Matt Oldfield

Speaking after the club’s disappointing 3-0 Champions League defeat to Olympiacos, Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic commented: "We pressed a lot and had some good chances but we just couldn’t score." At times, this has proven an all too familiar story for Jurgen Klopp’s defending Bundesliga champions this season. After last year’s heights, the young Dortmund side have struggled to kick on to bigger and better things.

The Yellow and Blacks fell to three Bundesliga defeats in their first six games this season, having lost just five games in total in the previous campaign. Following a superb recent run of domestic wins, however, the Ruhr giants now sit only three points behind league leaders Bayern Munich. But in the Champions League, just one point from three games has left them bottom of their group. What has been behind the slump and subsequent mini-revival of one of Europe’s most exciting young teams?

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Creativity is something that Dortmund have in abundance. Mario Gotze and Shinji Kagawa are two of Europe’s most sought-after young attacking midfielders as was certainly on show against English outfit Arsenal in the Champions League; their fluid movement and intricate passing created chance after chance in a 1-1 draw that Klopp’s men should have won.

Dominating possession is one thing, though; capitalising on this possession is quite another. Dortmund’s major problem this season has been scoring that first goal. Once the back of the net ripples, goals usually flow freely, as shown in the 5-0 thrashing of Cologne last weekend. However, too often that goal has proved elusive.

In their second Bundesliga game of the season, despite enjoying 65% of the possession, Klopp’s side fell to a frustrating 1-0 defeat at relative minnows Hoffenheim. Against Hertha Berlin three games later, Dortmund again failed to score first and could only manage a late consolation in a 2-1 defeat. In the side’s Champions League draw with Arsenal, Gotze and co. were heading for another frustrating defeat until Ivan Perisic’s wonderful late strike.

One vital cog currently missing is ‘La Pantera’ Lucas Barrios, the Paraguayan hitman who topscored for Dortmund last season with 16 league goals. In total, Barrios has clocked up 44 goals in 67 games for the German club, but frustratingly, injury has ruled him out of the whole campaign so far. In his absence, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski has done a very admirable job, but at crucial times this season, goals have evaded Dortmund. Lewandowski is currently the club’s top scorer with seven Bundesliga goals; the next highest scorer, Kevin Grosskreutz, has just three.

Of late, however, midfielders have begun to provide much-needed support. The emergence of young Croatian winger Perisic has been timely, while Kagawa scored his second of the season at the weekend. With Barrios’ return imminent and a recent run of 11 goals in three Bundesliga matches, scoring could be a problem of the past.

Defensive Frailties

Last season, Dortmund conceded just 22 goals on their way to the Bundesliga crown, 11 fewer than the English Premier League’s stingiest defences. This season the defending German champions let in seven in their first seven games however.

While this may seem like a fairly strong record, Klopp will be disappointed. In their encounter with Arsenal, Dortmund looked vulnerable against the pace of Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie on the counter-attack, while away at Marseille and Olympiacos, the defence shipped six goals.

The German champions certainly have defensive talent in their ranks. Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer are highly-rated young defenders with caps for Germany, while Subotic has played 28 times for Serbia despite his tender years. Three league clean sheets in a row suggest that Dortmund are beginning to tighten up though and Klopp must make sure concentration continues to be kept throughout the 90 minutes.

The Return of Bayern

For all Dortmund’s wonderful football last season, the 2010/11 Bundesliga season will for many go down as one which Bayern Munich lost. A poor campaign eventually saw the Bavarians finish a respectable but underwhelming third. With Champions League qualification under threat, Dutch coach Louis van Gaal was dramatically fired from the Allianz Arena hotseat in April.

This season, once again under the management of Jupp Heynckes – it is the veteran coach’s third spell at the club – Bayern have largely looked solid and imperious. Striker Mario Gomez has scored 10 league goals already; new signings Manuel Neuer and Jerome Boateng have fitted in seamlessly, and Franck Ribery looks back to his best. Add to this the emergence of young German midfielder Toni Kroos and the experience of Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Arjen Robben, and the result is a Bayern side that started the campaign with seven wins out of eight, scoring 21 goals in the process and until last weekend, had conceded just one.

Of late, however, the German giants have begun to stutter. Heynckes’ men have won just one of their last three in the Bundesliga, and on Sunday, suffered a surprising 2-1 defeat to Hannover, with Boateng sent off after just 28 minutes. The chasing pack, led by Dortmund, are hot on their heels. However, the Bavarians have more talent and experience than before and will represent a very strong challenge to Dortmund’s defence of the title. To lose one title may be considered misfortune; to lose two would be a disaster for Bayern Munich, a side who have failed to go more than one season without winning the Bundesliga since 1996.

Things are certainly looking up for Dortmund, just as Bayern Munich show signs of being a human side rather than an all-conquering juggernaut. In the Bundesliga, Klopp’s men are now scoring goals freely and not conceding. The Borussen have put a bad start to the season behind them and are moving forward with gusto.

After a disappointing opening in the Champions League, another Bundesliga title must now be Dortmund’s priority. Inexperience has so far proved a telling factor in Europe, but domestically, Gotze and co. have been there before and will be desperate to go there again. With youth on their side, Dortmund might just do it.