Bundesliga Thread

[LDN Blue 7,903]

But surely Ivanovic will NOT be offered a new contract. Surely!?

How about working with Eden Hazard?

Perhaps but he'd have a lot of work to do. He'd have to make some quality signings in several areas, so the board would have to be 100% willing to grant him that and keep investing. He's gone from the talent at Barca and Bayern, world class players for every position.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Perhaps but he'd have a lot of work to do. He'd have to make some quality signings in several areas, so the board would have to be 100% willing to grant him that and keep investing. He's gone from the talent at Barca and Bayern, world class players for every position.

Agreed.

Which is why i didn't think it was possible, but I'm trying to openly convince myself into the possibility. lol

Ball playing CBs. New #10. Better CM(s). Those are definitely most glaring for a Pep system.

But Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Azpi and Matic aren't horrible building blocks.

Still agree would need a lot of work to create the proper personnel.

[lionsden 4,689]

But surely Ivanovic will NOT be offered a new contract. Surely!?

How about working with Eden Hazard?

That depends on who the manager is when his current contract runs out.

On a serious note. The chances of him joining is extremely slim, but if he does come then I have no doubt he will take the neccesary steps to shape the squad into his own. He's shown the ability to be extremely ruthless and proactive when needed in the past.

[kmk108 1,186]

Why? They're not the ones who told Tuchel to come up with a game plan to allow them so much space and for Dortmund's defenders to defend like a bunch of amateurs. Did you see Burki jumping and flapping like a maniac? Comically awful. Tuchel with his first big test as Dortmund coach and he failed. The players failed as well. Very disappointed in Dortmund today. That was Arsenal-esque.

I was serious when I said Dortmund's earliest chance of Bundesliga succes is in 17/18. And that's if they manage to keep on to the likes Hummels, Gundogan, Reus, Aubame etc. and strengthen. Extremely tough task.

Bayern have played some wonderful football under Guardiola and have absolutely trashed teams domestically and in the CL. That team is so talented and well organised, new players come in and they just go with the flow. No wonder why they're so desperate to keep on to him. The only downside of his time there are the spankings by the Spanish giants.

(And he tinkers too much for my liking. I like a coach that thinks outside of the box but he tends to go overboard.)

Bayern's achievements after their slumber in the 00s have been truly remarkable.

They're ruining the Bundesliga. I understand why they do what they do, but I hate them for it.

They get every Bundesliga player that's worth anything in order to weaken their rivals. The Götze transfer was made public to destabilize Dortmund at a crucial point in the season. Clubs can't do anything to combat it when they come in and offer large sums of money, trigger release clauses, or wait until their contracts run out.

It's a miracle that Reus is still at Dortmund.

The only reason I follow the Bundesliga is because I like Dortmund, but if it weren't for that, there'd be no reason to follow. There's good games, but in the end, they mean very little. You know who's going to be champion at the beginning of the season, because there's no club that can compete with them. Dortmund are a good team, but they have no chance at competing at Bayern's level, and they won't until something changes with Bayern. For as much flack as La Liga gets for lack of competition, there's at least two (maybe three) clubs that can win the title.

[DYC. 7,542]

They're ruining the Bundesliga. I understand why they do what they do, but I hate them for it.

They get every Bundesliga player that's worth anything in order to weaken their rivals. The Götze transfer was made public to destabilize Dortmund at a crucial point in the season. Clubs can't do anything to combat it when they come in and offer large sums of money, trigger release clauses, or wait until their contracts run out.

It's a miracle that Reus is still at Dortmund.

The only reason I follow the Bundesliga is because I like Dortmund, but if it weren't for that, there'd be no reason to follow. There's good games, but in the end, they mean very little. You know who's going to be champion at the beginning of the season, because there's no club that can compete with them. Dortmund are a good team, but they have no chance at competing at Bayern's level, and they won't until something changes with Bayern. For as much flack as La Liga gets for lack of competition, there's at least two (maybe three) clubs that can win the title.

The first part is something you hear a lot but I find it quite exaggerated. When you look at (relevant) recent times, the players they've bought from rivals are Neuer, Dante, Rode, Gotze, Gomez and some back-up GKs. Personally I wouldn't call Schalke, Gladbach, Frankfurt and Stuttgart rivals but okay. Lewandowski chose not to extend his contract and only wanted to join Bayern. That's a personal choice. I think that's all and overall that's not terrible. Dortmund bought Gundogan, Reus, Hummels, Ramos, Ginter etc. but that's never mentioned.

Bundesliga teams have also benefitted from Bayern players, whether through sales (Dante, Gustavo, Hummels for example) or loans (Kroos, Hojbjerg).

Bayern have ruined any kind of title race by being a well-run club. Annoying and boring but they're not the bad guys they're often painted as. The fight for CL spots is always interesting though.

There will come a time when this will all end. Before Bayern's recent dominance, the title was being passed around like a blunt.

[TeddyBear 6]

Once Guardiola leaves Bayern (this season or next depends if he wants to extend) the title race will become more interesting. Now that Ferguson is retired there is only one manager in the world who can get his teams to CONSTANTLY be at the top. Staying at the top is so much harder than getting there. Whoever Bayern replace him with will have a hard time. I hope Bayern won't get unlucky with injuries again 2nd half of the season, he deserves his CL win with Bayern. Look how much the injuries at Barca and Madrid are affecting them at the moment, Guardiola has had to deal with these kind of injuries pretty much his entire reign there. Few weeks ago he fielded 0 CBs against Leverkusen (not an easy game) because every single one was injured.

Agree with the previous poster aswell, if you want to blame anyone for weaking their rivals in Germany - look no further than Dortmund. Constantly buying best players from the 'rest' of the German teams.

[Oscar 441]

Robert Lewandowski is on fire!!!

16 goals in 9 games....

[DYC. 7,542]

Douglas Costa has completely proved me wrong. He knocked me out with a single punch when I called him a squad player, a decent back-up winger.

This guy is putting in scintillating performances for fun. An absolute nightmare for any fullback. Lightning pace but he's in full control, that's rare. A constant threat and he has a mean cross. Most wingers can't even cross so that's big. A joy to watch.

He's been one of the top attacking players in Europe, no doubt.

[DYC. 7,542]

Costa said Chelsea wanted him but chose to go to Bayern, wanting to work with Guardiola. The whinging and feelings of regret can stop. Case closed.

[nyikolajevics 2,697]

Hertha's twitter account is gold:

 

 

 

Btw, I am so proud of Pal Dardai.. He was a very intelligent and hard working player and loyan to Hertha, and now he's been doing a great job. Hertha were fighting against relegation when he became the boss, now they on the 3rd place.

[DYC. 7,542]

They're killing independent Dortmund! Laughing and lying.

I'm very upset.

[kmk108 1,186]

Ribery (literally) strikes again. What a cunt.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

What a match that Leverkusen vs Hamburg was! Really thought Leverkusen were about to begin the season in complete Leverkusen fashion, but wouldn't you know it!

Pohjanpalo with the 15 minute hattrick off the bench to save the day! What a result! 

Think it must be clear to Schmidt that he simply HAS to play with 2 Strikers up top. This business of playing Calhanoglu as a false SS is not working. Pohjanpalo up top with Chicharito next match simply has to be guaranteed. Julian Brandt, the young German phenom, also deserves a shout. Because he turned it up in the last 15 mins, driving past defenders, setting up the first goal, and finding the right passes, really happy to see him continue where he left off for Germany at the Olympics. 

Not the biggest fan of Schmidt's suicidal, kamikaze tactics, and I don't believe he's the man to take Leverkusen to that next step. I mean, his tactics work brilliantly at times (see Barcelona home in last year's UCL group stage match), but even in a match like that, Leverkusen outplay Barcelona for first 75mins, and then instead of dialing the pressing down once the players are tired later on in the match, Schmidt still instructs his players to play pedal-to-the-metal football at all times. 

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Bayern vs Schalke yesterday was a very entertaining match.

I think it's clear that Bayern simply won't be as dominant under Carlo in the league. Schalke should have been one/two goals to the good before Carlo made those substitutions in Costa and Vidal which swung the game back in Bayern's favor and won them the 3pts. Bayern Munich are the only team in the bundesliga that can grind out results even after being outplayed for large stretches of matches. I mean just look at the German Super Cup, and Dortmund's loss today against RB Leipzig as prime examples.

 

[Jype 6,398]

7 hours ago, Blue-in-me-Veins said:

Pohjanpalo with the 15 minute hattrick off the bench to save the day! What a result! 

Great player, been following his career quite closely since making his debut in the Finnish 1st division with a three minute hat-trick four years back when he was 17. Was stuck on loans at some shitty 2. Bundesliga clubs who couldn't create any chances for their strikers but is now being given a chance with the Leverkusen squad and is enjoying every minute, scored all four of their league goals so far this season despite only playing 30 minutes.

 Could be a real breakthrough season for him if he keeps up even half this form. Not every day does a guy from Finland score a hat-trick in a top4 league, last guy who did that was Chelsea man Mikael Forssell while on loan at Birmingham.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

8 hours ago, Jype said:

Great player, been following his career quite closely since making his debut in the Finnish 1st division with a three minute hat-trick four years back when he was 17. Was stuck on loans at some shitty 2. Bundesliga clubs who couldn't create any chances for their strikers but is now being given a chance with the Leverkusen squad and is enjoying every minute, scored all four of their league goals so far this season despite only playing 30 minutes.

 Could be a real breakthrough season for him if he keeps up even half this form. Not every day does a guy from Finland score a hat-trick in a top4 league, last guy who did that was Chelsea man Mikael Forssell while on loan at Birmingham.

Yeah I really really hope Pojhanpalo makes it. Leverkusen really need a replacement for Stefan Kiesling, and hopefully he can be that man. 

And becuse of Schmidt's use of 2 Strikers, constant high energy football, and Leverkusen's propensity to rack up many injuries, a rotation of Chicharito/Volland/Pohjanpalo should be more than adequate. 

[DYC. 7,542]

Dortmund producing fantasy football. Last season was amazing but this is.... what you dreamed of as a kid. Making me love football a bit more, like the old days.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Leverkusen with that quick 2-0 victory. 

As much as I rile against Roger Schmidt, he got it completely right today. (Besides starting Bender at RB against Ousame Dembele! Almost had a heart attack every time Dembele got the ball.) Surprised the Aranguiz--Kampl double pivot worked as well as it did tbh. Neither are particularly defensive minded, and thought Baumgauntlinger would have been paired with either one.  

The opening 10mins, Leverkusen were all over Dortmund, and were right to take the lead. Dortmund looked very confused in those opening minutes, with Weigl dropping back deep and  Dembele/Pulisic almost positioning themselves as Wingbacks during the buildup phase. Dortmund had completely conceded the center of the pitch, and Leverkusen took advantage by positionin themselves brilliantly for the press. Then when Weigl pushed up to position himself in CM where he normally plays, he was heavily man marked/pressed whenever he got the ball, with 3/4 Leverkusen players closing him down forcing him to pass backwards and nullify his killer defense splitting passes. (Was nice to see Schmidt focus so hard on taking out Weigl, learned his lesson, because last year Weigl put on a masterclass performance, ripping Leverkusen a new one in their 3-0 win.) For me, Sebastian Rode simply has to do more when Weigl is being defended against that much, and offer himself as a second #6 (not only for today but moving forward) because all the focus will be on stopping Weigl orchestrating from deep this year, and with Gundogan gone to help carry the load, he has to step up. Think Tuchel was right to start him. 

Was also happy Schmidt completely bypassed any sort of buildup play by having Bernd Leno hoof the ball upfield on every goal kick/Open play save. The 11tegen pass map shows, how little passing was done across Leverkusen's backline. Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi were fantastic. Both were very excellent going forward and in defense, and shoutout to Heinrichs at RB in that second half, nullifying Dembele on the wings and not letting him get past him. Also Tah, who late on kept making crucial recovery tackles with Aubameyang and his ridiculous pace. 

But as is custom with Leverkusen, we'll probably bottle it by drawing our next League match. 

 

 

 

[Leif 6,006]

The table here is crazy

 

1	Bayern Munich	7	5	2	0	18	4	+14	17	WWWWDD
2	FC Cologne	7	4	3	0	12	4	+8	15	DWWDDW
3	RasenBallsport Leipzig	7	4	3	0	12	5	+7	15	WWDDWW
4	Hertha Berlin	7	4	2	1	12	8	+4	14	WWLDWD
5	Borussia Dortmund	7	4	1	2	17	7	+10	13	LWWWLD
6	Hoffenheim	7	3	4	0	13	10	+3	13	DDDWWW
7	Mainz 05	7	3	2	2	14	12	+2	11	DWWLDW
8	Eintracht Frankfurt	7	3	2	2	10	8	+2	11	LWWDLD
9	Borussia M.Gladbach	7	3	2	2	10	10	0	11	LWDWLD
10	Bayer Leverkusen	7	3	1	3	11	9	+2	10	WLDWWL
11	Freiburg	7	3	0	4	8	11	-3	9	WLWLWL
12	Augsburg	7	2	2	3	6	9	-3	8	WLDWLD
13	Werder Bremen	7	2	1	4	9	18	-9	7	LLLWDW
14	Wolfsburg	7	1	3	3	4	8	-4	6	DDLLDL
15	Darmstadt	7	1	2	4	5	14	-9	5	WLDLDL
16	Schalke 04	7	1	1	5	7	11	-4	4	LLLLWD
17	Hamburger SV	7	0	2	5	2	12	-10	2	LLLLLD
18	Ingolstadt	7	0	1	6	4	14	-10	1	LLLLLL

[Johnnyeye 7,501]

Dortmund are simply a disgrace, i would have sacked the coach already if i was president, last season loss to Liverpool was embarassing and this season is a shambles so far.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Whats going on with german clubs these days? 

I always saw them as balanced, well run organisations.

But Stuttgart, ex champion now in second league, Werder and Hamburg in bottom for years now, ane it seems Bayer, Schalke and Wolfsburg have no better future. 

Did other teams realy improve that much or have the "top" teams so poor these days? Coach changes every few months dont help the clubs either.