Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images

BVB came away from Friday night?s Bundesliga fixture with all three points, but the performance raised as many questions as it answered. Borussia Dortmund haven?t had the best of luck against local rivals VfL Bochum in recent years. In the last three seasons, BVB have won two, drawn three, and lost one against Bochum in the Bundesliga. So when they went 2-0 down in just over 20 minutes, it started to feel like Dortmund were in for (another) long night. Instead, Die Schwarzgelben looked within and found something resembling a semi-competent offense deep down inside themselves. They hit Bochum for four without return to win the game 4-2 and claim all three points against Bochum for the first time since 2021/22. There were some positives to take away from the second half on Friday. BVB came away with the victory, but they were also the better team on balance, creating 2.8 xG to Bochum?s 1.2, though 0.79 of BVB?s xG came from Can?s penalty. Once they finally got going in the second half, they piled the pressure on their opponents, and it was the best they have looked so far this season. But it?s hard not to focus on the negatives, especially in the context of a stuttering (to put it politely) start to the season. BVB have got a lot of work to do to implement a coherent system on both sides of the ball, and the unforced errors need to be addressed because there are only so many times you can hope to be able to dig y...