On Saturday, after 44 days’ preparation, the league season starts for Peter Bosz and his new team. Borussia Dortmund travel to VfL Wolfsburg on the opening weekend of the 55th Bundesliga season, with both teams missing key players.

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In his first six weeks since taking charge, BVB Coach Peter Bosz has shown himself to be a pragmatist, so it was no great surprise to hear the Dutchman say “Before the first game of a season it’s always hard to say anything” in answer to a question about the current situation. He was asked “Who’s going to play?” in the light of the selection dilemmas on the left side of defence (Schmelzer, Guerreiro and Durm are missing and Beste is playing for the U19s) and in the wide attacking areas (Reus, Dembélé and Schürrle), to which he replied: “11 players. That’s for sure.”

Jan-Niklas Beste, a left-back who provides a strong attacking threat, was given a run-out against sixth-tier Rielasingen in the DFB Cup, but the recent academy graduate is to be exposed gradually to the rigours of the Bundesliga rather than being thrown in at the deep end. “He did very well”, said Bosz following his performance against the team from southern Germany, but “for a young player it’s important that he plays as often as possible. This weekend he’ll play for the U19s. He needs game time if he’s going to improve.” It is likely that Dan-Axel Zagadou, the same age as Beste but physically a lot stronger, will line up against Wolfsburg’s wide attacking players (presumably Jakub Blaszczykowski). Or Felix Passlack...

“Everyone who’s available is a very, very good player.”

With the attacking players who are unavailable, there is considerable scope for tactical variation and VfL Wolfsburg may well be left guessing as to what BVB will do. The logical option alongside Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is Maximilian Philipp, seemingly the only winger available for selection, though as Bosz pointed out, “Emre Mor is there too, and he’s also a winger”. Another possible scenario is that the wide position will be filled with a creative player like Shinji Kagawa or Mario Götze, which would give plenty of options if tactics need to be changed. In any case, as Bosz was keen to emphasise, “Everyone who’s available is a very, very good player. We’ll manage!”

Boris Rupert

This is how they could play

BVB total! Video: the complete press conference with Peter Bosz.