Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Mats Hummels: No guarantees for 'rubbish' Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund captain Mats Hummels says there are no guarantees his side will improve in the second half of the Bundesliga season, describing BVB's away form so far as "rubbish."

A 2-1 defeat at Werder Bremen on Saturday sealed Dortmund's worst first half of the season in several decades. Jurgen Klopp's side have won 15 points in their first 17 games, with only four of them -- a 3-2 win at Augsburg and a 2-2 draw at Paderborn -- picked up on the road.

Despite going undefeated in their last three home games of 2014, Dortmund will spend the winter break in the relegation zone, and Hummels is under no illusions that the 2013 Champions League finalists are in a relegation fight.

The Germany international has been fighting with injuries ever since the World Cup final against Argentina in mid-July, and has struggled to find form for BVB.

While Hummels scored BVB's consolation goal on Saturday, he was directly involved in both Bremen goals, and later told reporters that a third consecutive away defeat was hard to digest.

"We're trying to get our heads round this. In the last few weeks we've been okay and at home we seem to have turned a corner, but away from home, it's been anything but," the 26-year-old centre-back said. "It's quite unbelievable how rubbish we've been away from home."

Hummels, who was named the "symbol for the BVB crisis" by local paper Ruhr Nachrichten, added that Dortmund now have to make the best of their winter preparation before the league resumes with an away match at Bayer Leverkusen in late January.

"Nearly every single player was fighting injuries in the first half of the season," Hummels said. "We need to make use of the winter preparation. And it would be an interesting experience, also for me, to be pain free. I did not have that since the World Cup.

"We have been concerned for a number of weeks. And looking at our performances it's totally deserved we are down there. There is no guarantee that things will get better."

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