Bundesliga 2018/19: Borussia Dortmund vs Hannover 96

After an impressive victory against RB Leipzig last week, Lucien Favres Borussia Dortmund welcomed a relegation-threatened Hannover 96 in this Bundesliga tie. Marco Reus return to the Dortmund starting line-up provided a huge boost for the league leaders and his impact was quick to be felt.

Dortmund began the match with their tried and tested 4-2-3-1 but were largely unable to play their brand of football thanks to some early defensive work from the visitors. It was to prove a Jekyll and Hyde performance though as an impressive four goals in the second half boosted their Bundesliga title hopes.

There was a lot on the line for both Dortmund and Hannover here and the game was much closer than the scoreline illustrates. Virtuosic performances from Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi aided the side to their important victory in their slightly tweaked positional and tactical roles. In this analysis, Ill look at what went right and wrong for each side using a variety of data.

False start

For all of Dortmund’s strengths, adaptability isn’t too high on the list. They’re able to play a versatile game, but only when conditions are in their favour. When they’re not, for example against Fortuna Dusseldorf recently, their defence is repeatedly split open with long balls.

In this match,