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Thomas Tuchel Must Build on Fine First Season to Take Borussia Dortmund Forward
- Updated: July 20, 2016
Thomas Tuchel’s first season in charge of Borussia Dortmund was one for the ages, all things considered.
Coming off a wholeheartedly disappointing campaign under Jurgen Klopp in which they finished seventh in the Bundesliga, the club underwent the first coaching change in seven years—an eternity in modern football.
Although appointing the 42-year-old former Mainz 05 coach as Klopp’s replacement was largely accepted as a no-brainer, there still was some scepticism as to how he’d do at a bigger club and, more importantly, how long it would take him to right the ship.
By and large, Tuchel passed that test with flying colours. Dortmund ended the season setting a record for the best second-placed team of all time with 78 points, only one win away from tying the club-record 81 points of Klopp’s second championship season 2011/12—a mark they likely would’ve met had they had anything to play for in the last weeks of the season.
It was a trophyless season, of course, because Bayern Munich were even better in the league and in the DFB-Pokal final in May, but that couldn’t take anything away from one of the finest coaching jobs in recent memory. As Stefan Buczko noted for ESPN FC, Dortmund’s 78 points would have been enough to win the title “46 out of 53 times.”
Tuchel quickly made the team his own, branding a unique playing style that made them one of the most entertaining sides in European football. Where Klopp ultimately failed to adjust his teams to new circumstances winning the league brings with it, Tuchel thrived.
His predecessor “was not able to introduce a stable, more possession-orientated style that was required against deep-sitting Bundesliga sides,” tactics blogger Constantin Eckner wrote for Yellowwallpod.com.
Tuchel turned that weakness into a strength, his team dominating almost every opponent, suffocating defensive blocks and cutting them open with surgical precision many times.
The evolution during the campaign was also a positive sign. There was a maturation of sorts as they grew in their system, illustrated by the fact that the Black and Yellows conceded only 11 league goals in the second half of the season after allowing 23 in the first 17 matches. They still punished opponents regularly, scoring a club-record 82 goals.
A remarkable consistency distinguished Tuchel’s first year in charge. Outliers such as the 5-1 defeat in Bayern’s Allianz Arena and the rollercoaster ride that was the 4-3 loss away to Liverpool in the UEFA …
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