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Despite plenty of attacking impetus and attempts at goal, Borussia Dortmund were unable to brush aside visitors Werder Bremen to make it three draws in a row for Lucien Favre's side.
The game got off to a lightning start with Dortmund threatening early on, but it would be the visitors who would strike first with Milot Rashica opening the scoring in only the 7th minute. That lead barely lasted two minutes as Mario Gotze who replaced Paco Alcacer in the starting XI got onto the scoresheet.
Werder Bremen spent most of the game sitting back and absorbing Dortmund's pressure. But in the 41st minute, a curling cross from Thorgan Hazard found the head of Marco Reus who put his side ahead with a deft header under pressure. It seemed like Dortmund would walk out in the second half and build on their lead.
Bremen, though, had different ideas. They went with a different tack at the start of the second half as they forced Dortmund back. The breakthrough for them came from a corner that Friedl was in the right place to tuck into the back of the net.
Despite Dortmund throwing everything they could at Werder for the rest of the game, they weren't able to penetrate their defence again.
#4. Gotze shines, Alcacer comes up short
After a couple of underwhelming performances from Paco Alcacer in the games preceding this one, Favre opted to rest him and start with Mario Gotze. The German international showed what Dortmund had been missing in the forward position as he brought the likes of Hazard and Reus into play with his touch. He was also unafraid to go wide and swap places with Reus as he contributed to the build-up. His headed goal was an opportunistic one that smelt slightly like on that Paco Alcacer himself would be proud of.
Lacking match fitness, he was replaced by Alcacer in the second half as Dortmund chased the game. The Spaniard had two big chances come his way before the end of the game that he would've buried on another day, but he seemed to be coming up short. On the first occasion he missed his kick by inches, and on the other he connected but blazed it slightly higher than the crossbar.
#3. The Rashica - Sargent Combo
Werder Bremen came into this game missing some important personnel, but still with plenty of goal threat. Dortmund would've known coming into the game that they would have trouble dealing with Bremen's attack, but were unable to contain them at times.
Spurred by Davy Klaassen's build-up play behind them, both Milot Rashica and Josh Sargent harassed Dortmund's centre-backs and defensive midfielders. Klaassen's expertly played curling ball over the top found Rashica in space for the first goal which the latter scored with a stupendous volley.
Josh Sargent was involved in the second goal as he won the corner and then went on to flick the ball form the first post while attracting three players to him and putting the ball in Friedl's path as he nudged it into the goal.
Both of Werder's forwards pressed actively and didn't let this Dortmund backline settle. owing to their constant threat, Dortmund couldn't really go all out attack for feat of either one of them pouncing when Dortmund were looking elsewhere.
#2. Sancho invisible
Having contributed to a goal by scoring or assisting in each of Dortmund's games so far, Jadon Sancho had built quite a reputation for himself so far. He created a couple of chances for Dortmund on the night, but was largely ineffective for the home team.
Lucien Favre realised that the English winger perhaps required a rest and took him off in the 80th minute to inject some pace into the game with Raphael Guerreiro.
He's allowed to have a dip considering the immense form he's shown for this Dortmund team, but his slight dip comes at a poor time for Dortmund who're now four points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.
Sancho has consistently been a creative force in this side and was upstaged by the likes of Hazard and Gotze against Werder, but if Dortmund want to mount a title challenge, they will need all these players firing at once.
#1. Dortmund miss Hummels
A back injury is keeping Mats Hummels out of the Dortmund team at the moment. He was injured in the 2-2 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt and Lucien Favre's men felt his absence in the second half of that game. They should've been better prepared this time around and were perhaps hoping that Julian Weigl would fill that role well as he did last season.
Although Weigl didn't make any obvious errors, he lacks the leadership and experience that Hummels brings to this Dortmund team. He has been one of the key reasons that Dortmund have been able to come back and keep teams at bay at the start of the season, but without him Dortmund haven't been able to recreate that magic.
Hummels seems to lead by example throwing himself at almost every shot and getting in the way of crosses, but he also provides a reference for the defenders around him to structure their actions and movements. They will hope that he returns to the fray sooner rather than later.
