Bundesliga 2018/19: Borussia Dortmund vs Freiburg

Borussia Dortmund beat Freiburg 2-0 at home to go yet another game unbeaten in the Bundesliga this season. The win came after securing progression to the UEFA Champions League knockout round last week, and now Lucien Favres side sits 7 points clear at the top of the table.

The game was relatively entertaining and Dortmund coped with the challenges presented by Freiburg relatively well. The visitors, however, werent the most dangerous opponent and they lacked the range of attacking options to trouble Dortmund a bit further. Dortmund were very comfortable and maintained possession for long periods without doing too much to threaten either.

Lets take a deeper look at how the battle that played out:

Lineups:

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Burki; Piszczek, Diallo, Zagadou, Hakimi; Witsel, Delaney; Sancho, Reus, Larsen; Gotze

Freiburg (5-4-1): Schwolow; Stenzel, Gulde, Koch, Heintz, Gunter; Waldschmidt, Haberer, Gondorf, Frantz; Petersen

Dortmund Maintain Possession Against Freiburgs Mixed Pressing

Freiburg began the game using a 5-4-1 formation. Christian Streich, Freiburgs coach wouldve watched Dortmunds previous game against Brugge, and he wouldve known how important it was for his side to defend as compactly as possible. Haberer and Gondorf worked together in central midfield and they tried their best to control this area defensively as Dortmund dominated possession. However, Freiburgs wide midfielders and forward Nils Petersen struggled to work defensively in unison and thus allowed Dortmund to maintain possession under pressure and after losing the ball while facing a deep-defensive block.

From kick-off, they pressed Dortmund in attacking areas trying to win the ball before counter-attacking directly. Their 5-4-1 shape would change into a 5-2-3 with both Waldschmidt and Frantz pushing forward to press the opposing full-back. One of the midfielders would press, Petersen would press the ball-near centre-back and the ball-far wide midfielder would tuck in to provide cover along with the two central midfielders. Freiburg made the use of their wingbacks by tasking them with marking any open players in behind one of their wide midfielders. Freiburg had 2 wide centre-backs to cover the flanks in case Dortmund managed to advance beyond their midfield line.

Dortmund, who play a possession-based style, were well equipped to dealing with the pressure and zonal/man-to-man marking they faced. What made it even easier for Dortmund to keep the ball was the fact that Freiburg were often at a numerical disadvantage whilst pressing. Mario Gotze played as the lone striker against 3 defenders, so this meant that Dortmund always had an extra player in defence and midfield. One channel that Dortmund value above all because of its attacking potential is the half-space. Freiburg were unable to close down this channel when pressing high was because they only played with two central midfielders and two wingbacks. Dortmund always managed to find space and use it to retain and circulate possession.

Freiburgs forward line lacked the required cover to make a high press successful. Firstly, Delaney and Witsel playing as the double pivot, forced their forward line to make a sacrifice when applying pressure. They would either have to press the backline and leave the two midfielders open or wait for an opportunity to press by marking them. This would then allow Diallo or Zagadou more time and space to distribute the ball. The lack of defensive cover during high-pressing situations caused Freiburg to defend from deep and wait for access, to press, rather than actively seeking to win the ball back, as the game went on.

Reus, Bruun Larsen and Sancho stayed mobile constantly to support players under pressure. Larsen, for example, did brilliantly to support Dortmunds progressions out from the back with his movement. When the defenders and midfielders were marked, he always managed to provide a passing option or open up channels/passing lanes by dropping into the half-space in midfield from his advanced wide position.

The home side however still faced one big issue: breaking down the last two lines of Freiburgs defence.

Sterile Possession:

Dortmund, despite almost notchi