The
shortlist for FIFA world coach of the year was announced yesterday, Jürgen
Klopp who came in second place in 2013 did not make the shortlist and is
currently facing his biggest ever challenge as a manger with Borussia Dortmund
sitting rock bottom in the Bundesliga.
A 2-0 defeat
to Frankfurt yesterday was their eight loss of the season and saw them fall
back into the relegation zone with only 11 points. Having won back to back
Bundesliga titles in 10/11 and 11/12 and bringing them to the Champions League
final in 12/13 only to lose out to main rivals Bayern Munich, Dortmund will be
hesitant to sack Klopp but may be left with no option should this retched form
continue.
The reason
for the Dortmund demise is relatively unknown, sure they’ve lost Mario Götze
and Robert Lewandowski in the past two years but they have spent well in the
transfer market with acquisitions such as once Liverpool target Henrik
Mkhitaryan, Manchester United man Shinji Kagawa who had been so effective at
Dortmund before moving to United and Ciro Immobile who was a goal scoring
machine last season in Serie A for Torino.
The fact
they have gone from Champions League runners-up to relegation battlers in the
space of two years is baffling, injuries have not helped Klopp this season with
star man Marco Reus ruled out with an ankle injury until the new year and key
players Mats Hummels, Sokratis and Blaszczykowski all experiencing injuries.
Even with
these injuries you would expect they still have the quality to be a lot higher
up the table than the 18th place they currently find themselves in, despite
the capture of clinical Italian striker Ciro Immobile during the summer he has
been unable to fill the void left by Robert Lewandowski scoring only 2 league
goals.
In total
Dortmund have scored only 14 league goals this season, a very unimpressive stat
for such an attacking side, they have also conceded a total of 21 goals, up
their with the worst defences in the Bundesliga.
With 13
league games gone one would think this is the first ever time that a team in
last place at this stage of the season will still have ambitions of getting
into Europe and they will be hoping into the Champions League. They lie only 10
points behind FC Augsburg in 4th place, not a whole lot if things
begin to click for Klopp and his side.
The
Bundesliga title which they aim to compete for every season is almost certainly
out of their grasp, Dortmund are 22 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich
and you cannot see any chance of Pep Guardiola’s side leaving that gap be
bridged.
Its not all
bad news for the Black and Yellows who have qualified for the knockout stages of
the Champions League and are in pole position to win Group D ahead of Arsenal,
this is sure to bring some respite to manager Jürgen Klopp but should the
league form not improve the highly rated manager could find himself without a
job.
href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/schwenke/5909197118/">Axel Schwenke
via photopin cc
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