Borussia Dortmund sacked Nuri Şahin last week on the back of a run of four consecutive losses since the turn of the year. While the young Turkish coach’s tactics had various issues, the fact that this is the club’s fifth coaching change in just over four years points to much larger issues.

By Neel Shelat

Borussia Dortmund are currently all the way down in 11th place in the Bundesliga standings, on course for their worst season since 2007/08. The decision to sack head coach Nuri Şahin is hardly surprising, then, but it will hardly change much on its own.

Tactical issues under Şahin

Şahin joined Borussia Dortmund at the very end of 2023, initially as an assistant coach under Edin Terzić. His only previous senior coaching experience was a two-year stint at Antalyaspor, but he seemingly had a positive impact on the side. The team’s domestic performance improved enough to consolidate a top-five spot and they also went on to reach their first UEFA Champions League final in over a decade.

So, when Terzić left his post last summer, Şahin was backed as his successor. The team never got going under him, though, as they are yet to string together a run of more than two victories this season. Their recent form has been particularly poor as they have won just one of their last ten matches, so a change certainly is needed.

One of the biggest issues that the Turkish coach faced was an inability to get Dortmund’s attack clicking. Most opponents were quite happy to cede possession against his side, which is why they have the second-highest possession average in the league at close to 60%. However, they were much closer to the mid-table teams in terms of chance creation as they were very easily stifled in the opposition’s half.

Dortmund’s attacking contingent this season features a lot of quick forwards who might not be the best with the ball at their feet but certainly can trouble opposition defences in more open games. Such a front line could be best utilised by trying to adopt a more direct and transitional approach, so Şahin’s patient possession play did not get the best out of his side. Very often, the team showed no attacking ideas beyond looking for Jamie Gittens – the only standout dribbler on the pitch. It should be no surprise, then, that the young Englishman is the only one of their players with a double-digit league league goal involvements tally.

Incredibly, Dortmund’s defensive numbers look even worse. Their high press was particularly poor as most opponents easily cut through it, while individual mistakes often cost them in their own half. Bad luck with injuries did not help, but their defensive record was far too bad to use that as a reasonable excuse.

Poor recruitment

While Şahin was rightly sacked for taking a Champions League-level squad into the bottom half of the table, the real issue for Borussia Dortmund is that they have gone from being one of the clear top-two in Germany to struggling to keep up with the top four. Indeed, their fifth-place finish last season was a perfectly fair reflection of their level, so it was their Champions League run which was rather deceptive as they faced relatively easier opponents en route to the final.

The likes of RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen have done well to raise their level in recent years, but Dortmund have really been the masters of their own downfall when it comes to falling out of the top two. Some analysts have suggested that their approach of buying and developing highly promising young talents to sell them on for big profits held them back from winning the title, but that likely is not the root of the issue; BVB came within two points of the title in 2018/19 and only lost out on goal difference a couple of seasons ago.

Instead, their failure to continue identifying and recruiting top-class talents is a more plausible explanation for their recent downward trajectory. Dortmund continued to sign some great prospects in the late 2010s and even early 2020s including the likes of Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham. They earned huge profits on each of their sales between 2021 and 2023, but failed to reinvest any of that money on similar players. Instead, they spread out their returns on more experienced but less promising signings who have gone on to be pretty mediocre, thus bringing down the overall quality of the squad.

Management drama

Diagnosing the cause of Borussia Dortmund’s poor recruitment is quite an easy task. Particularly over the last year or so, there has been a big power struggle among the management. Sporting director Sebastian Kehl and squad planner Sven Mislintat – whose designations alone suggest a great degree of overlap between their roles – have reportedly been at odds ever since the latter arrived last April. They were said to have disagreed over most transfer decisions, so it is no surprise that Dortmund’s recruitment was poor last summer.

Mislintat was sacked earlier today, so the club have clearly decided to take some action and work on this issue. Kehl’s position reportedly is not entirely safe either – even though he signed a contract extension earlier this month!

Amid such uncertainty, it seems quite likely that Dortmund will be compelled to treat the current season as a write-off. Under-19 head coach Mike Tullberg has stepped into the senior position for the time being, but his lack of experience will likely prevent him from sticking around for a long time. Whether the club goes for a long-term replacement or interim coach until the end of the season remains to be seen, but their next big decisions will have to be made at the management level. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

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