German Football 2018/2019 Part II

[Pavel Buchnevich]

It might be hard to believe because everyone's been criticizing him all season, but Pulisic's statistically having a good season. Nearly as good as his season from two years ago and much better statistically than last season. He still needs to improve his end-product for the positions he gets himself into, but the fact that he's producing a G+A every 131 minutes and not playing that well indicates his potential.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Dortmund have been putting on a clinic for weeks of how to underperform xG.

And how to overperform it for months before that.

 

[Ducks76]

The big "white sausage salesman" laughs now!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

And how to overperform it for months before that.

Thats true, but Favre's teams have been known to over-perform xG. I don't know the season total, but I would suspect we haven't over-performed them for the season total by much, if anything, given what we've seen the last two months.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Thats true, but Favre's teams have been known to over-perform xG. I don't know the season total, but I would suspect we haven't over-performed them for the season total by much, if anything, given what we've seen the last two months.

They have in the short term. Of course, eventually that came crashing down. Usually it was after a full year rather than two thirds of one (like this season), but it ended. Even with the recent bad streak this site at least - Bundesliga xG Table and Scorers for the 2018/2019 season | Understat.com - has Dortmund overperforming xg for and against by 13.64 goals, by far the largest margin in the Bundesliga. Note Bayern's underperformance too.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

They have in the short term. Of course, eventually that came crashing down. Usually it was after a full year rather than two thirds of one (like this season), but it ended. Even with the recent bad streak this site at least - Bundesliga xG Table and Scorers for the 2018/2019 season | Understat.com - has Dortmund overperforming xg for and against by 13.64 goals, by far the largest margin in the Bundesliga. Note Bayern's underperformance too.

I wasn't aware of that. I wonder how it would look if you factored in all our games because I think some of that perception that Dortmund has been underperforming xG also is about the UCL games against Spurs, and the Cup against Bremen. It seems like a recent theme with all our games. Today, we actually did make up the total by the end of the game, but when I posted that, we were underperforming it.

 

[Evilo]

You guys shouln't be disappointed by this year, no matter what.
Not many people expected BVB to give Bayern that much of a run.
And the league is still not finished.

 

[Deficient Mode]

You guys shouln't be disappointed by this year, no matter what.
Not many people expected BVB to give Bayern that much of a run.
And the league is still not finished.

I'm not overly disappointed because I didn't really think this team was nearly as good or entertaining/lovable as their record the first half of the season suggested. Still, it was a bit of a wasted opportunity. Bayern may win the league 9 out of 10 times if their whole squad is this much better than the rest, but that other time things will go badly for them and another team can win. It would be nice to win a meaningful title again.

I guess if they beat Bayern in Munich they can still win the title, but they're definitely not favored now.

 

[Corto]

This year IS an opportunity. Bayern is a year late on re-tooling their team, their wingers are either ancient or injured, midfield is basically down to Thiago and Javi (and sometimes Goretzka), etc.
They can still play, no doubt, they've picked their game up - but they're sort of slow, especially without Koman.
The pace in that team is non-existent other than in Gnabry. Lewi, Müller, James, Thiago... All snail-paced. Doesn't mean they're bad footballers (they're obviously not), but you just feel they lack that pace from prime Ribery/Robben to be threatening to the other superclubs.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Bayern plays more teams the remaining way that they could accumulate a lot of goals against, but they have two of the three hardest fixtures remaining and arguably the two hardest, as I think we are seeing Frankfurt remain steady and Gladbach freefall down the table. You could argue that Bayern still has to play the 3rd and 4th best teams in the league, while Dortmund doesn’t have to play 3-5, although that’s dependent on how someone views Gladbach.

Dortmund have a lot more matches they could slip up against, like Hertha away, Bremen away, Wolfsburg, and then the derby with Schalke. As bad as they are, you can’t write in 3 points when those two play each other. Bayern could steam roll their remaining games, but if they aren’t at their best, there are some very hard games left for them. We should be favored to win all our remaining games, but there are a lot of games that shouldn’t be easy victories. Bayern has a number of very easy games remaining.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Robert Lewandowsky surpassed Claudio Pizarro for all-time goals scored by a foreign player (197 and counting). Well, Lewa, congrats, but I personally like Pizza better.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Oh no

 

[Albatros]

Meanwhile in Chemnitz:

Neo-Nazi hooligan mourned at Chemnitz football match | DW | 10.03.2019

At least their main sponsor already abandoned the club because of the incident, maybe it will help get those cockroaches relegated right back down next season.

 

[gary69]

Quite brutal 1st half snowy conditions in Hannover. Leverkusen came through in the end, Brandt-Volland-Havertz trio at their best in the match. Will make the fight for the last CL places more intense.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Meanwhile in Chemnitz:

Neo-Nazi hooligan mourned at Chemnitz football match | DW | 10.03.2019

At least their main sponsor already abandoned the club because of the incident, maybe it will help get those cockroaches relegated right back down next season.

It's always the east clubs! See Union fan's twitter the other day. Embarrassing.

 

[MrFunnyWobbl]

What's this about Hummels, Boateng and Muller done for the NT?

 

[Albatros]

A very partial yet necessary purge, should have been more than just them three.

 

[Corto]

A very partial yet necessary purge, should have been more than just them three.

I dunno. Müller is 29. Hummels and Boateng... Who's the prefered CB now next to Süle?
IMO Hummels is still definitely good enough for top, top football.

 

[Deficient Mode]

I dunno. Müller is 29. Hummels and Boateng... Who's the prefered CB now next to Süle?
IMO Hummels is still definitely good enough for top, top football.

He's slow and becoming slower, as you have pointed out.

My guesses would be Rüdiger or Ginter.

 

[Corto]

He's slow and becoming slower, as you have pointed out.

My guesses would be Rüdiger or Ginter.

Rüdiger's a good choice, yeah.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I’d pair Sule and Kehrer. Kehrer and Rudiger both have been known to have a mistake in them, but I think Kehrer is faster and better building from the back.

 

[Albatros]

Tah should be in the discussion too, even if he's not exactly flying he's also not slow and is more clever than some of the alternatives. And offers a huge physical presence. Kind of a natural replacement for Boateng.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I dunno. Müller is 29. Hummels and Boateng... Who's the prefered CB now next to Süle?
IMO Hummels is still definitely good enough for top, top football.

Muller is done the other 2 have something to offer though still.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Schalke 07 finally sacked Tedesco.

LOL and on top of that Schalke fans had to fly home after the City desaster on a BvB plane.
Nach Europa-Debakel: Schalke-Fans fliegen mit BVB-Maschine zurück

 

[Albatros]

They had to, but it will solve nothing.