Dortmund 0-0 Werder Bremen at Half-Time: 72% Possession, 0.51 xG, No Goal

Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen are level at 0-0 at half-time at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, and the scoreline is the only thing keeping this Bundesliga contest honest. Dortmund have 72% possession, 5 shots to 2, 2 shots on target to none, and 19 touches in the box against Werder's 2. The expected-goals count reads 0.51 to 0.11. None of it has produced a goal.

Dortmund are set up in a 3-4-2-1, Werder in a 4-2-3-1. The hosts have pushed 322 passes into Werder's half; Werder have managed 15 into Dortmund's. Dortmund's 398 accurate passes at 92% against Werder's 126 at 75% tells the same story — the ball is living in one end of the pitch. Maximilian Beier has carried the biggest share of the attacking threat with 0.33 xG, while Serhou Guirassy has added 0.07. Dortmund's open-play xG of 0.41 dwarfs Werder's 0.05, and the set-play split of 0.10 to 0.06 is the only area where Werder have stayed close.

Dortmund have one big chance to Werder's none, 3 corners to 1, and 18 duels won to 16. Felix Nmecha, Joane Gadou and Waldemar Anton have all featured in the attacking build-up without converting. Werder have kept a clean sheet through shape and discipline rather than threat — 5 fouls to Dortmund's 3, no yellow cards for either side, and only 2 touches in the Dortmund box across the entire half. The gap between 0.51 xG and zero goals is the whole story of this first half.

Dortmund's problem is not creation but conversion. Beier's 0.33 xG is the single largest slice of the hosts' total, and it has not yet turned into a shot on target that beats the Werder goalkeeper. Guirassy's 0.07 xG is a smaller contribution than his role in the 3-4-2-1 would suggest, and the two attacking midfielders behind him have not added a goal threat of their own. Werder's 4-2-3-1 has held its shape without the ball, conceding only 2 shots on target and 1 big chance, but the cost is that the visitors have barely crossed halfway with intent — 15 passes into Dortmund's half and 2 touches in the box is a defensive shift, not a platform. If Werder want more than a point, they will need to find a way to get their front four into the game without abandoning the block that has kept the score level. Dortmund, meanwhile, have 45 minutes to turn 0.51 xG into the goal that their control of the match has earned.

FotMob.