How Edin Terzic has turned Borussia Dortmund's season around

Borussia Dortmund have been perfect since the Bundesliga returned, winning all seven of their games. They are now toe-to-toe with Bayern Munich atop the league, something very unexpected from a side that was sitting in fifth place entering the World Cup break.

After an inconsistent start to his second tenure with the club, head coach Edin Terzic has increased the overall balance and stability over the course of the season to once again make them the most likely challenger to end Bayern's decade-long dominance in the German top-flight.

What Terzic changed from Rose's Dortmund

Terzic replaced Marco Rose before the season as Dortmund hope to rekindle the success they had during Terzic's first spell during the 2020-21 season, which ended with the club's fifth German Cup title. Terzic's appointment came with a slew of new transfers, including strikers Sebastien Haller and Anthony Modeste, foward Karim Adeyemi, midfielder Salih Özcan and defenders Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle.

While this list consists of talented players, many with Bundesliga experience, the sheer number, paired with big-name departures of defender Manuel Akanji, midfielder Axel Witsel and striker Erling Haaland, meant there was a significant disruption to the team — not to mention a change of footballing philosophy from Rose to Terzic.

Dortmund was a constant attacking threat in Rose's 4-2-3-1 formation, but they weren't stable enough defensively — the 52 goals they conceded in 2021-22 was the most in a single since 2007-08. This was the first problem Terzic had to fix, but instead of restructuring the whole setup, he kept the 4-2-3-1 formation and changed Dortmund's approach, using a more effective strategy of when to press rather than attacking every single pass of the opposition's buildup play.

Dortmund's new personnel struggled with this different philosophy, which led to the club's inconsistent performances early on. Additionally, Terzic had to build a completely new foundation for his team while they had possession, something they had also lost under Rose the season before. That foundation was hard to construct with the club's lack of form and injuries to key players, making it more difficult to maintain partnerships within the starting lineup.

How Dortmund benefitted from the winter break

The extended midseason break due to the winter World Cup was a golden ticket for Terzic to work on these issues. The long layoff also gave players the necessary time to recover from injuries or improve their fitness levels, another boost for the coaching staff.

While lineups in the first half of the season sometimes felt improvised, Terzic has been able to pick players that are necessary rather than simply available, including being able to choose a first-choice partnership in central defense.

The team is visibly more comfortable defending and pressing in their favored shape as their marking options in midfield have improved. As a result, instead of staying in a 4-2-3-1, Dortmund are now capable of switching different pressing shapes, like a 4-1-4-1, as needed.

Another notable difference from the start of the season is how they now build up play and progress the ball. Their preferred structure has now changed into a 3+1 buildup (see diagram below), meaning one of the double pivot players, Özcan or Emre Can, drops in between the center-backs, forming a back-three with the remaining pivot player in front.

Depending on the starting lineup, attack-minded players like Jude Bellingham, Julian Brandt and Marco Reus can push forward and operate more freely. This has stabilized the whole team in a way that has made their ball progression more efficient as they can break more opposing lines, find players in the half-spaces of the pitch and start attacks from there.

This shape also drastically improved their structure and behavior in transition after winning or losing the ball because they are more comfortable in their rest-defense, the defending structure while in possession, and when defending counters.

Over this season and the long winter break, Terzic managed to find a stable balance, not only tactically but also from the point of view of players' performances. New signings such as Adeyemi, Özcan, Süle and Schlotterbeck have finally settled and found their form, and longer-tenured players like Brandt and Wolf are finding new versions of themselves.

Who can say whether Dortmund can finally knock Bayern off the championship stage by the end of the season or how far they can advance in the Champions League, but Terzic's team have shown that they will likely run closer to them than they have in a long time.

Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp