Dortmund way short of targets, admits Klopp

05 October 2014 00:31

Coach Jurgen Klopp admits Borussia Dortmund are falling worryingly short of their domestic targets after slumping to 13th in the Bundesliga despite riding high in the Champions League.

Dortmund lead Arsenal in Group D of the Champions League after beating the Gunners 2-0 in Germany before enjoying a 3-0 win at Anderlecht on Wednesday.

But Klopp's side are winless in their last four domestic league matches with three losses and a draw as Saturday's 1-0 defeat at home to Hamburg left them 13th -- their worst league position after seven matches since 2009.

"For all our ambitions and goals, this is currently not nearly enough," admitted Klopp.

"I take full responsibility for the preparations and the tactics.

"We're left with seven points and we're not even looking at the top of the table now."

This was Hamburg's fourth victory over Dortmund in their last five meetings to leave Klopp's side just two points above the relegation zone.

Hamburg netted the first-half winner when a poor pass from Dortmund striker Adrian Ramos was snapped up by Marcell Jansen who fed Nicolai Mueller.

The winger sprinted away from Dortmund centre-back Sokratis, drawing goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller for Hamburg's Pierre-Michel Lasogga to slot into an empty net on 35 minutes.

Klopp has lost both star striker Robert Lewandowski and midfielder Mario Goetze to rivals Bayern Munich in the last two seasons and the league table tells its own story.

After seven games last season, Dortmund led Bayern in the Bundesliga with both sides on six wins and a draw, but Borussia had a superior goal difference of 16 to Bayern's 12.

A year later and Dortmund are already ten points behind Bayern with the two teams to meet in Munich on November 1.

Dortmund were not the only German side to suffer a Champions League hangover on Saturday.

Ten-man Schalke also suffered an afternoon to forget after drawing 1-1 with Maribor in the Champions League on Wednesday as they went down 2-1 at Hoffenheim, who moved up to second in the table.

The Royal Blues found themselves behind after only 13 minutes as Norway's Tarik Elyounoussi put the hosts into the lead.

Hoffenheim's Hungary striker Adam Szalai then slotted home their second against his former club on 29 minutes.

Schalke finished with 10 men after Cameroon's Joel Matip was shown a second yellow and subsequent red before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a late consolation goal to leave the Royal Blues 11th.

Bayer Leverkusen dropped to fourth in the Bundesliga table after drawing 2-2 at home to ten-man Paderborn having beaten Benfica at home on Wednesday in Europe.

Source: AFP