Effective rotation: Dortmund - The term 'squad rotation' was almost a taboo subject for Borussia Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp, who led his side to the Bundesliga title with more or less the same starting eleven throughout last season.
Indeed, the popular tactician even assured bundesliga.de at the start of this campaign: "We won't be rotating. I'm not a rotater, as it were."
Effective display
However, after watching his side put in a highly effective display in Saturday's 4-0 victory over FC Augsburg, their biggest of the season so far, Klopp is beginning to discover the benefits of having strength in depth: "We rotated because we were able to. We wanted to save some energy for what is going to be a long and strenuous campaign ahead," said the 44-year-old.
Klopp took out a number of last season's guaranteed starters for the match, and with great effect. Ivan Perisic replaced the out-of-form Kevin Großkreutz, 'Kuba' Blaszczykowski came in for Shinji Kagawa and Mario Götze took on a more central role behind the striker. "He can play in any position," said BVB executive director Hans-Joachim Watzke on the latter's goalscoring performance. Another change saw Felipe Santana do a sterling job in place of Neven Subotic at centre-back, where the Brazilian won 89 per cent of his tackles.
'Didn't fall into the trap'
Not that it was simply effective rotation which breathed fresh life into Dortmund's game. Also of note was the team's new-found efficiency. "It wasn't always top class football," said sporting director Michael Zorc, "but that had a lot to do with our opponents." Like many other sides this term, Augsburg sat deep and offered their hosts little room to manouevre. Yet rather than frustrate themselves by continuously piling on the pressure only to be hit on the counter, the champions bided their time and awaited opportunities to strike
"We played the ball around a bit at the back when we needed to," continued Zorc. It may have irritated a few of the home crowd, who have become accustomed to their side's non-stop style, but the tactic undoubtedly paid off. BVB controlled the match throughout with 63 per cent of possession. "We stayed calm and didn't allow ourselves to fall into their trap," said Klopp. Duly Dortmund kept their third clean sheet of the season, with Roman Weidenfeller's penalty save the only nervy moment in an otherwise one-sided encounter.
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