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Borussia Dortmund's poor run in the league continued as they lost to a previously winless Hamburg 1-0 at home. Whistled by the home crowd at the end of the game, Jurgen Klopp's men have now gone 4 games without a win in the Bundesliga and are trailing arch-rivals Bayern Munich by a massive 10 points. Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Dortmund\'s inefficiency attack made them pay a hefty price
The Black and Yellows' title charge in recent years has been fairly mellow, and partly down to their defensive issues, however, last night, it was a different story. The home side lacked the attacking verve and spurned numerous chances to restore parity.
Buoyed by an impressive 3-0 away victory at Anderlecht, Dortmund failed to build on it and looked like a shadow of their ruthless self that was seen in the Champions League just 3 days before.
Stalwarts such as Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Nuri Sahin all missed the game owing to injuries and in their absence, Dortmund looked completely bereft of impetus. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kevin Grosskreutz appaeared to slog in search of an equaliser but never really succeeded against a firm Hamburg defence.
Striker Adrian Ramos, particularly, squandered a host of chances in the second-half and even the return of Matt Hummels failed to inspire a gloomy Ruhr side.
#2 Some respite for the new Hamburg coach Josef Zinnbaueur
Hamburg's last victory in the league came on April 12, when they got the better of Bayer Leverkusen, 2-1 last season and now, their fans and new boss Josef Zinnbauer, have got a breather.
A string of poor results in the league led to the sacking of their coach Mirko Slomka last month, but problems still seemed to persist when current coach Zinnbauer took over the mantle. Hamburg's winless run continued and it was only after beating Dortmund that they registered their first league win of the season, cutting the German coach some slack.
Prior to the game, 'Der Dinosaurier' were occupying the last position in the table, and thanks to this victory, they've moved up a position and are now level on points with Stuttgart. Still a lot of work to be done, but encouraging signs.
#3 Dortmund\'s abysmal record against Hamburg continues
The Westfalonstadion outfit were without a win against the 'Dinosaurs' in their last 4 games and this game at Signal Iduna Park was no different. Such a record is one that has become rather notorious throughout Dortmund whenever the club come up against the perpetually troubled team from the north, but it's one that really shouldn't have been allowed to exist at all.
Hamburg have now taken four of the last 5 meetings between these two sides in the German top division. Despite a number of key players getting ruled out on account of injuries, Jurgen Klopp's yellow brigade were tipped to stroll their way to victory on paper but battles are not won on paper and it was a lack of genuine quality in several positions that pegged them back, allowing their opponents to return home with 3 vital points.
#4 Pierre-Michel Lasogga shines
Hamburg fans will undoubtedly be delighted with Saturday's result against Dortmund, but the real cherry on the cake was the fact that Pierre-Michel Lasogga opened the scoring for the away side. Nicolai Muller latched onto Adian Ramos' loose pass in midfield before gliding through Dortmund's gaping defence and allowing Lasogga to slot into an empty net.
The 22-year-old striker has been a favourite in Hamburg since moving from Hertha Berlin a few seasons ago and was absolutely vital to last season's last-minute survival with 15 goals in all competitions, including the game which ended 3-0 in their favour when these 2 sides last met in February. Yet the German forward had until this weekend failed to find the net for them, a run of form that has perhaps played a large part in his team's inability to pick up enough points.
Now that he's scoring again, we can only hope that should turn his club's fortunes around.
#5 Dortmund\'s Bundesliga title hopes now in deep jeopardy
It now seems as though any hopes of a tight title challenge between Bayern Munich and Dortmund are almost all but gone as with this defeat, Borussia Dortmund are now languishing 13th in the domestic table, 10 points adrift of leaders and arch-rivals, Bayern Munich.
To say Dortmund's league aspirations are all but extinguished after just 7 rounds of fixtures would be a juvenile prediction. However, looking at this from a bigger perspective, it is plausible to say that Dortmund have lost a lot of ground in the title race, as bridging a colossal 10 points gap seems highly unlikely.
The return of the likes of Reus and Mkhitaryan may help them reduce the arrears, but to completely overhaul the deficit is something quite improbable.
