I'm honestly not too bothered after Dortmund's loss. I didn't expect that with Gundogan injured and Hummels leaving to Bayern that we would match Bayern blow for blow for 120 minutes and only lose by one goal in the penalties. Compared to last year, that's already an improvement and finishing ten points behind Bayern and twenty plus points above third is more than I could've imagined. Today's match showed that we do have the potential to challenge Bayern if we keep our best players. Granted, unless we get 500 million euro tomorrow we will find it tough to keep our best men in the squad--but if Tuchel took a relegation candidate (before January, at least) to second and to a cup final, he damn well can take them all the way. Especially with Ancelotti at the helm, who always seems to concentrate on the UCL more than he does on the domestic league. That said, I've got a few things to say...
1.) Burki is not overrated. He was superb at Freiburg, but move from a relegated team to Germany's second best and you will find it hard. (Weigl is an exception). In Freiburg's matches last year he scrapped at Bayern's attack. This year? He was inconsistent. He could be as awful as Koln last December or as superb as today. Give him another year--he's showing signs of improvement.
2.) Speed just isn't gonna cut it with Auba anymore. We could sort of ignore it against lower tier teams where he got dozens of chances per game but against top teams like Bayern, that just won't do. Tuchel must improve his finishing and his first touch--in fact, he even had the chance to finish it for us close to the end of extra time! Dembele's a clinical finisher who plays on the wing who has issues with teamwork. Auba has Tuchel's tactics down but his finishing sucks. Auba's proven that wingers can move to strikers and excel: could something similar happen with Dembele?
3.) Whatever you do, make Mkhitaryan sign an extension. Apart from increasing morale after losing our team captain to Bayern, he has been one of, if not the best, Dortmund player this year. His vision and passing are godlike and he's disgustingly underrated. First System of a Down and now him. Armenia, you make me proud.
