0 against VfB Stuttgart should not be overestimated

Borussia Dortmund is on the up again after the 5-0 victory over VfB Stuttgart – one would think so. But both in the Champions League and in the Bundesliga, this could be over quickly. Why the high result cannot cover BVB’s concerns – and in which position Edin Terzic could soon be carefree.

Life has become easier again in Dortmund. From an “outstanding performance”, even a “statement victory” was early on Saturday evening sky the speech. If you had found another hat there, you would probably have taken it off without a guilty conscience, as a token of appreciation.

Julian Brandt was more honest. When asked what went better compared to the previous games, the 26-year-old replied to the pay TV broadcaster: “We scored a lot of goals.”

He couldn’t help but smile. Even if he then tried to explain what went well against VfB, these five words actually describe the essentials: This time Dortmund made the first good chances the goals.

The black and yellow roller coaster climbed a few meters due to the clear result. “Nevertheless, we know what has happened in the past few weeks,” admitted Edin Terzic later at the press conference.

BVB: Niklas Süle is more stable than Thomas Meunier

Anyone who wins 5-0 can of course look back on a lot that went well – and should do so. A positive insight that the BVB coach took with him: he can have both on the right defensive side: stability and offensive quality. Niklas Sule (SPOX-Grade 1.5) has proven at FC Bayern in recent years that he is faster and more technically gifted than many would assume just by looking at his refrigerator-like body.

Now he also amazed the crowd against VfB Stuttgart: Again and again the 27-year-old switched cleverly into the offensive. He prepared the early opening goal by Jude Bellingham precisely, he made it 2-0 with a standard worth seeing. Nobody played more passes than Süle (81 of 92 successful), he didn’t let anything burn defensively.

He protected well when Raphaël Guerreiro pushed wide on the left wing, but always posed a threat himself when he pushed forward. Thomas Meunier rarely achieves such achievements. Defensively, the Belgian has weaknesses in positional play and tackling, but offensively he is too limited.

It’s quite possible that Süle can take advantage of his teammate’s absence. It was already obvious at Bayern that the international enjoys this more offensive role. In his youth he played up front for a long time – every now and then you can tell. The only risk Terzic would take with Süle as a permanent right-back: he could no longer rotate as much in central defense. In terms of quality, however, the new signing is the better choice compared to Meunier.

BVB vs VfB Stuttgart: Game details

BVB: The guesswork about the intensity

The better choice for BVB was also the intensive pressing, which was shown over long stretches against VfB Stuttgart. “We stayed on it,” said Terzic afterwards: “We had really good counter-pressing in the first half.” The aggressiveness was mostly right. Jude Bellingham exemplified this – who else? In one scene, the Englishman won the ball in midfield and then clenched his fist as if he had just scored.

It’s this kind of energy that’s good for the Dortmund game. “We wanted to go into the game with the conviction that we would come out of the game as winners,” said Terzic: “And we did that very well.” Although there was also a phase against VfB Stuttgart after the 2-0 in which BVB withdrew further into their own half, became too passive and thus gave VfB the opportunity to work their way into the game. But this time the goals came at the right time. At the latest when Giovanni Reyna made it 3-0, everything was clear.

In some attacks Dortmund showed how good they can be when they play with intensity and aggressiveness. Big ball wins, quick transition situations and the desire of the offensive players to go deep again and again – if the black and yellow implemented that, insecure Stuttgarters were just as hopeless as some other teams in the last few weeks.

Despite the clear result against VfB, the question has to be asked again why BVB didn’t manage to bring this joy of playing to the pitch on a permanent basis. Why you too often deprive yourself of your greatest strengths by withdrawing into your own half instead of building up pressure.

BVB benefits from weak VfB defense

“It’s still good not to have to complain so much,” Terzic said with relief. But the truth is that Dortmund had the perfect opponent in Stuttgart. “That was catastrophic from us today. All five goals we conceded are without opponent pressure. In our situation, we can’t do that,” analyzed VfB keeper Florian Müller sky.

In this context, BVB was even too harmless. Many of the problems that were already obvious in the last few weeks also showed up against overwhelmed Swabians – just on a completely different level. Terzic praised the fact that most of the five goals were well played out. At least that doesn’t apply to the 2:0 (standard situation) and the 4:0 (single action). In many other scenes, Dortmund were also just as imprecise as they were last. Only efficiency could cover that up.

Dortmund gave away a few opportunities right from the start, the result should have been significantly higher. Everything still stands and falls in the game up front with Bellingham, who almost single-handedly initiated his two goals with his omnipresence.

In this specific case, this criticism may fizzle out with the 5:0. Internally, there were again intensive discussions in advance. “Hopefully we’ve learned from this once and for all,” said Brandt sky.

This sentence is also symbolic. Not only because the content of these conversations has been repeated under every coach for years, but because a lot of things at BVB are based on hope these days. On the fact that a supposed knot bursts. But does this even exist?

BVB: The victory should not be overrated

In the BVB environment, it is often wrong to discuss mentality or consistency. If it were only a question of transferring the performance against VfB Stuttgart to everyday life, the solution would be found quickly. Other Bundesliga teams would have punished the black and yellow for the negligence just before the break.

Mentally, Dortmund is much stronger than is often assumed. It’s certainly not because the players don’t want it. The supposed inconsistency of Dortmund results from a lack of quality – in the game system as well as in individual positions.

The only thing that really falters is opponents’ ability to exploit obvious weaknesses. VfB was not able to do that. Therefore, this victory should not be overrated. Against Manchester City and Eintracht Frankfurt, the black and yellow roller coaster could very soon lose altitude again.

This gloomy scenario only seems harsh because far too often developments are tied to individual results. After an average performance against a partly desolate VfB, however, an exuberant hymn of praise is not appropriate.

For the moment, life in Dortmund may have become easier again thanks to the 5-0 win. But the question is almost always the same at BVB: How much longer?