Dortmund kicked off the defence of their Bundesliga title last night with a comprehensive 3-1 home win over Hamburger SV. All eyes were on the champions as they took to the field without Nuri Sahin; with the Turkish playmaker having been spirited away by Real Madrid for €10m in the summer, much of the prelude to this match focused on new boy Ilkay Gündogan, his replacement in the Dortmund double pivot.
It was wonderkid Mario Götze who stole the limelight, however, with a performance that both bedazzled and delighted in equal measure, as Jurgen Klopp’s side got their season off to a flier.
Player Report
Ratings Summary
The average rating for each side- Dortmund’s 7.21 compared to Hamburger’s 6.31 highlights the hosts superior play. Dortmund were boosted by two-goal hero Kevin Großkreutz’s 8.91 and Mario Götze’s brilliant 9.62, but it was a team performance overall- seven of Klopp’s side averaged 7 or more in WhoScored.com’s ratings.
Hamburger, on the other hand, were collectively poor- only one of their starting XI, Gökhan Töre, averaged 7 or more, though sub Robert Tesche was awarded 7.04 for grabbing his side’s late consolation. Six of the fourteen players used by the visitors last night had a WhoScored.com rating of 6 or less.
Man of the Match
With a WhoScored.com rating of 9.62, Mario Götze was head and shoulders above any other player on the pitch. Much of his side’s attacking play went through the nineteen year old- despite being taken off on 76 minutes, Götze had 88 touches of the ball. Compare this to the other two attacking midfielders in Dortmund’s 4-2-3-1, Shinji Kagawa with 61 touches and Kevin Großkreutz, who managed 51 touches, and it’s obvious how central Götze was to his side’s play.
Götze grabbed a goal and an assist in the 3-1 win and was the chief creator last night; 4 key passes were more than any other player on the pitch. He also managed 2 shots at goal, made 2 successful dribbles and was magnificent in possession, too, with a 90% pass accuracy. The youngster also attempted 6 crosses, a tally no other player bettered and played 4 long balls, with a 100% accuracy.
As if his attacking performance was not enough, Götze was also joint-top when it came to tackles for Dortmund at the Signal-Iduna Park last night. He made 5 over the course of the game, the same tally as Sven Bender, the ball-winner in the hosts’ double-pivot.
Best Tackler
Hamburger SV centre half Heiko Westermann was a busy man last night. The twenty-seven year old made 6 tackles, more than any player on the pitch, and also chipped in with 4 interceptions and 4 clearances as he desperately tried to keep a rampant Dortmund at bay.
Best Dribbler
Hamburger SV’s Gökhan Töre can count himself somewhat unlucky to finish on the losing side. Playing wide right in his side’s 4-2-3-1, the summer signing from Chelsea had an extraordinary debut, making 10 successful dribbles on his Bundesliga debut- as way of comparison, Lionel Messi made 5.6 per game last season. Töre had 64 touches, more than any away player, made 3 key passes, 5 crosses and managed 1 shot at goal.
Best Passer
Deputising for the absent Neven Subotić, Dortmund centre-half Felipe Santana caught the eye. He had more touches (106) than any player and also made the most passes, with a phenomenal 92. His defensive partner, Mats Hummels, made the second-highest number of passes, with 66; this highlights just how far ahead of the rest Santana was when it came to volume of distribution. He had an 87% pass accuracy and played 10 long balls, as he regularly looked to start attacks from deep.
Flop
Let’s just say Hamburger SV’s Gojko Kacar didn’t have the best of games. The Serbian managed just 29 touches of the ball and made 15 passes, with an accuracy of 67%. He seemed to make a habit of needlessly clumsy challenges, and with 5 fouls to his name, it’s no surprise the defensive midfielder picked up a yellow card for his tackling. Kacar lasted 73 minutes before being replaced, with a WhoScored.com rating of just 5.48 to his name.
Team Report
Player Positions
One look at the average position graphic and it’s easy to see why Mario Götze had so much joy last night- the position of Dennis Aogo (6), Hamburger’s left-back, is key to the match.
Aogo showed a defensive naivety and was far too advanced on the flank- his forages forward left a huge gap between him and left-sided centre-half Heiko Westermann (4). With this is mind, it’s also clear to see just why Westermann’s defensive stats were so high, as he desperately tried to plug the gaps left by Aogo.
Aside from Götze (11) and two-goal Kevin Großkreutz (19), Dortmund’s third-highest rated player was right-back Lukasz Piszczek (26); no coincidence, really. Stationed on the same flank as Aogo, he took full benefit, with a match rating of 8.13 indicating his match involvement at the expense of the opposition left-back‘s defensive indiscipline.
Attack Zones
With Götze playing slightly narrower on the right than Großkreutz out left, 37% of Dotmund’s attacks came through the centre. 32% came from the right, helped by Piszczek bombing forward and offering width from deep when Götze ventured into more central areas, and 30% came from the left. Between them, Götze and Piszczek made 12 of Dortmund’s 21 crosses.
Hamburger’s attacks were more lop-sided and again back up our findings. The visitors had 42% of all their attacks from down the left hand side, with Aogo a key contributor- he made 6 crosses, more than any team mate, but, as highlighted above, his attacking intent came at a cost. The other two attack zones saw an equal distribution, with 29% both down the middle and on the right hand side.
Team Stats
With 61% possession, the champions were in complete control throughout. Dortmund made a total of 530 compared to Hamburger’s 350, and their 450 short passes to 270 explains an impressive 83% pass accuracy to their visitors’ 73%. Hamburger played more long balls, 66 to their hosts’ 58, and with an average pass streak of just 3, it’s easy to see why they didn’t hold on to the ball for long. Both sides were pretty even on crosses (21-20).
Dortmund’s dominance is reflected by the number of shots each team had- they managed 13 to Hamburger’s 4. Klopp’s side had 8 attempts from open play to their visitors’ 3, and led the way in set-piece attempts, by 4 to 1. Hamburger had a slightly better goals per shots ratio- 25% of their efforts found the net compared to Dortmund’s 23%
Card Situations
The one aspect of the game where Hamburger excelled was when it came to picking up cautions. Both defensive midfielders -Gojko Kacar and Tomás Rincón- received yellows for 5 and 3 fouls respectively. Centre-half Michael Mancienne also found his way into the referee’s book as the visitors made 18 fouls to Dortmund’s 12. Robert Lewandowski, deputising for the injured Lucas Barrios, was the only player to receive a caution for the champions.
