Nuri and Schteve won't be anywhere near this thing - A thread for Bundesliga 2011-12

Here's Rafa to kick us off (no, not that one)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/aug/05/bundesliga-season-preview-2011-2012

Dortmund vs Hamburg (aka Arneson's Chelsea rejects) tonight. I won't get to see the match until tomorrow but looking forward to it nonetheless. Kagawa should be back in action I think, and Dortmund have managed to keep most of their title winning team together. Further down the league (probably) ex LFC legend Markus Babbel is in charge of newly promoted Hertha Berlin, who also now have ex Bayern youngster Thomas Kraft in between the sticks. Speaking of ex LFC legends almost called Babbel, Ryan Babel is still at the Hoff alongside the splendidly named Knowledge Musona!

Knowledge!

planning on watching more bundesliga this season. support hamburg, but hoping dortmund do well in the CL, glad they kept most of their team, and added some good players (Perišić and Gündoğan) to replace Sahin. Interested to see how poorly Hamburg's attempt to copy BVB and go with youth goes. I really like Son and Rincon and Elia (I guess Juve are making a move for him) so maybe it could work?

also Hamburg jut signed Norwegian Per Ciljan Skjelbred, a playmaker who trained with Liverpool and turned down their contract offer. anybody ever seen him play?

only occasionally in the cl some years back when he was still considered norways' greatest talent ever. no idea how that worked out for him, but i'm a bit surprised he hasn't moved earlier.

so Gündoğan goes directly into the starting line up with Bender as the two midfielders leaving team captain Kehl on the bench

My summer vacation from Ray Hudson was not long enough.

Seriously, dude needs to stop screeching at every through-ball before there's even a shot on goal.

Dortmund look good though.

dortmund are really entertaining to watch. 2nd goal is quite nice, i didn't see if grosskeutz was the one who gave that lovely little backheel flick though.

Lewandowski, but yeah it was great.

Didn't watch the game myself, but I heard from a friend Dortmund, at times, played spectacular. I am really excited to see this side in the CL.

Yeah Dortmund were v good last night, and the front four excellent. First goal a lovely counter attack - Kagawa picked the ball up midway between his own box and the halfway line, played it to Pistek (the right back) who lofted it down the line to Lewandowski(who was playing up front in place of the injured/tired Barrios). He played it inside to Gotze who rolled it left to Grosskreutz who took one touch into the box and rolled it across the keeper and in off the post. Lovely.
2nd goal was a terrific 1-2 between Gotze and L'Doski with a nice chipped finish, and the third was some great interplay between Bender, Gotze and L'Doski.
Gotze was very very impressive. I knew he had the skillz but was really wowed by just how often he spotted, and played, the right pass. Scary good for a teenager. Not sure who is going to drop out when Barrios is available tbh
Gundogan had a good debut filling in for the departed Sahin as well I thought.
Hamburg were poor, although Tore(ex Chelsea) was okay I thought, as was Jansen when he came on to replace Elia.

Mainz 05 opened their new stadium with a 2-0 win against last years runners up Leverkusen. Bayer were pretty poor and clearly missing Vidal in the midfield who they sold to Juve in the Summer. Without him Kiesling and Ballack still could only make the bench. Strange.

First goal was a horrible pass/clearance from their young goalie Giefer and a good reaction and finish from Allagui. The second was a nice swift move that ended up with Topsak turning the ball into his own net as he tried to stop a cross reaching Ivanschitz.

Polanski and Soto looked good in the centre of midfield for Mainz, but the 2 players who really stood out were the right back Caligiuri and the left winger, previously of Aston Villa's Academy, Stieber who was making his debut. V. similar in stature to Albrighton (ie small) but not as direct, tended to come off his wing and link play. Really impressive.

Kagawa scored 2 against Korea today, that dude is awesome.

Bayern fluked their way to a 1-0 win away at Wolfsburg. Gustavo scoring in the 90th min. No Robben (injured) so Muller started on the right, Ribiery left, and Kroos in the hole with Gomez up top. Uninspired and pedestrian tbh. Wolfsburg had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in the first half. Bayern appear to have no strikers other than Gomez. They won't make it past the group stages of the Ch Lge, if they get that far, imo.

Leverkusen somewhat scrambled to a win yesterday. The winner coming in the 86th min after Rofles(just on as a sub) kept a corner alive at the far post and Kadlec shot home from 6 yards. Tough on Bremen who had looked comfortable on the whole although Wiese had produced 2 good saves from shots from outside the box. Still fear for Bayer in the Ch Lge however. This team look well short of being able to compete at that level.
Ballack started this week and looked nothing more than o.k. Bender played well alongside him. I was impressed by both the Leverkusen full backs - Castro(on the right weirdly) and Kadlec on the left.
Bremen frwd Thy missed from 3 yards out middle of the goal blazing over the bar. Awful.

Anything about where Diego is going if he's still frozen out at Wolfsburg? Have heard Atletico Madrid, also Liverpool, the latter seems unlikely.

Leverkusen must really miss Arturo Vidal.

Convince me to not support Bayern Munchen.

Dortmund play a more attractive game? Robben & Ribery are forever injured, sulking or both?

Diego's a strange one boxall. Not even on the bench at the weekend, Magath not the type to forgive and forget so he must surely be done there. Also Wolfsburg aren't so rich that they can afford to have an asset sitting around doing nothing. I suspect that they haven't had any halfway decent offers. Perhaps someone will take a chance on him with a year's loan?

Bayern are a strange one. A lot of their team make up the national side, who I absolutely love to watch. If you add Robben and Ribiery to those core German players the result should be even more exciting, but it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Robben in full flow is still a sight to behold mind you.

Ribery likes underage prostitution and supporting Bayern makes me believe you do to.

Gladbach completly outplaying Wolfsburg tonight. 3-1 at h-time after being 1-0 down to a nice Hasebe half volley. Bobadilla looks a handful up front. Hitzlsperger not having the best of debuts for Wolfsburg.

Ended 4-1. Reus got 2, the 2nd of which was a lovely team move culminating in a cross from out right with the outside of Arango's left foot volleyed home from 8 yards. Wolfsburg were woeful.

how does reus rank among young german tyros?

He played v well tonight, but whenever I've seen him in the past he's definitely a level below ozil (obviously) and gotze and muller. Think he's at the same level as Schurlle (who came on against Brazil). He usually starts wide right but seems comfortable swapping wings and quite often will get in the box or even gravitate towards the second striker position. Not lightning fast but very good at joining in from off the wing. Not really a take it down the line winger.

^ just watching this match now - Kjaer looks awful - hopefully just a blip in his generally promising career so far, or is the move to Wolfsburg something of a curse for foreigners (Diego, Josué I thought would be much better, Dzeko + Grafite a great combo but now look at them).

I put this on largely because I saw Hasan Salihamidzic was starting, and he's wearing an arm cast and limping off holding his leg after 20 minutes. Wolfsburg, what a disappointment.

kjaer is supposedly not very happy at all in germany and in talks with roma.

So Bayern routed Hamburg 5-0 at the weekend. I don't really have the vocabulary to explain just how terrible Hamburg were. Shockingly bad, hopelessly inept. Bayern were an improvement on their first 2 games of the season. They moved the ball much quicker and varied the point of the attack more than the had in those games. Muller looks much happier as the central one in the 3 behind the main striker and should definitely keep his spot there in preference to Toni Kroos.
Tymoschuck started in place of Gustavo( a player I've been impressed with) and had an outstanding game;great range of passing. Him and Schweinsteiger ran the show. Robben got a p.sweet goal as well.
Bruma perhaps the only Hamburg player to come out of the game with any amount of credit. Petric was left on the bench and Elia only got 4 mins.

Hertha Berlin beat Stuttgart 1-0 last night. Last time they were in the Bundesliga they only won one home game all season so they've matched that at least. Not that good of a game tbh tho the second half had it's moments. Neither team had all that much quality, although the shining exception was Hertha's Ebert who plays as the right side attacker in a 4-2-3-1.
A week late, but Ryan Babel scored a beauty for Hoffenheim last Saturday.
Leverkusen/Dortmund on ESPN at 5.30 this afternoon, although LFC may take preference for me.

Leverkusen-Dortmund dissolving into a fascinating mess of a game here.

Wow, what a great match. The defending on both sides was fantastic, though I couldn't tell if Leverkusen's 19-yr-old keeper was a new phenom or just very lucky. Was really impressed with André Schürrle.

Yep Schurrle the best player on the pitch by a wide margin. Pops up left/right/middle. V good. Thought Bayer were well in control until the sending off. Probably the poorest I've seen Dortmund for a year and a half. The only one who didn't disappoint was Gundogan, Grosskreutz especially poor which is unusual. Wolfgang Stark lived up to his FM10 status as most bizarre Bundesliga ref.
Best I've seen Bayer play this season and Rofles must start instead of Ballack. Toprak v good a CB.

Yeah the refereeing was very odd - though I've noticed the near-total lack of sufficient extra time in many Bundesliga matches, is that a cultural thing?

Agree that Groskreutz had a poor match, I was hoping Kuba would come on earlier. I love watching center-forwards as skilled/technical as Lewandowski but I wonder if Dortmund will suffer from a lack of someone to score ugly goals for them. Maybe if they get enough set-piece headers from Hummels and Subotic to supplement their prettier play it'll be enough.

yeah, they don't seem to do stoppage time in Germany. V weird.

so, rasmus jönsson's gone to wolfsburg. not sure i get it, thought magath was more into big men? also, kjaer basically had a done loan deal with roma, but then wolfsburg sneakily tried to change his future €8m buy out clause from optional to mandatory and now it seems he's not going anywhere after all.

Gomez with his second hat-trick of the season. Bayern 5-0 up after an hour against Freiburg. Meanwhile Dortmund 1-0 at home to newly promoted Hertha Berlin.

How's Ribéry doing for Bayern? He scored 2 goals for them today but he's been shit as hell for France. Does he give his best for Bayern and doesn't give a fuck about France or are those two goals just a fluke?

He's actually looked good this season imo. His best for a couple of years.

Ah, I love Felix Magath

€10k: Fines for Wolfsburg strikers Patrick Helmes and Mario Mandzukic for "failing to follow tactics" in a 4-1 defeat last month. Other routine fines at Wolfsburg: €1000 for an "unnecessary backpass", €500 for failing to control a high ball before it bounces, plus €250 for wearing headphones on the coach. Players' union: "This really isn't legal."

Oh, and Hamburg continue to be truly miserable. Werder Bremen eased to a 2-0 win over them, both from former Chelsea legend Pizarro (ho ho). The second goal was rather fine. The third time I've seen Hamburg this season and each time they have offered absolutely nothing. They have never suffered relegation I don't think, but I'm starting to believe that this might be the year.

loooooooooooooool xpost

The most hard-hitting comment, however, came from Jens Lehmann, who is threatening to give TV punditry a good name. The sporting director Frank Arnesen obviously "didn't know any German players", quipped the former keeper, "that's why he only bought Chelsea players and Scandinavians". Ouch. "If they keep getting negative results, " he added, "it's perhaps an advantage for Oenning that Arnesen doesn't know any German coaches either." Double ouch.

yeah Hamburg have never been relegated from any league in their history (bundesliga only began in the early 60s) they seem to be very proud of this fact, as there is a clock on their homepage counting how long they have been in the top flight.

Fining Mandzukic for 'failing to follow tactics' seems to have worked. He scored twice yesterday in a 2-1 win over Schalke. Wolfsburg were outplayed tbf but Huntelaar had one of those days and missed a load of chances. Farfan looked good, as did Schalke's young centre back Matip.

Ryan Babbel gets his fourth of the season. The Hoff 2-0 up on Wolfsburg, fines yet to be determined.

Just come off for half time and one of the Wolfsburg players swapped shirts with a Hoff player. The fine for that will be astronomical! Babel's goal was a 35 yarder btw, dodgy goal-keeping tbh

What's the difference between Hamburg and an Ü? The Ü has two points.

Oenning sacked

Only just caught up with Hannover/Dortmund from the weekend. Dortmund controlled the game without creating too many chance against a strangely negative Hannover (Cherundolo dropped to the bench btw) Kagawa got a lovely Kenny Dalglish vs Bruges in the European Cup Final goal and Grosskreutz missed a chance for 2-0 from 3 yards out. Then Hannover woke up, decided to attack for the last 15 mins, and scored twice in final 4 mins. So Dortmund lose 2-1 and their title defence is looking v unlikely indeed.

Meanwhile Bayern march on, although if Petersen is going to deputise for Gomez for any extended length of time that could change. He scored tbf but also missed a few v presentable chances, actually maybe he is the perfect gomez replacement after all!

As if things weren't bad enough at the moment, Jürgen Klopp will have to face his nemesis at the Coface-Arena on Saturday afternoon: Stephan Mai. "Stephan who," you ask? Mai is not a player nor a manager but a TV reporter working for a regional channel in the Southwest of Germany. According to the local "WAZ" newspaper, Mai has attended 50 games that have featured Klopp either as a player or a manager (with Mainz and Dortmund) since 1993 -- and Klopp has not won a single one of them. The 43-year-old manager is apparently all too aware of this curious jinx. When his Borussia conceded a late equalizer to draw 1-1 at Kaiserslautern in February, Klopp angrily refused to give Mai an interview after the match, calling him a "Seuchenvogel" (literal translation: a pestilence bird), a harbinger of bad luck.

brilliant!

so Cardoso's first game in charge for Hamburg. he decides what the team really needs is an unproven youngster, so he drafts Zhi Gin Lam straight from the reserves into the starting line up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDOdcHvOVaQ

mai is just exactly like how you wanted him to look :D

Hamburg got an improbable win last night. From 1-0 down at half-time too. Bruma even scored! They looked okay 2nd half actually. Way better than they have so far this season anyway (low bar I know) The winner was a sweet volley from Pesche. Stuttgart weren't much cop tbh.

Bayern Munich's Breno receiving psychiatric treatment following arson accusations

:-/

Glad to see Robben back on the pitch and scoring, too. Easy peasy for Bayern, 3-0 win over Leverkusen.

mai must have left the stadium early, dortmund win in stoppage time.

Poor old Cisse still banging them in for Freiburg but their defense is ropier than ever. Went doen 4-2 to Schalke at the weekend. Raul scored, but check out the assist from Jurado -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv1l916haCM

fuck, that was ridiculous

Hamburg actually looked decent, aside from the first 15 mins, against Schalke yesterday. Still went down 1-2 mind to a Huntelaar brace. Tore looks a good player, and Bruma was v solid. As far as Schalke goes Farfan was awful in the first half and unsurprisingly got the hook at half time, replaced by 17 yr old Draxler who did well. Holtby looks kind of lost playing a quasi holding role in MF, he was replaced by Jermaine Jones before the hour mark.

Oh and Koln were insipid against Hertha Berlin, as easy a 3-0 as there has ever been. Great interplay on the first 2 goals between Ben-Hatira (provider) and Lasogga (scorer). The third was a belter of a volley from Raffael from a long through ball.

Bremen-Dortmund v scrappy so far. Kagawa and Barrios on the bench so Lewandowski at CF and Gotze playing behind him in the centre rather than the right where he usually plays.
Perisic just crashed in a beauty!

Owomoyela the only outfield Dortmund player over 23!!

Bremen playing their usual narrow midfield diamond which seems somewhat unfashionable these days.

Perisic has a talent for those wonder goals, doesn't he.

yeah, the arsenal one was lovely.

btw i haven't seen real madrid this season. does sahin actually get a game?

Still hurt and yet to debut, back in training now though. Over the summer I read that Mourinho saw him as part of his first XI but who knows after such a long layoff.

ah right. thanks for that. i think he may have his doubts about kheidera so there may be an opening there.

perisic about to be sent off i think

yup, off

wha he do

late sliding tackle on edge of box when already on a yellow. the delay was when he did the pretending to be injured so the ref would forget to book him afterwards thing.

pizarro just nutmegged 2 players in the box and laid it off for wolf...who blasted over.

no way do dortmund hold out for the next 35 mins.

fritz 25 yarder, deflected, off the underside of the bar down and out. still 0-1.

the 10 men get a second goal. owomoyela with the goal.0-2.

finished 2-0 to dortmund. first defeat at home for bremen this season. bremen with a lot of possession as one would expect against 10 men for 40 odd mins, but the final ball uniformly terrible.
dortmund defended great tho and lewandowski with the dirk kuyt like work rate today.

So the 2nd half of last night's Mainz v Stuttgart game turned into a bit of a barnstormer, helped by some atrocious reffing. Mainz came from one nil down to win 3-1, Ujah with a brace. Felt sorry for Malli, subbed on after 82 mins, polanski then red carded, so subbed off after 87 mins!

kagawa is so awesome

also marco reus scored again, he looks like a real talent, hope he doesn't go to bayern.

gladbach have been amazing since lucien favre took over

omg at kagawa's assist for dortmund's 4th. and reus scores a second

he looks like a real talent, hope he doesn't go to bayern.

― mizzell, Saturday, 5 November 2011 15:50 (19 minutes ago)

german football in 1 sentence

Gladbach take the lead against Bremen. Nice cross converted at the near post by Patrick Herrmann. Reus wasn't involved but I love watching him play. Bremen on the rack a bit now.

Reus just picked the ball up at the halfway line, dribbled round the 2 centre backs and slotted home. Brilliant!

What happened there with Köln-Mainz? Did it get cancelled because the referee tried to commit suicide earlier today, am I hearing that right? Jeez.

That's what I read as well. Jeez is the word.

Reus 3-0 on the counter. Neustadter switches the ball left, Reus dummies it, Herrmann takes it on, draws the goalie out, and squares to Reus to finish into an empty net.

Reus hat trick!

Arango crashes one in on the half volley from 20 yards! 5-0 53 mins gone. Bremen obviously missing Mertesacker ;)

Sokratis sent off for Bremen. Not that it matters tbh

bayern-dortmund is pretty good, hummels and santana have been really good in defense. can't believe barios hasn't forced his way back into the team yet.

Ok I really need to start paying attention to Reus.

How far into BM-BD is it? Worth tuning in still?

Ref alive? :(

10 minutes into 2nd half. still 0-0. tune in.

i turn it on and hot damn kagawa nearly scores after a beautiful dink on from... gotze?

from lewandowski
nice save by neuer

this is already worth turning on. can i say i hate that bayern player names are on the - oh fuck what i was saying, the other super mario!

boateng, still shit huh.

yeah, why have the fucking team name at the top of the shirt and their names on their arse? i already know who are playing for bayern on account of the kit but cant always remember what all these generic looking white dudes (+ ribery and boateng token blind and frankenstein dudes) look like and need a reminder not hidden on their arse.

think they are trying to get robben and ribery to think of the team above themselves.

lewandowski has been really good, which i guess is why barrios has remained on the bench

bayern giving the ball away far too easily now, dortmund seem more likely to score.

lewandowski has been really good

yeah this guy has real potential. he's only 21/22 isn't he? one day i might have to learn how to spell his name, or at least figure out how to shorten it in a memorable way.

that dive was ridiculous. and worked. headinhands.jpg

yes! dortmund hold on. good performance.

it really was. is there a more likable team in europe than dortmund atm?

So, Winter Break time in Germany. We're exactly at the halfway point of the season, all team having played 17 games, and here's how things stand.

Bayern Munich 37
Dortmund 34
Schalke 34
Gladbach 33
W. Bremen 29
------------
Mainz 18
Nuremberg 18
Kaiserslautern 16
Augsburg 15
Freiburg 13

Have managed to watch all the sides at least 5 times, except for Nuremburg who I've only seen 4 times. Based on the matches I've seen only, here is my team of the season so far (playing a 4-2-3-1 cos it's the German way)

----------------------Ter Stegen(Gladbach)---------------------------

--Piszczek(Dortmund)--Dante(G'bach)--Badstuber(Bayern)--Fuchs(Schalke)

-----------Schweinsteiger(Bayern)----Lars Bender(Leverkusen)---------

-------Harnik(Stuttgart)-----Reus(G'bach)-----------Ribery(Bayern)---

-----------------------------Gomez(Bayern)---------------------------

Reus isn't really a #10 but he has to make the team. Honourable mentions to the following who have been terrific when I've seen them

Toni Kroos
Neuer
Huntelaar
Bruma(yes really)
Pizarro (again, yes really)
Ebert
Rincon
Lewandoski
Schlaudraff
Daems
Sven Bender

Crikey that's thorough. I don't think I've seen anyone this season five times bar Liverpool, United and Arsenal.

Raul not worthy of a spot?

Swell update Pandemic, thanks! Will try and do this myself for the Eredivisie this weekend, good idea!

Are Bayern still after Reus? I thought they wanted to buy him, no? I'm curious if they can pull it off and how much he will cost.

Raul has been great in 2 matches I've seen, good in 2, and anonymous in 2. Probably deserved an honourable mention but he's Raul so I figured he was above such faint praise. The #10 spot should really go to Toni Kroos tbh, he's been excellent and that's his position, whereas Reus plays in a Gladbach team that is more 2 up top tho he does drop deep admittedly but often towards the wings.

Think Hoeness made some comment to the effect of Reus being one of the best young German players and as such should come to Bayern!! Not too sure where they would fit him in tho' tbh.

Also Magath managed to sign 7 players in one day earlier this week for Wolfsburg!! Madness!

Which team has disappointed you most so far this season? HSV are really struggling aren't they, at place 13?

HSV have picked up since they fired the manager, went unbeaten for a few games (admittedly mostly draws).

Most disappointing probably between Mainz and Wolfsburg. Actually Wolfsburg cos Mainz probably over achieved last season.

W Bremen have had some absolutely shameful away performances this season but somehow find themselves in 5th place.

Surprised to see Leverkusen not in the top five, maybe advancing in the CL took its toll on them? They've been good when I've seen them, André Schürrle has really impressed me, enough that I think of him as the equal of Gotze or Reus but I feel like one hears more about those two.

bundesliga is back! Excited that Reus has agreed to go to Dortmund this summer. These Bayern quotes are the worst: "It'll be easier for him there," sniffed Rummenigge, after the 22-year-old turned down Bayern's advances to go back to his home town club instead. "Maybe he didn't trust himself to be ready for the step to go to Bayern," sneered the Munich defender Holger Badstuber.

hope gladbach (and esp Reus) destroy bayern today.

come on reus and ter stegen and other players

no ribery for bayern, which at least lets kroos and muller appear in the same team. schweini back as well.

seems to happen a lot in germany that players agree to move clubs during winter break with the move not going ahead until the summer, never happens here really.

Think Schweinsteiger is still yet to sign a new contract (it runs out this summer) He'll have his pick of clubs I would think.

Seems to have Real written all over him, although to see him at City w/ De Rossi and Yaya in the middle would be quite something. Shame we'd be priced out of the running and also he'd want to play in the Champions League.

He would be perfect at Arsenal tbh.

he would! him, wilshere and song in the middle wld be tantalising.

REUS!!!!!!!!!

awful awful from neuer

he signed a new contract in December
xxp

looooooooooooooool

a world-class midfielder will improve any side, don't see why Arsenal or Madrid more than any other tbh

hahahaha

blimey didn't realize that nordveit was at arsenal! he wasn't a DM then was he?

ooh gladbach get saved by dodgy offside flag.

great save ter segen!
bayern well on top tbh

He came as a centre half, looked useless. Tried as a OOOH SAVE tried as a right back, looked useless. Went on loan as a DM, looked p good... and then by then his contract was up and he stayed in Germany.

accordind to wiki arsenal sold him for 800k

was the whole compensation for getting an u23 player on a free thing.

that was the most beautiful pass i'll see all season, a 50 yard pin point volley across pitch. such a shame the control didn't match.

Arsenal have off-loaded defender Havard Nordtveit to German side Borussia Monchengladbach.
Nordtveit, 20, spent part of last season on loan from the Gunners at Nuremberg, and is joining on a 2½-year contract with a transfer fee in the region of £800,000.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1342738/Arsenals-Havard-Nordtveit-moves-Borussia-Monchengladbach.html#ixzz1k1xMsNLv

maybe i am thinking of someone else then.

probably not good enough to hold down a starting spot in arsenal first team tbf

who hit the beautiful pass? (can't get a stream to work)

who hit the beautiful pass? (can't get a stream to work)

― mizzell, Friday, 20 January 2012 20:05 (1 minute ago)

i'm not going to pretend like i know the gladbach team well enough to tell the difference between one aryan dude from another. german commentary doesn't help.

gladbach haven't counter attacked with any quality so far, they're usually good at it

well they just played a nice move but after a reus(?) pass to let another forward to let him through but he just stood there and watched it go past him

good stuff this

there's the counter!!!!!
Herrmann with the cool finish, robben lying on the floor while gladbach carry on, nice ball by hanke

woooooooooooo that is a pass and finish

gladbach look so comfortable. bayern need ribery.

kroos and muller have been unimpressive, i have to say

love the lack of stoppage time in german football

Reus and Hanke (sp?) look really impressive. When a team like Gladbach, who were always around the dropzone five years ago, can look this good consistantly - well, German football seems so far ahead.

who hit the beautiful pass? (can't get a stream to work)

― mizzell, Friday, 20 January 2012 20:05 (1 minute ago)

Arango, he has a sweet left foot.

Haha, German news is a complete mystery to me - other than the cruise ship thing, I have no idea if these stories are murders, local politics or the funnies. Oh look, there's Kanye.

"angela, imma let you finish..."

nordveit goes to CB, let's see if he's still rubbish

stranzl comes back on, nordveit back to DM

what sort of player is alaba? he kinda came up with kroos and muller and badstuder right?

gomez has been flagged offside like 8 times tonight and roughly half of them were incorrect!

alaba is hard to figure because he seemingly never plays in the same position twice in a row. Think he's played left, off the front, and DM so far this season. Not sure where he plays for Austria. I'd say left side in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is the nearest thing to a true position for him.

briliant brilliant goal. Class pass from reus, tidy finish herrmann
3-0

that was lovely

That's beautiful.

yeah that was beautiful. bayern should have never let it go down the wing.

Counter-attacking football is the most thrilling kind. We might even see some tomorrow when Liverpool play Bolton.

yeah fancy n'gog to get a couple

schweinsteiger starts the comeback

too late, surely

regardless of where it goes, reus is there when they attack

always curious that badstuber takes bayern's corners

my stream conked out at about 80 mins

enjoyed that
finished 3-1 a hoy

cheers. yeah, 'twas a fun game. need to watch more german football. it kinda feels like getting into italian football around 88 or whenever just before the boom period. (also need to stop working weekends, which is the main problem standing between me and more football.)

kroos, ribery and muller were rubbish tonight.

How did Robben do? Apart from lying on the ground?

Okay for a normal player, not so great by Robben standards. Did his trademark cutting inside and having a shot thing except all his shots were blocked or he was just run into traffic inside.

I was really baffled to learn that Robben was selected in some team-of-the-year last week, he's not been in great form (when playing).

Okay did Thomas Muller really say this re the Gladbach match

"We started extremely shittily," the Bayern midfielder Thomas Müller explained succinctly. "In stages, it was OK, then it was shit again. Then we tried again and then it was shit once more."

amazing.

tm otm

Bayern Munich have angered their fans after a media stunt in which they claimed to be unveiling a new striker backfired.

The German club announced on their website that “a spectacular name” would be signing for the club, with the unveiling to follow in the afternoon.
The news generated a huge wave of excitement from fans on social networking sites to see which superstar striker had been brought to the Allianz Arena.
Fans were able to watch the unveiling on the club’s Facebook page, but were disappointed when they tuned in.
Bayern Munich’s general manager Christian Nerlinger was shown in the video unveiling the new player’s identity, only for users to see their own Facebook profile picture.
The users then saw their own name appear on the back of a Bayern Munich number 8 shirt.
"Dear fans, you probably already noticed, that we did not sign a new player," a statement on Bayern Munich’s Facebook page read. "This app is for our fans to show the importance of you for our club.”
Within half an hour of the announcement the Bayern Munich explanation had attracted well over 3,000 comments, almost universally negative.
"Failed PR campaign, very, very weak," said one commenter, Tim Wiedmann.
"You stupid idiots! I’ve sacrificed my lunch break for a bad joke," added Bunyamin Divarci. "Those responsible must feel the consequences."
"FCB swallowed a bomb, and it exploded," a commentator called 'der Meister' said. "Nobody will deny that FCB needs a good forward, especially because Petersen hasn't fulfilled his potential to replace Gomez in case of an injury. But what to do now? It would have made sense, if it were true, but is seen as an impertinence and great disappointment by the fans."
One fan, going by the name of 'Kevin', went so far as to say he would stop supporting Bayern in protest: "I suppose nobody will care and it won't be a loss for FC Bayern, but if this was really just a joke, they will lose me as a fan and a member."

Schalke were excellent yesterday. Won 4-1 away to Koln without Raul and Farfan. Draxler hugely impressive.

First half of Nuremburg-Dortmund was really good tonight, 2nd half less so. Dortmund get the 0-2 win with a well worked Kehl goal and Barrios' first of the season.

wolfsburg-freiburg surprisingly good fun last night, mainly due to both teams playing a suicidally high line whilst simultaneously deciding not to press and refusing to drop off when a through ball was imminent.
wolfsburg edged it 3-2.

In other news Marcus Babbell has taken over at Hoffenheim.

3 awesome goals for Gladbach today against Schalke. Reus turn and shot, Hanke playing 3 1-2s before curling it in, and Arango with a free kick.

Dortmund mediocre against a desperately dull Leverkusen team y'day. Sweet sweet goal by Kagawa sealed the 1-0.

Watched last nights Hoffenheim-Mainz match this morning. Didn't really rise above the level of okay. Noveski tied the all time record for Bundesliga own goals when he netted the 6th of his career, and Zidan scored for the 3rd game in a row since his January transfer from Dortmund. Glad for him after his really bad injury of a couple of seasons ago.

Dan and other US soccer watches may like to know that Hoffenheim had 2 Americans in their starting line-up.

Fabian Williams at LB was sound defensively but didn't offer much going forward (most of the play came down the opposite flank with the RB Beck at the fore)
Daniel Williams was one of two holding midfielders and he was solid but far outshone by his partner Rudy who was the best player on the pitch imo.

Er that should read Fabian Johnson

I think I'm more intrigued by Johnson since he can play on the left, although iirc he played more centrally with the USA. I've read that Williams has been filling in at CB for Hoffenheim but usually plays DM, one of those few positions where the USA has an abundance of players.

imo the most intriguing US player at Hoffenheim is Joe Gyau.

Thanks for that piece Dan it was great. Sounds an interesting player. I only hope that the change of coach doesn't hurt his chances. It says he players predominantly right but can switch left. The guy who played left for Hoffenheim yesterday, Weis?, hasn't scored in 5 years which is abysmal for a left winger so maybe a chance lies there.Vukcevic played right and set up the goal.

Just watched y'days Freiburg-Bayern game. Pretty terrible 0-0 for Bayern against the team bottom of the league who they had beaten 7-0 at home earlier in the season.
Robben started on the bench for the 3rd game in a row, he came on at half-time and Bayern improved, but barely. Baumann in the Freiburg goal had to punch a couple of crosses but didn't have an actual save to make.
Flum at DM for Freiburg was excellent. Ribery got booked for a terribly obvious dive in the box.

What's going on with Bayern anyway? Why are they so mediocre all of a sudden? I seem to recall the first half of the season was pretty good no? Is there one reason why they are underperforming like this?

Do you think Dortmund will walk this?

only saw the dortmund highlights yesterday but they looked really sloppy at the back and seemed lucky not to concede a goal. playing a team in such bad form as hertha probably helped.

I think they were helped at the start of the season by usually only having 4 out of their best 5 attacking players fit, so they didn't have any awkward selection problems. Now they have to leave out one of Muller/Kroos/Robben from their front four unless they drop Kroos deeper which isn't really his position. Also Gomez form has dropped off a little which was inevitable considering how ridiculous his scoring rate has been for the last season and a half. Bayern's squad is actually pretty thin also with the only alternatives to Gomez being Olic or Pedersen.

Be glad to see either Dortmund or Gladbach win. Gladbach would be an amazing achievement considering Favre took over on February 14th last year with Gladbach bottom and 7 points from safety and has completely turned around essentially the same squad of players to genuine title contenders.

I definitely agree with the latter, would love to see either D'mund or Gladbach win it. Gladbach's recovery has been extraordinary, though I think it's really great that Dortmund are number one again after having lost some great players.

I've not seen a lot of Bayern, but they don't strike me any better than they were under Van Gaal?

They're a lot better defensively than they were in the last season under Van Gaal and still have time to locate their swagger offensively.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/02/22/postcard-europe-terrence-boyd-definitely-usa

another young american in germany

"I don't really know about the rivalry with Mexico, but I will see it"

lol not really american w/o this amirite

The US Olympic squad should be interesting. I'm gonna guess that they take the competition seriously.

Also on an unrelated note I'm stunned that Hertha Berlin have gone for Otto Rehhagel. Taking a new promoted team to a top division championship the following season is an amazing achievement, as was winning the Euros with Greece.

Poorest i've seen Gladbach for a while last night. 1-1 draw at home to Hamburg and tbh it was the least Hamburg deserved, although Arango missed a v good chance in stoppage time to clinch it.

Gladbach missed Patrik Herrmann badly. It meant Reus and Hanke shared RW duties and De Camargo, who is limited at best, played up front.

Catching up on yesterday's games. Just watched the whole of Leverkusen-Bayern, or should I say the continuing disintegration of FC Hollywood. Leverkusen with a thoroughly deserved 2-0 win.

Bayern started great for the first 15 mins but once Leverkusen settled down they were the ones who had the clearest chances (Schurrle missed a couple of one-on-ones). Leverkusen brought off a CB and replaced him with a CF at half time and really went for it. Ribery came on after an hour with Gomez coming off leaving Bayern with no CF until Olic came on 15 mins later.

Leverkusen got the opener midway through the half when Neuer flapped at a cross and the second came on the break in stoppage time. Muller and Boateng had to be separated during the first half when they almost came to blows. Lovely stuff.

Dortmund-Mainz next on my schedule. Zidan (no E) up against his old club. Has scored 4 in 4 since his January move. A win for Dortmund would see them 7 points clear of Bayern.

So Zidan got his 5th in 5 but it didn't matter cos Kagawa got the winner 3 mins later. Dortmund's 8th win in a row, all without Gotze. Kagawa was excellent, AGAIN. Finished 2-1.

I don't dislike Bayern but I LOL when they aren't winning.

shameful tackle by guererro during hamburg's shameful 4-0 loss to Stuttgart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aGAc84qJA

fucking hell

Keeper was heading away from goal though

jesus bayern up 7-0 over hoffenheim after an hour and then they bring on schweinsteiger.

also zidan scores again, 6 in 6 for him with mainz

Hoffenheim game was borderline stewards enquiry imo. They were wretched and really didn't look arsed. Strange as it seems Bayern weren't even that impressive.

Watching Augsburg-Dortmund atm and 40 mins in Dortmund looking uninspired. Kagawa has been v subdued apart from one foul where he scythed an opponent down and was lucky to escape without a booking.

Finished 0-0 and was a pretty bad game. So FC Bayern close the gap down to 5 pts. When Kagawa isn't on his game Dortmund struggle to create which makes their recent run, with no Gotze, all the more remarkable. With Zidan gone, and Barrios injured, they better pray nothing untoward befalls Lewandowski.

is barrios injured again?

He was out yesterday (didn't make the bench) Not sure how serious it is.

why no gotze?

he's been out with a groin injury since december

Sentences I never thought I'd write :-
Khaled Boulharouz has just produced the finest 45 mins from a full back that I've seen this season.

2 assists and an excellent header magnificently saved by the Hoffenheim goalie. His first assist was a first time pass on the volley with his side foot from the right touchline midway in the opposition half over the head of the CB perfectly in the path of the CF Ibisevic who didn't have to break stride to finish. The 2nd was a whipped cross behind the back line which Ibisevic again finished.

Stuttgart lead 2-0. Hoffenheim not as bad as last week's Bayern debacle (feint praise)

Hoffenheim improved in the 2nd half but could only pull one goal back. Firmino, who plays just behind the CF, was useless again as he has been every time I've seen him play. I find it incredible that he starts every week while they ship out Sigurrdson on loan to Swansea cos he was getting zero playing time. He is twice the player that Firmino is.

Firmino is a rubbish made up Brazilian name imo.

There's a few of those about that seem to be aiming for some kind of formal English chic: Willian, Wellyton. What's going on?

They're their real names, aren't they?

I quite like Ralf who plays for Corinthians. Keeping it simple.

Fred was a nice synthesis of these trends

Felipe Melo naming his son Lineker

Just the six for Bayern today I see. That's twenty goals this week!

Dortmund huffed and puffed to a 1-0 win at home to an injury depleted Werder Bremen yesterday. The goal was p sweet tho, lovely Gundogan assist for a Kagawa tap in.

Am now watching Bayern. 15 mins in and Bayern are 2 up at Hertha Berlin. Robbery in full effect. Ribery skinned the full back for the first then squared for Muller to bundle in. Robben powered thru for the second and ignored the unmarked Gomez in the centre to finish himself.
Oh look a penalty, Robben, 3-0. And now Robben misses his hat-trick chance. 20 mins gone.

Aaaand now I see Ismael's post. I don't suppose Hertha get 7 do they?

Aw man, sorry 'bout that. Didn't occur that I might temporarily be better informed about fußball than Herr Pandemic.

Gomez has scored more goals in a week than Torres has fuck I don't have enough graph paper to work this out.

Cracking first 5 mins of Borussia M'Gladbach-Bayern German Cup S-Final so far. Gladbach moving it around slickly but Kroos has just hit the post for Bayern. The winners will play Dortmund who squeaked through with a 120th min winner against a 2nd Division team last night.

Ter Stegen with a great save from a Gomez header.

Ribery just laid one on a plate for Robben. He skied over from 8 yards. Up until then the Gladbach RB, Jantshke, had played Ribery v well.

Now Ribery plays a sweet through ball for Alaba to run onto. Good save Ter Stegen.

aand my stream craps out and won't come back :-(. On the bright side PSG-Lyon is turning into a bit of a stormer.

My stream returns just in time for penalties.

Neuer vs Ter Stegen

Bayern to go first
Alaba.....scores 1-0

Daems-scores 1-1
Ribery - scores 2-1
Herrmann - scores 2-2

Lahm - scores 3-2

So this is what a German Penalty shoot out is like eh?

Dante -skies over the bar!

Kroos - scores 4-2
Neudstadt(?) - saved by Neuer
Bayern win 4-2 on pens.

boo

Schalke eased to a 2-0 win over Leverkusen yesterday. Huntelaar with 2 headed goals, that's 40 in 39 games this season.

Just got around to seeing Dortmund's game at Koln from Sunday. From 1-0 down and then 1-1 at half-time they managed to win 6-1. Kagawa with a brace the first of which was a p great volley. Gundogan was v impressive in the midfield (I wonder if Sahin looks on with any regrets). Bayern won against Hannover so the gap is still 5 pts with 7 games to go. Dortmund do have a run where they are playing the other teams in the top 4 back-to-back-to-back so obviously that will probably decide the title.
In other good news for Dortmund, Gotze has re-upped his contract until 2016.

I watched the highlights to that Dortmund game after someone was bigging him up on the world football phone in and Kagawa looks class. that volley was perfect.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/helpful-fans-show-goal-shy-team-where-goal-095626049.html

breathless start to dortmund-stuttgart, dortmund hit the crossbar had a goal cleared off the line. they look capable of scoring 6 again tonight.

wow, dortmund score 2 then fall apart in the second half and stuttgart score 3

hummels scores! 3-3.

perisic with a brilliant volley from a corner. 4-3

As good as his goal vs Arsenal last fall?

no

ah! 4-4!

weird wild stuff

full time, crazy game.
perisic goal only brilliant because of the circumstances.

That game last night!!!!!!!!!
Dortmund won it, blew it, won it, blew it. In complete control at 2-0 (although Stuttgart really should have had a penalty at 0-0) Then around the 55th minute Stuttgart started bossing it and the goal they clawed back wasn't really a surprise. Their first equaliser was kinda magnificent from Schieber. The rest was mayhem.

think the biggest turning point may have been klopp taking off guldogan, who was pulling the strings for dortmund. he brought on bender in an attempt to make them more solid, but it gave stuttgart more possession.

Managed to watch 4 games over the weekend.

Wolfsburg 1 Dortmund 3
Dortmund needed to bounce back after last week's ridiculous 4-4 with Stuttgart. At one stage it looked like this game might mirror that one. Dortmund in control and leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Lewandowski (after a good assist from Perisic who started on the left instead of Grosskreutz) and a super 2nd from Gundogan (who was again the best player on the pitch). Wolfsburg then pulled one back on the hour and Dortmund looked really nervous and perhaps tired. They managed to hold on though and Lewandowski sealed it in the 90th minute.

Gladbach 0 Hertha Berlin 0
Terrible terrible game with Gladbach looking bereft of ideas. Maybe they have just run out of steam due to the small squad, and Reus limping off injured after 20 mins wasn't ideal, but also they are predominantly a counter attacking team and when faced with a Hertha team in desperate need of a point and showing no inclination to attack Gladbach had no real answer. They've probably got more chance against Dortmund in a couple of weeks.

Schalke 3 Hannover 0
A masterclass from Raul. Lovely glancing header for 1-0. Then some deft footwork for 2-0, dragging the ball with the studs of his left boot round the keeper and rolling it into the net with his right.
http://youtu.be/70VPxBFzC8E
Farfan laid the 3rd on a plate for Huntelaar. Between them Raul/Huntelaar have 62 goals in 47 games this season!

Hamburg 1 Leverkusen 1
The Sami Hyppia era starts with an away point for Leverkusen!
Decent game and pretty even with Hamburg having the best of the first half and Bayer shading the 2nd. Hyppia restored Ballack to the starting line-up for the first time this year. He did okay.
Mancienne was really very good at CB for Hamburg and Bruma did surprisingly well at RB considering I don't think he's played there before. Petric got Hamburg's goal from the spot and Schurrle equalised.

Bayern beat Augsburg 2-1 so that leaves it like this with 5 to play

Dortmund - 66pts
Bayern - 63
Schalke - 57
Gladbach - 52

and at the bottom
Nuremburg - 32
Freiburg - 32
Hamburg -31
Augsburg -30
Cologne - 29______playoff spot
Hertha Berlin - 27
Kaiserslautern - 20

Phew! And Weds night brings us Dortmund vs Bayern!!

That Raul goal is just lovely

hey pandemic what do you think of Martin Harnik? I didn't take much note of him in the Dortmund-Stuttgart match, but he has a ver healthy goal return, especially since he usually plays on the right wing, i believe.

yeah he's scored 7 or so since the winter break I think. Not really a traditional winger but as you say he does always play on the right. Crossing isn't his strong point but his general play is tidy and he loves getting into the box. Think he would be v good in a team that has a RB that overlaps a lot so that he could either feed him or use him as a decoy to carry the ball into the box. He's definitely Stuttgart's best player but you're right he didn't stand out at all vs Dortmund.

Dortmund : Weidenfeller,Piszczek,Subotic,Hummels,Schmelzer,Kehl,Gundogan,Kuba,Kagawa,Grosskreutz,Lewandowski

Bayern : Neuer,Lahm,Boateng,Badstuber,Alaba,Gustavo,Kroos,Robben,Muller,Ribery,Gomez

Gundogan with a lovely ball thru to Kuba, tight angle, shoots wide.

Gundogan sounds like an anime character

Amazing save from Neuer from Grosskreutz after beautiful play from Kagawa.

25 mins in, still 0-0 but Dortmund well on top. Alaba has been excellent for Bayern tho.

Also Kagawa has reportedly turned down an extension to his contract with Man U allegedly sniffing around.

Kroos whistles a drive just wide.

Lewenadowski with a towering header off the post! Aargh, I fear for Dortmund, so many chances.

Dortmunds fans throwing bananas at Manuel Neuer.

Schweinsteiger on for Muller. Not the most attacking substitution but it may give Bayern a measure of control in the middle as Dortmund tire.

Yep, Bayern starting to take control now. Ribery has finally woken up.

Olic on for Gomez.
Perisic/Leitner on for Kagawa/Gundogan

Lewandowski 1-0!!!!

Deflected in a Grosskreutz shot. Robben playing him onside after not pushing out after a corner was cleared.
15 mins left.

Penalty Bayern. Weidenfeller on Robben.

SAVED!!!!!!!!

Robben with a Yakubu-esque pen

Bayern laying seige here.

Into stoppage time. 2 mins.

Subotic heads against own bar and Robben misses from 2 yards out!!

Lewandowski off the bar!!

OVER. Dortmund win
6 pts clear.

YESSSSSSS

Yes!

Why the bananas?

They didn't throw them during the actual game but when the teams came out for the 2nd half and Neuer went to take up his position in goal in front of the main massive Dortmund stand there were about 20 bananas strewn around his goalmouth.

They used to do this to Oliver Kahn as well apparently. Something to do with feeding time at the zoo. I don't know for sure though. Neuer seemed to find it funny anyway.

Hummels was excellent last night.

Sami Hyppia got his first win for Leverkusen (tho' it was against Kaiserslautern who are 7 pts adrift at the bottom)

Hertha got a point as did Koln, while Augsburg and Hamburg both lost so these four teams are within 4 pts of each other with one of them destined for the drop and another facing a relegation playoff.

just about forgot this was one last night. tuned in just in time to see subotic trolling robben and rafa as a post-game reporter (??) though

Farfan puts Schalke 1-0 ahead vs Dortmund after 9 mins after Bender misses a golden opportunity for Dortmund on 35 secs.

On replay that Farfan shot took a big deflection off Kagawa's head.

Lewandowski screws it wide when 1-on-1 with the goalie. Flip!

Piszczek with a thunderous half-volley from the left corner of the area. 1-1.

This could end up 4-4 like Dortmund-Stuttgart.
Schalke finding acres more space than Bayern managed on Weds night.

Half-Tome. 1-1.
Schalke have had the better of this. They've forced 10+ corners and the delivery's been good on most of them.

Outside of the Champions Lge I don't think I've seen Dortmund dominated like this all season.

Kehl (on for Bender) forces the ball in from a rare Dortmund corner. 2-1 Dortmund just when I was thinking that they'd be delighted with a point.

Jermaine Jones has been immense for Schalke thus far.

Huntelaar fresh air shot after nice pull back to the penalty spot from Fuchs.

Into stoppage time. 2 mins.

Dortmund hold on for the win! Schalke were excellent for an hour but once Kehl put Dortmund ahead Schalke lost their way and didn't really threaten for the rest of the game.

So Dortmund need 4 pts from their last 3 games to secure the title no matter what Bayern do.

"Greed at the highest level" is how Klopp put it on Saturday

^ love this

A first for me; watching Koln-Stuttgart and whenever there is a lull in the game the stadium PA plays the sound of a goat bleating and the crowd reacts by roaring!! I knew that Koln were nicknamed the 'billy goats' but this is ridiculous!

loooool

that's awesome. crowd in nurnberg features someone waving a giant confederate flag right next to someone waving a giant tie dye flag.

So congratulations to Dortmund for retaining the title y'day, clearly the best team in Germany and unbeaten in 26 games as well. Was looking like the title would be confirmed before their late kick-off with a shadow Bayern team being held 1-1 at Bremen (Gustavo + Tymoschcuk in central defence!). Then Ribery came on and scored in stoppage time meaning Dortmund needed to win their match vs Gladbach, which they duly did 2-0. The 2nd was a lovely counter-attack with Kagawa providing the finish.

Commentator reckoned that Dortmund were going to swap Lewnadowski for Dzeko this summer which seemed a strange one. They surely couldn't afford Dzeko's wages for one thing.

Elsewhere Hertha somehow contrived to lose at home to Kaiserslautern who hadn't won in about 70 games or thereabouts which leaves Hertha still in the drop zone. Kaiserslautern were relegated due to results elsewhere however.

Harnick up to 17 goals, same as Podolski, one more than Reus, and a handful more than either Ribery or Robben. I still don't know much about him though.

Think when I did a 'team of the first half of the season' way way up thread Harnik was in it. Since then I've seen him maybe 5 or 6 times and haven't found him quite as impressive, and yet his goal return has improved greatly! I think maybe that watching Liverpool this season has led me to be mistrustful of players who actually take their chances. The other week during a Stuttgart game the commentator made reference to him being a converted striker, which makes sense.

Also props to Freiburg on avoiding relegation after being bottom at the break and then selling their best player by far to Newcastle. Nice job.

----------------------Ter Stegen(Gladbach)---------------------------

--Piszczek(Dortmund)--Dante(G'bach)--Badstuber(Bayern)--Fuchs(Schalke)

-----------Schweinsteiger(Bayern)----Lars Bender(Leverkusen)---------

-------Harnik(Stuttgart)-----Reus(G'bach)-----------Ribery(Bayern)---

-----------------------------Gomez(Bayern)---------------------------

yes you did. interested to see if you make any changes for the end of season team!

so Reus is obviously leaving, now Dante is joining Bayern. Gladbach are fucked for CL next year. had no idea their goalkeeper is only 19!

Yeah, Ter Stegen. He's amazing!

To make things worse for Gladbach I think Neustadter is leaving as well. Oh and the manager Lucien Favre has a clause that lets him leave for Bayern if they ask (apparently he is hot favourite if Heynckes retires/leaves after leading Bayern to a Champs Lge win)

Shame for Gladbach if they go into the Ch Lge with 3 or 4 of their best players gone + the manager.

yeah but otoh, cl money and best player money = potentially v good. replace favre with alan pardew god of transfers and they'll be singing.

Matip, of all people, with a mazy dribble, feeds Huntelaar, goal number 26 of the season.

first start in however long for barrios and he has a hat trick

:)

Aw, Raul just scored on his last home game at Schalke!

And now he flicks on for Huntelaar to score his 27th.

Schalke clinch 3rd place and an automatic berth into CL group stages. Gladbach have to settle for a CL Qualifier.
Marcus Babbel's new team, Hoffenheim, will have the chance to relegate his old club Hertha on the last day next week.

So Kagawa has told Dortmund he's definitely not extending his contract, which has a year to run, and that he wants to play in England. Wonder where he ends up.

Utd does seem to be the name being mentioned most. How highly do you rate him?

Difficult to say with certainty if his v v high levels of the last 2 seasons, which he maintained even after a relatively serious injury, are a perfect combination of right man in right team and that perhaps his 'real' level is a bit below that. I think he is slightly different from what Utd already have and would unfortunately fit in rather well there. He does generally fade after 70 mins or so.

What formation do Utd play usually? Cos Dortmund always play 4-2-3-1 with Kagawa central behind the lone striker.

I think he's really good and would help Utd quite a lot but Utd would probably be kidding themselves if he was the 'biggest' signing you guys made this Summer. Unless Cleverly really is all that then a Scholes replacement (not easy to do I realise) would be needed urgently to really push the team forward.

Then again I've been stubbornly holding onto the notion that Utd aren't much cop all season and yet....they have a monstrous points total.

Utd don't really have a usual formation at the moment but i can easily see us switching to a 4-2-3-1. Rooney up top, Kagawa behind, supported by two from Nani/Valencia/Welbeck/Young and Carrick and Cleverly (or a new signing) anchoring the midfield. I feel like Hazard is going to go City and Chelsea have already got Marin, so unless Arsenal express an interest the signs do point towards Utd signing him as he's still young and i imagine he wouldn't be overly expensive

i thought something was up when i saw kagawa on the bench this weekend. he looks really good from what ive seen. could be man u's answer to the number 10 they're so desperately in need of! ;) what do you think of chelsea signing marin pandemic?

I see Marin at Chelsea as more of a squad player, but a useful one. He can play any of the positions behind the striker, left, right, central. Maybe rotate with Sturridge on the right, tho he won't score as many goals obviously. I might be a bit worried if I were Chelsea about him being so lightweight. That type has succeeded in the EPL before but usually it requires the player to have exceptional technique and awareness to be able to avoid the buffeting before it happens. I'm not so sure that Marin's technique is that exceptional.

guardian saying that kagawa may only cost 5M, which is very cheap but also a decent profit for dortmund since they only payed something like 400K for him.
i wonder if reus will play in his position next year, or if klopp will try the lewandowski barrios combo from this weekend.

I haven't seen Dortmund's game this weekend but I was curious to see that formation with Lewandowski behind Barrios. I would bet that Klopp will go with Reus behind Lewandowski, Gotze right and Grosskreutz/Perisic left. Harsh on Kuba tho.

only 5m?????????? that is as crazy as Demba Ba's release clause! Some midtable team could end up w/ the best forward pairing for 10m if they hoodwink the top 4.

i'll be very excited to see kagawa in the premiership. i wouldn't count him out for arsenal btw - if podolski is a rvp replacement, we'll still need to replace arhsavin (and nasri and chamakh.)

no idea if that figure is reasonable. they also saygiraud is now thought to be worth 50M! i guess kagawa's only leaving to massively up his wages, would arsenal pay him enough?

Dortmund offered him double what he's on now. Of course he might not be on much atm.

3m is the figure i've seen quoted for his current wages

our biggest earners have all left/are leaving- cesc, nasri, rvp?, arshavin and chamakh. we could easily just swap a contract.

I have a strange feeling that if it comes to a choice between Arsenal and Utd there's only going to be one winner

well duh. who the shit would choose us over utd?

I actually think he'd have more impact at Utd.

other than ramsey and chamberlain

Aaron Ramsey, thankfully

damn

Also Utd are one of the 3 biggest clubs in the world (said through gritted teeth)

bale chose tottenham over united

id hope if ferguson does buy kagawa he plays him behind twp more than as a pseudo-winger

i really don't think we require another winger

yeah, he's really not a winger and i doubt anyone at utd sees him as such

no but he would probably be trialled out wide like mata and silva

hopefully he then becomes a #10

Plays in the same position as Hazard so if Utd do sign him early maybe a sign that they don't think they can get Hazard

philippe auclair sez hazard is coming to england

I'm sure Hazard is going to City

Oh no, I forgot hazard was coming to lfc cos Joe Cole's said such nice things about us.

id guess its the success of silva that makes ferguson to buy his first playmaker since juan veron

the newer generation are rather more fleet footed and harder working than veron, rui costa, valeron

if City get a proper manager, they are going to be p dope next season.

mancini is a very good manager

not a 'top top manager', but still

i dont think i'll ever be convinced by him.

Barrios off to China is a head scratcher to me. He's only 27.

Huge wages on offer in china, I was reading. I dread to think how.

bah, that sucks. was hoping spurs would show some interest in him.

so is there any way dortmund can buy back Sahin? not on the bench again today. he's not injured right?

It's clear Mourinho doesn't rate/trust him. He's gotta go somewhere and play. Thought Gundogan had a really good 2nd half of the season tho so Klopp may not want to disturb that. Gladbach could do with a central midfielder to replace Neustadter if Sahin wants to come back to Germany.

Hertha go 1-0 up vs Hoffenheim. Great delivery from a free kick and the faintest of touches on the header into the net. Still alive, barely. They need Bayern to beat Koln, and tbf Bayern have put their first team out despite having nothing to play for.

Lucky escape for Hertha, Shipplock takes it round their keeper but then trips over the ball. Chance wasted.

And more good news, Thomas Muller puts Bayern 1-0 up. If it stays like this Podolski and Koln are down.

Now Ryan Babel has been sent off for Hoffenheim. As far as I could see all he did was run into a someone.

On replay an outrageous acting job from the Hertha player pretending he'd been caught in the face after the incident. He hadn't.

Right on half-time Hertha denied a clear penalty with the goal gaping CF brought down 4 yards out.

Geromel, who might be the worst defender I've seen in the Bundesliga this season, scores an own goal to put Bayern 2-0 ahead. Looking good for Hertha, 1-0 up playing vs 10 men. But you never know.

Incidentally the idea that Gylfi Siggurdson isn't good enough to get into this Hoffenheim side is laughable. Really.

Ben-Hatira makes it 2-0 to Hertha. Unless Koln recover from 1-3 down in the last 15 mins against Bayern then Hertha survive to face a relegation play-off and Koln are relegated.

Wait...Hoffenheim pull one back with 5 mins left. An equaliser would mean Hertha relegated.

Bayern now 4-1 up so that match is settled. Hertha need to hold on for 4 mins against 10 men. if they can't manage that then they deserve to go down.

Corner to Hoff, 2nd min stoppage time

Goalie up. Cleared. Breakway. Slotted into the empty net!!! 3-1 Hertha. THEY SURVIVE. For now.

Koln relegated.

Huntelaar bags a brace to win the scoring title with 29 goals. Gomez 26.

Laughed at this, re the Koln game

Farewell, Poldi," read a supporters' melancholic banner. "If we could, we'd leave, too."

So it's all over for another season. Almost.

Champions - Dortmund (with a Bundesliga record 81 pts)
Automatic CL Qualification - Bayern, Schalke
CL Qualifying Round - Gladbach
Automatic EL Qualification -Leverkusen, Stuttgart
EL Qualifying Round - Hannover
Relegated - Kaiserslautern, Koln
Promoted - Furth, Frankfurt
Relegation/Promotion Play-Off - Dusseldorf vs Hertha Berlin (first leg tonight)
German Cup - Bayern vs Dortmund (final on Saturday, Dortmund going for their first double)

You don't have any personal ties to the Bundesliga, do you? How's it been, immersing yourself in a random league? Do you pick up any lols?

Relegation/Promotion Play-Off - Dusseldorf vs Hertha Berlin (first leg tonight)

is this 3rd-from-bottom-in-the-1st-div v. 3rd-in-the-2nd-div?

Here was my 'team of the first half of the season'

----------------------Ter Stegen(Gladbach)---------------------------

--Piszczek(Dortmund)--Dante(G'bach)--Badstuber(Bayern)--Fuchs(Schalke)

-----------Schweinsteiger(Bayern)----Lars Bender(Leverkusen)---------

-------Harnik(Stuttgart)-----Reus(G'bach)-----------Ribery(Bayern)---

-----------------------------Gomez(Bayern)---------------------------

Instead of doing a 'team of the 2nd half' I'll do a team of the season.
The following players have had a v good last 5 months however

Didavi (Nurnberg)
Gundagun (Dortmund)
Kiessling (Leverkusen)
Helmes (Wolfsburg)
Blaszczykowski (Dortmund)
Alaba (Bayern)
Jones (Schalke)
Mame Diouf (Hannover)

xps
Yes ahoy hoy. That's right.

It's been really good fun. In the Prem familiarity with the players had bred contempt a bit. I kinda wanted a break. The Prem obviously still has some great players and stories etc. But I liked coming to the Bundesliga somewhat fresh. If I didn't have to rely on seeing the games as they happened over the internet then I'd consider doing France next, but due to my work hours and ESPN showing 4 or 5 live or delayed live games a week which I could DVR the Bundesliga was perfect for me.

You have made this thread A+ funtimes. If I *hopefully* get this new job and it means I stop working weekends, I might bite yr style.

As for lols, it would help if I could speak/read German obviously! So most lols are second hand from Rafa's Guardian column, or the comments attached by people who do seem to actually go to the games. Although Felix Magath at Wolfsburg, who managed to use 25 players in the first 8 games! And 36 by February!

Thx a hoy, and good luck on the job front.

Team of the Season (according to me)

-----------------------Ter Stegen(Gladbach)---------------------

------Lahm(Bayern)--Hummels(Dortmund)-Boateng(Bayern)---Fuchs(Schalke)

--------------------Kroos(Bayern)---Jones(Schalke)--------------

---Harnik(Stuttgart)--------Reus(Gladbach)---------Ribery(Bayern)

--------------------------Huntelaar(Schalke)---------------------

So, dominated by the top 4 teams which makes me a little sad as I wanted to put some 'under the radar' players in there tbh.

GK- Neuer had a great year, Bayern conceded fewest goals, and he is deservedly Germany's #1. But Ter Stegen was simply faultless in the dozen or more games I saw, which considering he's only 19 years old is amazing.

RB- Piszczek had an excellent season for Dortmund, but Lahm moving to RB with the emergence of Alaba at LB really improved Bayern.

CB- Hummels was a shoe-in. His distribution is top class. Boateng, Badstuber, Dante, Papadopoulos was a bit of a coin toss but Boateng has the added versatility of being able to play RB as well. Also Dante had one v terrible games that I happened to catch as well.

Deep Lying MF- Schweinsteiger missed a lot of the season due to injury. Gundogan had an amazing 2nd half but took a while to find his feet. Neustadter was excellent for Gladbach, and I don't think Dortmund lost a game that Kehl played in this season. But Kroos has been class all season whether filling in for Shweinsteiger or playing in behind Gomez. Jones had a 6 game suspension during the season and got booked in 80% of the rest of the games, but provided Schalke with incredible levels of box to box energy and destruction. Is this really the same guy who was at Blackburn?

Attacking MF- Blaszczykowski did a brilliant job of making up for the absence of Gotze. Robben was terrific for Bayern, when he played. Harnik though, 17 goals are hard to argue with. The #10 role went to someone who isn't a #10, but Reus had to be in the team. Sorry Kagawa, sorry Raul I'd happily take either of you as well. Ribery was the best left sided player by a distance, although Arango did get the same number of assists (12) and Draxler had a very nice first full season.

Cf - Huntelaar won the cannon for top scorer(disappointingly not an actual full sized cannon) and was excellent throughout and lethal when paired with Raul. Gomez can consider himself unlucky but hopefully the winning goal in the CL Final will console him. Maybe even more hard done by is Lewandowski who went from back up to Dortmund's top scorer of last season Barrios, to starter due to Barrios being injured to start the season. He took the opportunity with both hands and had a tremendous season - 22 goals, 8 assists. Mobile, skillful, hard working, good in the air. He reduced the fit again Barrios to an after thought. Also scored the winning goal in the kinda title decider vs Bayern.

i'll second a hoy's post, you made following this thread a pleasure. the bundesliga used to be the league i watched the most apart from ligue 1, so reading your comments on it was great fun.

xpost: and now to read your team of the season post

Thx Jibe. Your Ligue 1 posts were what inspired me tbh.

lil bit surprised hoffenheim have managed to get eren derdiyok, really good player from what i'd seen

i think he'll do well. After some back and forth, Leverkusen seem to have decided Kiessling was the man there ahead of Dredyiok, and towards the end of the season abandoned playing them both together.

Hertha have just managed to blow a 1-0 lead (Hubnik header from a great Ben Hatira corner) in the home leg of the play-off. Dusseldorf came back to win 2-1(storming Broker run and finish, Ramos own goal from a well delivered free kick). Last 30 mins were quite fun but overall was a match between 2 poor teams.

do dusseldorf fans sing songs by La Dusseldorf? Cause if so that is the team i want to support.

What a weird game the German Cup Final was. Bayern changed their game up, which considering Dortmund had beaten them 4 times in a row made sense. They pressed high up the pitch with intensity, attempting to do to Dortmund what Dortmund usually do others. And it worked, at least in the first half.

Dortmund never found their rhythm, Bayern completely dominated possession. And yet at half time the score was Dortmund 3 Bayern 1. Well by somehow I mean because the Bayern defence was shockingly bad. Dortmund had maybe 5 attacks and scored 3 goals. Kagawa, obviously inspired by the watching Mike Phelan (okay and Fergie as well) scored the first and set up the third. The 2nd half was more of a stroll but included a nice Grosskreutz nutmeg on Shweinsteiger to set up Lewandowski's 2nd goal, and a Manuel Neuer mistake leading to a Kuba assist for Lewandowski's hat-trick. Ribery also scored a p sweet goal.

Finished 5-2 to Dortmund, they complete their first double and become only the 2nd team in history to beat Bayern 5 times on the spin.

Is Lewandowski a top-level player? And who were the first side to win 5 against Bayern? I find that stat surprising, considering they had little success to speak of 'til the 70s.

Yes, I think he is. Has a Kuyt like work ethic but scores goals as well, 30 this season. I wasn't sure about him last season, tho I think mizzell rated him. But this season he's been fantastic. I get the impression, probably unfairly, that a lot of the players in this team are playing above what is their 'natural' level. Think Klopp and Dortmund showcase them to their absolute best, but Lewandowski would do well most places I reckon.

Frankfurt beat Bayern 5 in a row in the mid 70s according to commentary dude y'day.

Really sweet from Ribery. I've happened upon the last quarter by accident, Bayern looking slightly better tbh.

<3 dortmund.

btw I was wrong about frankfurt beating bayern 5 times in a row in the 70s, it was werder bremen apparently.

i was high on lewandowski last season as a big young striker with potential. i def did not think he would replace barrios so quickly and absolutely.

dortmund's double was great to see. now i have to cheer for bayern in the CL final, which i do not like.

although this article about bayern's jewish heritage and anti-nazi activity makes me like them. a little. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/12/bayern-munich-anti-nazi-history

Last night's 2nd leg relegation/promotion play-off had a little bit of everything. Dusseldorf had won last week's away leg 2-1. They scored after 25 secs of the 2nd leg, Biester from 25 yards. Hertha equalised with a free header from a free kick midway in the half. Then Hertha had Ben-Hatira sent off just before the hour. 5 mins later Dusseldorf scored. So 4-2 up on agg, at home, vs 10 men. No problem right? Well..Hertha pulled one back on 85 mins so were a goal away from snatching it on away goals. Cue flares on the pitch and 7 mins stoppage time. After 6 mins the Dusseldorf fans decided that they'd waited long enough and invaded the pitch. 20 mins later the teams came back out to play the last minute. Finished 4-3 on agg. Dusseldorf promoted and Hertha relegated.

season starts today! new thread needed, i suppose shinji won't be near this thing is the obvious title.

Apparently this is the only continental European league not bought up by that Al-Jazeera offshoot that almost no US television carriers have? :(

Thought it started next Friday?

Are we gonna have seperate yearly threads again? I'm personally gonna attempt to watch a lot more Italian football.

oh shit, totally misread the date on the fixture list.
i could be in to a european catch-all thread . think the spanish one got the most traffic last year, right?

yeah but most of that is el clasico