Borussia Dortmund still have many questions to answer

Borussia Dortmund were hugely impressive during their 5-1 win over Augsburg, but plenty of questions remain unanswered as the Bundesliga season commences.

While today’s scoreline in no way flattered Dortmund – they could feasibly have ended up with twice as many goals – we shouldn’t read too much into the result, in part due to the low quality of the opposition and also because so many questions about this side have yet to be answered.

Although Augsburg did earn an improbable 2–1 win over Dortmund at home in March, they finished last season fourth from bottom, just four points above the relegation play-off spot, and no Bundesliga team conceded more goals. Many people expect them to fare even worse in the coming campaign.

They kicked off the new season last week by being knocked out of the German Cup by a fourth-tier side, and eight of their senior pros were absent due to injury on Saturday. Those unavailable included Philipp Max and Alfred Finnbogason, who are arguably the club’s best players, although the competition for that distinction admittedly isn’t very strong.

So, Dortmund will have much tougher games this season.

Augsburg scored early here – Dortmund have now conceded in the opening minute of the past two Bundesliga campaigns – and were subsequently happy to have all 11 players in their defensive third for long periods. What started out as a 4-1-4-1 formation soon morphed into a 5-4-1-0.

Dortmund’s pressure was relentless, and it always felt like a matter of when, not if, they would score.

Tomas Koubek, Augsburg’s newly signed Czech goalkeeper, was at fault for three of the goals that followed, but given that he complained a few years ago that “in my opinion, women should stay at the stove and not officiate men’s football,” sympathy for him will hopefully be in short supply.

Summer arrivals Nico Schulz, Thorgan Hazard, Mats Hummels and Julian Brandt all featured for Dortmund here. Those signings demonstrated that, despite Dortmund ending last season with more points than they’d picked up even when winning the title in 2010-11, head coach Lucien Favre still felt his rebuilding job was far from complete

There’s no doubt that Dortmund’s squad – or at least the number of players in it whom Favre trusted – was too small last term. The result was that some key figures were given very little rest, with the likes of Axel Witsel starting all but two Bundesliga games.

Some observers believe the fatigue that this engendered was to blame for Dortmund’s stuttering late-season form, which saw the title slip from their grasp, so these summer purchases have definitely added some much-needed strength in depth.

Plenty of intriguing issues still remain unresolved, however. For example, has the departure of Omer Toprak – who’d impressed in preseason – on loan to Werder Bremen left the club a little short of cover in the center of defense?

That leaves Manuel Akanji, Mats Hummels and Dan-Axel Zagadou as Dortmund’s main center-backs. Akanji and Zagadou were both out injured for more than a quarter of last season’s games, however, and the only obvious backup players for the position are Julian Weigl and Leonardo Balerdi.

Understandably, some Dortmund fans see this is as cause for concern, because a couple of lay-offs will mean that the team will be relying on a converted midfielder or an untested youngster who’s yet to make his Bundesliga debut to fill in in the center of defense.

It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that Weigl played at center-back last season due to an injury crisis and, to the surprise of many, was often excellent there.

The good news is that Dortmund are now well-stocked in midfield, an area that was a little lacking in the period immediately before Lucien Favre’s arrival. It’s clear that Favre was acutely aware of this weakness, as he wasted no time in bringing in Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel last summer.

They’ll be competing for starting places this term with the rejuvenated Weigl, Mo Dahoud – who’s still yet to fulfill the immense potential he showed early in his career – and, possibly, Julian Brandt.

After spending the majority of his career deployed in forward positions, Brandt was moved into a deeper midfield role last season after Peter Bosz took over at Bayer Leverkusen – and his ensuing performances were frequently exceptional.

So there’s plenty of intrigue regarding what Favre feels Brandt’s best position is. We’re no nearer knowing the answer to that question, of course, because Brandt missed much of the preseason due to injury.

He was introduced for the last 20 minutes as a wide forward here and promptly scored Dortmund’s fifth, although it’s far too early to say whether that’s where Favre intends to deploy him in the long-term.

The final question hanging over Dortmund is whether they should have kept hold of forward Alexander Isak after his successful half-season at Willem II in the Eredivisie.

Of the players who led the line for Dortmund at various points last season, while Mario Goetze finally found some of his old form, Maximilian Philipp is no longer at the club and Marco Reus’ considerable talents are better deployed elsewhere.

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Meanwhile, Paco Alcacer can easily claim to have been the best bench player in Europe last term, but he’s still yet to fully convince as a starter. Of course, if he continues to score at a rate of at least a goal a game – as he has done Dortmund’s in three matches this season, adding a brace today – then those doubts will quickly disappear.

What there’s no doubt about, of course, is that Dortmund will again be among Europe’s great entertainers.