Match Ratings: Six Goals and a Nasty Surprise

The curtain was raised on the German league season on Saturday, with Dortmund cruising to a 6-1 victory over Regionalliga Südwest side Schott Mainz (who I just learned are named after the Schott glassmaking company). New signings Ramy Bensebaini and Marcel Sabitzer were handed their first competitive starts in black and yellow, while Gregor Kobel returned to the XI after sitting out the friendly against Ajax with a minor injury. New signing Felix Nmecha sat this one out with an ankle injury, as did Adeyemi, Duranville and Gio Reyna.

After a sluggish start, Dortmund opened the scoring in the 24th minute, with Big Seb heading home a pinpoint Brandt cross. Jule doubled our lead two minutes later with a simple finish from close range. Our lead was abruptly halved just over ten minutes later, with what proved to be Mainz’s only shot on target, as some poor set piece defending saw Nils Gans volley home from close range following a free kick. We pressed on, though, with Haller scoring our third only a minute after conceding, before three second-half goals from Donny, Mouki, and new boy Sabitzer completed the rout in front of a raucous away crowd of eleven thousand (!) Dortmund fans. Here are the match ratings:

Starting XI

Gregor Kobel

Yash: 6

Conceded from the only Schott (I’ll see myself out) on target, but I’d struggle to blame him for it. Otherwise untroubled.

Sean: 6

Joey: 6

Julian Ryerson

Yash: 7

Sean: 6

His cross deliveries were a little lacking at times.

Joey: 8

Solid defensively, but lackluster in his attacking contributions.

Niklas Sule - N/A

Mats Hummels

Yash: 7.5

Mopped up well.

Sean: 8

Really solid work today against some surprisingly quick legs on Schott Mainz.

Joey: 8

Displayed why he’s still important to the team’s defense.

Ramy Bensebaini

Yash: 4

I wasn’t particularly convinced when we signed him, and this was a particularly unconvincing performance against significantly weaker opposition. Unlucky with the ricochet on Mainz’s goal, but we did concede it because of a needless freekick he gave away. A little too one-dimensional going forward as well, as he’s not comfortable dropping inside and supporting the buildup through the middle.

Sean: 5

It’s clear that he’s a defensive upgrade over Guerreiro but an offensive downgrade. Let’s hope that all roughly cancels out.

Joey: 5

This was not the brightest start to Bensebaini’s Dortmund tenure. He seemed to miscommunicate with teammates at times and I expected better since he’s been with the squad all summer.

Marcel Sabitzer

Yash: 8

Aggressive and tenacious in the press, adventurous going forward, and he links so well with Brandt and Reus already. Very, very happy with this one.

Sean: 8

A pretty good showing for one piece of Dortmund’s attempt at replace Jude Bellingham. Hopefully he stays consistent against tougher competition.

Joey: 6

Sabitzer has NOT been with the team all summer, but it didn’t show in this match. I’m pleased to see him integrate with the team so ceaselessly.

Emre Can

Yash: 6

Sean: 5

Not the strongest performance from the new captain. He had a few sloppy turnovers, although when he did he usually put in effort to win the ball back.

Joey: 6

Donyell Malen

Yash: 8

Sean: 7

I thought he was playing a little like first-half (of the season) Malen in the first half of the game.

Joey: 7

I thought Donny had a shaky start to this match, but an excellent second half. Hopefully he can build on last spring’s improvement.

Marco Reus

Yash: 7

Should definitely have scored from close range, but his awareness and movement off the ball opened up space for the rest of our creative players and gave the Schott Mainz defence no end of trouble.

Sean: 7

People on Twitter were very upset at his various flubbed chances, but I’m not too worried about them. It’s very rare that players magically become worse finishers overnight.

Joey: 7

Julian Brandt

Yash: 7.5

Assisted Haller’s season-opener with a lovely left-footed cross, before getting himself on the scoresheet soon after. Quality performance overall.

Sean: 8

As I wrote in my match recap, I thought that Dortmund always looked their brightest when Brandt was on the ball.

Joey: 8

Sebastian Haller

Yash: 7.5

Sean: 7

He did score two goals, but I thought some of his buildup play was a little lacking.

Joey: 7

Both of his goals were mature finishes and he was constantly lurking in Schott’s box. I think it’s only a matter of time before we see a Haller hat-trick.

Substitutes

Nico Schlotterbeck

Yash: 7

Sean: 7

More like Schotterbeck! Am I right? Does that even make any sense?

Joey: 7

Glad to see Nico fit after his injury in the U-S of A.

Youssoufa Moukoko

Yash: 7

Sean: 7

Very pretty goal! The young lad demonstrated incredibly quick footwork to dodge his man and bury a shot.

Joey: 7

Marius Wolf

Yash: 6

Didn’t have enough time to genuinely impact the game, but his arrival moved Ryerson into left-back which made us miles better, so he gets a plus point for that.

Sean: 5

Joey: 6

#WolfUnleashed

Overall

Yash: 7

Despite the slow start to proceedings, this was a very encouraging performance from the boys. I like the new-look 4-2-3-1 with Brandt, Reus, and Malen in attacking midfield and Sabitzer behind, as we look very fluid in possession; while Adeyemi is a wonderful footballer, I think playing both him and Malen at the same time makes us more predictable and deprives us of some creativity. Brandt and Donny appear to have reverted to their early season form, as well, and Hummels rolled back the years with some fine defending.

My only concern post this game is Bensebaini. It was always going to be difficult to replace Rapha going forward, and that showed, as Bens only looks comfortable out wide, rarely dropping into the middle to support the play (which Rapha did so well). While his delivery from wide areas isn’t bad at all, his play style meant that we lost a lot of the unpredictability we used to have going forward, and when the right-footed Ryerson was shifted over to replace him, we looked almost immediately better. He was caught defensively as well, with Hummels bailing him out on a couple of occasions. However, this was only the first competitive game of the season, so he does have time to improve and return to the aggressive and hard-working player we signed from Gladbach.

Sean: 7

It’s pretty funny to rate a 6-1 win “only” a 7, but when the expectations are so low, it’s hard to really impress.

Joey: 7

My biggest concern in this match was that dortmund wasn't taking Schott Mainze seriously. I remember one point early on where Brandt was dispossessed and just stood there rather than fighting for the ball... and Brandt was one of the brightest players of the match. The whole squad looked lack-luster until Schott scored. Only then, did Dortmund really start playing.

It’s hard to rate a match against a fourth-division squad since there's such a difference in money and individual quality, but I took a lot of positives away from this win. Reus looked great, (except for shooting) Sabitzer is an aggressive midfielder who brings more energy to the pitch, and our record-signing striker from last summer is fit, healthy and with the first team.

Your Thoughts

How excited are you for the season ahead? Who do you think performed the best? Let us know in the comments!