Terzic's faltering full-backs are at fault for much of Dortmund's struggles in the Bundesliga this season
Edin Terzic's team continue to drop needless points to mid-table opponents in the German top-flight and the Dortmund head coach's tactics may be at fault for that.
There are a number of ways to break down the manner in which Borussia Dortmund came from behind against Hoffenheim, only to then somewhat characteristically snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Emre Can’s suicidal passing at the heart of defence didn’t help, nor did Nico Schlotterbeck’s routine absence from Dortmund’s back line in the latter stages of the game. Perhaps it was another poor showing from Jadon Sancho that caused the most concern? When asked after the match for his post-mortem, Julian Brandt offered little more than well-worn cliches. "We didn't stop making individual mistakes in the second half, but doubled or tripled them," said a frustrated Brandt: "We brought our opponents back to life with sloppy passes."
The term “individual mistakes” is a simple catch-all that hints at someone else playing poorly while the player in question did nothing wrong. But, when we read between the lines it also hints at a larger problem: this team simply aren’t coached properly. Irrespective of how much individual responsibility fans want their players to take, there’s little doubt that “sloppy passes” falls directly into Edin Terzic’s list of responsibilities. And for some time now it has been abundantly clear that this Dortmund side are simply incapable of breaking teams down with precise and accurate attacking tactics.
This, most likely, explains why Dortmund have looked so regimented in Europe having dispatched the likes of Newcastle and AC Milan while keeping PSG and PSV at bay, but have dropped points to Augsburg, Mainz, Heidenheim, Wolfsburg and now Hoffenheim in their last 10 league games. One competition demands defensive, simplified tactics, the other requires extensive, attacking tactics. The former has worked surprisingly well, but what Dortmund fans have been offered instead of the latter is a bland set up that simply hopes that Brandt or Marco Reus can perform some magic to get the ball to the feet of Niclas Füllkrug or Donyell Malen.
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