Mesut Özil won't be anywhere near this thing -- A thread for Bundesliga 2010/11

http://www.sportschau.de/sp/fussball/news201008/17/img/17_oezil_512.jpg

It's August 2010, temperatures in Germany are a scorching 64-70°F, and the first match of the 48th Bundesliga season kicks off this Friday between Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg.

Everybody's favorite underdogs, St. Pauli, are back and so are Kaiserslautern, the latter already a hot contender for Ugliest! Jersey! Ever!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/1._Fussball-Bundesliga_2010-11.png/469px-1._Fussball-Bundesliga_2010-11.png

The newcomers will struggle, this year's runners-up will be next year's runner's-up, and Bayern will win everything, as always.

Los geht's.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01679/steve-mcclaren_1679548c.jpg

ACHTUNG! STEVE IST READY.

East not doing very well, football-wise

what's the best way to get weekly roundups? is there a sdhow on sky/terrestial, or is the net the way to go

I think it's on ESPN - games are on occasionally when I'm at my mum & dad's, but without a hook (I could've pointed to maybe three of those cities on a map) I might as well be watching cycling or ten-pin bowling.

I can't be sure, but since sky airs matches from England, Italy, Spain etc. in Germany, I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same for the Bundesliga in Britain/Ireland. The hotter matches also tend to turn up on rapidshare or torrent sites, or so I've heard.

What am I saying xp? Makes me sound like Hansen & co during the world cup.

i seem to remember alan mcnally being a resident expert on some package sohow on sky, hopefully that's still running

On Eurosportplayer (for a fee) in following territories, it says: Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Danemark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. Dunno how Eurosport on TV fits in with this.

Roundups possibly free though? Not sure.

Our German satellite programming has a weird way of covering the multiple games every weekend: they broadcast like 10 mins of one game, then switch to another, and so on until all are played. If a goal is scored, they switch to that game immed and replay it. The same commentators cover all the games at once. V distracting.

That's pretty much how I watch football when there are three or more games on at one time, invariably leading to me missing every goal.

In the US GolTV has the Bundesliga rights and broadcasts games with English and Spanish commentary. Actually this is my first year subscribing to GolTV, so I'm kind of excited. On Saturday they're showing Hamburg x Schalke 04 and on Sunday it's Borussia Dortmund x Bayer Leverkusen

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XvS-yLxdhUg/TDysWt-LWkI/AAAAAAAACZ0/4gNisHsu8C8/s1600/raul3_01.jpg

Er ist fertig!

http://www.tz-online.de/bilder/2009/08/31/456722/110133837-ribery-robben.9.jpg

Sie sind bereit!

http://topnews.in/files/Edin-Dzeko.jpg

Er ist ... nicht bereit und will raus!

http://www.bundesliga.de/media/images/00_vereinsbilder/bayern/butt_hans-joerg_345x468.jpg

BUTT!

http://www.achtzehn99.de/assets/Uploads/_resampled/SetWidth615-BaObasi.jpg

Sie sind bereit!

Supporting Hoffenheim this season.

supporting st pauli if i bother to keep up with it.

The sadly Ozilless Bremen for me

i'll cast a cursory glance in St Pauli's direction if I remember (which I probably won't).

I support Hamburg, without really paying much attention. bummed to hear that their young Korean striker Heung-Min Son broke a bone in his foot after scoring a goal in pre-season. Hope Ruud can do something this year.

Ruud came on to take a farewell bow when I was at the Bernabeu in February. It was kind of hard to pick him out tbh - he was in civilian clothing and it's a big ground. Could've been anyone.

must be a huge ground to obscure his enormous horse face

As with all the Euro leagues, I'll be keeping track of the various USA players across the league, so Schalke, Frankfurt, Hannover 96, Monchengladbach, etc. I'll admit a bit of a soft spot for St. Pauli, but that is probably a result of the trendiness of the club in the USA soccer nerd scene.

Er muss in die Wüste

http://www.uefa.com/multimediafiles/photo/footballeurope/footballeurope/87/61/65/876165_biglandscape.jpg

I of course support my home club of nine years, Mainz 05, and will be rooting for Lautern and Pauli to not be relegated.

Pretty sure my allegiance to Hannover 96 is mandatory which is totally worth it for me if it pays back in people sending swag from der Vaterland.

Why the love for St Pauli?

we like to get down with the brown

I'm supporting St Pauli as well - I have a shirt of theirs, a friend of mine supports them, my cousin who got me the shirt used to study near there and watch their matches, they're really fan-friendly and cheerfully bonkers, i.e. perfect

ok have just googled st pauli and i'm jumping on this bandwagon - the "brothel of the league" sounds p fun to support.

I really like them in principle, but have never been bothered putting it into actual following-their-results sort of practice.

I didn't realise Moritz Volz had signed for them. I love him (see Soccer AM appearances passim, and this interview. That settles it. I shall try to become a proper St Pauli fan and see how that works out for me.

st pauli seem a bit studenty tbh

volzy signing for them just puts the tin hat on it

hoy hoy plumping for hoffenheim aka the arsenal wannabees goes without saying as well.

my team this jahre shall be borussia dortmund just cos i like their kit and fondly recall the lars ricken chipping peruzzi days. time for my boy sven bender to lead us back to glory.

Current top scorer of Norwegian league, Moa (Mohammed Abdellaoue) just left Vålerenga for Hannover 96; this rather sucks for us of course, but twill be intersting to se how it works out.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/football/08/18/football.st.pauli.punks/index.html?hpt=C1#fbid=nBXuGTFaQi7&wom=true

Punks, prostitutes and St. Pauli: Inside soccer's coolest club

Oh, and Ra-Ra-Rasmussen, Celtic's Unused Goal Machine is likely going to Mainz

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/19082010/58/bundesliga-rasmussen-discusses-mainz-loan-move.html

bye! is he allowed out of the country now, or is there still a warrant out for his arrest (since Strathclyde's finest appear not to know where he works or where to find him)?

He's only taking the move to dodge the speeding fine.

raphael honigstein's season preview
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/raphael_honigstein/08/18/bundesliga.preview/index.html

So FC Bayern vs. Wolfsburg was excellent tonight. Storming first half from Bayern capped by a wonderful Mueller volley from Football Manager 2010 legend Toni Kroos pass. Schteve must have inspired them at half-time 'cos Woves had 4 good chances in first 8 mins of 2nd half before Dzeko scored with a header from a corner. Even match after that until 1 minute into stoppage time when Schwemi converted an excellent inswinging Ribiery cross. Bayern 2-1 at the death. Plus ca change.

FUCKING fuck our TV just crapped out and a new board (whichever board it is) will run like $200 plus service charges. NOW HOW ARE WE GOING TO WATCH BUNDESLIGA??

I AM WATCHING ME EIN BISSCHEN FUESSBALL

Hamburg vs Schalke. Joris Mathijsen just got a very nasty-looking whack on the nose.

This is lots of fun. Still 0-0, Van Nistelrooy just cracked a free-kick against the bar, so many chances from the rebound but somehow Schalke scrambled it away.

Plus, this commentator has so many ways of pronouncing Elijero Elia...

Well done St Pauli - 1-0 down with 7 minutes to go and won 3-1!

Damn, I thought of putting that on but went to get something to eat instead :(

And 24 seconds from the restart, RvN puts Hamburg ahead from a complete peach of a cross by Elia. he then runs up to the fence to celebrate with the fans and gets booked for his troubles. It's not the World Cup anymore, clearly.

2-1 Hamburg - should be more, they've battered Schalke this half; Howedes got sent off on 50 minutes or so, which didn't help the visitors, but they just wouldn't bloody score, then Farfan put Schalke level on 82 minutes after Hamburg nodded off at a free kick, but two minutes later Ze Roberto roared away on the left, slipped it across the area for van Nistelrooy to knock home from maybe a yard. Much fun. Far better than that awful Hamilton-Hearts thing I watched earlier today, anyhow.

NOGWATCH: Moa performs decently in 2-1 win for H96 against Eintracht; does his special trick when not scoring goals: working pretty hard while appearing invisible. Didier Ya Konan the clear MoM to me.

Mainz 2-0 Stuttgart, excellent début for Mrs Rasmussen and Allagui. Wetklo (goalie, Mz 05) was excellent. If Mainz can this up, they might very well finish in a single-digit position again next year.

How did Rasmussen play - did he score? I'm not entirely sure why we've let him go, much as I like Samaras and Fortune, they aren't penalty box strikers.

Rasmussen scored the second goal for Mainz today. He was replaced after 70 mins, and left to great applause.

Nice one, I hope he does well and comes back a better player (or is sold for large pots of cash if Neil Lennon decides that no strikers is the way to go).

Dortmund 0-2 Leverkusen. Bayer had it together from the beginning, Borussia never got started. Ballack was underwhelming, backlash to be expected soon, I'd say. Kagawa played some nice passes.

xp He definitely seems like a guy who has some career highlights ahead of him yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN7sSbOeZy4&feature=player_embedded

quality headline imo

xp
reminds me of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb5Vx1BsHmQ

former Chelsea star Khalid Boulahrouz

I have no memory of this whatsoever

Lautern - Bayern kicks off in a few seconds. Should be interesting to see Lautern's new squad play a serious opponent.

2-0 up the moment. Ilicevic fires home an utter stunner from 20 yards, then they break almost straight from kick off, lovely ball picks out Ilicevic on the wing, he skims a ball across the area that Badstuber should clear but scuffs instead, Lakic runs onto it and slots home. Ks strong, organised; bayern look nervous.

Lautern are playing an excellent match. Tight defense, two beautiful, if a bit lucky, back-to-back goals; too bad I can't watch.

Bayern flying 2nd half, so many chances in the first 15 minutes - no goals tho. Or shots on target.

Kaiserslautern take it 2-0. Superb fun, especially 2nd half. Ilicevic and Tiffert both excellent.

Ilicevic's goal was a beauty and Badstuber's missed interception lamentable. Lautern v.comfortable in last 20 mins and Ilicevic harshly sent off imo. Also had a juvenile lol at there being a player called 'Dick' and one called 'Butt' on the pitch at the same time.

This has to be the first time they beat Bayern since the 97/98 season when they won the Meisterschaft.

Had't beaten them in previous 16 meetings according to commentator guy.

Schteeve drawing 3-3 atm, looks way more exciting than the premiership.

Now 4-3 to Mainz.

...and it's over!
Incredible!

Mainz beat Wolfsburg 4-3 after trailing behind by three goals
Schalke 1-2 Hannover
Bremen 4-2 Cologne
Frankfurt 1-3 HSV
Nürnberg 1-2 Freiburg

... and here I am watching Spurs labour against Wigan

crazy score in Leverkusen

I watched the first 15 minutes of that, went to have a shower, wound up playing FM2010 for a bit. Came back downstairs and it was 5-2. Tssk.

Currently watching Stuttgart-Dortmund. Christian Gross' boys are looking rubbish, the glow-in-the-darks are 2-0 up. First goal a cross deflected in by Boulahrouz. Obviously.

crazy score in Leverkusen

somebody elsewhere said they'd never given up 6 at home, before today

Hoffenheim vs. Schalke - good start by Magath's boys so far. Huntelaar just missed a 3/4 chance I'd guess you'd call it. I missed the first 2 mins so awaiting to discover if Gylfi Sigurdsson (my first FM10 signing at a bargain £3 million) is starting for the Hoff tonight or not.

Schalke having most of the ball whilst simultaneously looking dodgy as fuck at the back.

Neuer saving Schalke's asses atm

Is recently-switched American Jermain Jones playing for Schalke? I wonder if we'll see him in upcoming friendlies or the Gold Cup next summer.

1-0 to the Hoff! Poor marking from a short corner, chip into the box, free header for Vorsah nodded down to foot of unguarded near post. Pretty terrible goal to concede but after a bright opening Schalke have been poor. 3 defeats in a row?

xp haven't heard him mentioned yet dan so perhaps on the bench.

Just as I say that I realize that Jones is in fact playing and having to spend an uncomfortable amount of time covering at right back for a bedraggled looking Mertesacker.

Mertesacker=Metzhelder in that last post btw ffs

Metzhelder hauled off at half time after a woeful performance.

Huntelaar free header from 7 yards out, keeper tips onto bar. Should have scored.

2-0 at the death. Perfect free kick, off the post onto the goalie and in. Technically an own goal. Oh Magath!

lol how did huntelaar go from 'scoring every half chance ever in the history of the game' to 'lol i make centre halves look prolific in front of goal'. i still don't get it.

also yay the hoff.

Lakic scores for Lautern. Current score Mainz 0-1 K'lautern.

is there a serie A thread?

this is why we need an ILF

The Enduring Legacies of Antonio Cassano and our favourite manager Rafael 'Ooooh Zonal Marking' Benny Tiz: Serie A 2010/11

we were wondering if there was a La Liga thread as Hercules made a hydra of Barca yesterday, it seems not. Nothing to sustain our interest in these post-Pennant days, I guess.

Jose Mourinho has trolled Catalonia and he likes it very much: La Liga 10/11

Knock yourselves out. I'd been wondering where the schadenfreude was. There was even a Trezeguet howler I gather.

oh yeah. And I posted in it. Memory ain't what it used to be and such.

Mainz 2-1 Lautern with 5 mins left on the clock.

It's over! Once again, Mainz turn the score around after a weak first half, beating Lautern 2-1.

And Cologne beat St. Pauli 1-0 in this week's final match.

Boycott on the cards in Germany as ticket prices soar to £19

The article inevitably heads off towards Hicks and the Glazers, but still interesting.

loooooooool

Holy fucking shit!
Stuttgart beat Gladbach 7-0.
That's SEVEN to NOTHING, and from what I am reading, it was highly deserved, too.

Mainz still on max points and top of the league!

Meanwhile, Mainz win their fourth consecutive match, against Werder Bremen, no less. The only Bundesliga team to have won all of their matches so far, they now take the lead in the ranking.

xp sorry, I was a little trigger happy there.

Further results:
Eintracht Frankfurt 0-1 SC Freiburg
FC Bayern München 0-0 1. FC Köln
VfL Wolfsburg 2-0 Hannover 96
1. FC Kaiserslautern 2-2 1899 Hoffenheim

Tomorrow's matches are:
FC St. Pauli - Hamburger SV
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - 1. FC Nürnberg
FC Schalke 04 - Borussia Dortmund

^^Two of those always-exciting 'local derbies' on one day!

I had Eintracht v Freiburg on last night, which was pleasant enough but a little boring so I switched to Mechelen v Standard Liege, which was great. Splendid rickety old stadium as well. I think Belgian football might be my new thing.

schalke down 0-2 to dortmund, and they could remain pointless after 4 games

I wonder if Raul regrets snubbing Newcastle?

http://www.sportschau.de/sp/fussball/news201009/19/img/19_kagawa_dapd_512.jpg
MVP

honigstein on kagawa: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/sep/20/shinji-kagawa-borussia-dortmund-schalke
Dortmund paid £294,000 for him

whoa, gladbach have given up 14 goals in the past 3 games

Nice article. My outlandish prediction is both Japan and South Korea to make the semis at the next world cup.

Today, on day one of this "English Week", Hoffenheim lost 1-2 to Bayern, Bremen was humiliated by a strong Hannoveran side, losing 1-4, while Mainz continued their flawless run, winning 2-0 in Cologne.

Friday night Bundesliga(thank you ESPNAmerica). Koln vs Hoffenheim. Koln should already be one up after a sweet Podolski pass was squandered. After the last minute loss to FC Bayern midweek I fancy Hoff to take all 3 pts tonight. Koln have started well mind.

Podolski and his cannon of a left foot. 1-0!

jeez there goes my accumulater at the first step.

That may be the first time I've ever seen him score a league goal live and apparently only his 4th goal for Koln since his return.

xpost
well it would have been curtains after LFC win tmrw anyway;)

Hoffenheim frankly unconvincing when not in their nice blue kit.

Koln squirm one off the post and Hoffenheim somehow survive but they are on the rack atm.

Ba with the equaliser possibly revives Sam's accumulator. Old man Mondrigon stands and watches whilst reaching for his good spectacles.

how does this Mlapa kid look?

1-1 it finishes. Good goals but poor game.

xpost I was watching with the sound off tbh so can't say I particularly noticed him. On the other hand Vorsah looked mighty indeed.

Holy hell, Bayern is currently trailing Mainz 1-2 after a spectacular goal by the sublime Adam Szalai.

It's over! Mainz 05 beat FC Bayern München 2-1!!

Mainz win the 6th of six matches and continue to lead the ranking, followed by Dortmund who beat St. Pauli 3-1.

Shinji Kagawa was also excellent again today.

nice one m bradley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SrnItcGiV4&feature=player_embedded

Xpost Kagawa has been great the last 3 Dortmund games I've seen. Is Zidan still there but injured?

But for last minute goals Bayern would be bottom 3 I think!

Re: Muhammad Zidan, as far as I can tell he is still with Dortmund and probably won't be able to play for several more months.

There is a bar in Chicago part-owned by former AEK/Fire/US Team player Frank Klopas. Hanging on the wall there's a picture of the Fire after they won MLS Cup in 98, and standing in the midst of the cheering players is a ~12 year old Michael Bradley, making the EXACT SAME FACE as he is after scoring that goal in the video above.

Van the Man just missed a sitter for HSV against Bremen.

Bremen/HSV ended up being a cracker of a derby. Bremen 2 up after half an hour, deflected Marin cross and unmarked Almeida header from a Hunt free kick. HSV brought Petroika on at half time and within 10 mins he had skinned the defender to pull back for Van Nist. to score a back flick and crashed one in from the corner of the penalty area. Chances at both ends after that before 88th minute when Almeida had the simplest of tap ins from a marginally offside position. Still time for HSV goalie Frank Rost to come forward for a corner and be caught out when the ball was cleared upfield leaving Bremen 2 attackers vs 1 defender only for them to forget about the no goalie meaning they had to be their side of 2 players not just one and were correctly flagged offside when they made the final pass. Ended 3-2 Bremen.

Oh and FC Mainz!!! Thomas Tuchel you scruffily dressed maestro.

St Pauli take an early lead away to Hannover. Beautiful cross from the left back headed in off the post by Ebbers. Excellent goal. St Pauli manager rocking the jeans + hoodie look, Phil Brown won't be amused.

We are DVRing that game and not watching until tonight, so I'm outta here! :D

Sorry Laurel!!

Jens Lehman's half brother in the St Pauli midfield, no signs of madness as yet.

stream?

fyi: itt we share thinly disguised links to live streams of games

Haggui for Hannover red carded for last man foul on a marauding Lehman. Cynical foul on the edge of the box. St Pauli have looked comfortable against 11 so should have no problems holding out for 10 mins against 10 one would think.

Mainz win their seventh of seven games, beating Hoffenheim 4-2!

The other results are:

Nürnberg 2-1 Schalke
Hamburger SV 2-1 Kaiserslautern
Freiburg 3-2 Köln
Gladbach 1-1 Wolfsburg

This makes Mainz one of--now--only three clubs to win their first seven matches, the other two being Bayern and Kaiserslautern.

ok i thought i loved st pauli before, but HOT DOG TRAIN and private kegs take things to a new level

Looking forward to seeing Kagawa tonight for Dortmund. Old man Mondrigon dropped in goals for Cologne, not even on the bench!

Barrios misses a sitter! Free header 4 yards out!

Fantastic first 10 mins here culminating in Podolski marvelously plucking a 40 yard ball out of the air with his left foot then volleying with his right a looping 20 yarder that hit the underside of the bar.

Kagawa magic down the left wing, dinked cross to the far post, where Barrios nodded in. 1-0 Dortmund.Game ridiculously open atm.

Fantastic first 10 mins here culminating in Podolski marvelously plucking a 40 yard ball out of the air with his left foot then volleying with his right a looping 20 yarder that hit the underside of the bar.

― pandemic, Friday, 15 October 2010 19:42 (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this sounds amazing

Can't seem to find out how much Kagawa cost Dortmund, but crikey he's a good player. Running the game so far.

really? because every bundesliga article i've read this year has mentioned he cost £300k

entertaining match, glad you tipped me off. The commentator I've got on GOLTV is a bit weird. His English is impeccable, but he talks like he's from somewhere where the language hasn't been commonly spoken for about sixty years - posh, but it sounds a bit wrong somehow. It's making it hard to concentrate on the game at times

It's not even that kind of plummy voice that bad US tv shows use for their Brits, so I don't think they've hired an actor to do it. I wish I knew who he was.

Anyway, yes, Kagawa does look good. First time I've seen him.

hahaha Ismael, I don't know the guy's name but I know exactly who you're talking about -- Ray Hudson he isn't. I think he might be one of their Central/South American commentators.

really? because every bundesliga article i've read this year has mentioned he cost £300k

― O holy ruler of ILF (a hoy hoy), Friday, October 15, 2010 7:17 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

thx for the info! The first 2 or 3 sites I tried all said "undisclosed". £300k!!! Scarcely credible bargain there imo

honigstein on kagawa: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/sep/20/shinji-kagawa-borussia-dortmund-schalke
Dortmund paid £294,000 for him

― mizzell, Monday, September 20, 2010 10:11 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Podolski's left foot strikes AGAIN!!!!1-1

Dortmund really really should have had this won by now.

in like an arrow, lovely

Late drama! Slightly flukey last min goal for Dortmund, now top of the league

Mainz finally lost their 100% record, losing 0-1 to Hamburg. St Pauli still doing really well - up to 5th with another win.

can I just say it fucking sucks that the latest PES doesn't have the bundesliga?! GAHHHHHH

pes has never had bundesliga iirc? hard to buy the rights? like i bet you dont get the 'real' germany team either.

reckordmeister!!

Insane miss from Benzema just now. Özil walked through the defence and laid it back from the byline to Benzema on the edge of the six-yard box. He scuffed it so badly that Özil, still running in along the byline, was able to leave a trailing leg and trap the ball before it went out of play.

aie, wrong thread

yeah ozil won't be anywhere near this thing

Hooray for Mainz who took back the lead thanks to Ivanschitz's goal in their match against Leverkusen just now. Dortmund, after tying 1-1 with Hoffenheim yesterday, are only two points behind, with a still comfortable six point lead over Hanover, who beat Cologne 2-1. Bayern are still languishing on a two-digit rank after a boooooring 0-0 against Hamburg SV on Friday. Frankfurt - Schalke also 0-0, Nuremberg - Wolfsburg 2-1, Freiburg - Lautern idem, and Stuttgart at last move to a non-delegation rank with a 2-0 win over St Pauli.

I think I'll have a bit of wine in celebration now.
http://www.diemainzerwinzer.de/typo3temp/pics/a485ed2184.jpg

Has Morten Rasmussen been featuring much for Mainz at all? I could google this, I know, but is nice to hear from people who actually watch it.

I don't think he saw action today. I listened to the match on the radio, so I can't say for sure, but I've googled, and it does look that way. To be honest, I haven't noticed him much lately, especially since Szalai, Holtby, and Allagui have been playing so excellently.

Just wondering. He seemed like a proper centre forward in his brief time at Celtic, but never really got a chance there either. I thought he'd started well at Mainz. Just batting out of his league?

I remember him doing a great job in the first match, against Stuttgart, and probably the next two matches, but AFAICR he hasn't been playing very often after that. Not that he's been disappointing, but Mainz's other strikers and midfielders have really hit their stride, so I guess it might just be his bad luck that his club lucked out on its transfers this season.

His actual club haven't, if Anthony Stokes' performance today is anything to go by :-/

if Anthony Stokes' performance today is anything to go by

To be fair I don't think big Ras would be much of a right winger either.

Tru dat.

some real blowouts today eh

Kagawa nets for Dortmund, 1-0 v Hamburg. Nice swift counterattack.

Son has come on for Hamburg. really like him and it's cool he's getting opportunities to play so young.

Yeah Son looked like he could make a difference when he came on. Very direct. But then Dortmund killed on the counter with a beautifully worked second goal, loved the shift in body position of Kagawa as he received the knock down in order to roll the easy simple pass. Lovely cut back by Groeskreutz(?spelling) too. First half was hella boring tho.

Yeah, looking forward to seeing Kagawa in the Copa America. Assuming they take him - they didn't seem to think they needed him for the world cup.

is mario gomez any good?

I've only seen him about half a dozen times this season, but for what it's worth, he does seem to be in the right place at the right time etc. He doesn't LOOK all that good (see Inzaghi and Vieri imo) but he scores plenty. Van Gaal doesn't seem too sold on him but he's been on a goalscoring tear recently and once Robben is back and with Ribiery on the other wing I'd imagine Gomez would be the perfect foil. Effective rather than pretty and more mobile than I'd hitherto given him credit for.

yeah he's pretty quick for his size

mourinho was supposedly interested in the summer

I actually sometimes entertain the idea that Mourinho will go in for Andy Carroll as his Drogba 2.0

how good is edin dzeko?

Last year I'd have said v good. Not overly mobile however. Bearing in mind this is going off Bundesliga highlights (10 mins per game roughly) and only saw him in full games maybe 4 or 5 times. A bit akin to Huntelaar when everyone thought he was good (pre R Madrid). This season hasn't looked all that interested and seems to have struggled when not alongside Grafite up top. Don't know if that is peculiar to this season or more a general 'not suited to lone striker role' thing. Can't see that City need him however.

If I were City I'd just pay whatever it takes to get Andy Carroll. The jury might be out on him long-term but you can be pretty certain he'd terrify everyone they play against for the rest of the season, and that's what they need more than anything imo

Ah Friday nights can make sense again. Bundesliga back. Neverkusen vs Dortmund. No Kagawa (Asian Cup) or Barrios (on bench after injury) but still looking forward to this. Will Dortmund bonce back from their defeat in their last match of 2010? I hope so, although I'd like Sami Hyppia to have a good game. Ballack on the bench btw.

3 mins in and Dortmund crash a towering header off the post.

Apparently twin brothers playing against each other tonight. Reminds me of the De Boers.

1-0 Dortmund from a Stokesque long throw.

Long ball down the middle. Shockingly inept centre back play finished nicely by Kevin Grobkreuz.
2-0 Dortmund.

And now it's 3-0. That's 3 in the first 10 mins of this half!!!

JenChang88 Shinji Kagawa has fractured his right metatarsus: http://bit.ly/fOlyNf: Out for Asian Cup final - unsure about rest of Bundesliga season

Oh noes :(

Dortmund absolutely battered Schalke in the first half tonight. 4 one on ones by my count. Barrios missed the target with one and Neuer saved the rest. Somehow it's 0-0 at the break. Aside from Barca Borussia are the best team I've watched this season, the football is breathtaking.

hope they keep the squad together, or add to it, would like to see a german team besides bayern do well in the CL.

Ended 0-0 after a slightly more even second half. Farfan missed a half decent chance for Schalke while Barrios and Götze hit the post for Dortmund. Götze was excellent and only 18!

they have a crazy amount of young attacking talent: gotze, grosskreutz lewandowski and kagawa

Opening 25 nins of Bayern/Dortmund blistering. Schweini caught dawdling on the ball by Großkreutz, through ball to Barrios,0-1. Ribery corner Gustavo volley from 8 yards, 1-1. 2 mins later Barrios breakaway, ball played back to Sahin, left footed curler from 20 yards into top corner,1-2. 10 mins after that Gomez runs onto through ball and slots home...but wait the flag is raised for offside(he wasn't).

how was lewandowski?

Lewandowski was solid but I've seen him play better this year. Had to be a touch more disciplined 'cos of the Bayern wingers which curtailed his forward runs a bit. Hummels and Subotic were good at the back and Sahin and Großkreutz immense. A well deserved 3-1 win. The commentators kept talking about the inevitability of the team being broken up in the summer which made me sad.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/borussia-dortmund-bus-trick-shot-nuri-sahin-roman-weidenfeller-8654210/

So Van Gaal doesn't see the season out

Bayern's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge explained that there had been "no alternative" but to part company with Van Gaal while president Uli Hoeness said it was a decision which was a long time in coming.

"It all started getting messy when he [Van Gaal] dropped Hans-Jorg Butt and replaced him with Thomas Kraft," he said.

"That brought insecurity into the defence and we could not hold out for much longer.

"Football should be enjoyable, but there has been nothing enjoyable about football at FC Bayern for a while now.

"And to say that he had the players behind him was a myth."

Hoeness carried on by blaming Van Gaal for the recent crowd protests against his own person, saying the Dutchman's opposition to the planned bid for Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had created divisions in the club.

"The Manuel Neuer issue would never have escalated like it did and we would never have had any problems with the fans," he said.

All well and good except Thomas Kraft is already better than Butt and in a couple of years has a good chance of being as good as Neuer imo.

Poor Kraft. Nice way to get behind your #2 keeper Karl-Heinz.

hope they keep the squad together, or add to it, would like to see a german team besides bayern do well in the CL.

― mizzell, Friday, February 4, 2011 3:33 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark

i guess since i said this i should pay attention to schalke.

mats hummels just picked up a very stupid yellow by getting on the end of a free kick and attempting to volleyball spike it into the net

excited for dortmund and their fans, about to wrap up the title.
annoyed at hannover losing at home to gladbach, want them to hold on to third so bayern miss the CL.

Congrats to Dortmund who have given more pleasure to me this season than any other team not named Barcelona. Would love Slomko's Hannover to clinch 3rd over the Bayern machine. Don't know where Gladbach are finding this form from tbh.
ESPN's Bundesliga magazine show had a great bit about Kevin Großkreutz last night. Been a life long fan and going to games since he was 4, all home and away games during his teenage years, and still a South Stand regular up until 2 years ago. Still holds a season ticket apparently. Love to see this bunch of players have a shot at Champions League next season.

Yes, well done, hope they stick together

Agreed about Hannover -- their fans were pretty much "hopefully we'll avoid relegation" before the season iirc? Been following them a bit more closely than others as their two top scorers came out of the Norwegian league -- Konan from Rosenborg and Moa from Vålerenga (my team).

Man, the Südtribune is quite a sight.

Sahin supposedly close to signing with Real Madrid - he's got a limited transfer fee of 10m. Shame if this Dortmund side would fall apart.

Should have a chat with Khediera first, wonder how happy he's been at Madrid this season. One of the biggest clubs in the world, great wages, glamour, but not much football. I'm probably being hopelessly naive but I always think that if you're that good at playing football you'd want to, I dunno, actually get to play as much as possible. Sahin is a quality player and Dortmund missed him a bit during the run-in I think. Wish he could wait a year, love to see the current team really give it a go in Champions League next season.

footballers in not learning the lessons of thousands of previous mistakes shocker