FEATURE | 3 things learnt as Borussia Dortmund suffer defeat against Manchester City | OneFootball

Phil Foden scored a brace to secure a 4-1 win for Manchester City side against a Borussia Dortmund side that have been notably strong defensively this season. But that wasn’t the case at the Etihad Stadium.

Here’s three things we learnt.

Defensive problems for Dortmund

With the return of Nico Schlotterbeck after a bout of flu, Borussia Dortmund fielded arguably their best defence: Waldemar Anton, Schlotterbeck and Ramy Bensebaini, with Julian Ryerson and Daniel Svensson at wing-back. But despite having the second best defensive record in the Bundesliga, there was some horrific defending on show against Manchester City.

Drifting into a central position when in possession with Maximilian Beier staying wide, Svensson was caught out defensively time and again which Savinho capitalised on numerous times when Dortmund lost the ball. It resulted in the Swede’s yellow card after just 15 minutes when he brought down the Brazilian to halt a City counter-attack.

Phil Foden was then afforded too much time on the ball for both of his superbly-placed strikes which gave City a 1-0 and 3-0 lead. Time and again the Englishman was allowed too much time on the ball when running at Dortmund’s defensive three.

Zero lessons learnt from Klassiker defeat

Borussia Dortmund suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich last month and although four successive wins across all competitions since that loss, Borussia Dortmund evidently haven’t learnt from their lessons.

Although a rather evenly-contested affair in the early exchanges, Dortmund were passive in possession and created nothing. They have no player that has the ability to create something out of nothing. No Shinji Kagawa, no Henrikh Mkhitarayan and no Jadon Sancho.

Until Phil Foden opened the scoring for Manchester City, Dortmund had just one shot on goal. After going behind, they registered three shots before the end of the first half.

And it was a similar story against Bayern. Germany’s record champions weren’t at their best but Dortmund continued to hold themselves back, which was evident at the Etihad Stadium. They must show more courage and urgency when in possession if they want to get where we know this Dortmund team can be – challenging Europe’s biggest clubs.

Substitutes can change the game

Coaches are often criticised for their game management and not making substitutes when the time calls for it. But after the break, Dortmund came out an improved team. Niko Kovac then made four changes just after the hour mark with Jobe Bellingham, Emre Can, Carney Chukwuemeka and Pascal Groß entering the fray.

Six minutes later, Waldemar Anton converted Julian Ryerson’s cross to give Dortmund some hope. The introduction of the quartet saw renewed energy with BVB showing a new intensity. And just like their defeat against Bayern, it was only after Niko Kovac made changes to Dortmund’s setup that they found the back of the net.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder