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In the crime thriller “Trance” – a film by “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a cameo of the unflattering kind. One of the film’s protagonists, a French gangster called Franck, can be seen watching the Ligue 1 game between Olympique Lyonnaise and St. Etienne from the 2011/12 season, and specifically a scene where the Gabon international scuffs his shot in a one-on-one with keeper Hugo Lloris (now at Tottenham). To make matters worse, the same incident is then shown two more times in the film.
On August 3rd of this year, that sense of déjà vu continued at SV Wilhelmshaven’s Jadestadion. Aubameyang was wearing the yellow and black Borussia Dortmund shirt this time, but his finishing against the fourth division side was criminally bad again, just like in the movie.
The ugly nickname “Chancentod” – the death of goal-scoring chances – was beginning to do the rounds after his less than impressive debut in a competitive game for last season’s Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up.
Former Schalke 04 and Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder called the new signing “Odonkor 2.0” a week later on German television, in reference to his ex-Germany team-mate David Odonkor – a player that was quick as lightening but notoriously lacked composure in front of goal and anywhere else on the pitch.
But after the final whistle at the SGL-Arena, Metzelder was made to eat his words. Aubameyang had scored a hat-trick in his first Bundesliga game, a 4-0 away win at Augsburg.
Only five players – Engelbert Kraus (1860 München, 1963/64), Hermann Ohlicher (VfB Stuttgart, 1973/74), Olaf Marschall (Dynamo Dresden, 1993/94), Adhemar (VfB Stuttgart, 2000/01) and Martin Fenin (Eintracht Frankfurt, 2007/08) had managed this feat before.
Cue jubilant headlines about “Dortmund’s shooting star” (WAZ) taking off “like a rocket” (Kicker) in Germany’s top-flight.
His team-mates weren’t just impressed with his efficiency in front of goal, however. A 67 per cent success rate in his tackling spoke of great defensive work too from the winger. “This was especially convincing (from him),” said midfielder Nuri Sahin. “I told him to stay cool before the match, that the goals would come”.
Aubameyang appeared a little shy in the ensuing series of TV interviews. “It’s a dream, an indescribable feeling,” he said before adding modestly that he needed to continue to “work hard” to deal with the Bundesliga’s “higher intensity”.
Only one eye-witness didn’t seem that impressed: Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp. “He’s your classic pacy player who basically just runs away from people at the moment”, he said coolly. “But that will be too predictable soon; you need to be more flexible. He needs to learn to be dangerous when there’s more to do than outrun the defender in a sprint”.
Part of that statement was undoubtedly designed to dampen the hype surrounding the new arrival, but Klopp meant it as well.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Scoring for fun already!
The 24-year-old will find few peers in European football when it comes to acceleration over a short distance – he’s faster over the first 30m than Usain Bolt, they say in Dortmund – but his overall game needs to improve if he wants to reach the same levels of his Dortmund colleagues. There won’t always be as much space available as in Augsburg, where the home side had to open up in an effort to chase an equaliser.
Doubts about his technical ability were probably responsible for a relative lack of interest from top clubs outside Germany. Bayer Leverkusen made an offer to St.Etienne, but apart from francophile Newcastle United, no Premier League club seemed interested.
That is remarkable when you consider his 19 goals and 14 assists last season. Only Zlatan Ibrahimovic was more prolific in Ligue 1.
To his credit, the €13 million signing is aware of his limitations. He admitted to needing a lot of space for his game. “I know I have to develop in that respect,” he told Kicker. “I need to know how to act best against deep opponents”.
Few coaches are as good at coaxing the best out of players as Klopp. And few teams rely so much on pace, especially when they counter-attack. Aubameyang and Dortmund look like the perfect match – almost.
Borussia, based in Germany’s post-industrial, working-class Ruhr area, have been careful to cultivate their image as the people’s club. With his extrovert hair-cut, over-the-top goal celebrations (he used to wear a Spiderman mask in France and loves somersaults) and white Ferrari, Aubameyang doesn’t quite fit in.
Klopp had to tell him that wearing green boots adorned with 4000 crystals in training was not a good idea. “Please wear normal boots,” he said. Dortmund’s success is based on a collective playing identity; too much individualism is frowned upon. Aubameyang has even been gently ribbed in the dressing room, Sahin revealed.
In his defence, “Auba,” as Klopp calls him, has explained that his appearance is not representative of his character. “I’m not as loud and extrovert a person as it looks,” he said, “I’m very different. People in Germany will see that soon”. His former national manager agrees. “He’s a decent guy, not a show-off,” said Gernot Rohr.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Klopp will pick him again for the home game against Eintracht Braunschweig on Sunday or send a message of “calm down, everyone” by benching him instead.
The return of fellow new boy Henrikh Mkhitaryan to fitness certainly offers further options up front. For all his “brutal quality” (Klopp), Aubameyang’s success will come down to application and adaptability in the long run. Dortmund are not only one of the best footballing sides in Europe, but also one of the most demanding.
The early signs are promising. “We look better than last season,” said striker Robert Lewandowski. Aubameyang can run defences ragged to create more room for the centre-forward and Marco Reus, the other wide attacker.
A mere one game into the season, Dortmund already seem to have tremendous momentum – thanks to their new rocket man.
