Borussia Dortmund's Ongoing Dilemma

On Friday night after Borussia Dortmund’s 4-2 defeat to Borussia Mönchengladbach, I was asked if I thought Dortmund would finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League next season. 

The answer to that is difficult: I was hesitant to say no because of the obvious quality in their squad – they definitely haven’t got as much quality as Bayern Munich, but probably aren’t worse than RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, and Gladbach. But I was reluctant to say yes: their form in recent games has been patchy, their performances lacking any inspiration – as evident by the showing at Borussia-Park – and their coach, Edin Terzić, wasn’t much of an improvement on his predecessor.

Granted, Terzić wasn’t meant to be the man to change their fortunes. He was merely the person to ensure a fine second half to the season, one where Dortmund, despite a few blips, ensure qualification to the Champions League and lay the foundations for the next man to take over and succeed…after all, his CV mainly consisted of jobs as an assistant. However, he has slowly become part of the problem.

In Terzić’s first seven games in charge, Dortmund have accumulated 10 points: three wins, a draw, and three losses meant that this was than Peter Stöger’s record – the last man to take over the club as manager midway through the season, replacing Peter Bosz. In 18 games this season, Dortmund have lost seven times, are behind RB Leipzig, Gladbach and Bayer Leverkusen, with Wolfsburg, Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt all in close vicinity around the table.