Borussia Dortmund manager Marco Rose is aware of the importance of Erling Haaland to his team but insisted Borussia Dortmund will not “whine” about the star striker’s absence after sustaining a hip injury.
The Dortmund head coach Rose confirmed last Friday that Haaland would be out for several weeks due to a hip flexor injury.
Haaland a prolific scorer for the black and yellow has scored 13 goals in 10 appearances across all competitions so far this season, having missed three matches due to a muscular problem. He returned to feature in a 3-1 win over Mainz on October 16, finding the net twice in a remarkable comeback.
Erling Haaland has so far netted 13 goals in 10 appearances in all competitions, with nine of those goals coming in the Bundesliga. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
The 21-year-old’s absence was not felt as Dortmund claimed a 3-1 win at Armenia Bielefeld on Saturday, with Rose’s team sitting second in the Bundesliga.
A home match against Ingolstadt in the DFB-Pokal comes up next on Tuesday 26, though Haaland was the main subject of Rose’s pre-match news conference on Monday ahead of the cup game.
“Erling is incredibly important for us and we miss him, no question,” said Rose.
“I once said that we would have to reinvent ourselves [in his absence]. But we don’t have to do so by that much. We will not start all over again.
“We might not have Erling’s physique upfront now, but we have other types of players. In Bielefeld, we played with three strikers and had different ideas.
“We’ll be happy when Erling does come back. But again, we have to get used to [his absence] for a few games now. So we shouldn’t whine about it but find solutions and we are currently working on that right now.”
The Norway international has scored nine league goals already this season, averaging a strike every 60 minutes in the Bundesliga.
The former RB Salzburg man has had 30 shots, registering a 30 percent conversion rate, outperforming his xG of 6.13 by some distance. Haaland has also stepped up creatively, already providing three assists, the joint-highest in Rose’s squad alongside Dortmund’s captain Marco Reus.
Borussia Dortmund manager Marco Rose has said his side will not whine about Haaland’s absence. | PHOTO: The Mirror |
Donyell Malen replaced Haaland up top against Bielefeld, though failed to get on the scoresheet from two attempts, one of which was a missed opportunity in the eighth minute from what was Dortmund’s second-best chance of the game from open play, according to Opta with an xG value of 0.232.
Malen arrived from PSV in the summer, but in nine Bundesliga games, he is yet to find the net, from 11 attempts in total.
Reus is another option in a central role, though the Dortmund captain is usually at his best deployed as one of the wide attackers in Rose’s 3-4-3 or 4-3-3 systems.
The experienced forward leads Dortmund for chances created with his 16 chances but has scored just two goals, slightly underperforming his xG (2.26) in his eight Bundesliga appearances so far.
Youssoufa Moukoko could be utilized, however, he has only played 78 minutes across five league matches under Rose. The teenager became the youngest ever Bundesliga player when he made his debut in November last season, before becoming the competition’s most junior scorer in December last year.
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