Either Jurgen Klopp is setting the stage for his departure from Dortmund to the Premier League (Arsenal? Liverpool?) by sucking up to the fans yet again, or he’s simply trying to go around the fact that once again his team failed to win a home match and can’t escape the relegation zone in the Bundesliga.
After four seasons of either winning the championship or finishing second, Dortmund have been hit hard with reality: Chasing Bayern Munich is difficult. Your best players eventually leave and finding new recruits to replace them proves to be a very difficult task, almost impossible. Selling Mario Gotze and losing Robert Lewandowski opened up room for young, exciting talent to flow in, but Dortmund haven’t been able to match the talent that left.
Heading into the winter break after their December 20 visit to Werder Bremen, Dortmund are currently 16th in the league, only one point above the two spots that send you to the second division automatically. They’re not that far away from mid-table as things are quite close and tight in the lower half of the league, but they are already 12 points behind fourth place not to mention 26 points behind Bayern Munich who occupy first.
This was the last home game before the winter break. There might come a time in my life when I am no longer the coach of this team. But what I know already is that I will miss them. It’s just extraordinary what the fans do here. That’s just fantastic. There are several stadiums with a great atmosphere in the world, but only a few who go wild like that when you are 16th.
Dortmund failed to win at home again despite the incredible support of their 80,000 fans. It was Wolfsburg that was visiting, the number two team in the league. But Dortmund held the lead twice in the match, eventually settling for a draw after Naldo equalized in the 85th minute.
Dortmund’s form has slightly improved in the last couple of months, losing only twice in the last six matches. However, their run of seven matches without a win, six of them losses, from earlier this season, puts them in a very difficult spot, and makes it less and less surprising to see Klopp openly pondering about the future -for him and the club, but no longer together.
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