DFB Pokal 2018/19: Borussia Dortmund vs Werder Bremen

At the time of writing Borussia Dortmund sit at the top of the Bundesliga table enjoying a seven-point lead over second-place Borussia Monchengladbach. They would be forgiven then for not taking the DFB Pokal as seriously as the may have. With the opportunity to finally prise the league title out of the hands of their rivals Bayern Munich, we may have seen a weakened team in this fixture against Werder Bremen.

The squad depth enjoyed by Dortmund, however, is largely underrated. Although there was a degree of rotation we still saw a strong team selection from their Swiss coach Lucien Favre.

Werder Bremen have not enjoyed quite as impressive a season to date as their opponents in this match. The side from the north of Germany sit in 10th place in the Bundesliga. Bremen have impressed in patches under their first-year head coach Florian Kohfeldt and have shown an intriguing level of tactical variation. Kohfeldt was appointed by the Bremen board following an impressive spell within the clubs youth setup.

In the end, Bremen were able to progress following a win on penalties after a 3-3 draw over the course of 120 minutes. This tactical analysis will show how they won on the basis of a strong defensive performance that denied Dortmund the space in the final third they are used to.

Lineups

Wyscout has for once made an error on their official team sheets for the match as they have Bremen lined up in a 4-4-2 structure whilst they actually played in a 5-3-2.

For Dortmund, the biggest surprise came with the inclusion of the former Bremen goalkeeper Eric Oelschlagel in the starting lineup. This was a result of Roman Burki and Marwin Hitz both falling ill in the days leading up to the match. The other piece of significant selection news saw French central defender Abdou Diallo selected as left-back with Julian Weigl continuing in the centre of the defence.