Konstantin Rausch

[Magic Lamps 11,449]

Hannover have been THE surprise team in the past two seasons with notable achievements in Bundesliga and Euro league despite their small budget. Their best defender without a doubt is Konstantin Rausch. 22 y o , 6'/183cm

He is very much like a left sided Azpilicueta, just a bit faster and stronger. He is a German of Russian decent and as robust as a Russian while tactically as educated as a German. He can dribble, cross and shoot like a winger which is why he can play any position down the left side and on the other hand is a no-nonsense defender. He surely does not have the elegance of Ashley Cole or the incredible precision of Leighton Baines but is a tireless worker and brutally efficient. His pace and his crosses can be devastating on the counter as Bayern and Dortmund already had to experience more than once in the past 2 or 3 seasons. No idea why he has not yet been called up for the National Team as he is at least as good as current first choice left back Marcel Schmelzer while being 3 years younger.

Ashley cole will probably only stay with us next season and we will be in need of a replacement that is not too much a downgrade. Ryan Bertrand has been decent in games against weaker opponents but has failed to impress against Juve, Shakthar mainly due to his deficiencies in positioning, tackling and dribbling technique all those are strengths of Konstantin Rausch.

Here comes the best: His contract runs out in summer. He will not enter negotations with Hannover cos he wants a new challenge. No idea whether he is ready for Chelsea but he has all the tools already. Due to his versaitlity he would get his games here and could leapfrog Bertrand as Cole's successor. It's a gamble but one that will cost us nothing whilst his chances to succeed here are not much worse than Fabio Coentrao's or whoever we want to sign as Cole's replacement, who of course would cost 20m more. There are not too many decent leftbacks out there and this guy is definitely made for the EPL

[Strike 6,961]

the end of this season is the wrong time to get a left-back in. Cole has signed a new contract. Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt is having an excellent season on loan at Vitesse. We have good cover at the LB slot and I think 1-2 years from now, we will bid for someone like Luke Shaw rather than import a foreign player at the end of this season

[NishC300 1,865]

the end of this season is the wrong time to get a left-back in. Cole has signed a new contract. Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt is having an excellent season on loan at Vitesse. We have good cover at the LB slot and I think 1-2 years from now, we will bid for someone like Luke Shaw rather than import a foreign player at the end of this season

Well do u really thing they are going to give van Aanholt a chance? They haven't yet so isn't it worth having a back-up?

[Strike 6,961]

Well do u really thing they are going to give van Aanholt a chance? They haven't yet so isn't it worth having a back-up?

van Aanholt did not really impress on loan up until now. Wigan rarely used him and Martinez preferred to use Figuero at LB, that is until they switched to 3-4-3 and discarded full-backs from their set up.

this season at vitesse, PvA is having a strong season - even better than Tomas Kalas. maybe after a loan at an English club, our board may promote him. No reason to sign Rausch as 'back-up' until we have Cole, Bertrand and PvA. He'll turn into another Zhirkov - barely used LB

[Mufassir08 2,400]

the end of this season is the wrong time to get a left-back in. Cole has signed a new contract. Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt is having an excellent season on loan at Vitesse. We have good cover at the LB slot and I think 1-2 years from now, we will bid for someone like Luke Shaw rather than import a foreign player at the end of this season

Spot on.

[English Freak 456]

Well do u really thing they are going to give van Aanholt a chance? They haven't yet so isn't it worth having a back-up?

Well..they gave Bertrand a chance..after he spent close to 5 seasons on loan at various lower league clubs...

I don't see why they wouldn't give PvA a chance..maybe we could give a few chances at LW.

[NishC300 1,865]

Well..they gave Bertrand a chance..after he spent close to 5 seasons on loan at various lower league clubs...

I don't see why they wouldn't give PvA a chance..maybe we could give a few chances at LW.

I guess the club will since we have been giving some youngsters game time (Bertrand,Ake,Piazon)

[Leif 6,006]

Very good post. Great player indeed. To me he seems like everything Zhirkov looked like being. Would love him if we had to get a new LB. Even bring him in as a rotation option considering we play a left-back, Bertrand, on the wing quite a bit! He'd do the job much better.