Emre Can urges Borussia Dortmund’s youngsters to learn how to “play dirty”

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Emre Can says his young teammates need to become more streetwise following their 4-3 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

The 26-year-old German international recently joined the Westfalenstadion-based club on loan from Serie A giants Juventus.

Dortmund’s leaky defence: Five key things to know…

• Borussia Dortmund have conceded 32 goals, the most by any side in the Bundesliga top six.
• They’ve kept seven clean sheets across 21 matches – only Bayern Munich (8) is better in this regard.
• BVB have dropped 14 points from winning positions – only Werder Bremen (19), Fortuna Düsseldorf (18) and Augsburg (18) have been more slack.
• Dortmund, though, have faced 67 shots on target which is the fewest by any side in the Bundesliga.
• Emre Can has subsequently urged his teammates to become more “dirty” in order to secure victories.

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Can made his debut in a DFB-Pokal match against Werder Bremen, which BVB lost 3-2 – the midfielder played just one minute of that game.

A few days later, Can started in their Bundesliga match at Leverkusen and gave the visitors the lead when his curling effort beat Lukas Hradecky, but Dortmund couldn’t hold on as their former boss Peter Bosz saw his charges rally from 3-2 down to win 4-3.

Despite it only being their second defeat in 10 league games, and fourth overall this campaign, Lucien Favre’s men have only kept eight clean sheets across 21 Bundesliga matches.

This wasn’t the first time Borussia Dortmund were the architects of their own downfall, and Can – who is still getting to know his new surroundings – feels they need to roll up their sleeves in order to enjoy success this season.

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“We concede goals too easily,” he told Sky Germany.

“I’ve only been here for a week but this team, which has enormous potential, has to learn one thing: to put it crudely, we have to play dirty sometimes and commit fouls if we have to.

“Everyone has to defend together. We all have to get better defensively as a unit, from front to back. I don’t just mean the goalkeeper or the defenders, I mean everyone.

“It’s a setback for us but the season still has a long time to go. I believe in this team, I’ve realised that in my short time training with them. I’ll definitely be throwing myself into my work to help the team, because I can play better as well. You’ll see that in the future.”