Borussia Dortmund looks to the 2021/22 season with a major update on the club’s lineup. Former Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Marco Rose will take charge of Die Borussen, replacing the interim Edin Terzic. The 44-year-old coach accepted the challenge to coup the dominance of Bayern Munich. The Bundesliga itself is witnessing a massive transfer of coaches ahead of next season. There have been eight clubs changing coaches, seven of which are clubs that finished in the top eight in 2020/21, including champions Bayern Munich and runners-up RB Leizpig. Of the top Bundesliga contestants, only Union Berlin has not changed coaches.
The new coaches make the title competition even more interesting. Together with Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern will maintain nine years of dominance. Meanwhile, Nagelsmann’s work at RB Leizpig will be continued by Jesse Marsch—a coach from another Red Bull club. On the other hand, Dortmund, who had a disappointing season in 2020/21, tried to build new hope with the arrival of Marco Rose.
Rose’s own portfolio has been tested in Germany. He led Borussia Moenchengladbach to finish in fourth place in 2019/20. Last season, the coach led die Fohlen to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since the European Cup era. Previously, Rose had won three trophies in two seasons with RB Salzburg who were too dominant in Austria. He also led the Salzburg youth team to win the UEFA Youth League in 2016/17.
In the inaugural season of Rose, it will be interesting to see how he leads Erling Haaland and his friends. The coach must ensure that his team understands and is able to implement his ideas as in Gladbach. If you want to compete with Bayern, Dortmund certainly cannot waste points at the beginning of the Bundesliga.
Sancho’s Departure and Malen’s Arrival
Apart from the arrival of a new coach, Dortmund must face a season without one of its best players, Jadon Sancho. The England winger was recruited by Manchester United. Sancho has 50 goals and 64 assists since making his senior debut in October 2017. Dortmund immediately responded to Sancho’s departure by bringing in a new bomber. They hooked Donyell Malen from PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch striker added to the pounding power of Dortmund, who are looking for a new form under a new coach.
Dortmund has relied on Jadon Sancho for the last three seasons. His departure made the eight Bundesliga title-winning club have to renew the attack line. Dortmund may lose talented players, but they have plenty of talent to replace the former Manchester City role. Sancho is very active in helping Dortmund score goals. Despite having struggled in the first half of 2020/21, he ended the season with eight goals and 12 assists in the Bundesliga. In the Dortmund squad, only Erling Haaland has recorded a higher frequency of goal involvement than him.
To replace Sancho, Dortmund need to find creative players who can move quickly and can help break down the opponent’s defense with dynamic movements. The club based in Westfalenstadion is no less creative winger that Marco Rose can maximize. Sancho’s departure could be a spark for Giovanni Reyna, who has impressed in 2020/21. Still only 18 years old, the United States player is able to compete when deployed as an attacking midfielder or winger. Reyna has four goals and six assists in the 2020/21 Bundesliga, including an assist hat-trick against SC Freiburg in October 2020.
For next season, Reyna also inherited the number 7 jersey that was previously worn by Sancho, as if he had been recognized as a replacement for the England winger. However, the English-born wonderkid certainly needs to improve his game consistency to match his seniors. Last season, Reyna bagged three goals and four assists from his first 11 Bundesliga matches. This number dropped drastically to one goal and one assist from 21 games after that. Reyna is also relatively easy to lose the ball due to the opponent’s efforts (dispossessed). However, for a player who just turned 18 last season, Reyna’s game is promising and she is surrounded by the right environment to thrive.
Apart from Reyna, Dortmund can look to senior players such as Thorgan Hazard, Marco Reus, to Julian Brandt. Hazard and Brandt have the chance to reclaim their place in the main 11 after their exit in 2020/21. Last season, Hazard’s gait was interrupted by injury, while Brandt’s playing time was greatly reduced because he rarely started. Young players like Ansgar Knauff and Reinier Jesus also peeked at the opportunity to defend the senior team. These two players were introduced to die Borussen last season. Reinier, on loan from Real Madrid, made 14 appearances (once as a starter) and scored one goal and assisted one in the Bundesliga. Meanwhile, Knauff made four appearances (all from the bench) and scored the same number of goals/assistances.
Knauff is an attractive prospect for next season. In 2020/21, he often involved in Dortmund II who competed in the 3. Liga. Despite only getting a total of 68 minutes in the Bundesliga, Knauff was effective and made four key passes and eight shots. His brief cameo last season was a positive signal for Rose to involve him more often in the 2021/22 Bundesliga. “[Knauff] is a very talented attacking player with great speed and dribbling ability,” Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc said last season.
Dortmund already has a line of creative players who are able to operate in the attacking midfield and wing posts. So, where is the right place for Donyell Malen? The former PSV Eindhoven is likely to be involved more often as the spearhead. At the beginning of his senior career, Malen did tend to be installed as a winger. However, the 22-year-old tends to act as a finisher rather than a creator. The last two seasons, PSV also installed him in the center forward post.
The ex-Arsenal is getting sharper from year to year. Last season, he was ranked second in the Eredivisie top scorer table with 19 goals. Malen also contributed eight assists. Of the 81 Eredivisie matches with PSV, he packed 40 goals and 18 assists. The arrival of Malen can complete the profile of Dortmund striker Erling Haaland and two debutants, Youssoufa Moukoko and Steffan Tigges. It can be a great option to coat Haaland. In addition, Malen’s presence makes Rose more flexible in tinkering with her tactics. The player can be selected if Rose wants to use inside forward from a wing position.
“Donyell is very fast and dangerous. If he had a chance it would usually be a goal. He’s still young, but has really good abilities,” said Mario Goetze, a former Dortmund player who played alongside Malen at PSV. However, Malen and many of Dortmund’s attacking midfielders are still young and have the opportunity to develop their character. In the Netherlands, the new signing of die Borussen tends to be a striker. However, it is not impossible that Rose can develop him into a capable attack creator.
How will Dortmund play next season?
Borussia Moenchengladbach under Rose and Dortmund last season have something in common. Each relies on the 4-2-3-1 standard to carry out most of the Bundesliga matches. Edin Terzic used this scheme to seal third place at the end of the season. The interim coach relied on Haaland up front and backed him up with the trio of Sancho, Reyna and Reus.
Meanwhile, Rose relies on Alassane Plea as the spearhead of Fohlen’s die. The French striker was supported by Lars Stindl and Jonas Hofmann. On the left wing, he usually relies on Marcus Thuram as an inside forward. The difference between Rose’s past and present is that, at Gladbach, he didn’t have a prolific centre-forward. Despite appearing sharp in the Champions League, Plea only scored six goals in the Bundesliga. His shot conversion record is only at 10%. Meanwhile, Haaland recorded a 28% shot conversion at Dortmund and scored 27 Bundesliga goals.
Last season, Fohlen’s top scorer was Lars Stindl who filled in at no. 10. Six of Stindl’s 14 goals were scored through the penalty spot. The Gladbach captain was also instrumental in creating chances, scoring eight assists, losing only to Hofmann (14) in the Gladbach squad. Stindl’s role was crucial to Rose’s scheme at Gladbach. At Dortmund, he also has a commensurate replacement, Marco Reus. These two players were both often installed at post no.10 last season and, coincidentally, had the status of team captain. The difference is, if you look at the heatmap of the two players, even though Reus starts the match in the middle position, he tends to play wide. While Stindl is more active in operating in the middle of the field.
Reus bagged eight goals and six assists in the Bundesliga last season. At first glance, Stindl’s stats were more creative than Reus’s. However, the Dortmund captain is actually more routinely creating dangerous opportunities for his team. Reus (1.98 per game) and Stindl (2.02 per game) key pass frequencies are pretty much the same. However, judging by the xA stats of both players, which shows how good the chances their passes created, the Dortmund man has the upper hand. Reus has 0.32 xA per game—fifth best in the Bundesliga, while Stindl is 0.26. In addition, Reus sent 1.7 passes into the penalty box per game compared to Stindl who recorded 0.96 passes per game.
At Dortmund, Rose has whatever it takes to replicate (or even improve) the game he carried on at Gladbach. The coach can be expected to continue the Dortmund style which tends to play aggressively with intensive pressing. “He [Rose] wants us to press high and energetically, also to play with a high defensive line so we can reach the goal faster,” Reus said of his new coach.
“You have to be good on the ball and always send the ball quickly behind the opposition line to score goals. Those are the things that will help us grow. He is very thorough, and the little details are very important to him.” So far, Rose has led Dortmund in three pre-season games. They won 2-0 over FC Giessen, but then lost 3-1 to the promotion club Bundesliga motions, VfL Bochum and 2-0 from Athletic Bilbao.
However, the pre-season defeat is not a big worry. Reus said his team-mates were on the right track with the new coaching staff. Despite losing in the friendly match, he said that the training session went well. “Not everything can happen overnight, it will take time,” he said after Dortmund’s loss to Athletic Bilbao. Dortmund will start the 2021/22 competitive match on 7 August in the DFB-Pokal event. They faced Wehen Wiesbaden in the first round of the knockout competition. In the Bundesliga, die Borussen will start the season against Eintracht Frankfurt on 14 August.
The Bundesliga’s top clubs are busy preparing themselves with a new coach. The rivalry between Rose and the coaches is worth waiting for, especially how he will face Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig next season.
ASL
