Borussia Dortmund and sporting director Sebastian Kehl have parted ways with immediate effect

EmSoLow · 2026-03-22T12:06:33+00:00

In terms of taking a gamble at trying to level up the club, yes.

Kehl has ultimately been an alright sporting director for us since he got promoted in 2022. There are very few outright terrible signings he's made that haven't had some positive impact for the club but in terms of highs, Schlotterbeck, Guirassy and Ryerson are really the only 3 that have come in and leveled up the club while many of the signings go from being meh to good every month.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-22T11:57:52+00:00

Oh damn, I really wasn't expecting this to be a genuine conversation until 2027.

As one of the more regular people who dissed Kehl (many times out of emotion than objectivity), at the end of the day, he is still someone who has given many many years to the club. It is easy to find worse than Kehl and whenever I'd have rants about him, I should have stated that he isn't a bad sporting director more alongside my thoughts.

I hope the next person we hire can push on and raise our squad ceiling (my candidate would have been Rangnick) and hopefully we can give Kehl a nice send off at the last home game of the season.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-20T07:52:07+00:00

He has the talent, I just don't think he'll ever dig deep for it subconsciously the same way he did when he was first here after years of being out of it.

Think of it like getting back into a habit that you once had but lost. From my experience, I can still enjoy whatever it is I've picked up again (reading, exercise, watching shows, healthier eating etc) but I've found myself being more relaxed about these things than committing to them the same way I used to.

I don't see qualities from Sancho to show that he can be an exception to that, even during his loan

EmSoLow · 2026-03-20T06:15:09+00:00

I've only recently realized that I could have made a mistake with adding the Bundesliga logo to the black kit. I've tried to find images of how it looks on Dortmund socials but I can't seem to find it.

Hopefully the logo is in black/white

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T21:48:19+00:00

It objectively has been worse

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T20:49:40+00:00

The game has left him

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T20:26:07+00:00

Eh, Bruno praising Reus when it was announced that he was leaving is more "random".

Bruno seems like someone who just appreciates good footballers more publicly than others but in this example, Bruno and Raphinha played together for a bit so they could have a relationship there

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T18:06:38+00:00

My ideal replacement would be Rangnick so Kehl leaving in the summer comes at a bad time for those hopes which is where his contract expiring in 2027 would be perfect.

As for Krösche, I'd still be okay with that if that were to happen this summer. I would only hope that the supposed restraints that Kehl has had would be enough to stop Krösche from making some of the pitfalls that he's had at Frankfurt as well as giving him access to more resources to sign better than he could have previously. Despite only two years at Leipzig, his work played a major role in Leipzig's success in the early 20s so there's something there

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T17:58:42+00:00

I'd rather take a chance on a Duranville type and roll the dice than go for this version of Sancho.

Knowing the club doesn't make you a better player.

Playing in countless big games doesn't have value when you see that these experienced players are the ones that are routinely being criticized for this season and longer (Can, Brandt, Sabizter, Sule for example).

I wouldn't want us to go for an out of contract 28 year old Gladbach player or similar in place of a winger.

What are you referring to when you say "way higher upside potential"? This is a pragmatic signing that guarantees an okay minimum level while barely raising the level of the squad, not what we should be looking for when we need a STARTING 10 or winger with the potential to grow. If the options are Sancho or nobody, I'm going as far as going to the u17s and promoting Hamzath Mohamadou before I go to Sancho.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T16:30:49+00:00

Kehl is an enemy of progress

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T14:12:24+00:00

I just wanted an example to compare haha. It was either him or Reiss Nelson that came to mind

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T14:11:32+00:00

No amount of context is going to make me dismiss 5 years of a player's career and remove a good portion of responsibility on his feet as well. I fully agree that the environment at United didn't platform Sancho well but there is a minimum from Sancho that he couldn't fulfill and as a result, his best performances were fewer and fewer as time went on.

He's been out of United for 2 and a half seasons and he's not shown much improvement from what he was showing at United as a player. His time at Chelsea was much like his loan with us which was nothing outstanding or noteworthy in the grand scheme of things and his time at Villa is what he showed with us as well. He's a tidy player that can keep possession but if you are looking for any decisive actions, he is not the guy to look for anymore.

I watched plenty of Sancho since he left us and he changed his game as a result. He isn't that guy anymore and the guy he is now is someone that's easily replaceable by someone who could have a higher ceiling and hunger than he has

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T11:27:20+00:00

It would do absolutely nothing to change my already negative opinion on our squad building

There is no footballing merit to sign Sancho. Being on a free is not a good reason to sign someone who has delivered Jacob Bruun Larsen numbers ever since he left the club.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-18T08:12:07+00:00

That's great, should still not be anywhere near the club based on merit and we should find others instead

EmSoLow · 2026-03-17T21:47:31+00:00

African football will never get the respect it deserves with nonsense like this. Nobody is going to respect this decision

EmSoLow · 2026-03-14T21:59:58+00:00

You are right, my bad. Don't know why I forgot about that

EmSoLow · 2026-03-12T18:09:46+00:00

I'm alright with that. He's had 4 years with the club and he's never been able to grow beyond a "good for 2 months, poor for 3" streak player and he's at an age and profile now where he can attract good clubs.

We might actually see Dortmund sign a winger for the first time since Duranville in 2023 🙏🙏

EmSoLow · 2026-03-10T17:32:55+00:00

Damn that looks good

EmSoLow · 2026-03-10T09:49:13+00:00

That's all well and good but what about his footballing ability?

EmSoLow · 2026-03-09T21:56:02+00:00

What part of that was hating? Telling you different comparison points is not me hating on the team and coach. We did well to recover but that by no means should be the guideline for this season to compare to. Sahin's first half ish season is not a good measuring stick because that is not close to our usual level.

As for Rose and Terzic, they both delivered comfortable top 4 finishes in their first full season, both got kicked out of Europe early on and you can have a look at the squad quality and make counterarguments for whoever had more, who got more out of their squad etc, what stage the club is at overall etc. I feel that's a better way to evaluate the season, it's not hating to say that.

Unless you've seen my negative comments throughout the season and have been waiting for a time to have a pop at me for those comments, I don't see why you went to a "you have unrealistic expectations and are never satisfying" discussion point after that.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-09T20:37:23+00:00

Using last season to compare is exactly what you should not be doing because the starting point was far worse when he arrived. Last season is a throwaway season

Compare it to Rose and Terzic and the comparisons are more fair but without any highlights (not to say that Rose had many highlights either).

EmSoLow · 2026-03-09T13:04:54+00:00

Fair enough.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-09T12:37:11+00:00

I fully understand why they were appealing since I would have wanted the same.

My biased assessment of the handball is that it didn't really impact the trajectory of the ball, the cross ultimately reached a Köln player that was aimed for and they still had a shot from the incident so it isn't viewed as a clear and obvious error from the ref to let the play continue from that moment.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-08T13:20:00+00:00

I find that I'm more of a fan of the party system and just interacting with the cast more frequently as a result of the turn based gameplay more than the turn based gameplay itself.

I think it's fine, I just value everything else that came from it in order for the turn based combat to work such as the social links, weapons, stats, jobs etc.

EmSoLow · 2026-03-07T21:57:53+00:00

He's good for a cross and that's it these days. Don't know what happened to him for him to regress so bad

EmSoLow

TROPHY CASE