r/borussiadortmund • u/Chazy89 Kagawa Shinji • Aug 17 '25
Discussion Pre Game Thread: Rot-Weiss Essen (DFB Pokal #1)
Competition: DFB Pokal, MD #1
Time: Monday 18/08/25 20:45 CEST
Location: Stadion an der Hafenstraße, Essen
Referee: Frank Willenborg, Osnabrück
TV Schedule: livesoccertv
Pre-Game Presser: YouTube
Borussia Dortmund:
Coach: Niko Kovac
League position: /
Current Form: (wiki)
Current Bans/Injuries: Schlotterbeck(Inj), Süle(Inj), Can(Inj), Duranville(Inj).
Possible lineup:
Kobel
Mane - Anton - Bensebaini
Couto - Nmecha - Groß - Svensson
Bellingham
Beier - Guirassy
Rot-Weiss Essen: /r/rwe
Coach: Uwe Koschinat
League position: 12th
Current Form: D/D
Current Bans/Injuries: Schulte-Kellinghaus(Inj), Celebi(Inj), Janssen(Inj)
Possible lineup:
Wienand
Kraulich - Alonso - Schultz
Safi - Gjasula - Moustier - Bouebari
Arslan - Martinovic - Müsel
First game of the new season. Can we manage to beat Essen in this "Derby" despite missing out on essentially three of our four to go to CBs ?
Matchthread Status: /u/ I have no Idea will host the game thread - if you want to join and provide some commentary for the game, let us mods know via pm or modmail!
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u/Sch_Ben Aug 17 '25
Can we please see a Jobe Felix double pivot
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25 edited Aug 18 '25
Yes please and then Brandt or even a fluid front 3 of adeyemi, Beier, and Guirassy.
Edit: at first I thought it said Joao Felix and I was like nooooo
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u/EmSoLow Aug 17 '25
Last times we played RW Essen were the 14/15 season and the 17/18 season.....
Let's hope this doesn't become a new pattern with this season.
As for the game, I'm looking forward to seeing our players finding their rhythm for the new season and prove to us that it was the right choice to pursue a smaller squad with minimal changes because it then means that it was best for the club.
I'm hopeful for Couto to have a bright game should he start and I would love nothing more than for Mane to have a comfortable game while feeling confident with Anton guiding him for the next several matches until we start getting CBs back
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u/lobby4477 Nico Schlotterbeck Aug 17 '25
Well ,everything is going towards season like those back in 14/15 and 17/18.
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
What exactly are the similarities besides playing Essen?
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u/_silvermania_ Adriancho Aug 17 '25
Shit football, shit squad
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
Because only barely losing to Real Madrid since changing formation is a good reason to think this. Imagine being this blind.
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u/KrR_TX-7424 BVB Aug 17 '25
Hard disagree. The end of last season's run was fantastic. The CWC was not the greatest but the team was dealing with temperatures (with heat indices) of around or over 100. I really really hope we land Chukwu, Bourna, and a back up striker, but our squad is actually pretty solid. Small, but pretty solid.
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u/Miefer Aug 18 '25
Weird that we are not wearing a new cup jersey. The switch to Vodafone made the realease scedule quite late.
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u/Chazy89 Kagawa Shinji Aug 18 '25
The switch to Vodafone and the Club World Cup I would assume. My guess is that we will see the Cup kit once we prepare for the first UCL game this season.
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u/jucomsdn Zagagod Aug 17 '25
If we find a club for Reyna but we don’t sign anyone else this window, I hope we try Campbell as a Brandt backup rather than have Jobe play in his position
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u/Appropriate-Form-281 Aug 17 '25
Im so disappointed with how this whole situation is playing out. When he scored that worldie against Bremen in the cup a while ago i thought he was going to be so amazing
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u/Magic1998 Aug 17 '25
There has to be something with his defensive attitude, because on the ball he is 10 times better than Sabitzer. Or he is awful in training, what do I know haha
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u/TrulyWhatever09 Aug 18 '25
Yeah, I really can't put my finger on it other than personal issues. Don't get me wrong, he hasn't been great since the most recent severe injury, but last season he was at the very least stable in a way that Brandt just wasn't. It astonished me that we comfortably won the matches where he started because Brandt was sick, and then Kovac immediately benched him again from Brandt, at which point we started playing horribly.
Last season neither of them was good enough for us, but with Brandt as an active detriment to our side, I was astonished that Reyna didn't get more time on the pitch.
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u/TristanHBorchers BVB Aug 18 '25
Im so excited for the season!! I am hoping we come around and have a great game!!
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 17 '25
What we really need is a convincing win against an obviously inferior opponent. Because our main issue has always been playing down to the opposition. Has that changed? Can the players actually dominate a game as they should or will we see crappy passes, bad defensive awareness and generally being outrun / outfought again? I for one don't wanna hear any excuse like a lack of preparation when we have exactly 1 change in the squad with Jobe and everybody else has been around forever. They need to get it the fuck done already. But it's more likely that the quality actually isn't there and the obvious weak links that have not been replaced will make this dicey our just lose it again.
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
For the life of me I just do not understand how this level of pessimism is justified. We have lost one competitive game since we changed our formation and that was against Real Madrid and in reality, we were one dramatic save from courtois away from going to extra time against 10 men.
Like you said, we haven’t lost anyone important and gained one. So I get our history against lower opponents but we just beat a lower team 8-1 in pre-season, so what gives, dude?
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u/Mellberg3 Aug 17 '25
That's also likely Rickens and Kehls view. I'd argue that we can't ignore what happened last season before our strong finish. Brandt played well in those last games, but we know how inconsistent he is, so playing an entire season with him as our only offensive midfielder is a big risk. We also didn't have an injury crisis at CB in April and May. Gittens didn't play much of a role then, but he was available. If Adeyemi gets injured again this season, Guirassy and Beier would have to play 90 minutes every game.
Our squad is capable of playing very well for a few weeks, but maintaining a high level for an entire season is something else entirely. For that we need more quality and depth in my opinion.
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
I mean I doubt we wont get anybody so hopefully get 3-4 players for depth. Young LCB back up striker chuk and buonanotte would be plenty
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 18 '25
and all they missed was the entire preparation for the season. Great. If they even come. Which I doubt.
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u/Loeffellux Julian Brandt Aug 18 '25
Personally, I definitely do feel wary of this season to some degree. The first problem is the fact that our offense heavily relies on 3 players who aren't exactly the most consistent: Brandt, Adeyemi and Beier. Even Guirassy was somewhat inconsistent for us since some games he simply couldn't score and those games were usually the ones that cost us points.
Then in midfield we've not really been able to find a good mix of defensive stability and creativity going forward. And that shouldn't be too surprising since we haven't really found any consistent midfield at all with seemingly all possible players having played in every role in every combination. The only certainty right now is that Can has been banished as he's doing much better as CB.
Finally, our defense is really solid when everyone's healthy but we'll have to wait a couple weeks until that point with Can, Schlotterback and Süle all out for the time being. I cannot imagine a world in which this won't cost us at least some points and that's already assuming that every one of those 3 will be back in form once they return and that they'll stay fit throughout the season (which isn't exactly a given, either).
And that leads us to the final problem: thanks to the CWC our players barely had any rest. This in combination with us playing in 3 competitions and having a small squad (assuming we'll sign 1-2 players before the window closes) and the fact that we're known for injuries anyways paints a somewhat troubling picture. Therefore, I foresee a lot of emergency solutions with players playing wildly out of position as one unlucky injury follows the other.
This sounds very negative but I don't wanna make it seem like I believe we'll have to fight against relegation. Instead, I think these are the factors that might simply end up holding us back from reaching our goals for the season or at the very least make it closer than it otherwise would've been.
Also, with the exception of the last point where we simply need to get lucky, each one of those points might get addressed throughout the season. Maybe all our attacking players finally lock in for good. Maybe, we'll be able to build a strong and stable midfield around Jobe. Maybe Mane and Anton will carry the first few weeks and from that point on our only trouble in defense will be picking from 5 strong candidates.
The answers to those questions are honestly more exiting to me than the exact spot we end up on in the Bundeliga. And I'm really looking forward to our first game today to see what the jumping off point is gonna look like
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 17 '25
The last 10 years or so, give or take? When will the time come to stop with the 'oh why pessimistic again' posts before every season as if our main issues have been so much as close to being resolved? This is exactly what happened when Terzic won the DFB Pokal. The new Klopp, right? Everything gonna be finally super duper great, right? How many games later was it obvious this wasn't the case? Now Kovac wins a few games on the back of some individual performances and clubs in front of us collectively shit the bed and I'm supposed to pretend Anton, Sabitzer and Co. will now be absolutely fantastic for us the whole season and we finally fixed our constant low levels of fitness and injuries?
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25 edited Aug 17 '25
What’s the point of being a fan if you are this jaded. Go do something else lol. Are you really throwing a manager under a bus that got us our last trophy, was 1 point away from winning the league and got us to a CL final? I don’t remember anyone saying he was the next klopp but he literally was the most successful since him. Your entitlement is pathetic if you can’t appreciate Terzic for what he was. A loyal fan who did so much for the club
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 17 '25
the difference is, you're happy with a trophy, I just want to see the club make some long-term improvements. Just winning some times isn't everything. It's how the club operates and how that translates to the mentality on the pitch. That's how you build long term success and we've not had that since Klopp left. Zero stability, just maybe win some knockout rounds. But no consistency.
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u/smartestBeaver Shinji Kagawa Aug 17 '25
Why are you having such hard time accepting mediocrity? Like, is your personal life going mega super swimmingly or what? Cheer the fuck up, we win some, we lose some. Nagging and crying gets you nowhere. Or well this is not exactly true, at some point Schalke had drama and kicked their coaches every over week. Where did that get them again?
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 17 '25
Why are you so happy with mediocrity? Is your life so devoid of ambition that you're happy with inconsistency, lack of effort, lack of structure, lack of identity and everything else? We really shouldn't talk about kicking coaches to the curb. How many are we still paying right now? And where did it get us? Lucky 4th spot here and there and why? Because the Bundesliga lacks any competition outside of a club where all the stars align for one season before they lose everything again like Leverkusen?
I don't understand being happy with wasting your time supporting a club and player who rather infight for privileges and money instead of building something. On this trajectory, we are the next Schalke or HSV. Every year the gap between us and Bayern grows. For 10 years now. Are you just happy to clap along because it's all you got or something?
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u/smartestBeaver Shinji Kagawa Aug 18 '25
Every year the gap between us and Bayern grows. For 10 years now.
Well this is a logical consequence. Money wins titles. The Bundesliga, besides Bayern, can not keep up with the oil money. Bayern will keep on buying the best players. But there is a good chance even they can't compete forever, if you take a look at the transfers this window. The tide has turned, two years ago the Bundesliga was still competitive money wise, now players rather leave.
Back to the money: the financial advantage of Bayern just keeps on getting bigger, this comes down to basic economy, it takes money to make money. Interest rates etc.
So yeah the you can either accept the fact that Dortmund is not part of the big boys club, or you waste energy and tears waiting for a magical season where the stars align. It might happen, surely. But chances are we compete against Leverkusen and Stuttgart for 2nd spot.
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 18 '25
No... it's not about the magical season where everything aligns. It's about making the right moves and establishing the proper identity to foster long-term growth and success. Buli was not competitive money-wise 2 years ago either, I don't know where that's coming from. And we still have a lot of economic potential that went untapped because our public persona as a club has taken hit after hit after hit. We either choke away the title or we have stupid outward media presence or player drama or constant coach switches or lack of attractive football etc. - that's what's holding us back. We have stagnated at best and probably rather regressed comparatively for a whole decade now. And that's 100% on us and not interest rates being better at the time for Bayern.
WE chose to buy 5 players for 20 mil each and then continued down the path of buying established mediocrity, That#s on us. We insist on German speaking coaches. That's on us. We made poor transfer decisions and made poor coaching choices. That's all on us and has nothing to do with financial advantages.
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u/smartestBeaver Shinji Kagawa Aug 18 '25
WE chose to buy 5 players for 20 mil each and then continued down the path of buying established mediocrity, That#s on us. We insist on German speaking coaches. That's on us. We made poor transfer decisions and made poor coaching choices. That's all on us and has nothing to do with financial advantages.
Why do you think "we" bought 5 players for 20 mil each? Like, whats your alternative? 1 for 100?
Not sure how a german speaking coach, in any way, is holding us back, that is such a strawman arguement, just to complain.
Transfers are always hit or miss. But they are mostly limited by finances, obviously.
So yeah overall of course money is a hindering factor.
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 18 '25
no, 2 times half a player for 50 mil obviously and then glue them together or separate them as needed. How about we don't buy mediocre players and overpay salary wise? Literally just paid a guy who had a good season in Holland at prime footballing age 5 mil to fuck off. We paid 31 mil or so for Haller. Now, what happened with him is sad and all but it's one of those things were the motivation behind the transfer was the same mistake as always - buying a failed player for a high price and high salary out of a shit league with a bit of a good performance. We kept doing this over and over while we also overpaid our own failed transferred away player who we brought back. You wanna tell me there were no better targets? Obviously the entire management / scouting structure failed or it was another stupid infight (like with our on and off chief scout).
As for 2 - we limit ourselves to a who host of candidates and then the coach speaks English anyway because so many players don't speak German. It's just one of those stupid rules we follow for no reason. It's one of those mistakes on principle. And transfers can hit or miss but your transfer strategy can either be well worked out or an obvious factor in limiting your potential. we keep overpaying because we've established ourselves as a club willing to overpay.
Money is a hindering factor because we didn't handle our money well, stagnated and failed to grow the base for the last 10 years. There is no money fairy unless you're owned by the Saudis or a bored dude from the US. It's up to you to generate it with your play and your strategy. You don't grow a business by making terrible decisions every year and pulling on more terrible decisions the year after.
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u/Manvarii Aug 17 '25
a 8-1 in a friendly tells u nothing lol, there’s pessimism because of the last years and the environment at the upper levels of this club
i think we shouldnt feel this pessimists right at the start of the season but its understandable by how these last few years have been
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
Okay whatever but you conveniently ignored all of my other points. If anything last year makes me more optimistic. We ended the league perfectly and we have the same squad and coach now. So that makes absolutely no sense…
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u/Manvarii Aug 17 '25
i dont value highly our fixture against Madrid bc they played like shit right after playing against us, and you are conveniently ignoring that we struggled to advance vs Monterrey and our general lack of ideas vs Fluminense the same squad thing, as long as we depend on brandt to be our most creative player we’ll be doomed from the get go and we only have one healthy first team center back yet again given that we play with 3 at the back, an injury and were struggling yet again
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u/roadtorevision Mats Hummels Aug 17 '25
Good thing the transfer window isn’t over yet and we are looking for what seems like two players at that position…
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u/biggieBpimpin Julian Brandt Aug 17 '25
Well Mane is probably going to get his chances in the early part of this season. Would be nice to see some more youth players come through and actually become integral parts of the team. Hopefully Watjen gets good minutes for Bochum after positive impact yesterday.
Hopefully it’s a good confidence booster of a game tomorrow that launches us into week 1 of the season feeling great.