“ Now’s not the time for panic, that comes later”

-Bane, The Dark Knight Rises

It seems that everyone and their grandmothers have an opinion about Borussia Dortmund these days. With Lewandowski’s recent confirmation of his impending move to Bayern, pundits seem to feel that Dortmund’s fairy tale foray into the upper echelons of European football is all but over. Undoubtedly the loss is a massive one but it is, I must stress this, not fatal.

The startling lack of squad depth appears to be a major point of contention among Dortmund’s detractors, pointing their finger at their recent wretched league form, a result of biting injuries decimating their way through our backline, as evidence of our apparent lack of squad depth. Of course one must bear in mind Dortmund’s financial travails and realize that they simply cannot afford to have the likes of Javi Martinez or a certain Angel Di Maria wasting away on their benches, as Bayern and Madrid does. They simply do not possess the financial nous to make it happen. But no, just because Jonas Hoffman instead of Di Maria and Kirch instead of Martinez, does not mean we lack depth.

It would be good here to clarify what exactly I mean by squad depth. No, I do not mean Manchester City or Chelsea levels of absurdity that leaves players like Juan Mata out. No, we mustn’t take a FIFA-esque approach when looking at squad depth. What I mean to say is that squad depth should be defined as how seamlessly the subs manage to slot into the team without affecting the flow of the game. Suffice to say, if Marian Sarr were to start in place of Subotic alongside Hummels for example, if the two still manage to strike up a proper partnership and understanding, then we would have a seamless transition. The eventuality I am getting at is simply this - having a world class bench does not mean you have squad depth. Its merely a waste of talent and a criminal hoarding at that. (Here’s looking at you, City) Conversely then it can be said that even with world class subs, a disruption in the team’s rhythm would still mean that the team lacks depth.

A look around the squad will tell you that Dortmund has plenty of depth around, most positions have an able deputy- Grosskreutz/Durm shoring up the fullbacks; Sokratis/Sarr reliably covering Mats and Neven; Ilkay and Sahin are interchangeable, hell even Kirch if needs dictate; Auba and Hoffman covering the flanks. This brings me nicely to my next point, our supposed lack of firepower up front (removing Lewy from the equation of course).

The question on every Dortmunder’s mind right now, which rabbit is Kloppo going to pull out of his hat to address Lewy’s departure? Many fancy Diego Costa, but I say bollocks. Klopp entered the 13/14 season with full knowledge of Robert’s intentions of leaving, did you really think he would leave such a pressing problem unaddressed until Lewy’s actually left? Of course not, we only need to look at our current offensive weapons to get a glimpse at our answer. In Aubameyang we have a proven Ligue 1 striker who was denied top scorer only by the exploits of a certain Swede; in Mkhitaryan we have an explosive finisher who has his scoring credentials underlined in Ukraine, no easy feat for a CAM to finish top scorer, even in Ukraine. And in Marco Reus, we have a player who has proven he can cut it at CF, his time at Mongchengladbach deliciously earning him German player of the year. With the three, Klopp can instill a more fluid attacking system, as opposed to Lewy being the pivot of the attack. All three can drift in and out of each other’s positions, with plenty of their pace and trickery to punish defenders for napping on their jobs.

So fret not, Dortmund needs not the mega signing of Diego Costa or Jackson Martinez, all we need is for Miki and Auba to get fully acclimatised to the Bundesliga and the Dortmund system. What’s really important in the upcoming summer transfer window is to get Sahin back on a permanent deal (with the hope that Ilkay extends), prise Volland from Hoffenheim. Of course nobody would mind getting Shinji back.

Dortmund are a club that yields not in the face of adversity. We shrugged off bankruptcy by storming to the title with an unheralded set of young players. We shrugged off the loss of Sahin, the beating heart of the 10/11 title winning season by going one better, securing the title in (then) record points and a domestic double. We shrugged off the loss of Kagawa and Barrios by reaching the champions league final in the following season. Gotze might have represented the very essence of our recent resurgence, the loss of our talismanic figure chipped away at our very soul. Our riposte to that? A 4-1 hammering of a team widely tipped to reach the finals. It might seem our darkest hours, losing yet another player to our bitter rivals, but unless Bayern’s coffers can taint even Kloppo, then we will get through this. A rebirth, like a phoenix rising from the ashes. You can’t strengthen your muscles without tearing up the fibres first.

Walk on, walk on

With hope in your heart

And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

when all else fails- there’s always Kevin.

BelieVe.