Miraculous. This time last season, Borussia Dortmund were knee-deep in serious relegation worries, following an awfully poor Bundesliga hinrunde. Now, they are back on familiar ground, sitting in a lofty second place, banging goals in for fun.

Fewer injuries

Key players like Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and a certain key midfielder missed an alarmingly high number of matches and the backup on the bench wasn't exactly something to drool over.

A relatively injury-free season, so far, has reinvigorated the self-confidence in the squad that dissipated after Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich in the 2014 DFB-Supercup. The flurry of injuries to players that soon followed left much to be desired and missed, but none more so as much as 'key midfielder', İlkay Gündoğan, whose resurgence has gifted hope to even the most pessimistic of die Schwarzgelben fans.

Cool, calm, and collected

'Mass entropy' would be a suitable description for Dortmund's lacklustre style of football, last season. Since then, Thomas Tuchel has masterminded his side's return to prominence with a unique playing style that put the old 'heavy metal' attack-attack-attack order to shame.

The team of 2014/15 seemed to lack everything their predecessors had during the adrenalin-fuelled Champions League run of 2012/13. The tactics from between these two seasons appeared to go stale. Dortmund were incapable of passing out from the back and the poor positional structure rendered possession football utterly obsolete as well as blasé. As a result, the Dortmund players were often left red-faced when the opposition comfortably sat back and went on to win by one or two goals without conceding.

Whilst the once exciting champions of 2011 and 2012 were self-destructing, Tuchel went under the tutelage of Bayern coach Pep Guardiola throughout his sabbatical, after leaving Mainz at the end of the 2014 season, seemingly focused on 'Juego de Posición'. From Spanish, this translates to the footballing philosophy of 'positional play' which demands the individuals of the team to organise themselves depending on the position of the ball.

Possession, possession, possession. As mentioned earlier, Gündoğan is enjoying a renaissance in his football career and under the reign of the ex-Mainzer he is blossoming once again. The German international has been key in shifting the style of play from frantic and panicked to patient and controlled, by often being at the epicentre of the possession football.

Julian Weigl tackling Leon Goretzka in the 3-2 Revierderby win | Photo: Sportsmole
Julian Weigl celebrating in front of the BVB fans. | Photo: Sportsmole

The club once again lived up to their fame of buying extremely wisely with the addition of Julian Weigl from 1860 Munich for a cut-price of €2.5m. Weigl may just be 20, but ever since arriving from the summer, the youngster has been a true inspiration and a beacon of hope to those around him, players and fans alike, of good things to come.

In Juego de Posición, Weigl is crucial in building play from the back and ensures the ball is worked up the field for the creative and attacking players via constantly receiving possession in space. To go along with his possession instincts, the holding midfielder embraces the very essence of his position in breaking up play efficiently by reading the game well and intercepting the opposition's passing lanes.

Goals, goals and more goals

It's no secret that Borussia Dortmund weren't exactly setting the world alight with high-scoring matches. As previously highlighted, the quality of the possession needed to assist the forwards was more than lacking. This had a direct link to the amount of goals scored, of which there were few in relation to recent seasons.

Undeniably, the loss of Robert Lewandowski, on a free no less, was a bitter pill to swallow for the home faithful. The signings of Adrian Ramos, from Hertha BSC, and Ciro Immobile, from Serie A side Torino, looked to have partially sutured the wounds of losing their top-scorer to their title rivals.

Scoring a miniscule 5 goals between them in 42 Bundesliga games, however, dashed any thoughts of Dortmund scoring their way up the table like Liverpool FC managed in 2013/14. Ramos didn't have the delivery he once had that seen him score 16 Bundesliga goals for his former side and, simply put, Immobile lived up to the meaning of his surname.

Throughout the 2014/15 season chances were missed, many of which were inconceivable to those in the stands and to give you an idea of how the home fans felt, the Black and Yellows' conversion rate was just 12.3 percent, 3rd from bottom of the Bundesliga.

Aubameyang celebrates a superhero performance in the 3-2 Revierderby win | Photo: BILD
Aubameyang celebrates a superhero performance in the 3-2 Revierderby win | Photo: BILD

Yet again, Tuchel's bold reforms came into play. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was permanently moved from his relatively ineffective position as a winger to a lone striker. The Gabonese hitman is bathed in quality behind him, where Shinji Kagawa and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are forming an exceptionally creative duo to assist all things going forward, achieving 15 assists between each other in the Bundesliga, as well as 12 goals.

A truly devastating part of Dortmund's play this season has been the highly successful counterattacks and it goes without saying that Reus and Aubameyang have pace to burn. In fact, the latter can run faster, from rest, than Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt over 30 metres. Common cases this season have involved the likes of Weigl and Hummels winning the ball deep in their own half and pinging it forward where, more often than not, the opposition can't keep up with the quick legs and thinking.

Reading all this, it may come as no surprise Borussia Dortmund are joint highest scorers (53) in the league, scoring 6 more Bundesliga goals than the entirety of the last campaign, in 13 fewer games, and Aubameyang is the club's top scorer, with their conversion rate approximately doubling in size.

Unsurprisingly, Bayern have remained as strong as ever and lead the Bundesliga by 8 points, with a superior goal difference. As a result, Dortmund will have to launch a major title offensive in not slipping up and hope Bayern's injury crisis eventually faults their Rückrunde. Undoubtedly, the meeting between these two at the Westfalenstadion, in a matter of weeks, will have a profound effect on who will win end up as league winners.

VAVEL Logo
About the author