September 2012
The window closes and the groups are drawn.
First things first, the last day of August which I didn't include in the last post. Two significant things happened here, transfer deadline day and the group stage draw for the Champion's League. The transfer window closed without much fanfare for myself, I had no money and very few wages to play around with. The Dortmund board seem to be a lot more strict than other boards and will make sure that you stick to the wage budget forcefully. As for the Champion's League draw I was seeded 4th, last to be drawn. The draw looked kind with only one extremely tough group, Group H....my group. I got drawn along with Barcelona, Juventus and Zenit. To put this into perspective the next toughest group I could have got would have been Valencia, A C Milan and PSG.
Some success in the league.
The first match of the month was at home to Frankfurt. This was a good chance to put the previous result behind us and start afresh. The players did exactly that. Lewandowski scored after just 2 minutes and although Frankfurt equalised shortly after two second half goals from Lewandowski and another from Piszczek secured the result in convincing fashion.
Next was an altogether tougher fixture, Leverkusen away. As one of the mainstays of German teams in European football Leverkusen could not be overlooked. I was expecting a tough match but nobody told Lewandowski this. He netted four goals and with Leverkusen unable to reply I took all three points and my first clean sheet in the league.
Los cules and a hammering.
Next to visit the Westfalenstadion was the mighty Barcelona. This was a daunting prospect and the lads did themselves proud. After a dull first half they took the lead shortly after the break. Reus, making his first start after injury pegged them back immediately. Messi scored to put them back into the lead but a Reus corner led to Subotic heading home to equalise. Things were looking good until the 89th minute when Marcel Schmelzer decided to stand near the corner flag until Dani Alves closed him down and put a cross in for Villa to secure the win. Despite this I was pleased with the performance of ten of my men and still have a hope of qualifying.
Stuttgart were the next visitors and with the match being in between Barca and Bayern games I rested many key names. Perisic opened the scoring with a penalty after 11 minutes and Lewandowski doubled the lead after a further 17. Minutes later Perisic doubled his tally for the day and put the result beyond doubt. Schieber, a half time substitute and Leitner, a young CM with a lot of potential, added second half goals to compound Stuttgart's misery.
A disappointing end to the month.
Next saw a trip to the Allianz-Arena where we took the lead on the stroke of half time only for Thomas Muller to hit back immediately taking the teams level at half time. A Gomez goal and a second for Muller put pressure on us but a Lewandowski goal in the 86th minute gave us a glimmer of hope only for another Schmelzer mistake to allow Muller to bag his hat trick and put the game beyond doubt for Die Bayern (original nickname).
Next was a home tie against a Werder Bremen side we should beat comfortably. I rested some players, maybe too many as they took the lead early on. Half time substitute Reus spared our blushes and we took a disappointing single point away from the match.
Lewandowski was undoubtedly the star man for this month scoring an incredible 9 goals in 6 games. It's also pleasing to see goals coming from many different players. The AM positions are undoubtedly Dortmund's strong point, for these positions they have 5 players who are good enough for any league in the world along with other future prospects. Schmelzer was the flop of the month, I wish I'd had a bit more cash to sort this out in the summer, this will be my priority next summer, or January if the board coughs up.
Results & Table
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