Borussia Dortmund are winning, but the debate about how they are doing it is growing louder. Five wins from five competitive fixtures, including a 3-0 defeat of Paderborn at the Signal Iduna Park, have put the club second in the Bundesliga table with nine points. Yet the performance against the promoted side exposed familiar limitations: Paderborn led the statistics for touches in the opposition box and shots inside the area at half-time, and it took two late strikes from substitute Felix Nmecha to settle the contest convincingly. Critics, including Sky analyst Dietmar Hamann, were blunt in their assessment that Dortmund did not play well.

The result nonetheless delivered individual moments worth noting. Fabio Silva opened the scoring and has now matched his entire goal tally from last season in just three Bundesliga appearances. Nico Schlotterbeck returned from an 84-day injury absence and won eight of nine duels, a significant boost to a defence that has been stretched by a difficult run of fitness setbacks.

The injury picture is slowly improving. Konstantinos Karetsas, who collapsed during the Champions League win over Villarreal due to dehydration, has been cleared of any serious condition and has already returned to individual training. Niko Kovac indicated the 18-year-old could be available as soon as the trip to VfB Stuttgart on 19 September, a fixture that will offer a sterner test of whether this squad can back up its results with a more convincing performance.