Season on the brink again: Hummels can’t take “sexy” BVB football anymore

Season again on the brink
Hummels can’t stand “sexy” BVB football anymore

By Stephan Uersfeld

A few days after the surge of euphoria against Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund fell back into old patterns in the Champions League. BVB wants to celebrate the beauty of the game with too much complacency. Much to the displeasure of Captain Mats Hummels. Borussia threatens another tipping point.

Match point awarded, euphoria gone. The 1: 1 (1: 1) by Borussia Dortmund against FC Sevilla brought the Bundesliga team a little closer to the knockout phase of the Champions League and certainly to the Europa League next spring, but it didn’t necessarily put them in a good mood Westphalia Stadium. Just three days after the forced draw against Bayern, BVB is heading towards the next low in the usual manic-depressive manner. In the former beer capital of the world you are always three steps away from the abyss.

The process of change, which has now been going on for almost a decade, is again preventing consistency this season, which gives Borussia room to breathe and develop for several weeks. In doing so, as veteran Mats Hummels suspects, they always stand in their own way. “It has to get out of some heads that successful football is always sexy and heel, tip, one, two, three over five meters,” complained the 33-year-old after the game on Amazon. Successful football is “that a player always does the right thing and not sometimes just the special.”

During the 90 minutes, Hummels could be seen repeatedly taking one of his team-mates to his chest and recommending a different, simpler way of playing. One scene in the second half is particularly striking. Substitute left-back Raphael Guerreiro had just thrown a ball into the middle of his own half, causing the Sevilla visitors to dangerously win the ball. A scene that Hummels certainly had in mind when he spoke of “20 slight turnovers” in the second half.

Bellingham with a new personal best

In addition to the 2014 world champion, the upcoming superstar Jude Bellingham was not particularly impressed by the game of his own team. The 19-year-old Englishman, who was exhausted, made it 1-1 with his goal for a perhaps even lucky point win against a battered Sevilla. Most recently caught in the headlines for his unintentional kick against Alphonso Davies, the England international has scored his fourth goal in fourth Champions League game of the season. Only Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland had previously managed to do this when they were under 20. But in addition to his goal, Bellingham also repeatedly signaled his displeasure at the failed action of his teammates.

No problem for Mats Hummels, who had nothing but praise for the Englishman: “Jude always wants to win, in every training session and game. He invests a lot. That he has certain energies at that age, which I would also like to have a little bit It’s also clear that he has to channel things. But he’s played every minute this year and tried to win every minute and fight for the team. He’s allowed to complain and make mistakes.”

Ultimately, however, it stayed the same: BVB failed once again due to the ultimate consequence and perhaps also due to their own arrogance, which was only fueled by the 2-2 win against Bayern. Because if you play 2-2 against Bayern, you will conjure up a troubled Seville with “sexy football” from your own stadium. That didn’t work. Nevertheless, it still looks pretty good, at least in the Champions League. Only one point is missing to move into the knockout phase, the complete end is no longer possible, relegation to the Europa League is secured as a European emergency option. In Europe, BVB remains on course.

Union game sets the direction in the Bundesliga

But in the Bundesliga, the season threatens to slip away from them early on. The trip to Berlin at the weekend means another tipping point for BVB. The performances in this still young season are too changeable. The appearance at leaders Union Berlin next Sunday will decide the direction until the World Cup break in mid-November. In the event of a defeat, Borussia could face turbulent weeks, but three points would revive BVB’s dream of winning the championship. The leader of the table would be down to one point.

“Football is actually a simple game,” warned Hummels: “But we always make it complicated for ourselves!” Objective lessons were not only given by opponents from Seville, who excelled in the closing stages as a master of time play, but also by Union Berlin. They fought for their lead in the Bundesliga with the simplest of methods. In addition to playing time, which is also not unknown in Köpenick, there is team spirit, unbelievable effectiveness, a strong defensive network and the art of tactical fouls at the right time. Union fouls are so tactical that they don’t even attract attention, but rob the opponent of the momentum to switch. Football really is a simple game.

source site-33