Dangerous Game? BVB in the Forward Trap

BVB has almost always had a tradition of starting a season with only one trained forward. Even in the current squad, Erling Haaland is just a “real nine”. Hans-Joachim Watzke was extremely critical of the absence of a second forward last season.

“We should have signed a second number nine,” Watzke evaluated in Dortmund crisis autumn 2019 (two wins from eight games) the big failure of his club unusually self-critically: “We analysed this incorrectly – but we can’t do more than admit that.” An accurate assessment of the situation at the time. But wouldn’t the vice champion have been better advised to sign a backup forward with a view to the 2020/21 season?

The fact that Haaland forgot the black-yellow offensive worries in the back lap in one fell swoop made a little mistake about the real problem zone of Dortmund.