Götze's Faust: Bundesliga 13/14/15

http://i.imgur.com/AQex6GT.png?1

idk where pandemic has got to

Looking forward to seeing how Salihovic scored a penalty and got a straight red in the space of sixty seconds.

arjen robben ✓

nice to see that guardiola has found a use for the miserable looking fellow who is still one of the very best in the world in his position

So Bayern dropped their first points of the season yesterday, conceding a late equaliser away at Freiburg. A much changed line up with Van Buyten, Rafinha and Contento in for Boateng, Lahm and Alaba. Gotze given his second start in a row, no Robbery so Muller/Shaqiri on the flanks instead, and Pizzarro at CF. Baumann made a couple of key one-on-one saves in the second half to keep the deficit at only one before Freiburg snatched their goal. Not a disaster for Bayern given the changes...and yet..

From the 4 games I've seen of them so far, early days caveat etc, the addition of an extra attacking player has actually resulted in Bayern looking far less dangerous/exciting than they did last season. In fact the only part of the team functioning at a high level is Ribery and Robben. Schweinsteiger playing as the single deep lying midfielder both comes too deep to collect the ball to start attacks when it could be left to Dante to play in the full backs, and also as the attack develops he is often too far forward to help defensively should Bayern be broken on. A work in progress I guess, and Bayern are using far more long balls/passes than I would have expected under Pep. With Martinez and Thiago already injured , Schweinsteiger picking up a knock last night, and Gustavo sold I hope that Pep doesn't expect Kroos to deputise there all on his own vs Chelsea. Maybe a double pivot with Lahm (all that practice in MF during pre-season paying off!)

Moving on to Dortmund, 9pts out of 9 so far. Gundogan has only played half of one game so far and even then he was playing out of position imo as a #10. Not sure Klopp is gonna get away with expecting Grosskreutz to play 1/3 of the season as a RB while they wait for Piczcek to recover from surgery. Reus has looked tremendous so far this season, Aubameyang will kill teams especially in the last 20 mins or so if Dortmund have the lead in games. Mkhitaryan has looked p assured so far and Hofmann has been a revelation off the bench scoring goals, winning penalties. Then again I was somewhat impressed with Leitner off the bench for Dortmund last season and was expecting good things from him on loan at Stuttgart but he has stunk the place up so bad that they've already sacked the manager!! RIP Labbadia.

Have suffered through all 3 games of new boys Eintracht Braunschweig and while well organised and hard working etc etc I'll be surprised if they score more than 25 goals this season, relegation a formality I think.

Michael B made a good post about Schalke elsewhere. They have been truly wretched and Keller will more than likely be out before the new year if not the international break! Jones has been strangely subdued in MF though he got a red card last night so maybe he is still alive. Huntelaar lasted a game, and scored a brace, before getting injured again. At least new signing Szalai will get a run in the first team. Draxler is the real deal but still finding his feet as a #10 after playing on the left for most of his 100+ games for Schalke. The defence is still a disaster. Joel Matip gave one of the most incompetent CB displays I have ever seen in their opening day 3-3 with Hamburg. He was promptly dropped for the 2nd match vs Wolfsburg and replaced by Santana. Schalke lost 4-0 and Santana was possibly even worse. Max Meier has looked good when called upon tho.

Mainz have also gotten maximum points thus far but I've only seen one of their games and it was against Stuttgart, so who knows. Nicolai Muller looked the business drifting in from the right flank however.

The other team with max points is Leverkusen, now under sole control of the other Big Sam(my).
Probably the team that has excited me most this season. Move over Robbery it's time for SamSon! Heung-Min Son has arrived to take the place of Chelsea CF Andre Schurrle on the left, and in combination with Sydney Sam on the right and Kiessling in the center forms one of the more devastating counter attacking forward lines I've seen in a while. Their play on Saturday against what I think is a p good Gladbach side was an absolute joy.

Other than that Hoffenheim look surprisingly okay and for mizzell's sake I'll pass over Hamburg with nothing more than a horrified shudder.

Well, that post was stupidly long.

About time tbh, wb. I watched Dortmund-Bremen the other night, thought it surprisingly poor fare actually. Probably just early-season stretching though, both sides looked like they were going through the motions a bit, not really going for the jugular at all (well Dortmund did at least, not sure Werder could've got at them even if they were playing at full pelt).

Mostly I end up watching the crowds though. The yellow wall is always something to see. Dunno how much longer the epl can wing it, most every league west of Lowestoft or east of Scilly puts on a better show.

nice to see u back

how do u rate kiessling? i have hardly ever watched him, sort of wrote him off as another reasonably talented but not international class german #9 in the kuranyi fashion, and part of that pre-2008 generation that lahm schweinstegier and l-pold apart never amounted to much

I think Jogi Low is of the same opinion! In a team that dominates possession and is often faced with massed defences I don't think he would fare all that well. He is entirely suited to end-to-end p open games where neither team is particularly scared of the other, which perfectly suits Leverkusen's stature I guess. So he needs a certain amount of space to operate but he does use that space v well and clinically when afforded it. Useful in the air as well.

is he fast

Max Kruse worth keeping an eye on imo. V intelligent movement and nice all round game, could sneak into the national squad for the World Cup. He's 25 though so perhaps should have made the break through earlier. Klose has dominated a generation and a half!

xp Mobile enough but not notably fast no, which makes his style more unlikely I guess. Definitely not a speedster relying on balls in behind pushed up back lines. He actually reminds me of first season at Liverpool Stan Collymore. I mean that as praise btw.

a lot depends on how mario gomez does at fiorentina

they just signed 'new boksic' ante rebic but he will maybe play wide, if at all

I'll pass over Hamburg with nothing more than a horrified shudder.

;_;

so sad to lose Son, don't think I'll be able to enjoy him playing with Leverkusen. I guess it's good they are saving money rather than spending it to be so poor... No there's nothing good about it.

Stuttgart 6 Hoffenheim 2 had a couple of nice goals from Maxim.

Mkhitaryan has just got his first for Dortmund.

And his second.

draxler mostly played left during the first half of schalke/leverkusen with boateng as withdrawn forward behind szalai (idk him at all, seems like a big not terribly finessed but not terrible #9)

otherwise heung min son looked like leverkusen's best attacking player by some distance

didn't see the rest of it

Lol Telegraph reckons Arsenal are "tracking" Gundogan and Reus, but apparently they would cost £20m each!! Try doubling that I would think.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/transferrekorde-international/transferrekorde/transfers_2013_default_default_default_alle_alle.html

the gotze release clause looks even more ridiculous in that context

and mario gomez is towards the end somewhere between wanyamaa and carroll

Some of those figures look dubious to me but Aubameyang to Dortmund for about £11.5m should be one of the best transfers of the summer. He has mostly been used as an impact sub so far but has fitted into the system well.

12
Marouane Fellaini
Man Utd

28.500.000 £

14
Isco
Real Madrid

26.500.000 £

how good do you think gotze is pandemic? there were rumours that guardiola wanted neymar but a lot of people think gotze is comparably talented

Bojan's down as Roma-Barcelona, is that a mistake? I kinda hope Ajax haven't blown their budget on him tbh.

they had to exercise their buyback clause then loaned him straight out to ajax

Gotze is a tricky one, the year he was out injured and Dortmund won the second of their back to back titles Kagawa replaced him and excelled. The year prior I didn't see him play. Last season he had some excellent games in Europe combining particularly well with Reus. Still think he's as close to a sure thing as you'll likely to get but v intrigued as to what this season will bring with Bayern, he's looked like a guy struggling to find his role in his few appearances so far. Can see why Pep would have preferred Neymar in that he would be radically different to any player Bayern currently have whereas Gotze is a small variation on what they've got. I had thought that Pep might use Gotze as a false nine quite a bit this season but I'm not sure he's robust enough or a good enough finisher for it to work.

Aubameyang was one of the 4 players from Ligue 1 I was unfamiliar with that really stood out for me
last season. The others being Payet (who LFC should have got for the RWF role that I guess Aspas/Moses are set for) Ochoa and Valbuena.

Who's Payet?

Dmitri Payet played for Lille last season, attacking right footed wing forward. Moved to Marseille this summer.

hamburgs defence is so bad

that was typed before the reus goal which was just absurdly easy

Dortmund's has been bad as well. So good going forward but can't defend set pieces at all.

they have a very good defence, they can be forgiven

subotic seemed to be carrying an injury and hummels is still a little absent minded

papastothopoulos should be a fair upgrade on santana as third choice

Mkhitaryan was sublime, and Reus wasn't too far behind. Bayern strangely unfun to watch lately but Ribery is so good right now.

http://sportbild.bild.de/SPORT/bundesliga/vereine/fc-bayern-muenchen/2013/10/06/wiesn-besuch/fg/FC_20Bayern_20Muenchen_20Attends_20Oktoberfest_202013__34890737__MBHF-1381063218,templateId=renderScaled,property=Bild,height=349.jpg

While Aubameyang is a self-confessed fan of Thierry Henry, George Weah and Hernan Crespo (he sports a "Crespo For Life” tatoo on his left arm), he names Ronaldo as his biggest role model in the game.

respect

http://www.mtnfootball.com/content/Pierre-Aubameyang.jpg

eh pretty shit actually

Mkhitaryan was fucking magnificent tonight. His turn and pass for Lewandowski's 2nd goal, Dortmund's 4th, was sublime. Can't wait to see him and Gundogan in the same midfield.

the level of fitba intelligence in bayern is astonishing

they could field an entire second midfield (thiago, schweinsteiger and gotze) better than anything in the epl

disgraceful isn't it?

here's the traitor's goal
http://giant.gfycat.com/LittleQueasyBlueshark.gif

this is the highest quality game i have seen in a while

lol atypical robben goal

getting a bit embarrassing now

this is scoreline-doesnt-reflect-game stuff

difference is dortmund need to have all the big ppl playing and have lewy on sharp form whereas bayern can miss their two most important players of the last half decade and still be incredibly fluid and lethal

http://i.imgur.com/xcIfUar.png

guardiola's words about this are amusingly aggro

love that even as the perceivedly most innocent of the squad alaba still had thirty-one accusers

schism with lahm would be some juicy stuff tho jeff

nice goals by this man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMWIgrN1C5s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN55U6lYqOk

Stuttgart were garbage against Schalke yesterday. Went down 0-3. Jermaine Jones scored an absolute belter mind you. Schalke looked okay but Szalai was absolute waste at CF. Don't know when Huntelaar is due back.

Seems kinda unfair and boorish to take over the best team in Europe and make them better. Bayern were awes. y'day, going to Bremen and winning 7-0. Only saw an hour of highlights but it was brutal.

Dortmund-Leverkusen was good, Big Sami's men edging a one nil with Son getting the goal.

16m poss rising to 25m for de bruyne seems p cray huh

and then sidney sam off for 2m? ¯\(O_o)/¯

Sam was running down his contract, i think, but that's a hell of a lot of money for De Bruyne.

Buy-out clauses in Bundesliga are often insanely low. Max Kruse last summer at £2m for instance. Sydney Sam another example. Marcel Jansen of Hamburg has a £5m buy-out I think.

De Bruyne was outstanding in his season at Bremen, although the team was disastrous around him.

Wolfsburg have splashed the cash on Gustavo in the summer and now De Bruyne. VW must be doing well. Still that's shaping up to being a formidable midfield with Diego (out of contract this summer?) and wonderkid Max Arnold. Still relying on good old Ivica Olic up front tho.

Draxler to Arsenal would be quite exciting. Love him to stay at Schalke but he's best off leaving if they're going to continue with the clueless Keller in charge.

if Chelsea get Matic and Arsenal get Draxler while Utd sit on their hands...

beppe marotta constantly lolling in ur face is p hard work i imagine

Wolfsburg have splashed the cash on Gustavo in the summer and now De Bruyne. VW must be doing well. Still that's shaping up to being a formidable midfield with Diego (out of contract this summer?) and wonderkid Max Arnold. Still relying on good old Ivica Olic up front tho.

― pandemic, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 11:37 Bookmark

can't keep up with these sodding wunderkinder any more, thought this referred to max meyer

So good that poor old Diego gets shunted over to the right wing so that Arnold can play #10. Diego seems delighted by this as one can imagine.

Max Meyer is pretty tasty as well and should be set for a starting place if Drax goes.

Reading 'Tor!- The Story of German Football' atm. It's fun reading how hated Bayern Munich are and how incompetent Berti Vogts was. Also how Bayern manage to scrape to championships in barely believable style.

The run-in of 2001 where in the last 3 matches Bayern scored in 87th minute in the first game, stoppage time in the 2nd and in the last game they needed just a point to clinch the title from Schalke who won their last game 5-3. Bayern were playing Hamburg.

Hamburg took the lead in the 90th minute. Meanwhile in Schalke the celebrations began, fireworks went off, etc. Then in the 4th minute of stoppage time in Hamburg the home goalie (a schalke fan!) picked up a backpass. Indirect free kick. Effenberg signalled for the defender Patrik Andersson to come forward, someone who had never scored for Bayern before, turned to him and said "Knock it in, and then we'll go home". Effenberg nudged the ball, Andersson knocked it in.

beppe marotta constantly lolling in ur face is p hard work i imagine

― r|t|c, Wednesday, January 15, 2014 12:41 PM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark

I dunno, Moyes seems to have some masochistic tendencies when it comes to transfer deals

Also this from Tor!

Oliver Kahn once agreed to take part in a penalty shoot-out for charity in which he faced children who could collect money for an orphanage by putting one past the famous pro. Then he saved every single spot-kick because he couldn't stand to be beaten.

and now I have to post this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqOxNspUPyE

Moyes at Gladbach-Bayern tonight.

No Robbery or Mandzukic so Gotze playing as a false 9. The movement between him and Muller is great. Lahm playing as a DM (how has he never made the top 5 in Ballon D'or voting?)

Bayern the most complete team I've seen this season by a distance.

I guess Moyes is checking out Dante? Or maybe Hermann though I don't think he would be any help in significantly improving Man Utd.

Ter Stegen is gonna have to improve his distribution if he goes to Barca. Although I guess Valdez has been kicking long more often under Tata.

Gladbach have been poor but Neuer has made a couple of good saves last 5 mins.

Another routine win. Dante was excellent btw.

Wolfsburg have been p tasty first half vs Hannover. Diego on fiah. Still went behind to a Rudnevs (ex of HSV) goal on the counter before Olic snaffled up the rebound from a Max Arnold rasper to equalise. Shame I'm gonna miss the 2nd half.

Man, Blaszczykowski out for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate 3 mins into Saturday's game. Dortmund absolutely killed by injuries this season.

V sad watching Dortmund lately. Drawing with Braunschweig atm. This team was so beautiful to watch but without Gotze, Gundogan, Subotic, Blascsykowski they are entirely ordinary looking.

how good do you think kroos is / could be

surprised guardiola was so blasé about him

seems like the mgmt are saying we have lots of other good midfielders, don't get ahead of yourself to his agent

Think he's excellent. Can do p much anything. Can be the holder if they need him to be, can create/score. Has the intelligence to control the pace of the game and run the show but suspect Pep prefers Alcantara. Kroos has played more than any other midfielder so far this season and Bayern have been awesome so it's a strange one.

Aubameyang just got his 2nd to put Dortmund ahead. 11 goals for the season, not bad.

I mean I think Kroos could be Pirlo in 5 years if he wants to play that role. Think he was the key player in Bayern working out how to play Dortmund last season after they'd gone about 5 or 6 games without beating them.

right

i think they probably have a strict seniority sort of principle and they don't want to elevate a 23 yr old to the level of the longtime squad bossmen just yet, and rightly kroos is arguing that inferior players are getting stupid money elsewhere and he doesn't want to get lowballed

Bizarre scenes at the end of Hertha-Nuremberg right now. Keeper comes off his line to clear, Hertha player returns the clearance towards goal, defender punches it off the line as it loops in, falls to Ramos who slots in. Ref gives red card and pen cos he blew before ball put into the net. Then lino calls him over and tells him Ramos was offside when he put it in, which I wouldn't have thought affected anything about the initial decision but the ref awards a free-kick instead of a pen and recalls the sent off player???

Gotze, Ribery, Robben, Dante, Mandzukic = 5-0 Bayern. Ho-hum.

Kroos didn't make it off the bench.

David Alaba vying with Ilkay Gundogan for the coveted 'favourite player of pandemic' award.

haven't watched much bundesliga this year, for which i've been grateful given hsv's form, but i sure wish i saw them beat dortmund 3-0 today. how did that happen?

http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/hakan-c3a7alhanoc49flu-goal-hamburger-vs-dortmund-a.gif

happened like this apparently

i mean what even is that a knuckleball idk

late outswing m8

u seem v determined to restrict yr posting to non-uk football threads

was searching for le mot juste, found it

aye, not even the free-kick above could be the greatest of the day

I really like Hummells but crikey he makes at least one incredibly dozy mistake per game. Almost just cost an opening goal vs Nuremburg. Dortmund have created about 6 or 7 good opportunities in the first 20mins without taking the lead.

lol so of course Hummells gets the opening goal

Jonas Hoffmann with a genius reverse pass nutmeg to Mkhitaryan for 3-0. Lovely.

Wolfsburg with the sheer temerity to take the lead vs Bayern today. Bayern have responded with 6 goals.
This league is broken :(

Got around to watching the game and it was pretty even for the first hour. Wolfsburg caused Bayern a whole lot of problems with some excellent thru balls vs Bayern's high defensive line (something for Arsenal to exploit?). Then Thiago came on and Wolfsburg didn't see the ball again. Thiago is considerably better than I thought from the various Barca performances I saw.

thiago is better than any midfielder in the epl and he only has three and a bit seasons left at bayern and i can envisage another drawn out fabregas style 'transfer saga' when they try to get him back next year or the year after

talent is in the xavi, iniesta range and it's quite feasible he gets there before too long

Ah man I hope Strootman hasn't done his achilles. Just when down in apparent agony with no other player anywhere near him.

wrong thread

xp I remember you posting about him before Nakh. I barely watched La Liga during the Mou years and only saw Barca's CL games in which I get the impression Thiago didn't get much game time. I didn't see the need for him at Bayern but he is worthy of a place in their optimal starting eleven based on the evidence from December onwards. Great at keeping the ball but incisive with it and more than capable of breaking the lines as well. More Iniesta than Xavi I think.

yeah, skillset is more like iniesta, in spain they use the ever popular journalistic shorthand of nationality to suggest he has a bit more of a 'brazilian' improvisatory element to his game and that is sort of true, but he can also play a lower risk, possession retention game as well as anyone

hacks use the word 'complete' to describe athletic allrounders like gerrard but thiago exemplifies what 'complete player' ought to mean

barcelona are getting halilovic (17) and are linked a lot to óliver torres at atletico (19 and doing well on loan at villareal judging by the highlights of last week's game) but thiago is as good now as those players might or might not become in 5 years time, and as xavi is nears the end as a 50 game a season player, it becomes even clearer what a total fuckup it was by the creep rossell and his ignorant administration that they lost thiago for 20m

bayern had 1006 successful passes vs hertha, the previous most seems to have been 938 by guardiola's barca vs real sociedad a few years ago

whoscored had their possession as 82%, I don't remember seeing 80%+ before

http://i.imgur.com/h6Gz4Rm.jpg

meant to post this actually. Looking forward to the games against Utd

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjmkqzpCUAAG0kB.png

Looking frwd to Lahm's reinvention next season as a false 9. Guy is a boss.

RIP Big Sami. Sacked with Leverkusen in 4th place but having an atrocious 2014. Lost to mizzell's Hamburg last night. Calhanoglu got another terrific goal, he's a heck of a player. Adler with a howler of epic proportions to allow Leverkusen back into the game, before Westermann scored with under ten mins to go for the 2-1. Hamburg out of the bottom 3, temporarily at least.

Was almost inevitable after the last couple of weeks. They've looked hopeless. It's a shame but I guess it leaves the race for 4th open.

wondering what pandemic or any other bundesliga followers think of germany's striker prospects like lasogga, volland and timo werner, it's an area that looks comparatively weak in their senior team

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

impressed by his quickness, control and movement here, looks like a roided up arshavin

I like Lasogga. A lot. If Germany are gonna go with one central striker in the years to come I think he'll be it. Volland is more of a wide striker, cutting in and shooting. Werner the times I've seen him has been more winger than forward tho his finishing has looked just fine. Think
he's a little rawer than the other 2 and for now a little bit behind them in terms of development.

Lasogga could do with being at a better club than Hamburg or Hertha and I was kinda hoping he'd end up at Dortmund before they decided to go with the finished article with Adrian Ramos (I think Lasogga will be better)

As far as this World Cup goes Kiessling really should be in the squad. But he won't be. Gomez has been injured for half the season and hasn't looked too good for Fiorentina on his return. Klose is Klose but less so now. Think they could even end up false 9ing it with Reus or Gotze due to a lack of viable alternatives rather than choice.

Getting a bit worried about Ilkay Gundogan. Now officially out for the rest of the season which means he's missed p much all of it with a vague 'back problem'. Inflammation of the nerve. Is it usual for this kind of thing to keep someone out for 9 months?

how are u with bobby firmino these days

oooh he's been lovely this season, although I was under the impression he was like 27 or 28 so it came as a surprise when he reupped for Hoffenheim and I discovered he was 22. Proper 2nd striker rather than an in vogue #10. The only caveat is that he plays for Hoffenheim a team that have zero interest in defending and are only interested in scoring which probably inflate his numbers but he, Modeste and Volland are lovely to watch in full flow.

yeah i read that bvb are maybe choosing between him and volland for next season. how much would heung min son go for?

ginter in the bag already i see

Son had an excellent season at Hamburg and a really good half season at Leverkusen. He's been poor since the winter break but then again so have Leverkusen. Seems to have been dragged down by the general malaise. Think Bayer paid 10m Euros for him iirc

werner is only just 18, think he is a natural striker being played wide as he adjusts to senior football, he's listed at 5'11 and looks like he has a fairly solid physique for his age so could see him as a pacy #9, sturridge type of player in a couple of years which is exactly what germany need imo

early days of course though

looking forward to bayern dortmund, the reverse fixture was probably the best league game i've watched this season

http://espnfc.com/uk/en/gamecast/369628/gamecast.html?soccernet=true&cc=5739

today would be a good day for our eponymous 'traitor' to show some form

impressed with how early and regularly bundesliga clubs play these super talented kids, max meyer, goretzka, werner, all getting agood amount of games at 17/18

Won't get the chance to see the game until tmrw but would be interested to hear what you make of Jonas Hofmann, Nakh.

dortmund playing a sort of 433 flexible front three with reus da false 9

aubemayang mostly off the left is impressing me, hofmann is pressing well off of the right but it helps to have a monstrous player like grosskreutz defending that entire flank rather than the cruddy durm

mkhitaryan playing deepish, scores good goal after bayern lazily fail to track a throwin

i like grosskreutz, technically he clearly isn't great but so athletic and tactically intelligent, much prefer him to someone like milner as a utility player

aubemayang moves more centrally as dortmund retreat the press a little and play for the breaks

null zwei!

drawn to difference in demeanour between the typically well dressed guardiola and (doubtless calculated) trackies and baseball cap of klopp

Drei!

what the fuck is are bayern doing, hofmann saunters infield past dante and has about a fornight to finish, which he does with an absolute plom

bayern aren't tracking the interchanges of the forwards or mkhitaryan running from deep at all

definitely a template here for how they might play post-lewandowski

*fortnight*

and hofmann exits for lewandowski, the best i've seen him play and the first time he really looks like a potential starter or a longterm sucessor to kuba, he is quicker than i thought and those diagonal runs in behind are a threat

okay finally seen the game.

wtf is pep trying to ruin bayern? both full backs moving into midfield but NARROW. Ribery/Alaba is a fantastic combination when ribery drifts in and alaba overlaps. simple yes but hella effective. the last few games tho whenever alaba comes frwd it's into CM and it's fucking up bayern's attacking flow for the sake of having more possession in the middle which seems unnecessary cos bayern have the ball loads anyway. hate to stifle innovation but wish they'd just go back to the bog standard heynkes formation.

So the best Hamburg can do with a game remaining is be in a 2 leg relegation play-off with the 3rd team in Bundesliga 2. If they end up going down I assume Calhanoglu gets sold in which case I hope LFC are interested.

Bad as they have been, it's difficult to see them losing to Paderborn or Greuther Furth. Hoffenheim not turning up against Braunschweig might be a risk, though. Could see an exodus even if they stay up.

So Bayern's new kit kinda looks like a Barca strip. Hmm.

Nuremberg and Braunschweig both losing so HSV looking good for the play-off.

it's not like they haven't had similar kits before

http://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/assets/4428943/52942997.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ITT7Dl5.jpg

Bad as they have been, it's difficult to see them losing to Paderborn or Greuther Furth.

Not sure about this now. Nil nil at the moment but HSV look very disappointing.

Fuerth should be three up. HSV are awful.

is mancienne playing

Yes, Mancienne and Djourou at CB.

lol

is this a two-legged thing?

It is. The second leg is on Sunday. HSV at home today.

null null bvb fcb, second half beginning

david alaba is wearing one of those absurd coats that wenger has

EXTREM UNGLUCKLISHER MOMENT FUR WEIDENFELLER

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BH1nuZ1CUAA8FWy.jpg:large

Hamburg are much better than in the week. One nil up so Fuerth need two.

hsv pretty easily carved open for that goal. can they stay up based on the away goals rule?

Yes, they only need a draw.

Leverkusen just took the lead vs Dortmund within ten seconds. Always love goals from kick-off.

Dortmund lost for the fifth time in eight league games today. Bremen are bottom.

new thread time

poor thiago though, probably belongs in this thread for all the playing time he will have in 14/15

https://vine.co/v/OhLVjZYVIv2

bayern dortmund in an hour

01 Neuer
05 Benatia
17 Boateng
27 Alaba
10 Robben
21 Lahm
03 Alonso
18 Bernat
25 Müller
09 Lewandowski
19 Götze

01 Weidenfeller
26 Piszczek
25 Papastathopoulos
15 Hummels
37 Durm
06 Bender
05 Kehl
10 Mkhitaryan
07 Kagawa
11 Reus
17 Aubameyang

Sadly, I am going out again in half an hour, but I'll put this on for a spell

dislike this chumminess with lewa

only weidenfeller shows appropriate froideur

that was sick

gorgeous move, mkhitaryan smashes it onto the post, off the front of a tv camera and straight back into neuer's hands, who takes the gk instantly

Nicely done.

yeah

gotta go now but that was as good a note to end on as any

theres plenty happening here, bayern playing a sort of 3 4 1 2 with alaba and benatia spread quite wide which probably contributed to the latter's disorientation for the goal, robben shifted a little further up on the right than bernat on the other side

never seen a guardiola team with less of a midfield than this, its just lahm and alonso and dortmund are outnumbering on the breaks

lewandowksi is peripheral

ribery looks like a vagrant

Wiedenfeller really wanted that through ball to get past Subotic so he could Neuer it away

clown

http://www.goal-247.com/pictures/video/l04ney8qehshn2n01jwy/animated.gif

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--7xSd4mT_--/811552490961520017.gif

Dortmund still bottom of the league. Played 13, won three, lost eight.

https://vine.co/v/OnP17nWapLq

leverkusen are second favourites for the league at 66/1 before the end of november
three favourites for top scorer lewandowski, muller and goetze

Dortmund won tonight. 1-0 over Hoffenheim, Gundogan (he's back!) with the only goal from a peach of a cross by Aubameyang. They looked really good, especially in the second half.

Mad stat - tonight was the first time Dortmund's first choice back four (Schmelzer, Piszscek, Hummels, Subotic) had started a game together since CL Final in 2013!!!

sokratis perhaps has a claim to have displaced subotic in their best defence

i wonder about immobile

good to see you back

thanks nakh

yeah Ramos started instead of Immobile, who only came on in stoppage time. Hard to know exactly what Klopp's plans were for this season given how injury hit Dortmund have been but I think he may have been expecting to play 2 up top in most games figuring that no one striker could replace Lewandowski. I think Immobile only really works in that scenario. Unfortunately when they play 2 strikers they've been getting killed in transition.

tonight they went with the aforementioned back four, bender and kehl as screeners, gundogan more advanced, mkhitaryan leftish, aubameyang wide right, ramos through the middle.

Another loss for Dortmund, against Bremen - who were bottom of the league this morning. If Freiburg get anything at home to Hannover tomorrow, Dortmund will be bottom after 17 games. Idk how long they are going to persist with Klopp.

http://img.uefa.com/imgml/TP/players/14/2014/324x324/250014636.jpg

this, and the name 'kevin kampl'

just bought by dortmund

aw man, first Wolfsburg game since the death of Junior Malanda. De Bruyne looked close to tears before kick off.

Wolfsburg one nil ahead with a swift counter attack, calmly dispatched by Klata favourite Bas Dost. Bayern are dominating and should score a couple at least.

Dost at the double! Two nil. Spinning sliced volley off the post and in.

De Bruyne 3-0! Bayern getting wrecked. Their defence is an absolute shambles. Games 53 mins old and I don't have a clue what formation Bayern have been playing. P sure Rode (a defensive midfielder) was either playing RB or RCB in a back three in the first half. Been hooked.

Bayern pull one back. Here we go.

Arnold just missed from 3 yards out.

Oh my. De Bruyne smashes one in. 4-1. Neuer strangely reluctant to race off his line tonight.

Bayern have conceded as many goals tonight, 4, as they did in the entire first half of the season (17 games)

Alonso has reverted to his 2014 World Cup form rather than looking like Bayern's best player as he did from August - December

only seen the last 15 mins (grr) but bayern look unusually broken between midfield and attack, esp centrally

de bruyne's goal was a banger

nice that there'll always be claudio pizarro. has he not got a son that could be sitting on the bench with gaudino and scholl jrs?

lol feel like pizarro will still be around doing his thing in 2018 at least.

That was fun. De Bruyne and Gustavo were incredible tonight.

never forget
http://www.nerve.in/news:25350070995

the fact that he can only do either excellence or carcrash just burnishes the pep legend really

Dortmund lose yet again, at home to Ausgberg despite them playing the last half hour with ten men.

augsburg is in 4th place!
big 3-0 win on the road for HSV tonight. didn't see it, but i am looking forward to seeing diaz for them

end of days stuff at Dortmund
https://amp.twimg.com/v/02d9d879-b5ae-4741-85ac-5ba57a878830

good work by lasogga this season, a sprightly 2 in 17

Bayern beat Hamburg 9-2 last season, currently beating them 8-0.

Leverkusen came back from three nil down at home to Wolfsburg, only to lose 5-4 to a 94th minute Dost goal - his 4th.

some pretty decent goals too

http://gfycat.com/CheeryBareCreature
http://gfycat.com/AssuredWellwornGannet
http://gfycat.com/ThriftyImpracticalBigmouthbass
http://gfycat.com/ClutteredWhichDore

10 mins in Bayern already 2-0 up vs Cologne. Schweini and Ribery. Absolutely battering them with an ultra attacking formation which is kinda

-----------------Neuer--------------------

--------------(halfway line)--------------

-----------Boateng-----Badstuber----------

-Rafinha-----------------------------Alaba

-------------Schweinsteiger---------------

--------Muller---------------Gotze---------

Robben-------------------------------Ribery
-----------------Lewandowski---------------

Not sure I can remember seeing them play with just one actual central midfielder before. They look so switched on when I'd assume they must be bored of all this by now.

Didn't see that coming.

hah, yeah, last touch of the half. Bayern were v v intense and immense for 15 mins then coasted the rest of the half, lets see if that goal wakes them up again.

I'm not really sure about Lewandowski in this team. Over the half season plus so far he hasn't looked as effective as he did at Dortmund, although that may just be because he isn't required to be.

Ooh Neuer, you magnificent bastard. So close to 2-2.

And again.

Robben pulls a Soldado at the other end.

Ujah has bullied Boateng and Badstuber a bit tonight.

Ribery to Robben, header in the corner. Think he's top scorer in the league now, wonder if he's ever done that before?

Rapid counter. 4-1.

that lineup looks like an attempt to keep the five star forward players happy, lewandowski still probably grinding his teeth about not getting to play a champions league tie in a polish(ish) city

Muller kinda looked lost tonight (Alonso is on now). Would like to know what Pep considers to be his optimal line up assuming Thiago and Martinez and Lahm are ever fit again at the same time. Feels like an age since I've seen Thiago play.

Wolfsburg from 3-2 down to 5-3 up in five minutes. Dost with two of them. Still over half an hour to go.

Dortmund were superb on Saturday vs Schalke, like the last 2 years never happened. Well brilliant as far as creating chances goes, not so brilliant at taking them considering I counted 6 one-on-ones with the keeper that they failed to convert before finally opening the scoring. Ran out 3-0 winners.

Schalke were beyond awful.

Indeed seems like Dortmund is recovering well, though definitely benefitting from inept competition during the last four games. Will be interesting to see them against a decent team and having to put up with going behind. If Reus stays healthy they may even end up 6th/7th...

Having said that, this Batman/Robin mask shit is indefensible and should be punished with direct relegation.

Btw, after several years of having no 'offical' Bundesliga match reports anywhere on YT, tabloid Bild provides hq summaries for some time now:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BildBundesliga

de bruyne puts wolfsburg one nil up. they are so much fun to watch this season. schurrle dropped to the bench after his woeful midweek showing, the excellent vierinha shunted frwd from rb to rw.

de bruyne wins a pen, 2 nil, sets up the third, all over.

bayern/pep got owned by gladbach/favre today at home. Terrific all round performance especially xhaka/kramer axis in the middle and patrick herrmann on the right. Won 2-0 with a lil help from Manuel Neuer. If Bayern chase the game like that in the CL against p much any of the teams left in it they'll get crushed on the counter.

http://gfycat.com/HonoredJaggedHookersealion

Outside football

Lewandowski was chosen to be on the cover of FIFA 15 Polish version next to Lionel Messi.[66]

just need a gladbach win v frankfurt for an accumulator so i am turning it on for the last 15 mins to shout at them

bollocks. cheers favre u conservative bastard

they break quick and in numbers but i was kinda expecting them to control and work from the middle more. xhaka's not getting a move to atleti playing like that

hermann had the only real bit of penetration but chipped it into the keepers hands

http://www.bvb.de/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/bvb.de/menu/mannschaften/profis/kevin-kampl/1409816-15-ger-DE/Kevin-Kampl_autogrammkarte.jpg

Lewandowski better be fit for Barca tie or Bayern are in trouble. Comfortably beaten by Leverkusen y'day- nice free kick from Calhanoglu and nice Brandt (not quite a physical cartoonist) finish after storming Bellarbi run.

So this Saturday sees the last day of the regular season in Bundesliga. Bayern won the title at a stroll (yawn) but immediately below them in the other CL places it was p interesting with a couple of v fun to watch teams and one stone cold ruthless counter attacking machine. Even Bayern were puzzling, still not convinced they're at the level of the team that finished Heynckes last season, although Robben was well on his way to a season for the ages (non Ronaldo/Messi category) until his injury.

Wolfsburg going to finish a worthy 2nd with a v attacking (only 8 goals fewer goals scored than Bayern), slightly anarchic game eg Vierinha a right winger playing RB. Hope they keep Beast Mode Kevin de Bruyne and his record making 20 assists who has been a joy to watch the entire season.

Leverkusen in Roger Schmidt's first season will be 4th with his Bielsa lite system with added Calhanoglu wonder free kicks. Managed to comfortably overcome a below par season from Kiessling.

Gladbach in 3rd with their brand of low risk ruthless counter attacking. Speedster Patrick Hermann on the RW back in form after 2 below par seasons (so much so that the guy I thought would be the signing of the season Andre Hahn hasn't been needed much), Max Kruse as the nominal CF who spends an awful amount of time drifting towards the left wing more interested in assists than goals, Raffael as a striker/#10 hybrid doing whatever he likes to good effect, even Eden Hazard's little brother has looked useful in cameo appearances. They'll miss World Cup Final concussion victim Christoph Kramer when he goes back to Leverkusen at the end of his loan but in typical style have already acted by signing Lars Stindl from Hannover ready for next season.

At the bottom of the league nothing has been decided with one game to go. The bottom 2 will be relegated with 3rd from bottom facing a 2 leg play-off vs the 3rd from top team in Bundesliga 2 which will be either Darmstadt, Karlsruher, or Kaiserslautern. Theoretically any of the bottom 6 could still be automatically relegated although goal difference means Hertha Berlin should be safe from finishing in the bottom 2.

13 - Hertha Berlin P33 Pts35 GD-15
14 - Freiburg P33 Pts34 GD-10
15 - Hannover P33 Pts34 GD-17
16 - Stuttgart P33 Pts33 GD-19
17 - Hamburg P33 Pts32 GD-27
18 - Paderborn P33 Pts31 GD-33

Paderborn host Stuttgart on the final day.
Hannover host Freiburg (a draw should leave both safe I think)
Hertha Berlin travel to Hoffenheim.
Hamburg welcome Schalke.

With apologies to Mizzell I kinda hope Hamburg go down as they were lucky to survive last time, I hate their sodding clock which ticks through the time they've spent in Bundesliga without relegation, and they feel like the club that gets the least amount out of their available resources. Lucky for them that they face De Matteo's dreary bunch of underachievers on Saturday (one performance against Real Madrid aside).

Rudnevs, on for the injured Lasogga, misses a sitter for Hamburg. 0-0 30 mins in. Paderborn 1-0 up against Stuttgart atm.

Schalke are so mediocre. Di Matteo is lucky if he's still the manager come the start of next season.

Stuttgart equalize vs Paderborn.

Huntelaar wide with a good chance.

Olic 1-0 Hamburg after a terrible corner

Stuttgart and Paderborn going down atm

Freiburg in the play off place. Hamburg completely safe. Bah.

2-0 Hamburg. Schalke you bunch of frauds.

Stuttgart have scored so Hamburg would be in the playoff again if this stays the same.

Stuttgart take the lead. I think that means Paderborn and Freiburg down and Hamburg in the play offs. Freiburg need and equaliser in the last 15 mins against Hannover to send Hamburg down.

xp

Augsburg heading for the Europa Lge atm which is p cool

Freiburg concede a 2nd.

Huub Stevens subs a sub to bring a defender on. Embarrassing.

Porto levels of time wasting here by Stuttgart

Stuttgart stay up after winning their last 3 games. Freiburg pull one back but too late surely. Paderborn down.

Freiburg down.

Ingolstadt and Damstadt promoted. Hamburg will face Karlsruhe in the play off.

Darmstadt http://www.espnfc.co.uk/german-bundesliga/10/blog/post/2466233/darmstadt-and-their-improbable-rise-to-the-bundesliga

Has been a good year for small clubs getting promoted - Gazelec Ajaccio in France, Frosinone in Italy, Girona in Spain, Bournemouth in England - though that one is less unexpected.

does darmstadt have a twelfth man

a joke that had to be made.

hamburg one nil down at home to karlsruher in the first leg of their play-off after 20 mins

Never in doubt HSV. FFS.

Kudos to the Bundesliga players who voted Roberto di Matteo to a landside victory in 'worst manager of the season award' in kicker's poll. De Bruyne got best outfield player, Neuer best keeper.