Nico Schlotterbeck is considered a beacon of hope in the central defense of Borussia Dortmund and the German national team. But for months his game has been marked by inconsistency and individual errors.
Nico Schlotterbeck has so far only been noticed by his inconsistent performance
At the end of the game Nico Schlotterbeck didn't know whether to celebrate or be sad. Just under an hour earlier he had let his teammates celebrate with tense biceps, but a short time later he had come back to earth after an individual error. Although his club Borussia Dortmund narrowly won 4-3 against FC Augsburg, who were threatened with relegation, they again conceded three goals. It was an almost typical Schlotterbeck game. The blond boy described his performance best himself: “Quality up front and no quality behind.” Not the best testimony for a player whose main task as a central defender is to prevent goals.
A fine line< /h2>
The 23-year-old defensive talent, who switched from Freiburg to Dortmund for around 25 million euros before the season, has recently been increasingly noticeable due to uncertainties. Schlotterbeck plays on the one hand with a lot of self-confidence, admirable passion and a great fight, but on the other hand also with a lot of risk and makes (again and again) crucial mistakes. His diagonal passes are daring, but if they find their way to the wingers, they can be a tried and tested means of increasing the risk of scoring. The ridge on which Schlotterbeck walks is extremely narrow. The Schlotterbeck record against Augsburg is symbolic of this: a capital loss of the ball at the back, which led to an equalizer in the meantime. A hit in front to lead again. A bad pass in the back, which meant the equalizer again. In front a long ball that initiated the winning goal.
Schlotterbeck (left), Süle (middle) and Hummels (right) have not been able to beat the BVB defense so far Provide stability
“It's very difficult to explain the game in general,” said Schlotterbeck after the game. Equally difficult to explain is his extremely fluctuating performance since moving from Breisgau to the Ruhrpott. Quite a few experts had speculated that Borussia Dortmund could get their defense problems under control with the newcomers Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle and the revived Mats Hummels and could be a serious competitor for Bayern Munich in the fight for the title. Halfway through the season, however, the reality is: Nothing has improved overall at BVB this season, and Schlotterbeck's defense in particular looks more flawed than ever. 24 goals conceded after 16 games and sixth place in the Bundesliga speak for themselves. Every BVB game looks like a lucky bag and not least because of the vulnerability of the defensive the club fluctuates between extremes.
Lienen: “Schlotterbeck plays a role”
Midfielder Julian Brandt explained after the 4-2 loss in Mönchengladbach in November: “I had the feeling that it could be 0-5 or 5-3 or even 8-4”. In that game, the last before the World Cup break, it became clear for the first time in which form the 1.91 meter tall Schlotterbeck is in. The new signing was substituted at half-time – it was the low point of a development that had already been observed in the central defender in the weeks before. The exact reasons for this low form can only be found with an internal insight, but the former long-standing Bundesliga player and coach Ewald Lienen provides an explanation: As early as September, the 69-year-old appealed in his podcast “der Sixteen” to Schlotterbeck to focus on the essentials again.
Nico Schlotterbeck shows his typical celebration after the 2 :1 against Augsburg
“I think Nico Schlotterbeck is one of the most talented central defenders in Germany and he has developed extremely well in recent years,” said Lienen. “But since he's been in Dortmund and in the national team, so basically the focus, he's started to play a role. That's unfortunate. He speaks up, he animates the audience and in unison with this non-authentic role, he plays, he makes one mistake after the other. That runs like a red thread through.”
Performances in the national team fluctuated
Even in the national team, Schlotterbeck's performances often seem like a rollercoaster ride. In the Nations League game in England, a jerk went through the central defender in the 65th minute. After a successful rescue operation, he yelled loudly at his colleagues, clapped his hands and tried to wake them up. Only 15 minutes later he clumsily went into a duel against his BVB team-mate Jude Bellingham and caused a penalty with an unnecessary foul in the penalty area. At that time he had already caused three penalties in his first five international matches due to his sometimes clumsy tackle. After the game, the football magazine “11Freunde” wrote: “Schlotterbeck is already in World Cup form. So, if the World Cup form means the preliminary round in a actually feasible group.”
Nico Schlotterbeck is late while Takuma Asano makes it 2-1 for Japan
At the time, the authors probably didn't realize how true those words would prove to be. Because Schlotterbeck also played a role in the group elimination of the German team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In the already decisive defeat in the first group game against Japan, he was in the penalty area without an opponent and task at the first goal, in the second only provided protection against Takuma Asano instead of disturbing him vehemently and decisively or even bringing him down early by a tactical foul . Defeat was sealed. One could almost say: Schlotterbeck seamlessly continued its BVB form at the World Cup. After the game, national team colleague Ilkay Gündogan undoubtedly said to the central defender: “I don't know if an easier goal has ever been scored at a World Cup. That can't happen, we're at a World Cup here.”
Ein Face of the club
The former Freiburg player is not lacking in self-criticism. “I was also too inconsistent in the Bundesliga,” he told the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung”. “My game just has a lot of risks. I've tried to minimize them in recent years, but of course I've made two or three mistakes too many.”
If he can do it over five or six years To deliver good games, he would like to “maybe become a face of the club,” said Schlotterbeck. However, he is still miles away from that. In the second half of the season, Schlotterbeck now wants to “put in top performances”. This will also be urgently necessary if BVB does not want to rely on the pure individual quality of its attacking players in every game. Because even they won't score four or five goals in every game.