What a week for Borussia Dortmund: three matches, three victories by a combined total of 14-1 and one point further ahead at the top. In a team with five changes, everything still went like clockwork.

Under Peter Bosz's leadership, both club and Bundesliga records are being equalled or broken. Never before have Borussia Dortmund started a season with more than 16 points from six matches – equalling a record set under Jürgen Klopp und Thomas Tuchel – and never before in the Bundesliga's 55-year history has a team had a goal difference of +18 (19-1) six games in.

BVB have even improved on their own legendary "English week" from the start of the 1994/95 season, when they strolled to victories over 1860 Munich (4-0) and 1. FC Cologne (6-1) before recording a 2-1 triumph against 1. FC Kaiserslautern. That team might have scored 12 and conceded two in three games, but the current crop have won their games against Cologne (5-0), Hamburg (3-0) and Gladbach (6-1) by a combined goal difference of +13 (14-1).

"It's been fun for me as a coach too"

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"It's been fun for me as a coach too," said a beaming Peter Bosz after the clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach, which was the perfect advertisement for German football for the DFL. There were 16 major goalmouth incidents – including six for the Foals, who had some good spells going forward. "If you've lost 6-1 then you shouldn't really mention it, but we could have scored five goals ourselves," said Gladbach boss Dieter Hecking, whose side had four good chances saved by Roman Bürki. "We're fortunate to have him in goal," declared Julian Weigl.

So while it might make pleasant reading for Black & Yellows, the euphoric mood in Bild am Sonntag – "Bosz's BVB the best there is" – does not reflect the entire truth. "When we lost the ball easily, the opposition had good chances," stated the Dutchman. That said, the team implemented the philosophy of their coach for large spells of the game, gave Gladbach hardly any breathing space and recorded an incredible 85 percent possession in the opening 20 minutes. When they did lose the ball deep in opposition territory, the Black & Yellows won it back before the Foals could even cross the halfway line. Bosz continued: "We didn't give the opposition the time to string together two or three passes, we won it back straightway."

Half the team rotated

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What makes it all the more remarkable is that the coach – whose side only had two days between Hamburg and Gladbach, and only have two days between Gladbach and Madrid – made five changes as he rotated half the team, fielding an entirely different midfield from the previous outing. Sahin, Castro and Kagawa dropped to the bench, to be replaced by Weigl, Götze and Dahoud.

"We're able rotate because the quality of the team is very high," said Jeremy Toljan following his home debut. "We have to rotate due to the number of matches we have. You saw from today that there was no drop in performance, which means the coach is free to choose. And the atmosphere is good because everyone is playing and making a contribution to our success," continued the former Hoffenheim man. Two-goal scorer Maximilian Philipp added: "There's a lot of quality in the team. There are different types of players, but everyone offers something. We complement each other perfectly and know what the coach wants from us."

Twenty-one players have already featured this season; only Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann has fielded more players than BVB.
Boris Rupert