Borussia Dortmund vs Bayern Munich player by player analysis

Bayern Munich's Tim Borowski last Saturday had levelled the game against Borussia Dortmund with Mark van Bommel sent off in the middle of the first half. Here is the player by player analysis:

Michael Rensing, GK: Unlucky day for him again. Jakub Błaszczykowski (a.k.a Kuba) (picture) scored a world class goal and nobody could stop that. Afterwards he had no chance to perform himself. This was not because the defense did very well, but the Dortmund's offense did not grab a chance to extend the lead. Meanwhile, as Bayern was shorthanded, they had more possession than Dortmund and they did not have any chance to bring any real threat, especially in second half.



Christian Lell, DR: I could see his effort, but it was not enough. He did the right job at the right side and he did not leave out lots of spaces for the opposition. Compare with his last match, his soul finally finished his vacation and back on the pitch. However, his confident was not good enough to have harder tackle on the opposition. Also, I could see his effort on the attack on the right flank but he did not bring any huge impact to the team. So I say it is a fair play to him only.



Lucio, DC: Lucio was the other player who put lots of effort in the game. After van Bommel was sent off, he was the captain until the end of the match. He did try a lot of runs after the sent off of van Bommel and he did a fair job. He limited the spaces and the passing route of the opposition during the match, but he was not confident enough as well, the tackling was a bit clumpsy and gave the second chance of the opposition attack. However all in all, he did a fair job being a captain.



Daniel van Buyten, DC: He was the other only choice of the starting centre back when Martin Demichelis was still not fit enough to play. He contributed in the attack and had a few header to the opposition goal, that was unlucky a bit for him for not scoring goal. However, he did a bad job in the defense. He could not delay the counter attack from the opposition and brought trouble to the own defense. This is the worth of Martin Demichelis, he can delay the counter attack effectively and efficiently so the own players have time to rush back to their position. I guess if Demichelis is fit again, he will not be the starter.



Philipp Lahm, DL (picture): He had a very ordinary game. In defense he was not confident to tackle harder to the opposition. Although Kuba's goal was incredible, if Lahm was confident enough, he could stop the counter attack from his left flank and the goal was not happened. The remaining of the match although he did try a lot of runs to assist the team to level the match, his defense was not really confident and received a yellow card in the later second half. So he can be further improved.



Hamit Altintop, MR: He was one of the changes of the game compare to last match. I guess Klinsmann would like to use his long shot ability to break the deadlock of the game. However, maybe because of lack of match form as he was just back from the injury, he was invisible during the game. His touches, his runs, and his dribbles were not effective ever in the match. In other words, Bayern was just like playing in 9 men instead of 10 after Mark van Bommel's sent off. It is still forgivable as he was just back from injury. However, if his form is not improved in the couple of weeks, it is unforgivable.



Mark van Bommel, MC (picture): He did not bring anything to the game but an early red card. It really brought the team into trouble especially when the team was a goal down. I did not make any further comments on if he was deserved to receive the red card, I just want to say it was really doubtful on referee, Herbert Fandel decision on red card. From the live screen I could not spot out those 2 hard fouls were hard enough to receive the yellow cards. Especially in the second yellow card, I could not spot van Bommel was elbowing in purpose. So I reserve any comments on the van Bommel's dismissal.



Andreas Ottl, MC: He was the other change of the match compare to last one. I guess Klinsmann wanted more tackling in the midfield to hold on the possession. However, this changed disabled the creativitiy of the midfield so the attack in the midfield became less variable. He did limit the space and runs from the opposition but he did not helped a lot in te attack. This was the reason why the team found hard to level the game. All in all he had only a fair game.



Bastian Schweinsteiger, ML (picture): He had a fair game, and he did try lots of runs to assist the attacks. Another confident display for him but he could not convert his confident into a real threat to the game. His set pieces were not so good in the game and it wasted lots of chances for Bayern Munich. In the later second half he was not really fit, maybe it was because the team had a man down in the remaining 70 minutes of the game and he used an extra energy for filling in the extra space. So fair play for him.



Miroslav Klose, ST (picture): He did not bring any impact of the game. He did try to score but he just could not. He had not gained the confident back during the summer break and all his confident in Euro 08 seemed to be all faded out. He simply did not have any real chance at all. It could be explained that the midfield did not provide enough attacking chances for him but in overall, he had another terrible game. No wonder he was substituted in halftime.





Luca Toni, ST (picture): The third change of the game comparing with last one. After last week's match the critics claimed that Luca Toni would be the winning key of the match, but certainly not in this game. He was not fit enough to play all 90 minutes of the game even if van Bommel was not sent off. He also did not get back his scoring feeling as he was injured after the pre-season warmups. He needed some time to get back his scoring feeling. One more thing to mention, he was denied a penalty and the referee charged him as a diving and gave him a yellow card. From the live screen it was very clear to see that it was a clear foul and it was a clear penalty.



Tim Borowski (sub for Miroslav Klose): A tactical change for the match at halftime. The aim was to fill in the space for the man down as well as providing more attacking plays from the midfield. His first few touches and runs proved he was fully ready for the season. He deserved to score that goal and he was the man to change the game around. He was the best player in the Bayern side and he is predicted to be the starter in the next few matches.



Toni Kroos (sub for Hamit Altintop): The second change of the game. He provided a high quality corner taking and led to the equalizer of the game. Once again he proved himself that he can be the match winning player in the team but once again he needs to be consistent enough to be that man.

Lukas Podolski, picture (sub for Luca Toni): The final change of the game. He mission was to distract the opposition defense by using his fully charged energy in order to avoid them to push up. The extra bonus would be scoring goals to win the match, but it was OK for him not to hit that bonus.


Final words: In tactical terms Jürgen Klinsmann did a better job than the opposition coach Jürgen Klopp. Klinsmann's change brought impact to the team and he showed that he can be the mastermind to change the game around. I can say this game's performance is far better than last one. On the other hand, referee Herbert Fandel (picture) did a terrible job in this match. It is OK for sending van Bommel off, but he had to keep the standard unified in the entire match. I could see there were plenty of challenges from Dortmund was as hard as van Bommel but they were all get away from it. And, if van Bommel was deserved to be sent off, Luca Toni should have the penalty given. This was not lucky for Bayern to level the match, they deserved to level the match or even winning it.