are known for. While I doubt they will be ale to handle a peak Dortmund squads pressure, if they score even once on the break it will open the game up for them. We also must consider that Jarstein has always had career games in the net vs us. A good GK performance and a few lucky breaks are all Hertha need to take points vs us.

The last time we played Hertha was a mess. While Hazard and Sancho scored 2 quick goals early in the game, a redcard send off for Hummels put us on the defensive for an entire half. We managed to absorb the Hertha pressure them but this time around both these teams are playing very differently. Favre needs to make sure this team doesn’t run out of ideas if things don’t go our way. Even with a litany of injuries , he has 5 subs to make a game now, there should be no excuses. I’d expect to see Reyna and Morey if there needs to be a change of pace in the match. Both players look like they could start for most teams in the league already.

What do you think Favre’s lineup and game plan should be vs Hertha?