German Football 2018/2019

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I heard a very good point this week about why Dortmund had the advantage going into this match from a journalist who was previewing this game, and after watching that match, I think its exactly why we ended up winning. I forget who exactly made it. I think it might've been Constantin Eckner.

The point was that Dortmund is so much more athletic than Bayern this season. That second half we absolutely dominated athletically. We were all over the field winning the ball, beating Bayern with counters. Bayern looked tired, slow, and weak. They looked like a team that has some quality, but they can't use it for 90 minutes because of a lack of stamina.

 

[gary69]

For sure, some of the veteran Bayern players are no longer at their athletic best, they have quite a lot of old players out there., Boateng, Hummels, Ribery, Robben. Muller was never that athletic to begin with and Lewandowski, while still quality, has a lot of mileage on him.

I'm starting to have serious doubts about the quality of Neuer as well. It has been a while since his return from injury, and there are increasing hints that he might never return to his previous level. Even though he is a big fellow, he looks definitely slower going down on saving shots, combined with a decline on his reflexes and general reading of the situations. And he hasn't been as aggressive/pro-active as before, which alongside less mobile CB's leads to more dangerous situations against. Of course, if he can adjust his game, his age isn't really a hindrance for a goalkeeper. Buffon is still doing well at PSG, for example.

 

[Deficient Mode]

On one hand, Dortmund have blitzed a lot of teams far younger than Bayern in the second half of games, so I think it's partly a lasting strategy on their part rather than a phenomenon unique to this game.

On the other hand, Bayern have the oldest team in the league by a big margin. According to transfermarkt, their average age 5 years ago was 24.1, and today it's 27.4, by far the oldest squad in the league. Their starting 11 is even older, with a median age of 28.1 in 11 Bundesliga matches.They have failed to get younger superstar players on the fly and questions about the collective fitness of their squad are merited, and at some point Bayern will have a bad year because of it.

 

[YNWA14]

Excited to watch the game. Hope Dortmund can hold the lead and not go through a rough slump somewhere that lets Bayern back into it.

Witsel coming up clutch again?

He doesn't.

He does get a lot of morons claiming that he does though.

I mean...he certainly did before last season. Even this season I was told that there is 'literally nothing Witsel is better at than Weigl' or something like that.

 

[PeteWorrell]

Witsel is the biggest surprise for me this season and is making me eat some crow.He had never played in a top 5 league before so i doubted his quality.

The guy has been absolute dynamite for the BVB this season and it's understandable why Favre loves him so much.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Excited to watch the game. Hope Dortmund can hold the lead and not go through a rough slump somewhere that lets Bayern back into it.

Witsel coming up clutch again?

I mean...he certainly did before last season. Even this season I was told that there is 'literally nothing Witsel is better at than Weigl' or something like that.

Again, it wasn't "hype." Weigl played two full seasons for this same club as a key player on two very good teams. That's not hype. That's actual performance. Maybe people didn't criticize him enough for having an average year on a dysfunctional team last year after a serious injury in the summer, but he hasn't been a case of empty hype. I don't know why people come in here and try to say he was. At this point the sample size of him being good in Dortmund is still much larger than the sample size of him being bad. Anyone who claims confidently that his career is a failure is a victim of extreme recency bias. He was injured from early to July to early September this summer, and if you subscribe to the theory that it takes as much time to regain form after an injury as the player was sidelined with that injury, he should only be coming back into form around now. He was poor technically today, but we can and should still be patient with him.

 

[YNWA14]

I think you're misinterpreting what I said. I am not saying he's finished or that the hype wasn't justified based on his performance. I think some of it went overboard of course, but he absolutely was being hyped up as the next big thing.

He's obviously talented and still young though.

 

[les Habs]

Reus has become quite the underrated player. I'm sure the injuries have played a role in that, but he's still quite talented. It makes me think of an another forum where they used to go on about Muller for days and yet Reus didn't get half the copy. Reus still has it and it sounds like he's really leading the charge this season.

While Hummels had a bad match, it amazes how hyped Boateng was not so long ago. Not a bad player. but well overrated on this forum.

Witsel and Kimmich both deserve a nod.

Plea is putting up numbers so far this season for Gladbach.

I don't understand this. Without Thiago, he's their best player. With Thiago, he might still be their best player. He was the best player in the Bundesliga last season, and he's been good when he's played this season. Why doesn't Kovac rate him?

Surely he was injured. Bayern could have used both he and Rodriguez today. My ignorance of the fitness of the players on either side aside, curious starting XIs to say the least. At least Favre made two good substitutions.

How do you guys put up with this commentary every week?

Awful.

The way they were fawning over Lewandowski for his goals was just .

 

[Cassano]

I apologize for criticizing the legend Ancelotti for the past year+. It's clear that these players are divas and the problem of the team.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

I apologize for criticizing the legend Ancelotti for the past year+. It's clear that these players are divas and the problem of the team.

I don't see divas, I see a complete lack of tactics. Kovač has a steep learning curve and he's far behind it.

 

[Bon Esprit]

I don't see divas, I see a complete lack of tactics. Kovač has a steep learning curve and he's far behind it.

It's Kovac and Rmmenigge/Hoeness and their inability to put together a modern team. Riberry, Robben are old, Boatemg and Hummels are too slow for the way football is played today. Dortmund went into the right direction by buying young and very fast players (+verteran Witsel). They'll have growing pains (their defence is very young) but will succed in the end. If Bayern don't adjust next summer it will be painful for them. Not only in Europe, but in the Bundesliga as well.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Weigl off and Dortmund score - a coincidence? Don't think so.

Don't forget Götze out, Paco in. Scores and wins.

 

[Evilo]

Plea is indeed tearing it up.
Nice to see.

 

[Ducks76]

Best game in last 10 years i ve seen. But attention! All people speak about BVB vs Bayern title race but don t forget Borussia Mönchengladbach. They fly under the radar.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Plea is indeed tearing it up.
Nice to see.

I bet Gladbach are happy spending 23m on Plea instead of Füllkrug. I've never seen that many Francos in the league. Seems they are doing some things right with their young players. Matela from Mainz is doing well, too.

 

[Evilo]

Mateta is doing fine? Nice. He had potential but the move to Lyon killed him.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Mateta is doing fine? Nice. He had potential but the move to Lyon killed him.

At least he's playing every game and he's scoring. I'm not a Mainz expert, but yesterday he looked good.

 

[Evilo]

I haven't followed Mainz at all and here they're only talking about Plea. Didn't notice Mateta was scoring.

 

[Bon Esprit]

I haven't followed Mainz at all and here they're only talking about Plea. Didn't notice Mateta was scoring.

Usually it's all Dortmund here, so it's surprise Plea was even mentioned.
Three French scored for Mainz yesterday, 2 goals 1 assist.

 

[Ducks76]

 

[Evilo]

Nice.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

You can tell Uli is an ex-con, he's just sitting there, staring them down. "I see you home boys, I'm gonna remember the faces."

 

[Bon Esprit]

Best part yesterday was when Rumenigge said "We are not discussing Kovac". My translation is: "We already discussed Kovac and are looking for a replacement."

 

[Bon Esprit]

Leipzig are just overtaking Bayern.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Such sour comments in relation to Weigl and Goetze from a couple of posters. They didn't contribute that much to the win, but lets not get this all twisted.

Goetze is not a false nine. He has not once played in his best position this season. Last season, he was our best player the first half of the season getting to play in his best position. Many fans would agree with that. He is a good player, but the current manager doesn't rate what he brings. Thats Favre's choice and the coach is doing well, but lets not start unfairly criticizing Goetze without properly representing what has happened here.

Weigl has battled injuries for a couple of seasons now, and didn't ever find a good level of play at any time last season after he came off an injury at the end of the prior season. Like Goetze, a large part of that was that he was playing for coaches that didn't have use for his style of play. He's not the most versatile player position-wise, so if you use him in other ways, you might not get as effective of a player. Under Tuchel, Weigl was great. Favre is using him similarly to what we saw last season. His best game this season was the only game he was used in deep-lying role without Witsel, in the Cup against Union. When played with Witsel, they play as double holding midfielders, and he's not as effective.

Also, Weigl wasn't that bad yesterday. That yellow card he took was forced because a teammate put him in a bad position with an ill-advised pass. Graefe didn't give out cards for some fouls by Bayern players that were worse than Weigl's foul that got him a yellow. If you are making a change at the half, taking off the guy with a yellow makes sense.