What is going on at Borussia Dortmund?

Dortmund boss watches on as Mats Hummels and Roman Weidenfeller talk to fans after their 1-0 home defeat to Augsburg left them rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga table

There is an incredible story emerging from the German Bundesliga this season, with former-champions Borussia Dortmund currently bottom of the table.

The team from the Rhine suffered their eleventh league defeat of the season, as they suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Augsburg.

Dortmund even had a man advantage against the visitors for half an hour, yet failed to find an equaliser.

The result saw Augsburg move up to fourth in the table and condemned Dortmund to bottom-place.

Incredible

As an outsider looking in it is difficult to understand how this has happened to such a team is quite incredible.

BVB finished second in consecutive seasons after claiming back-to-back titles, going blow for blow with German giants Bayern Munich and bettering them at times.

Highly-rated

Dortmund outdoing Bayern in the Bundesliga was unexpected and the man behind it Jurgen Klopp earn himself a reputation for being one of the most tactically astute bosses in world and European football.

Klopp was tipped to go to the very top of the game and did a superb job with the Ruhr club. Klopp was being linked with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League, but decided to stay at Dortmund.

This season he has been criticised for the teams performances, but at the moment seems to be unable to put things right. If Dortmund’s current slump continues then Klopp’s reputation will slump alongside his teams.

Klopp already has a Bundesliga relegation on his CV with Mainz and the way that Dortmund are currently performing it is not impossible that he could have a second one at the end of the campaign.

The Dortmund hierarchy are backing their under fire boss and it seems that Klopp is likely to remain in charge of the club.

Loss           

Every summer Dortmund seems to lose a big player and have the rest of their big stars touted round Europe like expensive hookers. In recent summers Dortmund have lost Shinji Kagawa (now back at Dortmund), Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski.

The latter two moved to arch-rivals Bayern Munich and further strengthened the Bavarians squad. Dortmund boss Klopp was always fighting to keep his best players at the club and having to replace major losses in his squad.

A team cannot continually sell their best players and still expect to compete at the top, but this season’s underachievement is completely unexpected.

The vultures are circling over Dortmund’s best players, despite the teams struggles this term. Germany centre-back Mats Hummels has been linked with a summer move to Manchester United.

BVB trio Marco Reus, Kevin Grosskreutz and Ilkay Gundogan have all been heavily linked with summer moves to Premier League Arsenal. It seems that whatever happens, Dortmund will lose a number of top players this summer, which is now just a matter of course.

Injuries

Dortmund could use injuries to a number of players as an excuse for their underperformance. The likes of Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan and Mats Hummels have spent spells on the sidelines this season.

However, no number of injuries can explain a club the size of Dortmund suffering such a fall from grace. With a few injuries and a lack of confidence a drop out of the top four, or into midtable would be possible.

A drop into to the bottom of the table is simply inexplicable, especially when Dortmund won their Champions League group and now faces a last 16 tie against Italian champions Juventus.

Angry

Dortmund fans were understandably angry after their team’s 1-0 home defeat by Augsburg and they voiced their disappointment by booing at the end of the game.

Dortmund players keeper Roman Weidenfeller and centre-back Mats Hummels decided to try and placate the fans by going to talk to them, which was a gesture by the players that was brave and commendable when most players would have just ran down the tunnel.

Relegation

Dortmund are not cut adrift at the bottom of the table and are currently odds of 16/1 to be relegated from the Bundesliga. In fact nine teams are shorter odds for the drop than Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Dortmund easily have enough quality to survive the drop, but the team seems bereft of confidence. They face a crucial game against fellow strugglers Freiburg next weekend and that could make or break their season.

Will Dortmund be relegated from the Bundesliga this season?