Borussia Dortmund, after a shocking five league defeats through eight matches, sit at 14th in the Bundesliga table, and club officials are furious with the poor showing.
With the club falling to FC Koln 2-1 yesterday to compound things at Westfalenstadion, manager Jurgen Klopp was the first to speak out.
“We played a kind of football which is absolutely pointless,’' Klopp declared in the postmatch press conference.
“We misplaced so many passes in the first half and made simple mistakes which can be explained in a whole host of ways, but still should not be happening. We’ve just got to face the music once again.’'
The music may be blaring loudest from within, as director of football Michael Zorc declared a crisis for the club.
It is a very difficult situation for us, actually the most difficult in recent years,” Zorc said. “This must be said clearly. One has the feeling that it is absent in all a bit. It lacks the consistency in the offensive and defensive in the area.”
“For Koln it was easy to defeat us today, by winning the important battles with passion.”
Dortmund has conceded 14 goals in eight matches, third-most in the league. The manager knows this must change immediately.
“We’ve got to eradicate these mistakes. Not tomorrow, not the day after but straight away,” Klopp said. “We are almost always scoring goals and if we didn’t concede any, then the situation would look completely different. We’ve got to resolve this and nobody’s going to help us.’'
Surprisingly the club has done well in the Champions League despite the domestic struggles, beating Arsenal and Anderlecht by a combined 5-0, but unless they win the competition, they will need the league to see European play next year.