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Originally Posted by h8kurdt

You're the man to ask. So why have Dortmund struggled so hard this season?

Make your answer as long as you want. I'm intrigued to see your thoughts.

i'm no expert but i think 2 problems have occurred:

1) started the season with a *very* shallow bench-- 9 starters injured at some point i think i recall.

2) said shallow bench was burned at the champions league matches, which i think left them tired for weekends.

3) while the rest of the planet perceives the bundesliga as a one-team league (bayern), they are all highly competitive -- much more than la liga for example. lots of ups and downs midtable. dortmund's first win in quite a while was vs. a team (monchengladbach) that's battling for 2nd place, while they lost against various relegation contestants-- one would have expected the opposite.

4) dortmund is best on the counterattack, when they have possession they don't seem to know what to do with it. other bundesliga teams seem to have figured this out and let them have possession.

5) they've had a lot of shots on goal but they have consistently failed to convert. mkhitarian, immobile, aubameyang. ramos and even (especially) reus are ultimately constipated. witchcraft?

6) none of the new guys is good enough replacement for lewandowski. even though immobile was capocannoniere in serie a last year...! he seems lost now, not sure why.

7) klopp keeps subbing in grosskreutz for kagawa. how very wrong, but that's their shallow bench-- a lumbering mostly defensive jack of all trades for a gifted creative midfielder.

8) a lot of key players are still injured out or not in full form. hummels, sahin, and i think gundogan were watching from the bleachers last weekend. last time gundogan came in (after 15 months) he was way below top form--supposedly man u want him now.

9) weidenfeller, while big and strong and imposing, can sometimes be a slow lumbering dumbshit. dortmund needs to start looking for a good alternative.

10) witchcraft, obviously.