German Football Part III

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Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
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Johannsson scored in that match. He's a good goal scorer, but hasn't been able to stay fit the last number of seasons, and has lost his place in Bremen's team.
 
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cgf

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Would you take Bailey or Pulisic going forward?

I'd take the american. Bailey is a little more advanced and his physical tools are stronger, but I think Pulisic's game is more naunced & will be more advanced when the age differential ceases to matter.
On my way home from the Leverkusen - Bremen match. Pretty fun game. Feeling for Werder, they deserved a little better, but showed some immaturity at key moments. That second goal from Brandt might have gotten his release clause triggered, after all. Bailey looked ambivalent; talent is obviously there, the feeling for the situational decisions isn't yet, but that is kinda expected. Away support was really neat, too.

While true, that's not to say that other players his age don't already have much better feel for that...like Pulisic & Brandt.
 
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That was quintessential BVB football that half. Disorganized panic on defence, unable to find a final ball on offence.

Dahoud pls come on
 

Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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It's a bit quiet here...

Pokal matchups will be
Bayern at Leverkusen
Frankfurt at Schalke

Just what the doctor ordered. Good draw.
 

Bon Esprit

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What do we learn from last GD?
Bayern can win without Jupp (get well soon). HSVs troubles get worse and worse since Werder won vs. WOB and Hamburg lost to BvB.
Hannover is better than I expected. Mainz are deep in the xxxx.
Though some betting company said otherwise Köln and HSV will get relegated. BMG are not THAT good, they are mediocre.
 

Albatros

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For Mainz it's simply time to go down back home, they're not big enough for the first league and almost everything that allowed them to punch above their weight for a while has already dissolved.
 

Bulbhead

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Gladbach can actually do better, but when Hofmann, Drmic and Grifo get so much playing time it is no suprise that the results are at best mediocre, they still depend so much on Raffael. Hazard and Stindl can't do it alone.

Mainz is getting coached into relegation, strange decisions by Schwarz there. Around Diallo, Gbamin and Muto it should be possible to form a somewhat useful team. Also Zentner is not a first league goalie, they have more talented youngsters and they should have gone with Huth as a replacement for Adler (who didn't look so good in his few appearances either)

Hannover have made some very useful signings in Schwegler and especially Bebou, Anton was looking promising in second league already and the media has finally started to recognize his quality. When they lose Klaus in the summer they will be able to replace him with the equally promising Sarenren Bazee, but keeping Bebou and Anton will be difficult. Füllkrug's development is also amazing, he was very promising scorer at the youth level but people have already given up on him ever translating those qualities to the pro/senior level, well he finally did.
 

Deficient Mode

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For Mainz it's simply time to go down back home, they're not big enough for the first league and almost everything that allowed them to punch above their weight for a while has already dissolved.

Too bad many of the clubs that are "big enough" for the first league are terribly incompetent and undeserving of first league football as well
 

Albatros

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Maybe, but having only incorporated societies coming up is not the worst year in recent history anyway, at least those have deserved another chance to be incompetent then.
 

Deficient Mode

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March to mediocrity in Dortmund continues



Can't believe club management is watching the team play and thinks they're actually good or Stöger is actually doing a good job with the player quality he has. Or maybe Sportbild is just full of shit.
 
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Bon Esprit

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Too bad many of the clubs that are "big enough" for the first league are terribly incompetent and undeserving of first league football as well
I would welcome Fortuna and Nürnberg. And Holstein, of course, as a replacement for nearby HSV. Can you imagine? First club from S-H in the league to replace the dinosaur?
 
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TheMoreYouKnow

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Too bad many of the clubs that are "big enough" for the first league are terribly incompetent and undeserving of first league football as well

What does "big enough" even mean in this day and age? Is village club Hoffenheim 'big'? RB Leipzig..a club that didn't exist 10 years ago? The problem of the BuLi is that the two factors which may make a club big: (1) a large organic fan base and (2) financial resources rarely co-align with the same club. Bayern and to a lesser extent Dortmund and perhaps Schalke are the only ones. And of course, even in the case of Dortmund and Schalke the real financial means do not compare favorably to those of 'mega clubs' such as Bayern or clubs with mega-rich owners.

German football has a contradictory approach to external investment. On the one hand there is a lid placed on the ability of external entities controlling football clubs (50+1 and so forth), which keeps the majority of clubs under membership control (more or less). This discourages external investment as investors cannot be sure of how their money will be spent by officials that have their own agendas and investors have only limited means of generating value for themselves. Of course, this is something most stadium-going fans deem desirable (and I do too). We're willing to accept the 'price' of not winning Champions Leagues and so forth to have a football landscape more in touch with the fans and the communities rather than some 'NFL light' concept.

But on the other hand, the DFB/DFL has looked the other way when these principles were perverted and subverted in Hoffenheim, Leipzig, Wolfsburg (and yes before then Leverkusen) and elsewhere. This distorted domestic competition to a disturbing degree and damaged the Bundesliga. (As the Bundesliga would profit if the more genuinely popular teams were to be successful). It feels to me like the DFB and DFL are using this to soften up resistance against abandoning the protections against external club ownership. Once that happens, you have 'English conditions' with all the crap that entails. But I guess that's what the 'couch potato' fans and overseas fans want as well (or at least have no problem with).
 

Bon Esprit

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I rather have a league that can't win the CL(ex Bayern) than a league that is full of clowns like Ismaik. That being said, of course the No50plus1 rule is a joke. As being said WOB,LEV,RB or HOF are under control of companies or single people.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

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Dec 8, 2013
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I think the squad is rounding into shape recently under Stoeger, but I don't think he's a good enough manager to stay on. Bring Nagelsmann in.

In terms of personnel.

Sell: Sokratis needs to go. Schurrle and Yarmo, unless Reus or Pulisic go. In which case, you can keep one around as a fourth winger. Castro, Rode and Sahin also gotta go. Could include Piszczek in this category if a starting RB comes in, but he might be fine as a back up RB.

Buy: Need a back up GK, a third CB, a starting RB and a back up defensive midfielder who plays more physical than Weigl. If Batshuayi's loan isn't extended, also need a CF.
 

Deficient Mode

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I think the squad is rounding into shape recently under Stoeger, but I don't think he's a good enough manager to stay on. Bring Nagelsmann in.

In terms of personnel.

Sell: Sokratis needs to go. Schurrle and Yarmo, unless Reus or Pulisic go. In which case, you can keep one around as a fourth winger. Castro, Rode and Sahin also gotta go. Could include Piszczek in this category if a starting RB comes in, but he might be fine as a back up RB.

Buy: Need a back up GK, a third CB, a starting RB and a back up defensive midfielder who plays more physical than Weigl. If Batshuayi's loan isn't extended, also need a CF.

The team has generally played very poorly even when they have won, and except for Hoffenheim (and Bayern in the Pokal) they've only played mediocre to bad teams since Stöger got here. It really says a lot about how little the people at BVB handing out contracts understand the final likelihood of regression to mediocre results if your team is performing in a mediocre fashion but still winning.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
57,228
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The team has generally played very poorly even when they have won, and except for Hoffenheim (and Bayern in the Pokal) they've only played mediocre to bad teams since Stöger got here. It really says a lot about how little the people at BVB handing out contracts understand the final likelihood of regression to mediocre results if your team is performing in a mediocre fashion but still winning.

While I think most of these performances have been very underwhelming, I think Stoeger was brought in to get this team into the UCL. The football isn't great, it's actually really mediocre, but this team is getting results because it's more talented than other teams going forward and now it's finally not calamitous at the back. I'd hope that's it, he's thanked for what seems likely to be UCL qualification and a better manager is brought in.

I was talking about the personnel aspects. Toprak has been really solid and Akanji looks like he'll be able to partner him. Batshuayi should be a good Auba replacement, if the fee in the summer isn't too high. Toljan looks better. Kagawa's had a big resurgence. I'm more optimistic that the pieces of this team are shaping up than I was a few months ago. The rest of this season looks to be pretty boring, no UCL, not gonna contend for the league, out of the Cup, but if they get in a good manager and make some more improvements in the transfer market, I think next season could go well.

One thing that I think is often forgotten is that Goetze and Reus have played so few minutes on the pitch together the last two years. I forget the exact number, but how many teams have their two best players playing that few minutes on the same pitch in two seasons? That obviously effects results. Hopefully next season they'll lead the attack together.
 

bluesfan94

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One thing that I think is often forgotten is that Goetze and Reus have played so few minutes on the pitch together the last two years. I forget the exact number, but how many teams have their two best players playing that few minutes on the same pitch in two seasons? That obviously effects results. Hopefully next season they'll lead the attack together.
I feel like with their injury histories, that isn’t something Dortmund can or should count on.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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That's what happens if you only play substantial minutes in about half of your team's games. For Goetze to move his career forward - in the sense of being perceived as an elite player - he will need to play a healthy season where his personal play also affects the outcome of his team's season in a positive and notable fashion.
 

Deficient Mode

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That's what happens if you only play substantial minutes in about half of your team's games. For Goetze to move his career forward - in the sense of being perceived as an elite player - he will need to play a healthy season where his personal play also affects the outcome of his team's season in a positive and notable fashion.

I hope Dortmund fans don't care about public perception as he'd probably be off to a bigger club again if the perception matched the performances. He has done the bolded, but there are too many other issues with the team right now.
 
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