BVB - Hertha Dortmund without Götze

Borussia Dortmund - Hertha Berlin (10.09.2011 15:30h cet)

Eventhough I'm too busy with thinking about the match against Arsenal on Tuesday, Dortmund has to play a bit of football in between. After a year in 2nd division Hertha Berlin is back with a rather mediocre squad, but this is still the aftermath of Dieter Hoeneß. However Berlin never really managed to get something in Dortmund and I don't think that this will be different on Saturday. In other words Dortmund will win this!

Too scared

Berlin's games this season all looked pretty much the same: Two deep defensive lines, a wide gap, and then.. I don't want to say offense, so let's call it forward orientated players. Hertha's major problem is fear. They are afraid to go forward! They usually don't even try to before halftime and maybe in the 2nd half, when they manage to wipe of their fear. No wonder that they scored most of their goals so far in the last 10 minutes. Actually it's not that they aren't moving forward, but in modern football it's all about quick transmission from defense to offense. A counterattack with only two or three players is not enough and it takes ages until Hertha's midfield is moving forward, I hardly saw a sprint, and the defensive line looks like it was stuck with hard glue on an imaginary 22 meter line. But it's probably the right thing to do. They can't afford to get caught on the break and to concede, because then they would be confronted with a task they can't execute at the moment! Making the play.

Dortmund's next Mario Götze (by Jürgen Klopp)


Since Götze is suspended for two games, Jürgen Klopp has to adjust his starting IX. Götze creates space, bounds defenders, creates assists and scores goals. Who will replace him?
The Candidates:


Ivan Perisic
Little fun fact right at the start: Ivan Perisic nearly was a Bundesliga player in 2009, when he was on a trail-training at Hertha Berlin, but Lucien Favre sent him back to Belgium. I like Lucien Favre. Perisic has already shown what he is capable of! He created lots of danger so far but was a bit unlucky that he only struck the woodwork twice for Dortmund and his great volley was saved by Leno against Leverkusen! He certainly is a great option because he is a constant goal threat and he is the most 'complete' player of those three. He is both-footed, great header, quick and for Berlin it'd be hard to predict what he'll do and where he plays. I would love to see what he is capable of over 90 minutes, this is certainly a good chance for Klopp to start him from the beginning, also Perisic needs more playing time to adapt our system. Also his physical appearance will be the most effective against Hertha's rustic defense. My personal favorite for the job. We need somebody to score goals, something that Kuba and Leitner can't provide in his style.




Kuba

After a great game against Germany, where he even scored a penalty (lol). So maybe Kuba gained momentum. His advantage is that he is not a stranger to Dortmund's system and knows all the automatism. Also links up great with Piszczek on the right side! He is a hard working player, who gives more stability to Dortmund's defense but is not that of a goal threat as Perisic is. I often forget how good he really is until I watch closely what he is doing on his right side.






Moritz Leitner

Now this little kid right here is interesting and I really can't wait for his debut in Bundesliga. Moritz Leitner comes Götze's abilities closest to all three contenders, because his technical ability is great, his cheekiness reminds a bit of Mario's and his game intelligence and his vision is greater than Gündogan's (but that's only a personal opinion). It did happen one or two times that I accidentally mistook him for Götze, when I watched Dortmund, since they look pretty much the same from far away, but also the movement is quite equal, too. Maybe he will only come for the last 15 minutes, but he is a joy to watch. He linked up very well with Kagawa and Götze in preseason, certainly someone who brings more chaos to opponent's back lines.


So however Klopp will decide, he will decide right. Mario Götze may be a gem, but Dortmund has enough depth to replace Götze without a huge dip of quality. I'm glad that I don't have to make the decision.

Line Ups:

Dortmund

Berlin

What to expect

I expect a match where patience will be key. Hertha will sit deep with the task to destroy the game, I'm sure they'll be happy with a 0-0. But the game in Hannover has shown that Dortmund can't sit back after they score, if they let Hertha play they will! It's not like they are unable to attack. But if Dortmund scores early this easily could be a hammering, but I wouldn't count on it. My prediction is 3-0.

Heja BVB!