With Dortmund’s last-minute victory over resistant Hoffenheim, youngster Jude Bellingham is growing increasingly into the role of an emotional BVB leader. Black and yellow are also making great strides in another critical position. The Westphalia, on the other hand, will probably drag an age-old problem deep into the first half of the season.
Three theses on BVB’s second success of the season.
Midfield motor Bellingham is indispensable
In the intoxication of endorphins: When the final whistle sounded in Dortmund after eight minutes of stoppage time, Jude Bellingham sprinted jubilantly onto the lawn. 3: 2 – made it, but still. Somehow won against feared opponents TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The young Englishman was almost as happy about his second win of the season as a title.
He was happy about his own cool goal, even if at the end of this wild crime novel it was only considered to be the winning goal for a good twenty minutes. But he was just as happy about match winner Erling Haaland, whom he reverently named a “machine”. And about his first own mini-Malaga moment in the former Westfalenstadion, which was finally upside down after a sad ghost game time.
The jubilation explosion from Bellingham and Co. showed how much pressure is already on the kettle with the ambitious BVB, who has only been a would-be Bayern hunter for nine years. But above all, she showed in Dortmund’s midfield engine how much he has devoted himself to Borussia after only one year.
With 18 years of power in the control center
Already in his debut year he collected an incredible 46 competitive appearances for BVB – as a 17-year-old. At the age of 18, he is well on the way to finally taking power in the control center. He already looks like an indispensable veteran.
With the way he plays, Dortmund’s number 22 is a perfect match for Borussia. This is exactly what people want to see: Bellingham works tirelessly and starts chasing the ball in front of his own penalty area. The right foot drags the ball across the square and also interferes in front of the opposing goal. In 72 minutes against Hoffenheim he packed 8.5 kilometers on the clock and shone as a goalscorer and as a preparer of the 1-0 for Gio Reyna. Bellingham is the heart and soul of this team.
Bellingham’s game has its flaws. At times the lack of experience shimmers through, or there is a lack of precision. His duel quota against TSG had room for improvement (46 percent). When he lost the ball (13), he was clearly in the worse BVB third.
The young national player is impressed by tough attacks at the limit of what is allowed – a much tried stylistic device of the Hoffenheim, who had piled up three dark yellow cards after just 20 minutes. But Bellingham bites his way through this and his judgment on the team performance also applies to him and actually to almost all of his appearances: “We have shown character.”
Bellingham soaks up the atmosphere like only Haaland usually does
The adventure of the national team – second place with England’s Three Lions at the European Championships – gave the endurance runner a further boost in development. Just like the return of the fans to the stadium. Bellingham soaks up the atmosphere like only Erling Haaland.
He pushes himself and the teammates in almost every successful action and establishes the connection to the grandstand. It is increasingly becoming an emotional driver. That could already be seen at the gala against Eintracht Frankfurt and now even more clearly against Hoffenheim.
No wonder that the BVB fans bathed their darling in affection when they were replaced. As if they had already started their project: to make Bellingham’s return to the island as difficult as possible. Because that can already be said. The time with him at BVB is only just beginning, and yet she has only borrowed black and yellow. His path to the Premier League is mapped out.
With Keeper Kobel, the leap in development in goal is achieved
It seems paradoxical in view of a whopping nine goals conceded in the last four competitive games, but BVB has clearly improved on the goalkeeping position. The progress made over the two Swiss predecessors is already evident. Gregor Kobel shows at least as good reactions on the line as Roman Bürki and Marwin Hitz, and he throws himself much more courageously, regardless of losses, into critical situations.
The new number one has a clear advantage over Bürki when it comes to mastering the penalty area, simply because of the body length. But Kobel is also more confident in the airspace than Hitz, which is 1.94 meters tall. In the medium term, this should give BVB more security in terms of standards.
As a goalkeeper he has been convincing so far. Kobel can always be played, even if Dortmund has to laboriously rebuild from scratch. He is quick to think and can purposefully open the playing field with throws and passes. Kobel anticipates the opposing game better, at least that’s the first, strong impression.
Research excursions by the Neuer brand to plug holes far in front of the penalty area have never happened in this form in Dortmund. That should still be important, for example with Mats Hummels’ comeback. The head of defense cannot always compensate for his tempo deficit with good positional play – regardless of the class.
As in the previous games, Kobel could hardly do anything against Hoffenheim on the goals against. Rather, he was one of the match winners. Because the 15 million man from VfB Stuttgart showed the full range of his talent: When Baumgartner had a big chance before the break, he quickly prevented the deficit by foot.
In the one-on-one duel with Kramaric, Kobel remained nervous. He also wiped Kramaric’s fine free kick over the crossbar. There were also spectacular flight performances to marvel at. “A lot of instincts come out of it. I was super happy that I was able to help the team,” said the keeper of his strong saves.
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