Match Ratings: Borussia Dortmund Torn Apart in 4-2 Loss to Borussia Monchengladbach

A highly disappointing Matchday 15 leaves Dortmund in 6th place for the entire World Cup recess, leaving enormous room for improvement in the second half of the season. Myriad underwhelming performances from front to back created one of BVB’s worst performances in recent memory, and the players will be forced to either sit with the memory of the match until January or put it out of their minds to be able to focus on the World Cup.

Here are the ratings for the match.

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Paul: 6

Wasn’t a spectacular performance but he wasn’t at fault for the goals he conceded either.

Anders: 6

He can only do so much. Was let down by his defense today.

Yash: 6

Made a couple of really big saves but was hung out to dry by the defense. Not his fault.

Mats Hummels

Paul: 2

Hummels has been BVB’s best defender this season, but he was pretty abysmal last night. I don’t know if he’s tired, or if not making the Germany squad for the World Cup got in his head, but he was uncharacteristically shaky.

Anders: 3

Yash: 4

Tough week for big Mats. Today, he was nowhere near his best, but it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Nico Schlotterbeck

Paul: 3

Much like his center-back partner, Nico spent all game long getting rinsed by Marcus Thuram. I guess Schlotterbeck deserves a little credit for his goal, but it was perhaps the only positive from his performance.

Anders: 3

Yash: 3

Schlotti was useless. He really let the team down with slack positioning and a lack of any intensity whatsoever, dragging the defense out of shape and allowing Thuram to isolate Hummels and exploit his lack of pace. The only thing saving him from a lower grade was the lovely goal he scored.

Raphael Guerreiro

Paul: 3

Anders: 3

Didn’t impose himself offensively, and definitely didn’t complete his defensive work either. I feel like I’m warming up to the idea of letting him go, sadly.

Yash: 5

Not bad, not great. Gladbach never really attacked him directly, and he did have a couple of bright moments. Meh.

Niklas Süle

Paul: 4

Anders: 4

Big Fridge Süle had some bright moments, but he was also a part of the defense who let Marcus Thuram do whatever he pleased. I don’t blame him that much. He has been playing a lot lately.

Yash: 4

Emre Can

Paul: 3

Not great, Clive.

Anders: 4

Yash: 5.5

He wasn’t bad at all, but (rather like Hummels), he was fighting a losing battle.

Jude Bellingham

Paul: 5

Bellingham has looked tired for the last few games, but to his credit (I guess), he does still try. His typical defensive impact was missing, but he did provide a lovely assist for Brandt’s goal.

Anders: 4

Yash: 2

I love Jude, but today was unacceptable (despite the unbelievable assist). Tired legs or not, not being committed is simply not an option. If you watch back the goals we conceded, a Jude Bellingham error is at the root of each. Let me break it down: for the first goal, Gladbach directly attacked the space he left in between the defense and midfield, while he ambled back from the halfway line, leaving Hummels and Schlotti to fend for themselves. goal two: Bensebaini had no trouble losing him from a set piece to power home a free header. Goal three: Emre Can was isolated in midfield, battling it out against three BMG players before inevitably losing, allowing them to counter rapidly while our beloved Bellingham gave up on the play well before it had even reached the 18-yard area. Goal number four came from Jude not picking up his man (the very impressive Manu Kone), allowing him all the time in the world from the edge of the box. All in all, I could probably count the number of times he tracked back to do his defensive duty on the fingers of one hand, and Gladbach exploited his poor positioning time and time again and caught Hummels high up the pitch when he was forced to step up. Atrocious.

That is one writer’s opinion, but given Jude’s pedigree, his performance felt like a letdown.

Julian Brandt

Paul: 7

Was actually quite good, despite (almost) everything else around him. The goal was a banger.

Anders: 7

You know what? Brandt was pretty good, and he really did what he could. His goal was ridiculously well taken, and he never stopped running for the team. He certainly has turned the odds in his favor lately.

Yash: 7

Possibly the only consistently good performance today. He did everything: the striker’s job up front, the wingers’ out wide, and even dropped back to help Can. Great goal, too. A fully deserved call-up to the national team.

Gio Reyna

Paul: 5

Anders: 4

Gio wasn’t as impactful as one could have hoped, but I’m very optimistic about his future. He is one of the better players in terms of interplay in the team, and that alone makes him very valuable.

Yash: 5

Donyell Malen

Paul: 6

Anders: 5

Malen was very lively in the first half, and he very much deserved a goal. He then disappeared in the second half, and that makes about a 5 in total.

Yash: 6

Two decent performances in a row. He now has a long wait for a third.

Youssoufa Moukoko

Paul: 5

Anders: 5

Yash: 5

Substitutes

Thorgan Hazard

Paul: 5

Anders: 4

Yash: 4

Salih Özcan

Paul: 6

Anders: 5

Yash: 5

Our midfield really isn’t the same without Mo.

Anthony Modeste

Paul: 5

Anders: 4

Didn’t really do much, but also wasn’t serviced much. He had a few chances to hold up the ball, and he failed. Hopefully, he can at least help with a couple of goals in the second half of the season.

Yash: 5

Karim Adeyemi

Paul: 5

Anders: 4

Can this guy like... Do something? His work rate is actually pretty good, but that’s about it. I just dearly hope he doesn’t end up like Malen.

Yash: 4

See above.

Antonios Papadopoulos

N/A

Overall

Paul: 3

There’s been a few pretty bad performances this season, but for me, I think this was the worst.

Anders: 3

As I wrote in my post-match article, this was probably the biggest collection of bad individual performances I’ve seen this season. Terzic stated he wanted six points from the last two games - he got zero. Something needs fixing.

Yash: 3

What a fun end to the first half(ish) of the season. Losing to this dreadful Glabdbach side is frankly unacceptable. Some of it probably comes down to tired legs, but this is probably the first time I’ve felt let down by the majority of the XI’s mentality; apart from a couple of players who kept going when it began to get tough, it seemed as though several players had checked out and were just whiling their time away before flying off to Qatar. If I were a national team manager, I might be looking at a couple of players and wondering whether calling them up was the right decision. As it stands, however, all is not lost; we’re still alive in all three competitions, and the winter transfer window will hopefully give the backroom team an opportunity to bolster the squad. Key players will also return after the break. It’s now time to put the sordid world of black and yellow behind us temporarily, as we look forward to the *checks notes* squeaky-clean, fairly-awarded, progressive World Cup in Qatar, where beer is only £92 and global labour standards are upheld!

Your Thoughts

What did you make of this part of the season? Who will you be supporting in the World Cup? Who would you like to see BVB try to sign this winter? Let us know in the comments!