Match Ratings: Borussia Dortmund Grind Out a Win Over Hertha Berlin

Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga record continues to improve. With yesterday’s victory, Borussia Dortmund have now won three of their last four in the league, and sit two points behind Eintracht Frankfurt. Visitors Hertha Berlin did not put up too much of a fight, as they seemed more focused on settling for a point, but they ultimately fell to Borussia Dortmund courtesy of goals from Julian Brandt and Youssoufa Moukoko.

Die Schwarzgelben dominated early on with a midfield three featuring Mahmoud Dahoud playing the holding role behind Julian Brandt and Jude Bellingham, but they struggled to break down Hertha’s low block. Dortmund took the lead in the second half after Rune Jarstein spilled a long-range effort by Julian Brandt. The game was then put out of doubt by Youssoufa Moukoko, who scored in stoppage time after coming off the bench for an injured Marco Reus.

Here are our ratings from yesterday’s match:

Starting XI

Marwin Hitz

Mike: 6

Paul: 5

Mateu Morey

Photo by Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Mike: 7

Operated on the right side in acres of space and was highly effective at creating chances for the team even if they were not all taken. Has earned the starting right back spot since being restored in the first leg against Sevilla.

Paul: 8

Morey played a little over an hour, and in that time, he had 123 touches. That’s more than anyone else on the pitch. I initially felt that he was man of the match, however I seemed to be in the minority on this. Looking over the numbers, I think the consensus view was correct, but I think Morey was the second best player on the pitch.

Emre Can

Mike: 6

Paul: 7

Mats Hummels

Mike: 6

Paul: 6

Nico Schulz

Mike: 5

I really wanted to see him put in a good performance, but he was just solid at best.

Paul: 6

Mahmoud Dahoud

Mike: 8

Sitting in the deeper position, Dahoud was spraying balls left, but mostly right, and dribbling past opponents with ease. He was surprisingly disciplined in the holding role.

Paul: 7

I thought Dahoud was very solid in a deeper, more disciplined role than he tends to play. I had some concerns, before the game, about the very aggressive midfield three of Brandt, Bellingham, and Dahoud, but to both Terzic and Dahoud’s credit, it worked pretty well.

Jude Bellingham

Mike: 9

At 17 years old, he should be standing out as a step slow. Instead, he stands out as being a step or two ahead of many others on the pitch. Bellingham was everywhere yesterday and with his form and energy is perhaps our best midfielder right now.

Paul: 9

Morey wasn’t the best player on the pitch. Not because he wasn’t every bit as good as I thought, but because Bellingham was even better. He was absolutely everywhere, and that is reflected by his impressive defensive contributions (21 pressures, 5 tackles, 1 block). He was also very unlucky not to have his first Bundesliga goal, with Jarstein making a tremendous save to keep Bellingham’s effort out.

Something that has gone a little under the radar is the fact that his passing is starting to show signs of the progress needed for him to take the next step. I think he has always shown that he has the vision to make those defense splitting passes, but the technique is a little lacking. He seems to lack the control to weight the pass and hit the player ahead of him in their stride. He made a couple passes yesterday that suggest to me he is moving in the right direction.

Julian Brandt

Photo by Friedemann Vogel - Pool/Getty Images

Mike: 6

The goal should have been saved, and Brandt still squandered many other chances.

Paul: 7

Solid if not amazing throughout. He led the team for shot-creating actions, and did well progressing the ball in the middle of the field. Hopefully his performance, and the slice of luck he received for the goal, will help spur him on to a return to form.

Thorgan Hazard

Mike: 5

Paul: 6

Marco Reus

Mike: 7

Paul: 7

Erling Haaland

Mike: 6

Paul: 5

Really struggled to impose himself on the game as a result of the 3-on-1 match up he often faced against Hertha’s center backs. He did a good job occupying them for others to do some damage, so I wouldn’t hold this against him, but he was unable to really leave a mark of his own on the game.

Substitutes

Dan-Axel Zagadou

Mike: 6

Paul: 5

Giovanni Reyna

Mike: 5

Loses a point for the beard.

Paul: 6

Thomas Meunier

Mike: 6

Paul: 5

Youssoufa Moukoko

Mike: 7

Came on and really made an impact despite only playing a few minutes. Moukoko was quick to the ball and dangerous the entire time. He almost had an assist, and ended up scoring a goal. He needs more minutes late in matches where the pressure is not on him to perform.

Paul: 7

Moukoko was on the pitch for seven whole minutes, touched the ball five times, and had a single shot... He scored one goal, and if Reyna had converted his shot that hit the post, he would have had an assist too. Remarkable.

Overall

Mike: 7

Not the greatest performance, but with Raphael Guerreiro and Jadon Sancho out injured, three points at home is very important. Thorgan Hazard is still working his way back to fitness, but if Terzic can get Sancho and Hazard operating the wings at a high level, this Dortmund attack will be very scary for the rest of the season.

Paul: 8

Hertha Berlin were pretty poor, so I could see an argument that this was no less than BVB should be expected to achieve against minimal resistance, but I liked how comfortable they looked throughout. I never felt like this was going to go any other way, and I appreciate that!