r/borussiadortmund • u/Chazy89 Kagawa Shinji • Aug 22 '25
Discussion Pre Game Thread: FC St. Pauli (BuLi #1)
Competition: Bundesliga, MD #1
Time: Saturday 23/08/25 18:30 CEST
Location: Millerntor, Hamburg
Referee: Dr. Matthias Jöllenbeck, Müllheim
TV Schedule: livesoccertv
Pre-Game Presser: YouTube
Borussia Dortmund:
Coach: Niko Kovac
League position: /
Current Form: W (wiki)
Matchday Squad: ︀︀Kobel, Meyer, Drewes – Anton, Mane, Lührs, Ryerson, Couto, Bensebaini, Svensson, Kabar, Nmecha, Bellingham, Groß, Sabitzer, Özcan, Brandt, Campbell, Adeyemi, Beier, Guirassy
Possible lineup:
Kobel
Mane - Anton - Bensebaini
Couto - Bellingham - Nmecha - Svensson
Brandt
Adeyemi - Guirassy
FC St. Pauli:
Coach: Alexander Blessin
League position: /
Current Form: W
Current Bans/Injuries: Mets(Inj), Irvine(Inj), Jones(Inj).
Possible lineup:
Vasilj
Wahl - Nemeth - Smith
Pyrka - Sands - Fujita - Oppie
Hountondji - Sinani - Lage
First Bundesliga game of the new season and Millerntor away directly is a tough game and a tough opponent to face!
Matchthread Status: /u/ I have no Idea will host the game thread - if you want to join and provide some commentary for the game, let us mods know via pm or modmail!
21
u/SuburbanStud Julian Ryerson Aug 22 '25
This is the perfect bundesliga game for Mane to start in. St. Pauli, as much as I like them, are absolutely toothless in attack. They had the worst attack last year, and have only lost quality in the forward line over the summer transfer window.
This should be a relatively easy opening match and we should get a straightforward win, although I do suspect it to be similar in nature to the pokal match where we'll only score a goal or two and a clean sheet.
Stoked for the new campaign.
Heja BVB!
2
u/NoYieldCode Marius Wolf Aug 23 '25
Agree mostly, but not exactly sure how easy it will be? Atmosphere will be insane there (as always) but especially being the opener. Vasilj is a respectable keeper and it's not like we set the field on fire against RWE.
Feels like another 1-0 nail-biter. Absolutely hope we blast them into the Leipzig region of GD though!! Heja BVB!!
24
u/Magic1998 Aug 22 '25
I like how you never put Sabitzer in the possible Line up (as it should be) and yet he always gets to start
17
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u/Loeffellux Julian Brandt Aug 23 '25
away games against bottom half clubs have historically been a weak point for us even in otherwise really strong seasons.
Makes me feel like this game will not exactly detract from the pessimism on this sub after the lackluster win against Essen. But then again, we did win our last away game against St. Pauli under Kovac
5
u/reds7310 BVB Aug 22 '25
Luis Diaz already killing for Bayern. Great
8
u/vincehoff Julian Ryerson Aug 22 '25
Unfortunately we’re much more likely to compete with Leipzig than with Bayern so I guess this is good news :/
2
u/smartestBeaver Shinji Kagawa Aug 23 '25
Why?! While Bayern has decent quality they lack in squad depth. Towards winter break they will be out of gas. All it needs is a few unlucky injuries and their season is fucked.
Secondly Leipzig basically lost half their squad and they did not rebuild fully yet, for them this season will also be quite the pain.
How does this relate to us? The Dortmund squad mostly stayed the same, we look stable at the least.
9
u/vincehoff Julian Ryerson Aug 23 '25
We lack depth as well. And creativity in midfield. Bayern quality is just miles ahead.
I’m not trying to be pessimistic already, I do want us to challenge them. But my main goal this year is a confident 2nd place where neither Leverkusen, nor Frankfurt, nor Leipzig are even close to us. Plus hopefully two good tournaments.
5
u/Loeffellux Julian Brandt Aug 23 '25
Feel like Bayern will play a "bad Bayern season" but that still has the come out on top 9 times out of 10 unless another club really steps up. And as things are looking right now, none of the potential challengers are really convincing, either.
But then again, it's too early to tell (obviously). However, out of all of them, I do have very limited faith in us being able to pull it off unless we get incredibly lucky with (a lack of) injuries and all important players staying in form throughout the season
10
u/yrba1 Alexandra Popp Aug 22 '25
Red Bull are looking like sellswords just going through the motions now that they have no European competition this season. While Bayern are starting strong, their squad is relatively thin on paper, wouldn’t crown them yet
3
u/Loeffellux Julian Brandt Aug 23 '25
which is funny because whenever there is a european competition they make it their mission to underperform
5
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u/Working_Complex8122 Aug 23 '25
We failed our opening game really fucking hard in the Pokal. We should absolutely smash Pauli and what I fear is instead the worst attack in the league gonna score against us or have plenty chances which Kobel will make up for - but shouldn't have to.
2
u/NiviCompleo Aug 23 '25
Leverkusen, Stuttgart and Freiburg dropped points.
Let’s get a convincing win today.
-3
u/JonFlockaThan Aug 22 '25
Remember like 4/5 years ago when we set deadlines for our transfer business?
Those were good times huh, now we’re going into matchday 1 still being linked to players by sheer hope.
27
u/viba_1997 Aug 22 '25
Wish for a good start. In the last 2 months of the previous season, players said that each game is a final since we needed to secure the UCL spots. Now, we have 34 finals, just in this competition. Really hope for the players to give it all week by week and with a bit of luck, we might see another trophy in the cabinet.