Hard graft to reach 20 points | OneFootball

One figure illustrates just how intense the game was: on average, the Black & Yellows have made 178 tackles per game this season. In Augsburg, the figure was 246 — 38% more! The league average is 186 tackles per game. This shows just how much of a battle Friday evening’s encounter was, three days after 120 thrilling minutes of cup action through extra time in Frankfurt. And in Augsburg, it was again just under 100 minutes (99 minutes and 50 seconds, to be precise). 12 of the 15 Dortmund outfield players left the pitch with a positive tackle success percentage.

Five BVB players broke the 11-kilometre mark (Guirassy, Anton, Brandt, Anselmino and Gross, whose 13.1 km stood out). “Today was not about playing fair-weather football, but about being efficient. The lads gave their all in terms of running and fighting spirit,” said Niko Kovac. However, despite all the praise for their effort, he added: “We have too many simple misplaced passes. We’re not proactive with the ball.”

While the team’s attacking play is not as fluid at the moment, with a lack of runs in behind and only one of their last six matches in all competitions seeing them score more than one goal, the defence once again impressed. Only six goals conceded after nine matchdays is BVB’s best record in 23 years. “If you score a goal and don’t concede one, then you win games like this,” emphasised sporting director Sebastian Kehl: “We knew that we simply had to concede far fewer goals overall this season. The team has done that very well in many games, including today. They fought until the end and didn’t allow much. Then even one goal away from home can be enough.”

As was the case recently against Köln – the only home game in this challenging run of seven matches within 22 days – one goal was enough for another 1-0 win. “We are very, very happy to take the three points because they help us stay at the top of the table. And we’ve shown that we’re hard to beat,” said Kehl. Three points are three points. In the past twelve seasons, BVB has only once (in 2018/19, Favre’s first year) had one more point than it does today (20). But that’s also extremely important. “All the other teams at the top are also scoring points,” Kovac knows: “It’s not a sure-fire success. We have to keep at it. We have to position ourselves there so that we’re still in the running in March or April.”

But that’s still a long way off. Manchester and Hamburg are the challenges for the coming week. Away again.Boris Rupert