German football 2020/21

Lambo

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Jan 10, 2019
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The DFL of all things Schalke, the crisis club has chosen for the opening game. Gladbach or Leverkusen would have been better (BVB, of course, not immediately on the 1st day of the game). They would have lost too, but it would have been a better game on both sides.
 

TheMoreYouKnow

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May 3, 2007
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Beatdown aside, I think Dortmund will at the worst finish six points behind them. A full season of Haaland will be huge.

Dortmund with Fave have at no point shown that they have the consistency to hang with Bayern over the course of an entire season. Dortmund lost 10 points on Bayern just in the 2nd half of the season - for which they had Haaland.
 
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Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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Do you think Hamburg is a big club? I don’t.
Of course HSV is a big club. They still fill stadiums just because they are HSV, not because they are good. They simply missed the boat 40 years ago when they had a genarational team with Kaltz, Magath, Hrubesch and did nothing important after 1987. They could have been the second force in Germany.
 

Albatros

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Aug 19, 2017
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Of course HSV is a big club. They still fill stadiums just because they are HSV, not because they are good. They simply missed the boat 40 years ago when they had a genarational team with Kaltz, Magath, Hrubesch and did nothing important after 1987. They could have been the second force in Germany.

They had a good team, but were also as good as bankrupt by the late 1980s. Instead of further investment they chose to cut spending and as a result became a mediocre club on the pitch as well.
 

Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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They had a good team, but were also as good as bankrupt by the late 1980s. Instead of further investment they chose to cut spending and as a result became a mediocre club on the pitch as well.
That's right, and IMO Schalke 04 will go the same path. Both almost had very good players from time to time (van Buyten, de Jong, van der Vaart, Raul, Özil or Sane to name a few) but always were/are in financial trouble and a coach rotation, that is breathtaking.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
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Dortmund with Fave have at no point shown that they have the consistency to hang with Bayern over the course of an entire season. Dortmund lost 10 points on Bayern just in the 2nd half of the season - for which they had Haaland.

What is your definition of "showing that they have the consistency to hang with Bayern over the course of an entire season?"

Is it beating them in the league? If yes, you have a point.

Is it running them close? If yes, you don't have a point. In season one under Favre, Dortmund was leading most of the season and took the race to the last matchday of the season. In season two under Favre, Bayern wasn't even in first until about 2/3 of the season was finished. They were leading by four points over Dortmund when the two teams met on match day 28.

And I'm no big fan of Favre. I think he's the main difference between Bayern winning the last two seasons and not winning the last two seasons, but there's some amazing revisionist history recently from some that supposedly follow the Bundesliga.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
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Of course HSV is a big club. They still fill stadiums just because they are HSV, not because they are good. They simply missed the boat 40 years ago when they had a genarational team with Kaltz, Magath, Hrubesch and did nothing important after 1987. They could have been the second force in Germany.

A big name! ;)

I would say this is the answer. Schalke and Hamburg are big names, they are not big clubs. I think there's a difference. I think big clubs are competitive at the top of the first division. Schalke, being a big name, gets to play Bayern the first game of the season. A big club doesn't lose the game 8-0. And I know someone will try to claim that Barcelona got destroyed by Bayern not that long ago, but the difference is that Barcelona losing that game is a historic defeat for the club that had big ripples in the following month. At Schalke, it's any other day now at the club. They'll lose by five or more goals multiple times this season, and will be a relegation contender.
 

Deficient Mode

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Mar 25, 2011
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Gladbach didn't generate much but that match could have gone a different way if the two very questionable penalty decisions hadn't gone Dortmund's way.
 

jniklast

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Sep 28, 2007
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Gladbach didn't generate much but that match could have gone a different way if the two very questionable penalty decisions hadn't gone Dortmund's way.

Neither should've been a penalty imo. But overall a deserved win for Dortmund. Gladbach did some solid pressing, bit didn't generate much offensively.
 

Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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I would say this is the answer. Schalke and Hamburg are big names, they are not big clubs. I think there's a difference. I think big clubs are competitive at the top of the first division. Schalke, being a big name, gets to play Bayern the first game of the season. A big club doesn't lose the game 8-0. And I know someone will try to claim that Barcelona got destroyed by Bayern not that long ago, but the difference is that Barcelona losing that game is a historic defeat for the club that had big ripples in the following month. At Schalke, it's any other day now at the club. They'll lose by five or more goals multiple times this season, and will be a relegation contender.
Your Rangers are a big club, because they are the Rangers, so are the Leafs, though both didn_t win anything important for ages. Every hockey fan listens when they talk about the Rangers, Leafs or Habs on tv.
When Wolfsburg won the league nobody I know even cared. Every football fan in Germany cared when Schalke were the "2 minute champions" back in the day. A big club draws attention. Big doesn't mean successful.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
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Gladbach didn't generate much but that match could have gone a different way if the two very questionable penalty decisions hadn't gone Dortmund's way.

I didn’t think we played that well, but Gladbach was very anemic. They played scared. If we scored in that game, it was going to be a win, even if you even out the penalty calls and give neither.
 

Lambo

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Jan 10, 2019
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I would say this is the answer. Schalke and Hamburg are big names, they are not big clubs. I think there's a difference. I think big clubs are competitive at the top of the first division. Schalke, being a big name, gets to play Bayern the first game of the season. A big club doesn't lose the game 8-0. And I know someone will try to claim that Barcelona got destroyed by Bayern not that long ago, but the difference is that Barcelona losing that game is a historic defeat for the club that had big ripples in the following month. At Schalke, it's any other day now at the club. They'll lose by five or more goals multiple times this season, and will be a relegation contender.
It is a difficult thing. There are big clubs with many members and fans, but in terms of sport they are on the decline. Let's compare Schalke with Leverkusen or HSV with Wolfsburg. The latter have been a lot better lately, but these clubs remain mediocre to small. In Italy, AC Milan is a very big club, but they have been chasing the demands for a decade no more. The same goes for ManUnited. But the bottom line is that all big clubs have something in common. a glorious past, many members and very many fans. Big clubs with current succes are Giants(Bayern, Real, Reds etc.).
 
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Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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Btw. the third Dortmnd goal was a fantastic effort by Sacho and a very good finish by Haaland.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
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Btw. the third Dortmnd goal was a fantastic effort by Sacho and a very good finish by Haaland.

Sancho has been really rotten the first two games of the season, and he still has 1G,2A. It's incredible how good he is in front of the goal. Haaland was great against Gladbach. Haaland and Reyna were the difference makers.

Rose is 0-4 against Dortmund. A fixture against Gladbach remains an automatic victory for Dortmund. Rose did make them a little harder to play against than usual. Dortmund usually just walks right through Gladbach. I know Thuram and Plea were coming back from injuries, but it shows their lack of offensive depth that they couldn't generate any offense without those two. I think that'll keep them out of the top four.
 

Bon Esprit

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Jan 24, 2004
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Did anyone catch the Stambouli interview after Schalke's demolishion at Bayern? He is captain and he said: "With this mentality we will win a lot of games this season". He was serious! WTF, they just lost 0-8. If they lose next week vs. Werder they are fighting relegation.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
57,228
23,101
New York
Did anyone catch the Stambouli interview after Schalke's demolishion at Bayern? He is captain and he said: "With this mentality we will win a lot of games this season". He was serious! WTF, they just lost 0-8. If they lose next week vs. Werder they are fighting relegation.

They have one win in 2020. They'll win a lot in 2. Bundesliga.
 

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