They only needed one half of the field. True, Werder Bremen did cross half way a few times, even putting a shot on Roman Weidenfeller at one point, but nothing meaningful happened in Borussia Dortmund’s end on Friday night. Instead, BVB had 60 percent of the ball, outshot their visitors 32-7, and put eight shots on frame to Werder Bremen’s one. If the field was 50 meters shorter and every Bremen clearance resulted in a restart for Dortmund, the game would have scarcely looked different. Everything happened at one end.
But as was the case last week against Braunschweig and, to a certain extent, in their opener against Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund didn’t click until the second half, with Bremen able to extend their season-opening scoreless streak to 234 minutes before BVB broke through. That’s when a pass from Kevin Grosskreutz, starting at right back, put Marco Reus behind the Bremen line to the right of goal. Cutting a ball back to the middle, in front of the six-yard box, Reus left Robert Lewandowski with an open net, the Polish international converting for the game’s only goal:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pl53_pZMBs]
On paper, the result looks respectable for Bremen. In practice, this was as controlling a performance as Dortmund could have given, the only thing keeping it from being dominant being the final score. There was never a point where it seemed Dortmund would do anything but take three points, with a lack of a meaningful counterattack from Bremen leaving the visitors without a significant threat. Given the creates they were creating (numerous first half shots coming with feet of bagging an opener), Dortmund were destined to break through.
That it took them nearly an hour was telling. While the acquisition of former Shaktar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan was generally lauded, the Armenian international has little of Mario Götze’s creativity. Without the young German in the team, Dortmund have lost some of the nous needed to break down their opposition, requiring Klopp to make second half changes to convert possession into points. Six of Dortmund’s seven goals this season have come after halftime.
It’s not that Mkhitaryan’s a bad player. It’s just that he’s more opportunism than creativity. At Shakhtar, the likes of Fernandinho and the bevy of improvisors Mircea Lucescu had wide would leverage Mkhitaryan’s natural tendencies. In order to get more out of their new attacking midfielder, Dortmund may have to do the same.
Regardless, Dortmund seems to be missing Götze, something that shouldn’t cost them until their competition improves. They don’t face Bayern Munich until Nov. 23. With UEFA Champions League group stage yet to be drawn, the most significant challenges on their schedule between now and then is an Oct. 5 trip to Mönchengladbach and Oct. 26’s derby at Schalke.
In the interim, they can work out the bugs, bugs that have “limited” BVB to a 23 to 7 edge in shots on goal through three rounds. Oh, they’re also in first place: 3-0-0.
