Post Match Observations: Dortmund Severely Outclassed by RB Leipzig

Dear reader,

I fully understand if you don’t want to read the following article. Today’s loss was simply just shit. The team finally had the chance to grab a trophy with Bayern Munich out of the picture. But when Felix Brych blew the final whistle, it was clear that this team didn’t deserve to be near any trophy at all. Not based on this performance at least. As I’m writing this, I’m really trying to contain myself. I could just make this into one giant rant, but I don’t believe that’s doing you any favors.

Here are my observations from Dortmund's bad loss against RB Leipzig:

This Was the Worst Performance of the Year

I’ll just start out by saying this. This is 100% the worst performance this season. No, it wasn’t the 2-0 defeat against Chelsea, and it wasn’t the abysmal game last week against Bayern either. This was the worst game of the season. And if you didn’t see it, maybe these stats can help you grasp what a pure shitshow this game was.

As you can probably deduce from the picture above, Dortmund were bad. And I don’t mean bad... I mean really bad. There was zero coherence within the team today. No one was able to progress the ball across the halfway line. Our defense was most reminiscent of a sieve, and some very poor passing in the final third from Leipzig kept Dortmund artificially alive for about 94 minutes. I honestly have a hard time understanding what happened today, but maybe I’m better off just not trying to understand it. Understanding is the job of the coach.

Rose Owned Terzic for 95 Minutes

Losing 2-0 to Leipzig stings. Being out of the Pokal stings. Getting severely outclassed by Marco Rose is like pouring a Starbucks coffee over yourself - it burns badly and leaves you scarred for life. I honestly don’t think I’ll forget this game anytime soon, and I don’t think Terzic will either. I guess these are some of the hardest times for a coach. You go on a long winning streak, beating multiple good teams in the process. You beat Chelsea at home, and then your team absolutely flounders against the 5th best side in the league. Terzic will be asked a lot of questions after this, and I hope he’s angry. For fans, for the team, and for the staff. This was an embarrassing display. As often as it’s said in football, this is just one of those things that can never happen again.

Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

A display like this can’t be excused. The blame isn’t on injuries or Felix Brych. The team needs to dig deep and really figure out what went wrong today. No players (except maybe Kobel and Can) turned up. And yes—I know—these things happen in football, and yet, they don’t. I can’t remember the last time BVB managed only one shot on target for the entire game. And this was even against a team that was on a three-game losing streak. This definitely hasn’t made me more optimistic for the game against Union at the weekend.

A List of Bad Excuses

I’ll dedicate this last section to just getting some bad excuses out of the way. One could think that these things had an impact on today’s game, but in truth, they didn’t. Use your comments to comment something constructive instead. I’ll cover the complaining for you.

• This team is nothing without Jude Bellingham. He could have changed the entire game. I bet we would have won with him in the starting XI. The same goes for Nico Schlotterbeck.
• Felix Brych is an idiot referee that hates BVB, and he ruined the game today.
• Rose has been our coach for an entire season. He knows all of our players - seems a bit unfair.
• Julian Brandt just returned from injury. He needs a game or two more in order to regain a bit of form.
• This is just one big conspiracy. Red Bull have actually bought the DFB-Pokal from The German Football Federation in exchange for a year’s worth of free Red Bull for the board member.

Your Thoughts?

Do you even wanna write your thoughts? I get it if you’re too depressed. Cheer up, buddy. At least we aren’t Chelsea fans.