Thomas Tuchel has revitalized this Borussia Dortmund squad; Die Borussen are attacking with pace on the counter while defending much better as a unit than they did last season. As a result of this, they got another win by defeating Hertha BSC 3-1 at the Signal Iduna Park, staying at the top of the table for another week.
It took 17 minutes for the first shot on goal to finally occur and it came through Borussia Dortmund's left-back, Marcel Schmelzer. He used his weaker right foot though, and the ball rolled comfortably into Thomas Kraft's hands. Mats Hummels' header away three minutes later, went straight back into the danger zone where Vladimir Darida was waiting. The Czech international hit a powerful volley straight into the ground and right at the home side's goal keeper for Hertha's first attempt on target.
Three minutes before the half an hour mark is when the hosts broke the deadlock and it certainly had been coming. Shinji Kagawa had the ball down the right side of the pitch, following a free kick, floated in a dangerous cross near the six yard box where Hummels was there to jump above his man and nod the ball back across the face of goal.
Henrik Mkhitaryan had one of the fastest shot you will ever see in a football match, five minutes until halftime, firing his effort at 120 kilometers an hour. Kraft did excellently to stand firm and push the ball out for a corner considering how fast it was moving.
HT: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hertha BSC
Other than the opening goal -- which was deserved -- the first 45 minutes, for the most part, was fairly dull. There was not much action but the hosts did dominate possession, they just could not really find the final ball to crack open a stout Hertha defense.
Six minutes after the restart, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did manage to double his side's lead after they came out of the gates flying. Kagawa flicked the ball from inside the eighteen yard box, towards the Gabon international and fired it into the empty net.
Shinji Kagawa had the chance to break the match wide open as the Hertha goal keeper was well off his line in the 70th minute. The Japanese international should have surely curled his effort into the back of the net, but he did not get his technique right and missed the wrong side of the far post.
Hertha pull one back
With 10 minutes left to go in the match, the visitors pulled one back against the run of play. Darida's initial shot was stopped by the BVB goalkeeper. The save though, was pushed straight into the path of Salomon Kalou, cutting BVB's lead in half.
Despite the goal, Hertha could not get back into the match as they had trouble holding onto the ball -- as they did the entire 90 minutes thanks to the pressure from the black and yellow's.
But then, in stoppage time, Adrian Ramos found the back of the net to restore the two goal advantage. Kagawa and Mkhitaryan both had their shots kept out initially on the build-up to the goal thanks to some fine defending inside the area by the visitors.
This result is huge for Borussia Dortmund because this allows them to be on top of the Bundesliga table for another week based on goal differential. For Hertha BSC, this loss is not the end of the world. They defended well in stretches of the match and had a couple of half-chances and this can be used as a learning experience for the rest of the season.