Borussia Dortmund has not been the same ever since Jurgen Klopp left. Thomas Tuchel was good but not as great as his successor, Peter Bosz failed to install the high-press tactics he succeeded with at Ajax, while his replacement Peter Stoger showed he didn’t have what it takes to become a top coach. Next up is Lucien Favre, the man who revolutionised Nice and turned them into a perennial contender for European qualification. His name was mentioned in the conversation for Arsene Wenger’s replacements at Arsenal, but he eventually arrived in Germany to lead Borussia Dortmund.
So far so good for Borussia Dortmund under Lucien Favre
BVB’s pre-season has been very encouraging. They were the only team to get the better of Liverpool, in large part thanks to the American teenage superstar, Christian Pulisic. Manchester City was also defeated. That game was followed by a penalty shootout loss to Benfica (2-2) and a 1-1 draw with Rennes four days ago. Napoli is the penultimate preparation opponent. Another Italian adversary (Lazio) awaits on August 12 before the German Cup first-round match at Greuther Furth on August 20 and the Bundesliga opener versus RB Leipzig on August 26.
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Borussia Dortmund transfer market movements
Borussia Dortmund’s off-season focus has been strengthening the midfield. Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel are both strong, quality holding midfielders who should fit wonderfully in Favre’s plans and close the defensive holes which have plagued this team for years. Greek international Sokratis left for Arsenal and was replaced by 22-year-old Abdou Diallo. The youngster came from Mainz for €28 million, which says a lot about what Dortmund thinks of him. Between him, Manuel Akanji and Dan-Axel Zagadou, the German outfit has three fantastic young centre-backs. Moroccan right back Achraf Hakimi was loaned from Real Madrid to provide depth behind the ageing Lukasz Piszczek.
Lucien Favre has a deep squad filled with youth and experience. Under his guidance, Borussia Dortmund is expected to finally challenge Bayern Munich again this season. For now, the focus is on the pre-season friendly against Napoli set to kick off today at 19:30 CET in Switzerland’s St. Gallen.
Napoli’s pre-season – a learning curve
Napoli won three friendly encounters, all against weaker opposition, and then failed their first true test after getting trounced 5-0 by Liverpool. Games like that are why teams go through pre-season. Carlo Ancelotti had an opportunity to detect his team’s weaknesses and will spend the rest of the time between now and Serie A’s opener against Lazio trying to fix them.
Based on recent friendlies, Orestis Karnezis should be the one to replace Pepe Reina between Napoli’s posts. Ancelotti seems to prefer Sebastiano Luperto to Mario Rui at right back, while also giving Arkadiusz Milik ample playing time to show he can handle being in charge of goals. Simone Verdi will be Milik’s main rival, while Fabian Ruiz will be Jorginho’s direct replacement.
