Dortmund reach all-time low with loss; Wolfsburg end mini-slump
Borussia Dortmund is in serious relegation trouble; it's time that the last-place team in the league is correctly labeled.
Sunday night a side that is already in the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League went to Eintracht Frankfurt, gave away two goals and failed to complete any of their attacks at the other end. The result was a 2-0 loss which ended a mini-revival -- a win and a draw -- in the league and kept them firmly at the bottom of a league where they were expected to challenge for the title.
Yes, they have been badly hit by injuries, missing the likes of Mats Hummels and Marco Reus, two of their linchpins, but the fact remains that elementary mistakes condemned them once again Sunday and there was no real sign that an attack which has lost top stars Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski in the past two seasons has any semblence of those glory days.
Eintracht, ninth in the table, provided a sharp contrast, organized through the midfield and at the back and ready to pounce on the gifts they were to receive.
In the latest defeat, Alexander Meier needed only five minutes to put Eintracht on top, racing down the inside right channel to take a 40-yard Marco Russ pass that split the defenders. Meier gave Roman Weidenfeller no chance with his shot and Dortmund were facing an uphill climb again. It was Meier's league-leading eighth goal of the season and it was down to Dortmund leaving way too much space at the back and not protecting the ball as they went forward.
Henrykh Mkhitaryan could have gotten them level two minutes later but failed to really test Felix Wiedwald from the right side. In the 24th minute Wiedwald had to be at his best to deny Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kevin Grosskreutz popped the rebound off the near post but those were fleeting opportunities to examine Wiedwald and the Eintracht defense.
When right back Lukasz Piszczek limped off with an apparent hamstring problem in the 38th minute, Juergen Klopp sent on Colombian striker Adrian Ramos as another forward and shifted Grosskreutz from midfield to the back four, a further sign of the limited options he has available to change the course.
It made no difference and when Matthias Ginter and Weidenfeller made a complete mess of a speculative 40-yard Meier ball, Haris Seferovic accepted an open net finish in the 78th minute. Weidenfeller, coming off his line, was stranded in no-man's land when Ginter attempted the back-header; Seferovic was alone, just as are Dortmund in their most-unexpected of places in the Bundesliga table.
Earlier in the day, VfL Wolfsburg solidified its spot behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga table, closing to within seven points of the leaders after turning back challengers Borussia Moenchengladbach 1-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Robin Knoche got the only goal of the match as Wolfsburg snapped a mini-slump that had included last weekend's loss at Schalke and a Europa League reversal at the hands of Everton on Thursday.
The win moved Wolfsburg three points clear of thitrd-place Bayer Leverkusen and kept Gladbach in fifth. They are now 13 points adrift of the defending champions after having begun the season brightly.
Wolfsburg was on top thanks to Knoche's 12th minute goal that was a combination of an excellent cross from Marcel Schaefer and some good fortune for Knoche. The Wolfsburg man went to head under some pressure and saw the ball come off his shoulder and chest before crossing the line.
Gladbach had an excellent chance to equalize on the half-hour but Patrick Herrmann's header found Wolfsburg keeper Diego Bengalio's right boot rather than the back of the net. For much of the rest of the match they failed to consistently test the Swiss international keeper despite having a fair bit of possession.
Wolfsburg nearly made it two just before the hour mark but Yann Sommer twice denied Ivica Olic from close-range before the offside flag canceled out a Kevin DeBruyne strike on the third attempt in the sequence.
Sommer also was alert to some Wolfsburg counters in the closing minutes before Gladbach closed with high pressure in the box, but the visitors were unable to take advantage of a series of corners to force an equalizer.
