Some great attacking football and two excellent finishes from Erling Haaland were counted for nothing, as Dortmund team once again proved the architects of their fall at Borussia Park.
Marco Reus slammed the defensive fragility of BVB
Marco Reus cut a frustrating piece on Friday night when he slammed the defensive fragility of Borussia Dortmund in their 4-2 defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach. Some great attacking football and two excellent finishes from Erling Haaland were counted for nothing, as Dortmund team once again proved the architects of their fall at Borussia Park. Things could have been worse with the Gladbach opener inside the first minute ruled out by VAR. But Dortmund looked shaky from behind all the way and were predictably punished from the free-kicks. Nico Elvedi scored with two free-kicks, Ramy Bensabaini shot in a superb finish in curling, and Marcus Thuram scored on his return from suspension. Gladbach moved ahead of Dortmund to fourth in the Bundesliga table. Reus and his side will end the weekend 12 points behind Bayern Munich if the leaders beat bottom club Schalke on Sunday.
Dortmund conceded easy goals in the last three games
“If we don’t turn the tide, it will be difficult,” an annoyed Reus told reporters after full-time. “It’s always the same mistakes we make. It stinks!” Mats Hummels, by far one of the most accomplished defenders at the highest level of the game, couldn’t help but agree with Reus’ assessment. “Our defensive standards are a huge thing for us,” he told reporters. “We cannot criticize anything about the same”. Since 2021, with Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig winning, Dortmund have taken just one point out of the following three games. Interim manager Edin Terzic, at the helm since Lucien Favre has been sacked in December, was annoyed to see his team make things so easy for their rivals in attack after they had wonderful come back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 in the first half.
“The attempt we had to make to score a goal was significantly higher than it was for Gladbach,” he said. “We’ve conceded easy goals in the last three games now. It’s a sad and bitterly disappointing when you play a good attacking game, and then you can’t finish defensive work”. BVB have a week to regroup before their next game, at home to Augsburg next Saturday. A Cup game against Paderborn followed before the league matches against Freiburg and Hoffenheim, and the Champions League action against Sevilla on February 17.