THANKS to their savvy recruitment, steady development under Lucien Favre and Bayern Munich’s own issues, the 2019/20 Bundesliga season initially looked like it might belong to Borussia Dortmund. Instead, eight rounds of fixtures in, it’s anybody’s.
The entire top half of the table is separated by just two points and no one yet appears ready to wrestle control of the division. Having dropped points in half of their league games so far, champions Bayern have opened the door to a chasing pack hopeful of ending their eight-year dominance. Yet the would-be contenders have all been tripping over each other.
The meeting of Schalke and Dortmund at the VELTINS-Arena in Saturday afternoon’s Revierderby, then, although it may only pit seventh place against fourth, is a chance for one of the contenders to Bayern’s crown to make a statement. The fact the tightness of the table means a win could conceivably see either side go top adds further intrigue to one of the most hotly anticipated and fiercely contested fixtures on the Bundesliga calendar.
The Bundesliga top half:
1⃣ 'Gladbach – 16
2⃣ Wolfsburg – 16
3⃣ Bayern – 15
4⃣ Dortmund – 15
5⃣ Leipzig – 15
6⃣ Freiburg – 14
7⃣ Schalke – 14
8⃣ Frankfurt – 14
9⃣ Leverkusen – 14Who's got the popcorn?
— Goal (@goal) October 20, 2019
It is a chance, too, for Dortmund to build on last weekend’s 1-0 win over league leaders Borussia Monchengladbach and restate their title ambitions. BVB have still only lost once this season, but the doubts cast by that 3-1 thumping at the hands of newly promoted Union Berlin still linger.
In the three league games they have drawn this term, Dortmund have surrendered leads – twice via own goals in the dying minutes. Although the squad at Favre’s disposal is replete with youth and talent, their mental fortitude and staying power, fairly or not, has been brought into question.
There is a perceived frailty undermining Dortmund’s immense attacking potential, with their 11 goals conceded giving them the joint-worst defensive record in the top half of the table. Even in the victory over Gladbach at Signal Iduna Park, in which they kept a clean sheet against a team averaging better than two goals a game at that stage, Dortmund’s rear guard failed to convince.
The match-winning moment was ultimately provided when two former Gladbach stars combined in the 58th minute – summer signing Thorgan Hazard assisting captain Marco Reus. But the 14 shots Gladbach mustered totalled an expected goals (xG) value of 3.22, per Understat.com’s model. Although the home side accumulated 16 shots at the Gladbach goal, the quality of these chances amounted to just 1.62 xG.
Dortmund’s clean sheet and three points versus Gladbach resulted more from their opponents’ wayward finishing than any clear improvement in their own defensive work. And Schalke will present another stern test. The Gelsenkirchen side were abysmal last season, finishing just five points off the relegation play-off place in 14th, with their miserly 33-point haul more than doubled by runners-up Dortmund.
But former Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner, who spent four years in charge of BVB’s second string before moving to Yorkshire in 2015, has quickly made Schalke a difficult team to beat once again. And with four wins from their first eight games, they are already half way toward matching their total victories for last season with less than a quarter of the campaign played.
Cornel uchaf
Top corner
Kreuzeck (n)266. Bent right into the 'cornel uchaf' by @ivanrakitic #DailyWelsh #Revierderby #SchalkeUS pic.twitter.com/UVKlK8FuvR
— Schalke 04 USA (@s04_us) October 22, 2019
Impressive in wins over difficult opponents in Hertha Berlin and RB Leipzig, netting three times in each game, Schalke have also shown a ruthless streak in battering bottom-placed Paderborn 5-1. With just nine goals shipped, Schalke have the fourth-best defensive record in the Bundesliga at present, and their 9.48 expected goals against (xGA) is the third-lowest in the division.
In replication of the formula which helped him earn an unlikely Premier League promotion with the Terriers, Wagner’s side are resolute and organised at the back and lethal when springing forward on the counter.
France-born Morocco international Amine Harit has come into his own at the VELTINS-Arena this term, with the 22-year-old’s four goals and two assists marking him out as one of the Bundesliga’s most dangerous and productive attackers. And Everton loanee Jonjoe Kenny has settled quickly into life in Germany, providing two assists and a goal from right-back.
But Schalke enter Saturday’s showdown with Dortmund needing to right the wrongs of their previous two outings; last week, they were handed their first Bundesliga defeat since August’s 3-0 loss to Bayern as they went down 2-0 away to Hoffenheim, and before the international break they were held at home by Cologne.
Much like every other side in the top half of the Bundesliga table, Schalke and Dortmund have been a Jekyll-Hyde blend of frustrating inconsistency so far this season, imperious on their day yet inexplicably lax whenever they threaten to build serious momentum.
In a title race begging for a degree of order, both Schalke and Dortmund will hope to steal some initiative at the expense of their biggest rivals on Saturday.
