Start of the season:

On Friday, the reigning German champions and cup winners, Borussia Dortmund open the 19th Round of the 50th Bundesliga season against 1. FC Nürnberg.

Last Saturday, BVB started the new year violently with a 5:0 win in Bremer Weserstadion where they played Werder Bremen. In contrast Nürnberg's start under new-coach Wiesinger performance and result-wise was a little disappointing after they drew HSV 1-1 at home.

Did you know?

• Borussia Dortmund's 5-0 win over Werder Bremen last week was their joint-biggest victory this season, along with the thrashing of Borussia Monchengladbach at home.
  
• The champions have lost twice at home this season - more times than they did in the whole of their 2011-12 campaign.
  
• Nuri Sahin is set to make his first appearance at Signal Iduna Park since leaving BVB for Real Madrid in the summer of 2011.
  
• Nurnberg, despite sitting in 15th place in the Bundesliga, have the same defensive record as second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.
  
• However, only fellow Bavarian outfits Augsburg and Greuther Furth have scored fewer goals than der Club.
  
• Tomas Pekhart's equaliser against Hamburg last Sunday was his first goal since his side held BVB to a 1-1 draw at home on matchday 2 - way back in August.

(via Goal.com)

Team news:

Borussia Dortmund: No injuries from last match, Klopp can build around the same team as against Werder Bremen. Subotic and Bittencourt still out.

1. FC Nürnberg: Marcos Antonio not available for the coach while Nelsen who was sick should be fine by tomorrow.

Probable line-ups:

Borussia Dortmund:


1. FC Nürnberg:

Well, let's hope that Dortmund will collect the next win on Friday. They totally need to end in the CL spots after all.

3-0! Fairly Nürnberg didn't have the best game but Dortmund were sensational, especially in the first half.

Gündogan MOTM, what a game... controlled everything and had some fantastic passing skills. Kuba obviously had a good game too. Thought Schmelzer improved in the 2nd half, won almost every header

Götzeus were kinda meh, didn't think they had their best game.

Thought the 2nd half was kinda interesting tactically speaking as Dortmund were kinda playing Barça's game, pressing high up the field, Schmelle and Pische were acting as wingers, midfield overcrowded, false 9 and tiki takaing around. 2nd half might has been boring for neutrals but very interesting tactically speaking.

Watched the game and good lord Hummels is like Pirlo sometimes

Hopefully Dortmund can continue like this, would like to see a title race of some sort.

Watched the game. It must be said that the 4-3-3 ypu switched ti in the 2nd half really let you put a stranglehold on the game. With Sahin back and playing well its hard to bench him, so i would rotate Kuba and Lewa and try out a 4-3-3 for a couple games. They say "dont fix it if its not broken" but the reward far outweighs the risk in my opinion cuz you could always simply go.back to the 4-2-3-1. But i think the 4-3-3 with Reus as an Inside forward and Gotze starting out on the right but having a free role would suit you guys even better.

Bench Lewa, play 4-3-3, Lewandowski is an incredible scrub, his goal was utter class, but the times before that when he gave the ball away made me almost rage-quit the TV -.-

So much for "Wilshere would walk into the Dortmund team anytime"

I only watched the second half, but nice job by Dortmund! And Lewa desperately needs to drink some target water before games...

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Watched the game and good lord Hummels is like Pirlo sometimes

Hopefully Dortmund can continue like this, would like to see a title race of some sort.

His playmaking is discussed a lot in Germany.

Jens Lehmann who's a Sky pundit now, mentioned that his eagerness to attack/playmake can be risky when playing against top quality in Europe, while I agree it can be risky - Hummels looks like he knows when to attack and when not, he manages that very well - and he did the same against top quality too (Manchester City, Real Madrid, Ajax etc...)

juventus101 wrote:Watched the game. It must be said that the 4-3-3 ypu switched ti in the 2nd half really let you put a stranglehold on the game. With Sahin back and playing well its hard to bench him, so i would rotate Kuba and Lewa and try out a 4-3-3 for a couple games. They say "dont fix it if its not broken" but the reward far outweighs the risk in my opinion cuz you could always simply go.back to the 4-2-3-1. But i think the 4-3-3 with Reus as an Inside forward and Gotze starting out on the right but having a free role would suit you guys even better.

I don't agree that benching Sahin will be hard, Klopp won't drop Kuba who's in great form for Sahin, I can guarantee you that. For now atleast not. You just don't break the Kuba-Piszczek telepathic connection

Plan is when/if Lewandowski leaves the club Kloppo will try the 4-3-3 with Götze as a false 9:


But for a plan B if this doesn't work out, Dortmund will have to sign a striker who has good movement off the ball, can score goals, but also links up well with Reus-Götze-Kuba. But the 4-3-3 will be tried more for sure, when Lewandowski inevitably leaves the club.

@OptaFranz: 147 - Ilkay Gündogan had 147 ball touches vs. Nürnberg, more than any other player this season in one BL game. Involved.

@OptaFranz: 1991 - Only Stuttgart had 1991 a better start in the second leg (2 victories, 9-0 goals) than Dortmund 2013 (2 victories, 8-0 goals). Dash.

urbaNRoots wrote:

juventus101 wrote:Watched the game. It must be said that the 4-3-3 ypu switched ti in the 2nd half really let you put a stranglehold on the game. With Sahin back and playing well its hard to bench him, so i would rotate Kuba and Lewa and try out a 4-3-3 for a couple games. They say "dont fix it if its not broken" but the reward far outweighs the risk in my opinion cuz you could always simply go.back to the 4-2-3-1. But i think the 4-3-3 with Reus as an Inside forward and Gotze starting out on the right but having a free role would suit you guys even better.

I don't agree that benching Sahin will be hard, Klopp won't drop Kuba who's in great form for Sahin, I can guarantee you that. For now atleast not. You just don't break the Kuba-Piszczek telepathic connection

Plan is when/if Lewandowski leaves the club Kloppo will try the 4-3-3 with Götze as a false 9:

Weidenfeller
Piszczek Subotic Hummels Schmelzer
Bender
Sahin Gündogan
Kuba Götze Reus

But for a plan B if this doesn't work out, Dortmund will have to sign a striker who has good movement off the ball, can score goals, but also links up well with Reus-Götze-Kuba. But the 4-3-3 will be tried more for sure, when Lewandowski inevitably leaves the club.

My Fifa 13 formation although it was Leitner instead of Sahin

I play them with a very narrow 4-3-3 in FIFA13, almost a 4-2-1-1-2, like so:
(Note that Kroos is only very little behind Götze and Reus, who are very close to the center, the wings are covered mostly be my wingbacks, just as Gündogan is only very little ahead of the Bender brothers)
I traded Lewandowski + 15m for Kroos right at the start of the season, and Perisic for Lars Bender. Then Subotic got immedeatly injured, at which point I traded Kehl +1m for Kirchhof. I'll get Sahin as soon as I can, I'd even trade Kuba for him, if I can get another decent CAM/CF/SS. Since I don't use wingers.
Now I rotate Kuba through the front 3, and Leitner through the midfield, while I sometimes play Hummels as a DM or CM, and give Kirchhof and Santana minutes at CB. Hummels in a more attacking position is an absolute beast.
/FIFA13

I mention this, because I actually think FIFA got htis one right: Hummels is a beast, he really reminds me of Beckenbauer in the way he goes forward, he doesn't really dribble players, he just goes past them, and they assume they can't stop him because he looks majestic. Haven't seen a central defender with that brilliant attacking spirit in ages, and I really wish Löw would utilize that attribute more, and partner him with a defender that can cover for him better, like Höwedes, for example.

For Dortmund he's already utilized perfectly, Kloppo really does know what to do with his players.

Only in Fifa could Kroos be sold to Dortmund

If you want me to split the above FIFA posts into a separate "Dortmund Players in FIFA13" thread to discuss that further, just give me a call. ^^

Dortmund shouldve got Podolski when they had the chance last season. Lewandowski is inevitably gonna leave, and when he does, your only options up top are playing Reus or Gotze as false 9's or Schieber. Podolski would also be a false 9, but those 3 combining would be awesome. With the 4-3-3 hes not needed, and theyre certainly doing amazing without him, but as a fan of Podolski and Dortmund being my favorite team still in the first Bundesliga (im a Koln fan), it wouldve been awesome.

I think Podolski would have asked for too much money. He got paid well by Bayern and from what I read he gets more than he'd get in Dortmund at Arsenal, too. (The only club that Poldi will likely even pay for free for is his beloved Köln).

Nurnberg were hopeless. Dont close anyone down, dont track anyones run, let them score basically.