The job remit is similar: facing 1.FC Köln on Saturday (18:30 hrs) will mean Borussia Dortmund play an opponent for the fifth time in a row who is in the lower regions of the table. And as was the case against Freiburg, Mainz, Stuttgart or Hamburg this will be directly against an opponent who is also involved in the fight against relegation.

Jürgen Klopp calls the Westderby a ‘six pointer’ and adds: ‘we can increase the gap to four points. That is what we want to have.’

But until you have got what you want to have, blackyellow has a lot of hard work in front of them. This is because the team from Cologne will strut onto the pitch with even more confidence after their 4:2 win against Eintracht Frankfurt than they would have anyway, as they know how good they are away from home. Klopp explained: ‘away from home they are much more effective. That has to be the biggest difference between the ‘FC that plays at home and the FC that plays away.’ He also added: ‘this is where they need far fewer chances to score goals.’

As the Borussia defence has returned to being solid at the back in the second half of the season and only Gladbach has conceded less goals (4) (Klopp: ‘ and I still thought every single goal we conceded was unnecessary’), BVB does not have to be afraid about the FC effectiveness. Especially not then when you make sure you are ‘tight at the back’ when in attack. Klopp reasons: ‘otherwise you will have problems.’ The reason is: the strikers are fast, the players on the wings are fast.’

‘We have to show that we want to do this’

Klopp describes the counter pressing in the derby against Schalke as the ‘benchmark’ und he demands: ‘we should do it just like that again on the pitch. We missed that final touch in our counter pressing in Hamburg. If we need our own stadium behind us a bit to do this, then we have everything we need.’

In order to leave the pitch as the winning team, you need to score goals. In the last two home games they have managed to score seven goals. Here, BVB also seems to have found back to their old strengths. The manager says: ‘it’s one thing to be creative and inventive, but there is nothing better than counter pressing.’ He demands: ‘be consequent in the way you move up, so that you are always in the positions to be able to win the ball back.’ But fundamentals such as playing through ‘cross over points’ and getting ‘behind the line’ are also part of how Dortmund play; ‘the opponent may not be able to adjust to our game’.

Set pieces could also help. However more could be made from the corners and free-kicks the team have won. The manager is a bit puzzled: ‘I admit that you can’t always tell whether we practise set pieces or not. Because we do have enough players who are good in the air. Maybe we’ll get the breakthrough against Köln, whereby seven of the last eleven goals they conceded came from headers.

 

 

Borussia Dortmund face 1. FC Köln as the fourth best team in the league after the winter break. 1. FC Köln have had a very solid season so far. Jürgen Klopp said about the initial situation: ‘it was incredibly difficult that we got into this position. Games against direct rivals to avoid relegation are six pointers. And there are no favourites in six pointers. We have to show that we want to do this. This match will be super intensive. We have to be ready for that.’

Boris Rupert