Tuchel wants Dortmund to build on goal glut

Thomas Tuchel was proud of his players’ efforts in thrashing 10-man Darmstadt 6-0 on Saturday, but the Borussia Dortmund coach knows tougher tests lie ahead. 

Tuchel rested Mario Gotze, Marc Bartra and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the Bundesliga match at Signal Iduna Park, while Lukasz Piszczek missed the game due to injury.

But Dortmund’s emerging youngsters took their chance in emphatic fashion, the likes of Christian Pulisic and substitute Emre Mor in particular tearing apart the visitors, who had captain Peter Niemeyer sent off for a second bookable offence just before the hour mark.

“That was in all areas a really well-rounded [performance],” Tuchel told a news conference.

“We controlled the game in every phase and therefore won deservedly.

“We had 22 shots on goal, produced many attacks, were aggressive in the last third and in front of the opposition’s goal.”

Adrian Ramos and Ousmane Dembele combined with Gonzalo Castro and Pulisic to devastating effect, Julian Weigl pulling the strings from midfield and Raphael Guerreiro in particular catching the eye on a memorable day for Dortmund, who had little trouble breaking down the massed ranks of Darmstadt’s backline. 

“Playing against a five-man defence is the most difficult [task], because you need speed and patience and also courage for one-on-ones,” Tuchel said.

“And you need players who are used to those situations and can create space. After [the sending off] there was more space and we gave our fans a nice afternoon.”

It was Dortmund’s second 6-0 win in the space of four days after they thrashed Legia Warsaw by the same scoreline in the Champions League on Wednesday, but Tuchel knows the rest of the 2016-17 campaign is unlikely to prove so straight forward.

“We have been the favourites twice and made the most of it, but now we have to progress,” he said.

While Tuchel attempted to play down the significance of his team’s imperious performance, teenage Turkey international Emre Mor, who came off the bench to net the final strike in the rout, could not hide his delight at the emphatic triumph.

“[It is] the greatest feeling,” he said.

“I’m very happy. We won 6-0 and I scored a goal so it was perfect … every time we lost the ball we got the ball again. And football is very funny when you always have the ball.”