Maldeika said:
I know your love for Reus - but especially he is key for the old Dortmund tactics. Not Gündogan, not Kagawa. 2 or 3 years ago - prior to Reus arrival - Dortmund even played less Gegenpressing and better passing. With his arrival - and yes with all the other new players - Klopp went more and more in one direction.
I am a big fan of Reus, but I thin it is very, very unfair to blame him for Dortmund's tactics. Reus is a very direct player, but he is ONE player in a team. Many of the greatest technical teams had a direct player like Reus and were much better for it: Rjikaard's Barca-Giuly, Arsenal's invincible team-Ljundberg, Spain's world champions-pedro etc. When you play Reus you need a 10 alongside him to get the best out of him.
As for Kagawa he played in a weaker Bundesliga. The Bayern team of 2012 was very similar to the Dortmund team of 2013. A fantastic team, one of the top 3 in the world, but lacked depth and needed a few improvements in the first team squad. Bayern did this; they addded Dante, Martinez and Mandzukic to the first 11. Then Pizarro and Shaqirir were added to squad making them unbeatable on all fronts. Since then they have won 5/6 major trophies they have entered. That Dortmund team only needed to 3 additions, but instead Klopp totally destroyed the balance.
Just - this "emphasize your strengths" does not work in football to the maximum - you need a variety as a lot of tactics can be absorbed. Like Lichtensteiner told - they wanted to shut the middle, stay deep - and with that they somehow killed all the action of Dortmund like a lot other teams did this season.
I agree and this is why Klopp's tactics during the match especially were bad and not just his long term planning. I know he feared Pogba, but as soon as Pogba got injured he should have brought Kuba on at right back, taken off Mkhitaryan and brought Ramos on. Then he should have just had Kuba whip cross after cross in. Instead he foolishly kept trying to pass down the middle even though Juventus had 4 central midfielders and a deep back for. Even Barcelona would have struggled to pass through that, but that's all Dortmund did and they lack technique and creativity.
Long term Klopp bought the wrong type of players. He makes the widemen Reus/Kampl/Mkhitaryan come too narrow and his fullbacks cannot attack or cross.
I know that especially in the EPL or England all brag about this individualists - and if you look only for the number and data or his individual performances - Reus looks great. But - there is an algorithm called goalimpact who measures the impact of a player of all of his matches on the goal difference during his playing time (in reference to the other players, the competition etc.) and Reus goalimpact ain't anywhere it should be for a top player. It seems that even if he scores for his team when he is on the pitch - the team itself is not really scoring more with him than with any other player - in Gladbach they were even weaker defensively because of his lack of defensive work.
No in the Premier League we lack to look at the balance of the team. That's why everyone predicted Chelsea would win our league despite City having the better players.
This Dortmund team is not only very imbalanced, but lacks real quality. Kagawa and Sahin were not good enough to make the first 11 of teams that finished 7th in the Premier League and were not as good as the likes of Schalke. Though these were the players that Dortmund needed why did Klopp buy them? He should have bought real quality.
How about we look at Reus' point impact at Dortmund. How many points do they have with him in the last few seasons to the points they have without him? With him they have enough points to be competing for the top 4, without him they would be getting relegated.
Weidenfeller is finished, Mkhitaryan, Immobile, Kagawa, Ginter, Jojic and Ramos are all not good enough for a Europa league team. Anybody would struggle with those team mates.
I admire their loyalty, but Reus, Hummels, Bender and Gundogan should leave the club in the summer for the sake of their careers.
