Thomas Tuchel has proved a very good successor to Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund but the side have strugglesd this season.
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed a 3-0 win away to Freiburg in Saturday’s German Bundesliga meeting but still haven’t cemented their Champions League spot in the table as they approach the final third of the campaign.
The likes of Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin can draw level on points with Thomas Tuchel’s side in the next round of games should results go their way, and the risk of Dortmund dropping out of the top-three is a very real possibility. So what’s gone wrong?
Poor results against fellow elite clubs
Borussia Dortmund’s biggest problem this season has been the most obvious – they’ve had an inability to best their opponents directly above and below them in the table. The top-six sides in the Bundesliga will at least guarantee a Champions League or Europa League qualifying campaign, and it’s the sides occupying such a position that Tuchel’s men have fallen short to this season.
(10/9/16) RasenBallsport Leipzig 1-0 Borussia Dortmund
(14/10/16) Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Hertha Berlin
(19/11/16) Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayern Munich
(26/11/16) Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
(16/12/16) Hoffenheim 2-2 Borussia Dortmund
(4/2/17) Borussia Dortmund 1-0 RasenBallsport Leipzig
Form between October and January has left Dortmund playing catch-up
After a bright start to 2016/17 with four wins from their opening five Bundesliga games, Borussia Dortmund’s season unraveled after a poor run of form between October and December. They have turned things around in 20-17, but the damage was done following a real slump in the winter period. BVB picked up just three wins in an 11-game period that saw them go from third in the Bundesliga to sixth.
Tuchel’s men only lost twice during the poor run of form, but the dropped points left them with a mountain to climb in the title race and hunt for a Champions League spot. 13 points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich with 12 games to go, Dortmund aren’t holding out any hope of winning the Bundesliga crown this season but they still have a job to do to book their place in the top European competition in 2017/18.
Borussia Dortmund suffered just four defeats in the league last season, but have matched the tally after 20 games this time round. Tuchel’s men finished second in the table with 78 points (2.3 points point game) in 2015/16, but have an average of 1.82 a campaign later, winning only half their league games. If they come unstuck in their next game, they will have three clubs who could be within touching distance of replacing them in the table.
Where will Borussia Dortmund finish in the German Bundesliga table this season?
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