Football Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund lost their final match of the year at Borussia Mönchengladbach on Friday evening. BVB professional Julian Brandt was frustrated.
“In the end, it was our own inability,” were the first words Julian Brandt used to sum up Borussia Dortmund’s 4-2 away defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach. “In the end, all of us against the ball, on the other hand we were extremely harmless in the second half, in the first especially in front of goal. We made Gladbach extremely strong and they therefore deserved to win.”
He seemed almost at a loss when asked on DAZN to analyse the reasons for the messed-up end to the year. Because the problems are all too familiar in Dortmund. BVB had more game shares (56 per cent possession), more completions (19:11) and more expected goals, 3.35 to 2.53 xG. But the kilometres run, intense sprints, duels and of course the goals all spoke for Gladbach.
“We simply didn’t defend well,” said Brandt. And he wasn’t just referring to the central defence, in which both World Cup winner Nico Schlotterbeck and the omitted Mats Hummels had a pitch-black day. “It’s not four or five, it’s all of us,” the 26-year-old World Cup participant stressed, citing his slipping away near the opposition penalty area as the catalyst for the first goal conceded. But that had little to do with the Gladbach side being in front of the last line of defence after two passes, Schlotterbeck being too easily lured out of the centre and then coming on too late.
The insecurities in the defensive chain could not be compensated for by BVB on this day either. And this despite the fact that Edin Terzic’s team put in a good performance in the first half. Brandt’s fantastic 1:1 was followed seven minutes later by the second goal, and another four minutes later by the third. And the 2:3 goal just before the break was once again followed by a false start in the second half. Why?
“It’s not the first time I’ve been asked this question,” said Brandt. He still does not have a solution, he said. “In the end, it’s all about concentration. My feeling is that we didn’t come out that bad. We got the ball and then came the counter-attack situation.” A slant pass and bang, the black and yellow defence was undermined for the umpteenth time. The 4:2 by Kouadio Koné, it was the break of the visitors’ neck.
In the end, they suffered their sixth defeat of the season in their 15th match, conceded goals 18 to 21 and had a bitter end to the year. Both for the World Cup players and those staying at home, Brandt was sure. “This is absolutely heavy baggage, a shitty feeling.”
On 22 January 2023, it’s back to business for BVB in the Bundesliga, when they host FC Augsburg. What has to happen between now and then? “We have to rebuild again, hope for one or two reinforcements and keep attacking,” Brandt stressed, shrugging his shoulders for the second time. “That sounds like a nice explanation, but in the end it doesn’t help. “
