Why it is time for Jurgen Klopp to leave Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp (left) consoles player Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (right).

Watching Borussia Dortmund this season in the Bundesliga was like witnessing the Murphy’s Law come true. Anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong this season. Despite of qualifying handsomely for the second round of the UEFA Champions League, the men of Westfalenstadion failed to perform in the Bundesliga.

Dortmund from their 13 games only managed to collect 11 points. Dortmund won 3 games, drew 2 and lost 8. The club side has now touched an unprecedented low as they stand at the bottom of the league table. Dortmund’s latest loss came at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt by a scoreline of 2-0.The match raised many questions about Dortmund’s manager Jurgen Klopp’s managerial capabilities and left the 47 year old German in a dilemma on how to tackle the situation. Klopp has no intentions to resign as he mentioned in an interview that leaving the club midseason is not his style.

Klopp gives up hope

The club side after their loss on matchday 13 have entered into the relegation battle which is not at all a good sign for a club that was playing in the Champions League final just 18 months ago.The fans of this club, who are renowned worldwide for their unconditional support to the club were also quite critical about the team’s recent results as they refused a round of applause to the players following their defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.

It now seems likely that this might be Klopp’s last season with Dortmund as his absurd statement after the loss against Franfurt clears the fact that he has lost all hope.He stated that – “Fans who only want success have a chance to support Bayern Munich.” Klopp has forgotten that now his team is at such a stage where fans instead of expecting success are merely expecting him to get the team out of the relegation zone.

Role of Robert Lewandowski's transfer

The biggest blow to Dortmund this season was the transfer of their main striker Robert Lewendowski to their local rivals Bayern Munich. The 26 year old Polish international scored 74 goals for Dortmund since he joined the club in 2010 and played a vital role in the club's two successive league titles in the season 2010-11 and 2011-12. Since he moved to Munich,the club never really managed to take command and struggled in the Bundesliga.

When the Bavarians hosted Dortmund this season at the Allianz Arena,Dortmund were left heartbroken as in spite of taking the lead in the 34th minute,they failed to seal a win as the former Dortmund man Lewendowski equalised in the 74th minute and 11 minutes later Arjen Robben scored the winner from the penalty spot.

Jurgen Klopp unable to find solutions to the current crisis.

Klopp's Dilemma

Klopp is now stuck in a major dilemma as he is not sure on how to go about the current situation of the club. He has been contradicting his own statements for example - he stated that "Fans who only want success have a chance to support Bayern Munich." Later he said that - "I am not someone who just steps down. I do it all or nothing."

Klopp said that he does not step down from his responsibilities but in what way is giving up hope and telling supporters not to expect success is being responsible? Asking fans who unconditionally support the team at hard times to go and support some other club is clearly running away from your responsibility.

Klopp's playing style

Klopp's famous Gegenpressing,playing on the front with an attacking intent has worked well against teams like Bayern and their Champions league opponents as they provide them the space to come forward and attack but teams that are considered to be inferior to them on paper do not provide them the space to come forward and attack but rather punish them for their mistakes at the defence line.

If Klopp and Dortmund really need to get out of this mess, Klopp needs to look into the playing style of the boys and make some major alterations.

Dortmund defenders unable to maintain a strong defensive line.

Dortmund and Klopp's destiny

Dortmund have now landed themselves into the relegation battle and if no serious changes are made in the team's playing style then it seems likely that we'll be watching Dortmund play in the second division of the Bundesliga next season and Klopp taking command of some other team. A relegation will be disastrous for the team financially and at the moment Klopp's main motive should be to drive the team out of the relegation battle.

The team management should also look into the possibility of signing a better striker who can replace Lewendowski in the coming January transfer window. It is high time that Dortmund pull up their pants and start fresh,leaving behind all the disastrous results of the season.