2008 Recap: The Limiting Reagent

By: Travis | July 31st, 2009

Borussia Dortmund finished a good and fairly successful season in the Bundesliga at 6th place, after bouncing back from a depressing performance in 2007 (finishing 13th, the worst performance by the Schwarzgelben since 1987). Wait. How can finishing 7 places higher than the previous season be consider only good and fairly successful? A fair question to ask, I admit, but it was simply due to a limiting reagent. BVB performed well in its matches, in doing so they finished with the least amount of losses (5), allowed the second least amount of goals (37), the third best Goal Differential +23 (Goals scored – Goals allowed).

What went wrong? How did Dortmund fall behind 5 other Bundesliga teams, while losing less, allowing less goals, and having a superior goal differential? It is all explained when you look at a single statistic, ties. BVB finished with the second most ties in the Bundesliga at 14. So obviously the Schwarzgelben had the ability to keep up and match that of any other club in the Bundesliga, as they scored an equal amount of goals or more than their opponents in 29 of their 34 (85%) games. And this is where the limiting reagent hindered BVB’s success in 2008.

The reagent was simply the inability to finish. Whether the team lacked the skill to overcome a draw, or just didn’t have the killer instinct to finish the opponent off. Dortmund suffered from the lack of a sense of urgency, this is undeniably clear through out the season, but especially in their final match against Borussia Mönchengladbach. As BVB was on the brink of attaining a spot to compete internationally, the club reached yet another draw, allowing Borussia
Mönchengladbach to keep its head above water and remain in the Bundesliga.

Perhaps you can argue that Borussia Mönchengladbach was in dire straights, while BVB was only looking to put icing on a successful season. Regardless, a team capable of achieving what Dortmund did should be able to overcome a 1:1 draw, unless of course there is something missing.

$Dortmond Borussia couldn\'t overcome a tie with Borussia Mönchengladbach$

Another way to look at this is obviously the lack of scoring goals when the club absolutely needed it. Alexander Frei led BVB with a total of 12 goals, followed by Valdez, who had 8. Not to discredit either of these players, but it’s clear that Dortmund lacked a star striker, or even a formidable duo. Now with Alexander Frei leaving the Schwarzgelben for FC Basel, BVB is going have to rely on a breakout performance from one of their players, or their summer acquisitions. But this is something I believe BVB will overcome, and as long as they continue to play at the same level as they did last year, we should be in for a treat.