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

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.