Connect with us

Bundesliga

Edin Terzic’s back three becomes a non-starter

Published

on

Edin Terzic's back three becomes a non-starter

Borussia Dortmund said goodbye to the top group of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 defeat at Union Berlin. Edin Terzic’s experiment with a chain of three goes completely wrong, but BVB’s problems are more numerous. At the FCU, meanwhile, dreams are beginning. The knowledge of the top game.

BVB: Edin Terzic’s back three becomes a non-starter

Edin Terzic had come up with a very special recipe in order to be able to survive at An der Alten Försterei: The back three should do it against the double lead Jordan Siebatcheu and Sheraldo Becker. In flight, resourceful DAZN editors calculated before kick-off that it was Terzic’s first three-way chain since March 2021 – against FC Bayern (2: 4).

This shows well what status the Iron Ones now enjoy among the competition. How difficult they are to play in front of a home crowd. He wanted to create a majority against the two strikers, Terzic explained his decision with the streaming service – and hoped that this would also give impetus to the game.

There was almost nothing to see on the pitch for the first 45 minutes. Because even if they were initially quite surprised by the Dortmund formation, as Rani Khedira revealed, their offensive game was comparatively easy to stifle. For this, one’s own virtues and a simple recipe for success were enough.

“It was our goal to close the center so that they couldn’t get in there,” explained double goalscorer Jannik Haberer. So the static Dortmund double six was delivered and the ball carrier consistently started in the back chain. That was enough for long stretches: Emre Can and Salih Özcan didn’t fall behind far enough to help build up the game, Jude Bellingham was hanging in the air in front of them.

Dortmund retained a lot of ball possession, but only a sluggish build-up in width – the ball hardly found its way into the opposing third in the first 35 minutes. Haberer said they didn’t want to allow dangerous situations – “but you couldn’t assume that they would have so few.”

BVB: Edin Terzic criticizes individual mistakes

When Terzic reacted during the break – also in view of the 0:2 -, switched back to the familiar 4-2-3-1 and brought three fresh forces for the offensive with Marco Reus, Donyell Malen and Julian Brandt, it should be clear to him have been what blossomed for him in the event of defeat. “Hypothetical” are speculations about the effect of his change, and “it is clear that the question is now being asked” and that this topic “cannot be stopped now”, he then remarked on the DAZN microphone. Even if he tried.

He was right when he remarked that the goals conceded were not the result of tactical inadequacies, but of individual mistakes: First, Gregor Kobel slipped on the soapy Berlin lawn while trying to clear, then Karim Adeyemi played the ball to the opponent with a heel, thus enabling a Unioner counterattack.

But Terzic also had to acknowledge that the new system hadn’t brought the hoped-for increase in scoring chances. And: “We had a lot of ball possession, but mostly only around the center line.” His keeper saw it in a similar way: “After the system changeover, we had more access and were also more dangerous,” Kobel summed up.

Dortmund’s offensive game after the break was much smoother, although rarely more dangerous at first. It is therefore questionable whether Terzic will get his triple chain out of the moth box so quickly.

Trending