The Daily Bee (September 1, 2020): Poor Showings in Friendlies

Good morning, Fear the Wall.

Now that all competitive football competitions are over, all we really have are friendlies and international matches to carry us over to the beginning of the season. Borussia Dortmund had a pair of friendlies on Friday and did not impress. Although we shouldn’t take too much away from friendlies, it still would be nice to see some of the players perform at an elite level, especially against sub-par opponents.

The first match was against SC Paderborn, who finished in last place in the Bundesliga last season. BVB got off to a 1-0 lead after a goal from Immanuel Pherai, but they had trouble playing out the back during the second half. Bürki conceded a corner after being pressed off the ball, and Paderborn equalized on the following corner. The score ended 1-1.

If BVB were bad against Paderborn, they were outright dreadful against VFL Bochum. Bochum jumped to a 3-0 lead, and while Mats Hummels clawed a goal back with nifty goal, BVB couldn’t mount a comeback and lost 3-1. While I’m reticent to look too much into Dortmund’s performance, it’s certainly not a positive that BVB did the equivalent of dropping 5 points to a pair of 2. Bundesliga teams. BVB now have a week before their next friendly on September 7th against Sparta Rotterdam.

Daily Buzz

Were there any performances in BVB’s friendlies that you thought were positive?