Bild: The Kovac effect suddenly disappears, Adeyemi Sabitze Gilasi is in a slump

German media "Bild" reported that in Dortmund's recent games, it can be seen that the team is struggling, and many players, including Adeyemi, Sabitzer, and Gilasi, have fallen into a slump.

Does Kovac need to kick Dortmund's star players in the butt again? The background is: He brought Dortmund, who was in crisis, back to the Champions League last season. This season, he also extended his unbeaten record in the league to 14 games. Adeyemi once gave a reason for this strong development momentum: "He kicked our butts."

But suddenly, the Kovacs effect disappeared! The report pointed out that in recent games, it is obvious that Dortmund's strength, desire and purpose have weakened. Against Cologne (1-0) and Augsburg (1-0), Dortmund just struggled to win the game. When facing strong opponents like Bayern (1-2) and Manchester City (1-4), Dortmund is obviously at a disadvantage. Some data also prove this suspicion: Dortmund's current stars have disappointed their coaches too much.

► Adeyemi was unable to maintain his tactical discipline. The dribbling master has never been involved in any goals in the past six appearances. His pressing ability is almost no longer reflected. His pressing efficiency has even dropped to only 10.7%, which is far lower than the average of Dortmund players (13.6%).

In addition, he repeatedly caused dissatisfaction with his frustrating behavior after being replaced. After the game against Manchester City, Kovac said of him: "Of course, he lacks a little luck, precision, and accuracy now. But everything in life is repetition."

► Sabitzer, the core of the midfield, no longer has the strong body language at the beginning of the season. His passing success rate in the first six official games of the season was 88%, but it suddenly dropped to 74% in the last six games. Sabitzer's impact on the game has been significantly reduced. He must avoid repeating the mistakes of last season and falling into a downturn again.

► Gilasi is in a serious scoring crisis. In the past eight official games, he only scored 2 goals. The striker has also had just two shots per game since October, having averaged at least four per game in August and September. His participation in the center of the penalty area also declined, also because his teammates gave too few passes.

► Right back Ryerson has only had 0.5 shots per game since October, compared with a strong 1.3 before. Against Manchester City, he was played by Doku many times.

Dortmund will also face Hamburg in the league today. Do the players need to be kicked in the butt by the coach before the game? Kovac said before the game: "Of course Adeyemi has his own words. No, we are working hard. In the end, when facing strong opponents, we did not execute our solutions well when in possession. Defensively, we also had some decisions that were not done well. In a game like this, you cannot be out of shape for 30 minutes, because at this level, you will be punished extremely severely for it."