Lukas Podolski wouldn't be anywhere near this thing even if he'd stayed at FC Köln - A thread for Bundesliga 2012-13

Manuel Neuer doesn't look ready
http://www.kickette.com/files/2012/08/Manuel-Neuer-Bayern-Munich-duckie-goalkeeper-suited.jpg

Felix Magath looks ready but I'm not sure what for
http://www.fr-online.de/image/view/3204478,480,highRes/1409951/-/maxh/480/maxw,Felix+Magath+sieht+3-D+%252528media_676821%252529.jpg

Mats Hummels is just the correct amount of ready
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251979_362952700425089_305354425_n.jpg

The new season kicks of tomorrow with the Champions Dortmund (now with added Marco Reus) up against Werder Bremen (now with added Eljero Elia). Bremen managed to get knocked out of the German Cup at the weekend by a 3rd Division side, just like they did last year.

Some of the questions this season:

Can Dortmund make it 3 titles in a row?

Will Bayern bounce back from being the new Neverkusen?

How will new look Gladbach cope with life after Reus?

Will Sami Hyppia do such a good job at Leverkusen that FSG will be knocking on his door come January?

Can Huntelaar score without Raul?

How will the new boys(SpVgg Greuther Fürth, Eintracht Frankfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf) do?

Will Felix Magath sign more than 20 players over the course of the season and how many weeks will it take him to fall out with Diego and banish him to the reserves?

Useful links

ESPN Bundesliga - http://soccernet.espn.go.com/league/_/id/ger.1/german-bundesliga?cc=5739

Bundesliga Fanatic - http://bundesligafanatic.com/

Here is a list of the transfer activity this summer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_football_transfers_summer_2012

gladbach did a good job with purchases, but reus and dante are big losses and they don't seem to have bought any defenders. Plus paying in the CL it could be a tough season for them.
Curious to see if Van der Vaart returns to Hamburg, cause otherwise they haven't done much and look like they could struggle again. Hamburg were also knocked out of the cup by a third division side.

Moenchengladbach got walloped at home by Dynamo Kiev, it doesn't look like they'll reach the CL

Gladbach actually looked really good for the first 25 mins of that game, until they conceded a deflected goal at one nil up and proceeded to fall apart.

Dortmund-Bremen was a classic opener y'day. Dortmund edged it 2-1 with Gotze getting the winner 3 mins after coming on as sub in the last 10 mins. Both teams were p attacking but dodgy at the back. Dortmund in particular left a lot of space behind their FBs which Elia and Arnautovic used well.
Chelsea loan kid Kevin De Bruyne was v good as well, playing CF instead of on the wing.

For Dortmund Kuba was fantastic and Reus had a good debut and scored the opener.

was pleased to see a new familiar face from the euros, Selassie, on the scoresheet. did he play well?

Got caught in possession a couple of times and struggled when he had to come inside to defend centrally. Kept Grosskreutz quiet on his flank tho.

His goal was a cute flick header.

Currently watching the replay of Hannover - Schalke. Huntelaar just got off the mark with a terrific goal pulling the score back to 1-1. Hannover showing little attacking ambition at home but scored just before the break - Felipe header unmarked from a Pander free-kick.

Post Raul Schalke don't look incisive tbh. Switched to a diamond MF with Jermaine Jones on the right which I think wastes him rather.

haha after i write that Jones drifts in a lovely cross from the right and holtby heads in.

btw any uk peeps who don't get espn uk. ITV4 is now showing Bundesliga highlights 10pm Monday nights.

Good tip, thanks. I wonder what's prompted itv to pick them up, it's not like them.

Also, you mentioned a French highlights show that's appeared somewhere - was it espn (which I don't have)?

yah espn, sorry Ismael.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/SpVggGreutherFurth.png

awesome on the itv4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeoN3DRDg_c&feature=related

xherdan reminds me of a lil pug....squat, muscular and hyperactive

he started on saturday 'cos ribery was crocked. Hard to tell his level of ability as Furth were terrible and Bayern had 70+% of possession. Was quite interesting that he swapped wings with robben often which never happens when 'robbery' is in effect.

shaqben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jRaFbeY-m0

honigstein thinks javi martinez to bayern will go through within the next day or so but who knows

they can't be paying the €40m + 43% tax mentioned earlier surely???

also kudos on finding a more dislikeable duo than robbery.

i'd guess they will agree a fee with athletic

the fans were supposedly calling him a spanish pig or something, because he is from navarre and not a true basque or something

everyone is impressed with the players they bring through but the nationalism behind it can be rather unpleasant

what is martinez position? I thought he was a deep CM but Bayern have a few of those.

he has been playing central defence with amorebieta lately, but i think he is still a more natural midfielder, probably displacing luis gustavo i'd think

he has a rare mix of technical qualities, physical stature and tactical flexibility but i don't think he is a fully proven great player yet, which makes it a bit of a risk and uncharacteristic for bayern even if they agree something below 40m

incidentally i dunno if itv will be producing their own highlights show or using the one espn buys in. If it's the latter then one of the guys who does the round up commentary (they use 3 or 4 over the 9 games) is called alan fountain and has a v partridge-esque turn of phrase.

well this is very enthusiastic! wow i am so used to motd hopelessness.

reus debut goal!

yeah

strange seeing augsburg on itv4

Voronin back on yr british tv btw, if anyone is interested. Wildly overhitting it obv, its Voronin.

ooof.

that horrible retrospectively improvised commentary tho

go dusseldorf.

that horrible retrospectively improvised commentary tho

― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Monday, 27 August 2012 22:12 (40 seconds ago)

i can live with this. its still better than other itv commentary.

'first television appearance for those two young lasses'

That penalty! That penalty!

and duly punished by BAS DOST

big lewis holtby

i know it is widespread everywhere else but i don't like 'MATCHDAY 1' type descriptions of weekly football. it feels very forced even though it should just be another thing.

it's a bit of an american thing

yeah. its ghastly.

it's a bit of an american thing

really?

http://i.imgur.com/H6sKN.jpg

pogatetz is unrecogniseable these days

it's a bit of an american thing

really?

― toandos, Monday, August 27, 2012 6:58 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nfl calls it week 1, week 2...
no one else does

1ª giornata, 2ª giornata, 3ª giornata...

Ibisevic' penalty and rebound miss was a thing of beauty for sure.

It was one of those moments where my eyes saw something happen but my brain couldn't process it, like when Cisse scored at Stamford Bridge.

Honigstein, and the Hamburg press, gloriously brutal in their assessment of the teams chances this season

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/aug/27/bundesliga-round-up-raphael-honigstein

My favourite Tabloid Morgenpost went further still: "Sixteen weeks without the Bundesliga were not long enough as far as the Hamburg supporters were concerned. Every day at HSV without football is a good day."

Still, 33 games to go eh?

Turns out I'm wearing an HSV tie today. I've always thought it was cool that it has a tiny embroidered HSV logo on it. I assumed it was just a design coincidence. But I've just checked the lining and lo! it is official product.

I dunno why, iirc my mother-in-law just bought it for me for Christmas in a local shop.

haha

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9198/image1osf.jpg

Still Life With Hamburg Tie (2012)

I am eating that peach right now fyi

Looks like a nice peach.

My local TK Maxx had some Schalke shirts at the weekend. Not sure how much Bundesliga merch gets over here but it's something i'll keep an eye out for in future.

it really was

I love the shade of blue of Schalke shirts. Less keen on the massive GAZPROM across the front.

on last night's showing, i'm supporting Eintracht Frankfurt this season. not that i know one player or anything about them. oh and obv dortmund over bayern.

Dortmund are dominating possession, Reus and Lewandovski look great, they are in control.

So naturally Nurnberg go and score a cheeky header, 1-0.

lol that would have been a really nice team goal, if it didn't take 10 times to score off the rebound of someone's shitty shots. 1-1.

elia just straight sonned bruma to win a penalty in the bremen-hamburg derby

gotta sting considering he used to play for HSV and now plays for their arch rivals

lol aaron hunt had his penalty saved anyway

another pen for bremen

hunt steps up again

scores

the stadium PA plays the proclaimers????

new boy and zonal marking selection for team of euro 2012 disastrously caught in possession, hunt thru to petersen, 2-0.

hamburg smh.

van der vaart isn't playing by the way but the german commentator on my stream just said his name and chuckled uncontrollably for 5 or 6 secs.

who is nbazmsftoe12?

i picked the wrong game. dortmund look bored and limp, nurenburg not having to do much to keep them at bay and could even nick the win on the counter.

jiracek, i meant to write his name and forgot lol

hoffenheim knocked out of the german cup 4-0 by a 4th div team 2 weeks ago, gubbed 4-0 at home by a hoy's newly promoted frankfurt y'day.

wolfsburg presently losing 0-3 at home to hannover. Magath has a face like thunder. 2 goals conceded from set play free headers and the middle one from a square pass in midfeld by Josue being intercepted, 3 passes and 6 secs later, back of the net.

Ashkan Dejagah has escaped Fulham already and is in the stands watching the game, looked especially glum when interviewed at half-time.

make that 0-4

half time sub manages to get 2 bookings in 20 mins. Off. Wolfsburg down to ten men.

Diego wishing he was back at the Calderon I'm sure.

lol yeah especially after friday. falcao running onto thru balls or ...Bas Dost. Diego has been their best player actually.

hoffenheim knocked out of the german cup 4-0 by a 4th div team 2 weeks ago, gubbed 4-0 at home by a hoy's newly promoted frankfurt y'day.

― pandemic, Sunday, 2 September 2012 10:50 (5 hours ago)

fucking a

Bayern scored 6! Monday night will be fun watchings.

hey a little bl2 berlin derby, union v hertha. union stadium looks fun and intimate. it's the one the fans helped build y? why yes http://www.indusage.com.au/sport/sports/1194-loyal-football-fans-build-stadium.html

Hello Anky. Berlin's teams do seem like chronic underachievers; that's a nice story nevertheless.

Van der Vaart's don't pay for themselves

Hamburg have announced they will travel to Brazil in December to play Gremio on December 8, for which they will receive €800,000. Hamburg face Hoffenheim on December 7 and Bayer Leverkusen on December 15

Nice to see that Magath has already decided to drop Bas Dost (unless he's actually injured). Augsburg crowd making a hell of a racket. Oh and Magath also has Simon Kjaer playing as a DM. I'm sure he used to be a good CB somewhere in the distant past. 0-0 midway thru the first half, not a lot happening.

haha who is going on that brazil trip?

presumably they don't get €800,000 for sending the youth team out. On the other hand if the first team play in the match vs Hoffenheim I'm not sure they can even physically get to Brazil to play the very next day. Bizarre. Actually I'm not sure why the Hamburg first team are worth €800,000 tbh

Kjaer always looks good when I see him for Denmark, never for his club sides.

guess the youth team plays hoffenheim then.

after 4 assists in Hannover's last game before the international break Huszti curls in a beauty of a free kick in the first 10 mins vs Werder Bremen

and now he's back to getting assists, lovely cross, 2-0. Bremen a defensive shambles as per always.

bremen pull one back from the spot, nicely thumped in by aaron hunt. Game on.

New boy De Bruyne picked out by new boy Elia, cracks it in left footed. 2-2.

bremen have 2 goals ruled out in the space of 2 mins!!

Huszti overhead kick in the last second of stoppage time!!! Hannover nick it 3-2! So hard on Bremen who from the 11th minute on were excellent.

Great great game.

dortmund were really good y'day, esp. in the first half. Leverkusen didn't offer much tbf with the exception of Bellarbi who did well when he came on at half-time. Gundogan, Schmelzer and Hummels particularly impressive and nice to see Gotze get the start.

wow i apparently missed in the excitement at the end of hannover-bremen y'day that hutszi who scored the winner in stoppage time got a yellow for first removing his shirt and then a second cos he jumped into the crowd as well!!!

a day late but managed to watch freiburg-hoffenheim. Bonkers match ended up 5-3 to Freiburg. Hoffenheim are just so wretched, that's 9 goals shipped in their last 2 games, Markus Babbel won't survive too long I don't think. Game was also host to a performance of almost stunning ineptitude from Tim Wiese in the Hoffenheim goal. The Freiburg fans reduced to merely singing - WIESE, WIESE, HA! HA! HA!

dortmund find themselves with 2 against 3 at the back for some reason and Hamburg take the early lead with a Son header, VdV with the cross I think. Dortmund resting some players after the CL cos it's only Hamburg innit.

hummels uncharacteristically poor in possession today.

does perisic score anything but worldy goals? 2o secs into the 2nd half he chips adler from the corner of the penalty box. 1-1.

more than a hint of offside but weidenfeller still shouldn't be beaten at his near post by illicevic. 2-1 hamburg.

ooh beautiful goal by son, runs down the right dinks inside left foot shot into far corner. dortmund pwned.

10 secs later perisic scores!!! 3-2 hamburg. Madness. 4 dortmund players by themselves in hamburg box!

lewandowski overcooks his lob when one-on-one with the keeper in stoppage time. Hamburg clinging on.

wish i saw that hamburg game! love Son.

Bayern ominously imperious vs Schalke at the weekend. Nakh favourite Thomas Muller seems to have put last years indifferent form behind him and has been bang on it this season so far. A delightful nudge of a pass into the path of the again impressive Toni Kroos for the first goal, and then a dribble incl. nutmeg and finish into far corner for the 2nd. Schalke barely laid a glove on them.

Gladbach lucky to escape Leverkusen with a 1-1 y'day. Hermann scored a v nice goal and did one excellent cross but generally they look a shadow of last season team. Which I guees is to be expected considering the spine of the team has lost Reus, Neustadter, and Dante. Luuk de Jong continues to look lost up front and the they're overly reliant on Arango to score/create goals.

Didn't see Friday nights game but newly promoted Frankfurt won their 4th in a row!

glad to hear muller is back, it's quite common for players in their early 20s to have a bit of a slump after a strong start

Bayern passed their first real domestic test with relative ease; the increasingly brilliant Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller, the white Gervinho, somehow found a way past four defenders to seal the Bavarians' 2-0 win at the Veltins-Arena.

twg is sticking whether it's true or not

Bayern barely broke sweat whilst dispatching Wolfsburg 3-0 last night. Mandzukic played CF and got 2 nice headers from terrific crosses by Shaqiri and Lahm respectively. The 3 behind the striker for Bayern were Robben, Ribery and Shaqiri. The 3 were v fluid tho and unlike last season robben/ribery were happy to swap wings and even take a turn playing centrally off the striker.

I'll be astonished if Bayern don't win the league this season.

Van der Vaart crashes in a left footed volley from the left edge of the box, Ter Stegen no chance. HSV 1-0 at Gladbach.

Stranzl equalises with a thumping header only for Rudnevs to head in on the stroke of half-time. 2-1 HSV. VdV has been terrific.

of course now that i wrote that VdV has just missed a penalty.

Also a check of the latest scores reveals that Huszti of Hannover has come back from his one game suspension with a goal and another 2 assists as they currently lead Nurnberg 4-0. The guy is ON FIRE this season.

Creditable 3-3 draw for Frankfurt vs Dortmund y'day so they've won 4 and drawn one in 5 games so far. Another of the promoted teams, Dusseldorf, are still yet to concede a goal thru 5 games.

Ah good old Hamburg, 2-1 up against a Gladbach team reduced to 10 men after 50 mins and they concede a goal in stoppage time. 2-2.

Dusseldorf finally conceded their first goals of the season last night but still managed to come from 0-2 behind aginst Schalke and get a 2-2 draw to remain unbeaten this season.

Huntelaar's opener was p great, received a throw-in with his back to goal, hooked it over his shoulder on the volley eluding one defender, toed it between 2 more and hit a bullet of a left foot shot from 20 yards past the keeper before he could dive. He did miss 2 glaring chances to make it 3-1 though before Dusseldorf equalised. Despite conceding 2 goals Dusseldorf's Greek CB Malezas was v impressive.

Van der Vaart with a lovely cushioned volley thru ball. Rudnevs finishes. Hamburg 1-0 vs Hannover. Not used to seeing a decent Hamburg.

Farfan with a peach of a diving header for Schalke. Non existent marking from Wolfsburg as per usual. Oh Felix.

too busy listening to tko capone and missed the start of the 2nd half and thusly an affelay goal. Shame cos it would have been one of the only notable things i've watched him do. 2-0 Schalke.

oh bundesliga how i've missed you

fuck me that was the best goal of the season so far.

terrazzino not on youtube but worth seeing if you can. a sweet bit of skill to pull it onto his other foot and throwing off the defender, then half volleying it in from 25 yards.

wait you pronounce Magath's name as Felix Maggot?

P enjoyable game btw hoffenheim and furth last night. 3:3 draw after hoffenheim led 3 times. The last equaliser came from a corner in the 3rd of a scheduled 2 mins of injury time. The keeper had come up for the corner but alas he wasn't the goalscorer..

hamburg being completely dominated by stuttgart, who are pressing effectively, their front three of ibisevic, traore, and harnik have been good.

hamburg did created a few chances towards the end of the half, but have not passed well in midfield at all

Only now watching this. Stuttgart utterly dominant in the first half, best I've seen them play this season. Hamburg pretty miserable, Jansen is a left winger NOT a left back, I've NEVER seen Jiracek play left sided attacker before, and judging from his performance he actually hasn't ever played there before. They've subbed him off so let's see if Hamburg have any more coherance after the break.

gentner and Kvist bossing the center Mf battle vs Badelj and Arslan. Despite this wouldn't be too surprised to see Stuttgart blow this.

Farewell Felix Magath. You leave Wolfsburg bottom of the league with a squad of thousands, perhaps 6 of which can actually play football. Don't worry Jefferson Farfan "I would rather go back to Peru and work down a mine then play for Magath again" I doubt he'll end up back at Schalke.

Would love to see him at QPR tbh.

what a thing to say you horrid man

haha, i'm still reeling from last season's 3-2 defeat at your place.

Hamburg uninspiring again last night. Still won 2-0 away at Augsburg tho'. Son with an excellent finish from what was no more than a half chance, and Van Der Vaart with a brilliant reverse pass nutmeg to set up Rudnevs for the 2nd. Hamburg trying to do the Barca thing when they have possession deep by pushing the full backs way frwd, splitting the CBs v wide and having one of the DM's (usually Badelj) drop in between the CB's. It didn't really work but they avoided any comedy errors which with Mancienne as one of the CB's is progress of sorts.

may not be much, but happy to see HSV win, and Son score again.
Bas Dost brace!
and what about Ádám Szalai, scored a hat trick today, is he any good?

Dost obviously demob happy along with the rest of his teammates after the overthrow of King Felix!

Szalai plays for Mainz yes? Surprisingly good on the turn considering he is a bit lumbering otherwise iirc

Currently trying to watch y'days Freiburg/Dortmund game but the snow is coming down and the orange ball is proving hard to see. Making me feel cold tbh

it's a pink ball isn't it?

Yes! V similar to Freiburg's kit stupidly.

Full name Eintracht Frankfurt e.V.
Nickname(s) Die Adler (Eagles),
SGE (Sportgemeinde Eintracht),
Launische Diva (moody diva)

Stuttgart currently beating my beloved moody Diva on ESPN. (I am house sitting for someone with Sky Sports for two weeks, I might pandemic on Sky Sports over here.)

Meier hit a dope 20 yard chip but Stuttgart came back with a header. Sweet game, should totally be watching more of this stuff.

Just watched that game too. Good stuff. I was p impressed with Sebastian Rode of Franfurt. Reminded me a little of a pre-injury Owen Hargreaves.

A Hoy's Franfurt a little fortunate to escape with a 1.1 vs bottom club Greuther Further last night. Furth's equaliser a lovely chipped finish by Steiber made all the better by the fact that the goalie stood tall and was still helpless.

Watching last night's Hamburg v Bayern. Van der Vaart is playing as an out and out CF, furthest frwd player for Hamburg. I'm sceptical about this working but HSV have started well tbf.

Wow! Muller just scored a v sweet indeed finish from an improbable angle. 2 nil Bayern, Schweini with the first after a ultra composed Kroos pick out.

Ribery/Kroos one-two, Kroos wallaps it into the roof of the net.

Watching Leverkusen/Schalke. The worst Schalke performance I've seen for a couple of years. Abject. Getting completely terrorised by Kiesling and Schurrle. 2-0 ATM but if not for Unnerstall in goal would be 5 or 6.
Farfan subbed off then rowing with the manager.

almost teared up seeing vdv get subbed off after half an hour with a hamstring injury. no one does that for spurs now that he's gone.
hamburg also got beat 2-0 by a not very good looking dusseldorf.

yah, hamburg were p wretched last night. God knows what they were thinking playing Berg at CF (one goal in 29)

how do u rate havard nordtveit

i remember wenger flying to norway especially to persuade him to sign for arsenal, then he didn't really do much, and now he seems to be a starting cm for a team who came 4th last year

He was v good last season but not so good this without his pal neustadter beside him, who left for Schalke. The player I wasn't overly familiar with who has impressed me the most this season is Philipp Wollschied, Leverkusen's CB, newly arrived from Nuremberg. Oh, and Alex Meier of Frankfurt.

Watching y'days Bayern-Hannover and Bayern are already 3 up after 36 mins. Sweet volley by Kroos, overhead kick by Martinez, one-on-one for Ribery. They'll win the league by double digits.

Bayern win 5-0. Mario Gomez, who's been out injured all season until today, comes off the bench and scores within 20 secs.

So Dortmund chucked away 2 pts at home to Dusseldorf last night. Completely dominant for the first 60 mins and ahead at half-time thanks to a beautifully worked interchange between Grosskreutz and Kuba finished with a sweet volley by the latter. Then at the 60 min mark they faded completely, Dusseldorf sniffed an upset and ended up getting a deserved equaliser. It means Bayern can go 11 pts clear of them if they win at home to Freiburg tonight and probably makes the match up btw Bayern and Dortmund this weekend somewhat insignificant.

don't know how cause i didn't see the match but hamburg beat schalke 3-1 wihout Son or VDV. way to go burgers!

fcb / dortmund

how long since there were two teams this good in germany

Watching y'days Hoffenheim-Bremen game. Bremen currently 4-1 ahead and it should be more. Arnautovic has bagged a hat-trick the second and third goals of which were real beauties. Hoffenheim are just hopeless and have been all season, I'll be astonished if Babbel hasn't been sacked by the weekend.

Uninspiring stuff from mizzell's boys so far against manager less Hoffenheim. VdV in the crowd smooching his wife rather than watching the game, can't say I blame him

Aaaaand Rudnevs puts Hamburg one up.

yes! my favorite Latvian.

so hsv won thanks to rudnevs brace. were they bad the whole game? i think this was Zhi Gin Lam's first appearance this season and Per Skjelbred got a rare start.

They did what they needed to I guess. Hoffenheim were p bad and terrible at defending set plays.
HSV changed they're formation a bit, played a diamond midfield with Arslan at the attacking point of it which isn't really his position. Badelj was the base, he was good, and Aogo left and Skelbred right. Rudnevs/Son up top. Lam played LB but looks to be pretty right footed so came inside a lot making the team even narrower. Diekmeier was good at RB and provided most of the attacking width and Westermann had a v good game at CB.

Daniel B. ‏@dan_bu
Milan Badelj MotM again yesterday. 137 touches, 87% pass success, 16 acc. long balls. 5 dribbles won, 3 tackles won, 5 interceptions. #HSV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfdZj4UdMmQ

naldo

sweet goal for a cb

Hey mizzell, here's ibwm on ya boy Son

thanks! cool series

Okay so we've reached the halfway point of the Bundesliga season. Bayern are the Winter champions and look to set to win the title with plenty to spare. With all teams having played 17 games here's how things look at the top and bottom.

1-Bayern 42pts
2-Leverkusen 33
3-Dortmund 30
4-Frankfurt 30
5-Freiburg 26
6-Mainz 26
----------------
14-Nurnberg 20
15-Wolfsburg 19
16-Hoffenheim 12
17-Augsburg 9
18-Greuther Furth 9

Wolfsburg have said farewell to Felix Magath, Hoffenheim to Markus Babbel, Schalke to Huub Stevens.
Meanwhile Dieter Hecking has said his own goodbyes to Nurnberg and taken over at Wolfsburg.

Here's my Team of the Season so far, I've decided to exclude Bayern and Dortmund players just 'cos

--------------------------Adler (Hamburg)-----------------------

--Jung(Frankfurt)--Wollscheid(L'kusen)--Westermann(Hamburg)--Oczipka(Frankfurt)--

----------------------Rode(Frankfurt)----De Bruyne(Bremen)-------------------

----Kiyotake(Nurnberg)----------Meier(Frankfurt)-------------Arango(Gladbach)---

--------------------------------Kiessling(L'kusen)--------------------------

Subs
Giefer(Dusseldorf) GK
Carvajal (L'kusen) RB
Schlaudraff (Hannover) MF
Castro (L'kusen) MF
Draxler (Schalke) MF
Huszti (Hannover) MF
Ibisevic (Stuttgart) F

And my player of the year so far, this time with Bayern and Dortmund players eligible, is probably
Dante ,the Bayern CB, (they've conceded just one goal away from home in the league). Or if attack is more your thing then it has to be Thomas Muller, with Toni Kroos not far behind.

Here's a small piece about HSV's Badelj just for mizzell.

Interesting, thanks. Does K. de Bruyne play that deep regularly? I had guessed he would be farther forward, wider, or both.

Bremen have been playing a sorta pyramid MF this season, with Junuzovic the deepest and De Bruyne and Hunt in front of him in the centre of the pitch, Elia and Arnautovic as the wide men and Petersen CF. So De Bruyne hasn't been playing off the striker as such but more as box-to-box central MF'er. He has been largely responsible for most of the teams attacking thrust tho.

where does Lewis Holtby play for Schalke? what do you think of him, pandemic?

Last season he played CM alongside Jermaine Jones, but this season he's seen some time playing in behind Huntelaar in the position vacated by Raul. I think he's really a little of both, not truly creative enough to be a #10 and more attack minded than one would want in a holding player. Think he'd work well in MF in a 4-3-3 but while good he is clearly a class below those of the same age currently occupying spots in the national team.

2 assists and a goal for Tottenham's Lewis Holtby in Schalke's kinda ridiculous 5-4 win over Hannover last night. 40 turgid minutes followed by 9 goals in a mayhem filled 50 mins incl ex Utd guy Diouf overhead kick from outside the box. O Bundesliga how I've missed you.

How are you feeling about Pep? Meaning for the Bundesliga in general?

It seems a little unnecessary tbh. Bayern are already a beast and have an identifible style of football, not sure nu-barca is required although tbh that may not be pep's intention. He'll certainly enjoy a more civilised rivalry with Klopp than he had with Mourinho. He could be taking over treble winners where the only way to go is down tho Bayern are so stacked it's hard to imagine a severe regression.

Think it's prob good for the rep of the bundesliga as a whole tho.

I can't remember the last time the epl was snubbed in favour of Germany - I don't think Utd's pursuit of Ribery was ever serious before he went to Bayern.

No wait, I can - Bas Dost. How's he doing anyway?

Dortmund cruiding past Nuremberg so far. 2 Blaszczykowski goals, although the first was a penalty awarded for an obvious dive. In the game and a half I've seen of them since the Winter break Dortmund have looked awesome.

they have some quality on the bench too grosskreutz, schieber, sahin, leitner, bender. solid.

SZ: Herr Schmadtke, wie groß ist Ihr neuer Spieler, der Brasilianer França?

Jörg Schmadtke: 1,82 Meter.

Mehrere Medien melden übereinstimmend, er sei 1,81 Meter.

Das stimmt nicht. Wir haben nachgemessen. Er ist 1,82 Meter.

Anzeige

Anlässlich der Vorstellung des Spielers in Hannover wurden Sie mit dem Satz zitiert: "França hat mit 1,90 Meter und 88 Kilogramm körperliche Voraussetzungen, die er mit großer Leidenschaft in sein Spiel einbringt."

Das ist leider falsch zitiert worden. Ich habe gesagt, er sei 1,88 Meter. Von der Pressestelle wurde dann 1,90 Meter geschrieben. Ein kleines Versehen. Das ist aber kein größeres Problem.

Djourou has made at least 3 mistakes in the first half for hannover at Bremen. All unpunished. Bremen well on top but still scoreless.

2 more goals for Nils Petersen. I assumed he was some highly rated, one for the future type at Bayern, but Honigstein called him a "run of the mill" player in his piece about Kiessling.

Think he's got 9 in 20 this season, but have to admit I've been far from impressed whenever I've seen him play. Decent penalty box player but not much else. I'd say he has zero chance of making it at Bayern. Sokratis had an amazing game at CB y'day, although he charges all over the place a lot more than is ideal for that position, and Aaron Hunt was v good too.

guh! HSV leading BVB in Dortmund. Lovely goal from Son, too.

3-1 now, Rudnevs gets his second with a far post header, he was able to hold off hummels and put it through wiedenfaller's legs.
both teams have had a man sent off too

Watching last night's Wolfsburg-Bayern game. 0-0 after 30 mins. Wolfsburg are forcing Van Buyten to be the one who brings it out from the back for Bayern by pressing quite aggressively on the rest of the back four. He has as long on the ball as he wants and no opposition players within 10 yards of him. It's been quite effective because he looks mighty uncomfortable trying to pick a pass. Arsenal should try the same thing on Tuesday seeing as Van Buyten is a definite starter with Badstuber injured and Boateng suspended. Martinez also missing through injury although he may make Tuesday night.

Typed all that out then Bayern took the lead with a Mandzukic scissor kick.

Bayenr finally concede a league goal in 2013. Just as well they managed to score 6 themselves really. They are ridiculous. Schwinsteiger, Kroos, Muller and Mandzukic all rested but no matter. Ribery was sensational and capped it all with a lovely side foot volley goal.

WTF happened to Mizzel's boys yesterday?? 5-1 defeat at Hannover.

Now to watch yesterday's Schalke-Dusseldorf game. Interested to see if Schalke can match their excellent performance from midweek and to see Draxler play behind Huntelaar again now that Bastos has taken his LW position.

didn't see the game but read that HSV had more shots, more possession, more corners etc, still managed to ship 5 goals

Revierderby day!

wonderful team goal by Schalke finished by Draxler

Schalke bossed the first half of this. Hummels first game back after a virus and he didn't look quite right. Bastos and Farfan finding loads of space behind Dortmund's full backs. Hummels and Grosskreutz hooked at half time for Sahin and Reus, Bender now playing CB, yikes.

Also Draxler's 100th Bundesliga game which ain't bad for a 19 yr old.

Into the last 5 mins, Lewandowski pulled one back midway through the half and Dortmund have improved. Schalke missed a couple of sitters on the break also.

Ooh Lewandowki straight at the keeper from 10 yards out unmarked.

Schalke hold on, good win considering no Jermaine Jones who's a p influential player for them.

Bayern 7-0 up vs Hamburg with half an hour to go.

Had a hangover, decided to stay in and watch footy all day. Bayern - Hamburg, why not? 9-1 now. Not disappointed. Incredible.

Dortmund 5-0 up at half time against G. Furth. Could quite easily end in double figures.

i see Son scored a brace playing up top. wonder if that will end up being his main position

German Cup Semi-Final, Mario Gomez comes on with 12 mins to go and promptly scores a hat-trick in 6 mins. NBD. Bayern 6 Wolfsburg 1. Shaqiri was great and was involved in first 4 goals. Unstoppable.

Do you think Gomez' recent run of form will convince them to hold on to him?

If Lewandowski is a done deal as is alleged then definitely no. If not, then I think Bayern would like to keep him but not too sure whether Mario would be willing. His minutes per goal ratio must be astonishing this season and I can't see him being happy with being second choice. Wonder what will happen with Badstuber next season as well. Both him and Gomez essentially lost their starting places because of injury and have seen their replacements excel.

Can you shed a light on Robben for next season? Dutch press like to repeat the same speculation, namely that he's too selfish a player for Guardiola. I understand why but it's mostly lazy zinging.

With Kroos out he'll probably play most important matches (cup final, CL), and tbh, he's been in good form lately no? Do you think he has a future at Bayern?

He's been v good lately and was again last night, laid on the first for Mandzukic, scored the 2nd. He does at least work hard to get back in position on defence in transition even though he doesn't tackle but tbf that's not his job and the harrying and effort is all Bayern need from him defensively.

Hard to guess what Pep is thinking but I'll have a go! Assuming Ribery stays (he's been consistently excellent) then I would guess him on the left and Kroos as #10 are favourites to start, add in Mandzukic/Gomez/Lewandowki as the #9 and that leaves the RWF position. I think that Muller might be more of a Pep sort of player than Robben, but unless he really wants to leave Robben is a terrific player to have available. I think Pep would be reluctant to let him leave but unlikely to have him in mind as essential first choice if that makes sense?

Also while you are here LBI, how do you rate Jean-Paul Boëtius? Also one of your boys Locadia? I've also being reading rave reviews of Jetro Williams last seen(by me) having a bad time at Euro 2012.

this is probably the last time they could get a large fee for robben, if guardiola thinks shaqiri is able to deputise both wings then could maybe see him sold

cf is interesting, gomez looks the wrong fit but since guardiola needs to win the cl, i could see him looking for an upgrade and given the money spent on a dmid last summer, they might consider splashing out on cavani or suarez

lewandowski surely needs to be sold abroad if dortmund are serious

an upgrade on mandzukic that is

also how did mandz get this good so quickly, he was a 10/12 goal a season player at wolfsburg

I know! When Bayern bought him I figured it was a case of a) he'd just had a good Euros, b) He knew the league c) He was relatively cheap and would do as back up for Gomez.

Also while you are here LBI, how do you rate Jean-Paul Boëtius? Also one of your boys Locadia? I've also being reading rave reviews of Jetro Williams last seen(by me) having a bad time at Euro 2012.

― pandemic, woensdag 17 april 2013 17:16 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, in short: for all three it is way too early to tell how good they will actually be. Boëtius has been a revelationary winger, but also had some games where he bombed. Locadia is a very promising CF, but doesn't have a lot of experience. I'd say both need to play two or three solid seasons in Holland, these boys are 18 or so, it is too soon to tell.

Willems is a different story, somewhat. Due to injuries at PSV (Pieters, also Holland's left back at the time), he skyrocketed. The Euros were disastrous, everyone saw how he screwed up several times. But that doesn't take anything away from the fact that he is a gifted, modern left back, with a big drive forward. And he's still only 19 years old I believe.

The tendency in Holland is to write him off already, but that is way too soon. He's got a sound mind, is modest mentally, he'll have a bright future ahead of him, I am sure. Only question is if that will be at clubs like ManU or, say, Wolfsburg or Valencia etc.

And thanks for your view on Robben. I see it the same way, he will be a solid 13th/14th player for Bayern I think. Question is if that is enough for him, to sometimes have to warm the bench (my guess would be: no, he's too vain, though he does know he gets injured so much that that might just be the most he can make of his career right now).

         Neuer
Lahm Dante Badstuber Alaba
Schweinsteiger Martinez
  Gotze Kroos Ribery
        Muller

this is a bummer

people talk about parity in the bundesliga, but no one team doinates a league the way bayern do.

it does somehow feel like a piece of footballing villainy beyond the way that the big spenders in other leagues operate, e.g. everybody buying all of Arsenal's best players - all in good fun, Bayern buying the best player of their only serious rival - not on m8s. Maybe Uli Hoeneß was taking a dive with his tax fraud stuff to make this seem like less of a moral aberration.

How are Dortmunds finances post-near-bankruptcy? Are they fine now? Do they kinda need to sell Gotze/Lewi/Hummels/etc. and buy half price equivilants and pocket the rest? Or can they try to keep hold of these guys, or some of them at least?

De Jong scored a beautiful second for Augsberg earlier.

Five Bayern players were booked, including Rafinha. Bayern had previously received only eight yellow cards all season in the league.

that is the most ridiculous of all the stats for bayern this season

Son looking great as a #9. Scored one goal set up another after rounding the keeper, also ran a counter and set up Jiracek who curled his shot just wide.

Mainz / Stuttgart is on BT Sport atm. Good game so far.