How far could Dortmund really fall?

Nuri Sahin’s sacking may appease the angry Yellow Wall, but Dortmund’s problems go far beyond underperforming stars or misfiring tactics on the pitch.

In many ways Borussia Dortmund had no choice but to sack Nuri Sahin, following the club’s calamitous 2-1 defeat to Bologna on Tuesday night. In a decision that Lars Ricken described as one that hurt him “personally”, the Bundesliga giants finally acknowledged that they were on a hiding to nothing if they stuck with the fledgling tactician for the remainder of the season. With Champions League qualification for next season under serious threat, the Dortmund board finally confronted the emergency before them and broke the glass to sound the alarm.

While the fan forums and social media transfer gurus won’t rest in their attempts to link any out-of-work manager with the job opening over the course of the next few days, the reality of the matter is that Dortmund will likely struggle to find a head coach that can perform the kind of miracles that fans of the Westfalen club will be hoping for in the second half of the season. The club are in a rut that goes beyond underperforming stars and any self-respecting top-tier head coach can spot that from a mile away. Erik Ten Hag and Roger Schmidt have already seen their names be heavily linked with replacing Sahin, only for later reports to suggest that neither coach would be interested in the job. And it seems more than likely that the new frontrunner for the job, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeneß, would also raise a puzzled eyebrow at the prospects of swapping his current job for the unforgiving task of turning the tide in Dortmund.

This, of course, is because Dortmund’s problems go well beyond what a head coach can fix. In terms of the playing squad, there are huge holes throughout the team: at least one more central defender will need to be signed (two if we assume Niklas Süle will leave in the summer), two left-backs will need to be acquired, while three of Dortmund’s four central midfielders are at least 30 years old or older and each of them is looking older by the day. And while the club can lay claim to seven forwards that can play across the front three, very few top-tier head coaches would be able to claim any of them are the best in their position across the Bundesliga. Note: the club haven’t made a single signing thus far in the January transfer window.