German Football 2017/18

[Borussin]

Very harsh on Ulreich that Trapp and Leno were selected over him. Ulreich has been pretty good for Bayern since Jupp has come back and he is playing as GK for the biggest club in Germany, so to have PSG’s second choice GK selected above him must be a bitter pill to swallow. Also, whenever Leno plays for Germany he lets in a silly goal (see the two WC qualifying games against Azerbaijan and the Confed cup game against Australia)

Surprisingly not a single Dortmund player called up for Die Mannschaft! Gotze and Schurrle exclusion is really surprising.

As for Reus, I think Löw is being wise by not trusting Marco.

@Borussin - Good for you man. Dortmund players will be well rested and with no EL to play in they will be hungry in Der Klassiker and Bayern also have a trip to Seville in a couple days after that game, so I am expecting a second team from Bayern and Dortmund to hand Bayern their first home defeat of the season

Leno is fine being picked in the squad, but Trapp, yeah, no idea why yet again he is picked. Not a number 1 for his team, and not a very good goalie anyway.

Out of Dortmund players, to be honest, the only one I think should be in there at this moment is Marco Reus! But I wonder if the injury situation os partly why he is not. Just back from a long injury and there was a concern last night too about a knock. Maybe it's just them being careful. I hope so, cos I just desperately want him to go to the world cup! I think he is worth the risk. Goetze hasn't played anywhere near well enough to be considered. Schuerrle only recently has found a little form. Weigl has struggled most of the season.

There won't be a 2nd team for Bayern, Jupp doesn't believe in resting players that much. They will be at near full strength the rest of the way! Dortmund are in a mess, I can't see them coming close to beating Bayern at this point.

 

[BobP]

It's come up again due to a report in the French media this week.

Even though Favre is obviously a good coach with proven years in the Bundesliga too, I am really not sure if it's the right direction for Dortmund to go now.

Dortmund need to get the next coach choice right, already 3 coaches, and now likely 4, since Kloppo left. It is not helping the team settle and find a direction again, different coaches coming in, all with different styles.

I would prefer they really plan ahead and go with a younger coach, Nagelsmann of course was one name brought up a lot, and I'd like to see the club go that route. But otherwise someone like Marco Rose would be interesting too, and there are a couple other good coaches in the Bundesliga already who they could and maybe should look at.

I am just not sure getting in a 60 year old coach who even though he is a good coach, did have some issues with dealing with pressure in the Bundesliga before, is a good idea. He would be under big pressure at Dortmund.

I know Nice and Dortmund are on completely different levels when it comes to expectations, but I think he's handled himself well in what has been a tough season for the club, especially off the back of a very impressive first season. Departures, poor form, injuries, and poor transfer activity resulted in what ended up being a wretched start to the season.

 

[Toby]

Some Bundesliga news:

The new HSV coach suspends five players, including Hahn and Diekmeier
https://www.transfermarkt.de/hahn-d...eicht-5-profis-aus-hsv-kader/view/news/303440

Heynckes denied Bayern interest in Malcom, even slightly bashing the player, stating he's never seen him and saying: "He's always put in the shopping window, and it's said he'll sign somewhere. But no one's buying into it. Our scouts are everywhere, and that's their opinion, too."
https://www.transfermarkt.de/kein-b...as-ich-so-gehort-habe-ldquo-/view/news/303446

And, finally, Lewandowski's transfer to Real apparently edges closer. His new agent has seemingly agreed personal terms with the spanish side. 2 year contract with option for a third, + significant payrise from the 15m he earns at Bayern.
https://www.transfermarkt.de/berich...nigung-uber-vertrag-mit-real/view/news/303437

 

[NieThePiet]

Was a fantastic matchday today. Many goals, HSV lost and Werder won

HSV lead with 1:0 in the first half with the new coach and still lost it. Thinkt that's gameover for HSV now.

 

[KrissKringle]

Bruh...

 

[BobP]

Another win for the Schalke juggernaut.

Monchengladbach have been utter trash, don't really like Hecking as a manager. Really puts into perspective how good Favre was for them.

 

[NieThePiet]

Poor from Leno again, that's why i not want him.

 

[Toby]

Another win for the Schalke juggernaut.

Monchengladbach have been utter trash, don't really like Hecking as a manager. Really puts into perspective how good Favre was for them.

Hecking is such a bang average manager. He's the german equivalent of Hughes, Allardyce, et al. There's a strange nothingness about his teams, everything about them is average.

Gladbach made some mistakes when hiring their last two managers. They should've never held on to Schubert as long term solution, but as an interim one and then gone for a creative solution. He was worse than Hecking. Anyone would've gotten that Favre team to perform again, I suppose to this day, that if they held on to each other for two, three more games, Favre himself would've turned it around.
At least after firing Schubert, they should've gone more risky and creative, instead of Hecking. That guy and his bland football just scream "average!" - and that's exactly what Gladbach got.

They need to end the season with Hecking somewhere between 7th and 10th, get rid of him and bring in someone new for 18/19.

 

[Toby]

Hamburg now last. Right now, Id bet on HSV to come last, Cologne to go into relegation, and Mainz or VW go down as 17th

 

[BobP]

Hecking is such a bang average manager. He's the german equivalent of Hughes, Allardyce, et al. There's a strange nothingness about his teams, everything about them is average.

Gladbach made some mistakes when hiring their last two managers. They should've never held on to Schubert as long term solution, but as an interim one and then gone for a creative solution. He was worse than Hecking. Anyone would've gotten that Favre team to perform again, I suppose to this day, that if they held on to each other for two, three more games, Favre himself would've turned it around.
At least after firing Schubert, they should've gone more risky and creative, instead of Hecking. That guy and his bland football just scream "average!" - and that's exactly what Gladbach got.

They need to end the season with Hecking somewhere between 7th and 10th, get rid of him and bring in someone new for 18/19.

Despised his Nurnberg side.

Dire football.

 

[Toby]

Some tasty stuff regarding Guardiola and his time at Bayern, specifically his row with doc Muller-Wohlfahrt, came up in the german press today. Didn't know if to post here or in the City thread, as Guardiola is with them now, but those Mancs seem a bit touchy if you put a spotlight on their shiny toys to reveal a bit of dirt...So here's what Bayern's ex doc had to say:

Asked to name the three best Bayern managers he worked with: "Dettmar Cramer, Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld." Guardiola? "Somewhere in the far distance to them."

"Is Guardiola a good manager? I am not in the position to judge that, but I think so, yes.

"He was completely oblivious in medical matters. It's something I very much hold against him. To him, it wasn't about getting players healthy, it was about them being free of pain. If a player didn't feel pain, to him, that meant they were able to train. If an injury wasn't completely cured didn't matter to him. It was only about pain. That was absolutely against my own philosophy."

"When he arrived I thought Bayern would become a second Barcelona. I thought the messiah had arrived." - But that changed quickly. They already fell out on their third day of working together during Bayern's pre-season at Lake Garda in Italy, when the Catalan confronted him very directly about two injured players.

"I just thought to myself: Lad, don't you make a mistake. Guardiola underestimated me. He thought he could make me his underling and that I'd do anything he wanted me to do."

"He thinks too highly of himself. He thinks he knows everything better. That's a sign of insecurity. I was too big for him. I had support in the club, among the squad, wonderful conditions to work within. You cannot dream this up, you cannot get there, it just happens. He cannot bear having to deal with someone on an equal basis. He thinks he needs to trim their influence. And that's what happened. He continuously used any opportunity to dupe me and to show me: Look, I am the one in charge here. But he was mistaken about me."

When Guardiola accused the doctor of being responsible for their CL defeat to Porto in 2015, implying they had too many injured players, the doc quit. He himself remaind quiet, Guardiola went off at him.
"There was a massive, loud argument in the dressing room. I have never experienced something like this before. It was aimed at me. I knew right there and then I had to quit for my honour and for my good name. I couldn't tolerate something like that. He broke a Pro footballing taboo: No serious arguments in the dressing room, even if you are right. There's too many emotions, too much adrenaline. It just gets out of control."


Now these are some interesting and telling bits about Guardiola. Quite in sync with Ibra's comments towards him a couple of years ago. Very interesting is that Raiola has just come out and called him a "great manager" but "absolutely nothing as a person. A coward, a dog." And not only Raiola came out to throw some mud, but Gerard Pique just one week ago revealad a rift with his ex manager which almost made him quit Barcelona, 'cause they clashed over personal philosophies and instead of working with him during a form crisis, Guardiola shoved him to the sidelines.

So, you might take all of this with a grain of salt, but by now it's three, four, five people who hit out at his character, and along the alleged use of doping and his ties to the Emirates, that's starting to paint a rather questionable picture of Guardiola.

 

[Vinci]

That's some very interesting comments indeed, Toby.

Not much of a stretch now to think that claims against Guardiola that he dopes his players are really true, except for his time at Bayern obviously.

 

[Toby]

Not much of a stretch now to think that claims against Guardiola that he dopes his players are really true, except for his time at Bayern obviously.

Absolutely. Those comments about him not caring about injuries being cured, but only getting his players free of pain and back to performance as quickly as possible, combined with the allegations, just scream "doping". Cause that's exactly what you do if you operate/handle injuries that way.

Now, what's even more interesting is that some years ago, Muller-Wohlfahrt himself got into the spotlight for some rather grey area medical treatments involving the blood of calves. There's no ruling on it yet and there are still studies going on, but it's definitely a dodgy area as of now. Now a guy who already operates on the limits of legality, he's not gonna oppose anything of a similar shade of grey to what he does, is he? That heavily implies Guardiola's favourite medical treatments broke that exact last threshold into illegality, which Muller-Wohlfahrt wouldn't condemn.

 

[Tom349]

Another win for the Schalke juggernaut.

Monchengladbach have been utter trash, don't really like Hecking as a manager. Really puts into perspective how good Favre was for them.

Thoughts on Jannik Vestergaard?

 

[Toby]

Thoughts on Jannik Vestergaard?

Upper Bundesliga average. Might work out successfully for a PL midtable club, but no top club material. I'd say Gladbach is right about his level.

 

[NieThePiet]

Gnabry with a nice goal for Hoffenheim, he is doing better and better. Hamburg is leading too.

 

[NieThePiet]

Gnabry with a second. He only has to stay fit.

 

[HBL]

Why didn’t we insert a buy back clause?

 

[NieThePiet]

Why didn’t we insert a buy back clause?

Because it's Bayern?

 

[celestis]

That's some very interesting comments indeed, Toby.

Not much of a stretch now to think that claims against Guardiola that he dopes his players are really true, except for his time at Bayern obviously.

Suspect we will find out one day . It's not a stretch at all .