GermanBlue

I really love the English Premier League, but during the winter break, something was missing in my weekend. Now it's back! Schalke - Hannover 5:4 (1:0)

Klopp is more than unrealistic. He lives Dortmund, he breathes BVB. It's all a big family there and Klopp was only at two clubs as a coach (Mainz and Dortmund) and he was a big success and very popular there, he cried when he left Mainz, he's a loyal guy. But certainly, as the type of coach, he'd suit great, I think. He's a motivator through and through and still great at tactics. He likes to try things out and is honest with it when they fail. But as I said, it's unrealistic that he'd come here. He once said a long time ago that he wants to go to the BPL one day, but then again some time ago after that success at Dortmund, he said that it isn't a dream anymore. I'd support Laudrup, because I love the way Swansea plays and I'm sure we can play like that, too. He's a great tactical talent, but I assume Roman will be going for a big name.

In the starting 11 today at Malaga against Barcelona. Will be interesting to see how he performs against a strong opposition.

Apparently, Fulham made an offer for Nordsjaelland defender Okore with half the world being interested in him: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8395157/

Sturridge certainly brought something into the game. He did score the goal and messed some chances, but when he was brought on, Liverpool became more active. Clearly, Utd weren't on their way forward in the 2nd half, but Danny had a lot of touches and was always around when at least a slight piece of danger was created. Apparently, he wasn't Chelsea quality and no one knows if he'd ever be. He's not a top class player, but he's 23 and still has time to improve.

I can't see what he'd bring into the squad. With 25 years, he's probably at the peak of his carrier and is playing his first remarkable good season. He can maybe play on the wings and CAM, too, but Piazon can do that as well, and he's a great talent who can still improve.

Modric would be a great surprise deal by the end of the window. I've read articles claiming he'd only come in summer if he comes though.

Spanish newspaper "AS" reports that we're apparrently offering Guardiola a contract with wages of 65m € in 3 years. I don't (want to) believe this though.

Pretty sure we're going to sign a midfielder this month. Capoue would be so niceeee.

Yes, it's official. He's on loan from RM. I don't think the reason of Dortmund falling behind Munich is the lack of depth. Especially in the pivot, they have some good proven players with Gündogan, Kehl, Bender, Leitner and Bittencourt. Ofc, Sahin would still be an improvement. IMO, the reason of Dortmund's season is first, the immense Munich side which is easily the best in the recent years, and second the fact that it's difficult to repeat 2 title winning seasons. Even Bayern managed to do that 2 times (1972-1974 and 1985-1987). And you should not forget that, instead of the other years where they were kicked out of the international competitions quickly (EL and CL group stages each), they play an immense CL-season this year with winning against RM and ManCity.

http://de.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-capoue-arsenal-chelsea-bayern-163314314.html An article on the German Eurosport website confirms our interest, but it's from the 14th December. By then, according to Eurosport, besides Arsenal and Chelsea, Bayern Munich are also interested in signing Capoue, if Tymoschuck leaves them. Arsenal seems to be in favor, I don't wonder about that with so many French in the squad. Still, I think, Capoue is an interesting prospect and should surely be worth that price.

Yes, it was, at least I saved my team the 5th place in that tournament, which isn't that great as there were 8 teams, but still. And I got a beer for it from our coach, lol. Well, it still hurts and burns. Today, after two nearly sleepless nights from Saturday until today, and me realizing I couldn't reallly walk, because my pants were scratching the wound, I finally went to the doctor and I got a big plaster (is it the right expression?). I was certainly afraid of it being infected, because it looked really ugly, but it seems like it's ok. Can't do any sports until Friday and yeah, it's gonna be the hell for me, because I need sports, a week without football is a lost week, especially because I'm gonna write an exam on Friday and I need to take my mind off the school stuff sometime.

As I've already written, it looks like Isco can play anywhere in AM, so left and right attacking midfield is also possible because of his great dribbling skills. Also, even if he undoubtadly is a great talent, he still has to fight for his spot here, and if he turns out to be a magnificent improvement to the current first team, we will find a spot for him to play, I'm sure about that. Kevin De Bruyne is for me the most variable player we have (or going to have) right now, as he can play on the wings, as a playmaker and also could possibly be a pivot player for us. Bremen play a 4-3-3 and he plays in the CM, he's well suited for everything in the central midfield, either attacking or defending. I don't have any worries about him having trouble to find his right spot, for me, he's an allrounder. As for Josh, I see him as a pivot player, though it will be very difficult for him to get a spot, but I hope he does. I like the thought of a 4-3-3 when Mata's out btw, maybe the CM is the best position for Oscar right there. But then again, we need to invest in another great worker in our defensive midfield and if Mikel can't play, we'd have the same problem as before. That shows that our overall depth in the midfield should still be increased, maybe even more in the DM. I still think this model has a possible place for Isco, as he's even claimed to be a winger by transfermarkt (http://www.transfermarkt.de/en/isco/profil/spieler_85288.html) and as I said, often comes down the wing with his dribblings. Next season, there'll be possible spots for KDB (winger/CM) and Josh (CM) in that formation, too.

I don't see why people are complaining about us being linked with him. I agree, that AM aren't our main concern right now, it should be the pivot, but all of you saw what happened when we rested our best players of the AM against QPR, didn't you? As Leif stated a few pages earlier, he's a talent to go for: About the player himself, I'm not following La Liga that much, but he seems one of the biggest talents there. Winning the Golden Boy award for the best Under-21 player in Europe is something you have to achieve. He's alongside with great players like vdVaart, Messi, Fabregas, Aguero and Götze. Did any of our AM options won it? No, they haven't. His style is awesome. He has some great vision and is skillfull (effective skills, not just to show off), and kind of reminds me of Mata. BTW, he isn't a player that can only play CAM, he seems to come from the wings sometimes, but as I said, I don't follow La Liga that much. I like him, and as Leif said in that post, which I agree in 100%, if we want to be a top club and want to keep our standing as that, we need top class players and much competiton in every part of the team. We might even be able to finally move Oscar a little bit deeper which is what a lot of members here want to see, so why not steal (with the discussed fee, you have to call it that way) this great talent?

Today Real Madrid against Real Sociedad. Adán again in the starting eleven, but gets sent off after 5 minutes because of a foul in the penalty area, and Casillas comes in, but he can't save the penalty. Benzema has scored before, so right now it's 1-1 after 30 minutes. What a crazy decision again by Mou, I can't really understand it. Maybe he wants to get sacked and come to us?

Honestly, I don't have any problem with Torres in the starting 11 for this. If he does bad (which he will probably) then we can still throw Ba in. Ba should be able to play Stoke, Southampton and Arsenal without needing a rest.

Pretty interesting opinion about Benitez, definitely worth reading: http://www.ibtimes.com/sportsnet/chelsea-fc-news-qpr-loss-shows-why-rafa-benitez-cant-be-permanent-boss-991060

Hah, yeah, that's right. Thanks, I guess.

In pain. Have a huge blister on my leg after saving my team's 1-0 lead at an indoor football tournament yesterday by kicking it from the goal line with a sliding tackle. Fuuck, that burns and the worst, it wets (hope you know what I mean). Couldn't sleep the whole night as I couldn't lie on my right side and everything is just wet it looks like I pissed my pants.

Congrats Spike Spiegel! :blue scalf:

Newcastle struggle a lot and Pardew wants new players: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jan/05/alan-pardew-newcastle-united-brighton

I think Coentrao is a top option at LB, but I don't expect Ashley to leave this month, so it isn't our first priority IMO. If Ashley stays or not remains to be seen, but I think it's more important now to get more depth in the midfield. The LB can be discussed in summer and I don't expect anything happening this month at this position.

I don't know how reliable the UK newspapers are, but the Mirror has also reported it, but it all seems pretty uncertain. Still nice to see, the decision isn't 100% sure as it was claimed to be. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/rafa-benitez-talks-up-frank-1521105

Glad he scored, haven't seen the game yet, but I've seen the second goal, which was just pure striker instinct. Something Torres would've never scored. Can't judge anything more about him until I've watched the game tomorrow though. On the score sheet, it didn't seem obvious that he's only trained one time with the team, did it?

Holtby gets a 5-year contract until 2018 at the White Hart Lane. His overall wages in that time are 20m € according to the press. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/holtby-am-ziel-der-traeume--20-millionen-vertrag-bei-tottenham-/news/anzeigen_109687.html