German Football 2018/19

[PoleInGoal]

Reus: "We don't have to discuss, that it was a red card."

https://www.kicker.de/news/fussball...rklaert-erste-rote-karte-seiner-karriere.html

Think both would have been a red in England too (the second 100%). But heard the same, that Schalke could have seen one too, but haven't seen a replay yet.

Sadly the title is gone for Dortmund now, Bayern once again..

Fair enough if they themselves say it’s a red, I still think both could go either way but there’s no use discussing that anymore.

I’ve only seen one clip of the Schalke one and it looked the same the others, but not much consistency from the ref, And when it’s borderline then VAR can’t help.

Looking back, Dortmund have done well to get this far considering all the holes in their squad. Bayern unfortunately are able to splash money around for fun and will probably cruise to the title next year.

 

[krackpot]

oh please no!

This Bayern team is beyond pathetic.

 

[PoleInGoal]

Went to two BuLi matches this weekend, Stuttgart v Gladbach on Saturday and then Hoffenheim v Wolfsburg.

First thing to say is that the fans are levels above what I've seen in England, it does help when you have a standing section with thousands of the biggest fans packed together, but the choreography is something else, don't stop singing throughout the game. Especially at the Stuttgart game I was sat right above the Kanstatter Curve (the main fan area), amazing atmosphere. I hope they bring safe-standing to the PL in the next few years.

Stuttgart game was overall fairly poor, not many chances but Plea missed a huge opportunity early on. I must say Stuttgart looked many times better than I expected, but they've just brought in a new manager which seems to be having a good effect. Ended up 1-0 to Stuttgart.

The Hoffenheim match was pretty crazy. The first 20 minutes they looked amazing and were destroying Wolfsburg's defence but just lacking in a bit of quality. They scored one but easily could have had 3 or 4. The referee missed a stonewall penalty but VAR overturned it, great to see this and I can't wait for it in England next season. Kramaric unfortunately hit the post which would have made it 2-0. In the end the Wolfsburg left-back leveled it up with an sublime curler from the edge of the area.

Wolfsburg were much better in the second half and Hoffenheim were misplacing several passes whenever they went forward. Eventually Wolfsburg score twice with both goals a result of very questionable goalkeeping by Baumann. Was happy to see Nelson come on as a sub and he looked bright on the one occasion he got the ball, but off the ball he was completely ineffective and kind of looked like he didn't know what he was doing. In the end it was 4-1 to Wolfsburg, game of two halves but really they were just much clinical. Nagelsmann looks like he's checked out for the rest of the season.

The Hoffenheim LB Nico Schulz looks a fantastic player, tidy in possession, made several smart runs and has a cultured final ball (unlike Kolasinac who just smashes it in). Got an assist for their goal and looked fairly solid in defence. He was playing in a back 5 in the first half so would need to watch him a few more times to form a full opinion, but I think he's someone we should look at in the summer.

Also felt that Florian Grillitsch and Kevin Vogt looked tidy, but not sure if they're quite at our level.

Overall, had a great time at both games. Despite Bayern almost always walking the league, I'm a big fan of the unpredictability of the remaining teams. I'm moving up to Düsseldorf in June and I'm considering getting a season ticket for them, they've had a great season after coming up from the 2. league.

 

[Toby]

oh please no!

This Bayern team is beyond pathetic.

I wouldn't ven put it beyond them to gift Dortmund the Championship...on the other hand Dortmund are just as flakey.

 

[Toby]

https://www.transfermarkt.de/berich...r-wagner-grundsatzlich-einig/view/news/334839

After Dieter Hecking, who'll bet let go by Gladbach come summer in favour of RB Salzburg's Marco Rose, was considered the frontrunner for the Schalke job for a good while, it's now reported that the club and ex Huddersfield coach David Wagner have basically reached an agreement for him to take over.

Another person of interest for Schalke to strengthen their footballing executive staff is Paderborn Sporting Director Markus Kroesche, who has helped steady the waters at troubled Paderborn, who are in a good position for promotion to the 1. Bundesliga after having won against direct competitors Heidenheim last matchday.

https://www.transfermarkt.de/offizi...-labbadia-beim-vfl-wolfsburg/view/news/334326

Last week already VfL Wolfsburg confirmed Austrian Oliver Glasner, an alumni of the Red Bull/Rangnick school of football and joint Manager/Sporting Director of this season's Austrian Bundesliga surprise team Linzer ASK, will take over the team from Bruno Labbadia, who after personal quarrel with Wolfsburg CEO Sport Jorg Schmadtke decided not to try and extend his contract.

Meanwhile, Hertha BSC decided to not carry on with current coach Pal Dardai, as after 5 years during which the Hertha ex player and club legend managed to stabilize the Berlin club in midtable territory, the Hertha leadership now wants to take the next step in evolving the club's style of play and aim for higher ambitions with a more progressive coach. Dardai has announced to take a one year break and then return to the Hertha Academy as a coach, where he worked before taking over as their first team manager. An early candidate to succeed him who has reportedly already turned down the job is BSC Young Boys Bern coach Gerardo Seoane, who has just won the Swiss Championship in his first season as Bern manager.

In the 2. Bundesliga, league leaders FC Koln have fired their manager Markus Anfang, who had joined them at the beginning of the season after almost getting promoted to the 1. Bundesliga with Holstein Kiel last season. Although Koln have basically already secured promotion and are on target to win the 2. Bundesliga, the club leadership decided that a rather weak defense along lacking attacking play was testament to Anfang not being able to unlock the team's full potential and keeping him was a risk, especially in light of playing in the 1. Bundesliga next season. For the rest of the season, an interim coach from the youth academy will take over. Dardai, who will leave the Hertha first team manager job this summer, has reportedly been approached by Koln to take over next season, but has in accordance to his plan of taking a year off and then returning to Hertha as a youth coach, turned them down already.

As of now, that leaves VfB Stuttgart, FC Koln, Hertha Berlin and probably Hannover in search of a manager for next season, after Gladbach, Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg have secured new coaches already, and Schalke being on the brink of signing Wagner.

 

[PoleInGoal]

https://www.transfermarkt.de/berich...r-wagner-grundsatzlich-einig/view/news/334839

After Dieter Hecking, who'll bet let go by Gladbach come summer in favour of RB Salzburg's Marco Rose, was considered the frontrunner for the Schalke job for a good while, it's now reported that the club and ex Huddersfield coach David Wagner have basically reached an agreement for him to take over.

Another person of interest for Schalke to strengthen their footballing executive staff is Paderborn Sporting Director Markus Kroesche, who has helped steady the waters at troubled Paderborn, who are in a good position for promotion to the 1. Bundesliga after having won against direct competitors Heidenheim last matchday.

https://www.transfermarkt.de/offizi...-labbadia-beim-vfl-wolfsburg/view/news/334326

Last week already VfL Wolfsburg confirmed Austrian Oliver Glasner, an alumni of the Red Bull/Rangnick school of football and joint Manager/Sporting Director of this season's Austrian Bundesliga surprise team Linzer ASK, will take over the team from Bruno Labbadia, who after personal quarrel with Wolfsburg CEO Sport Jorg Schmadtke decided not to try and extend his contract.

Meanwhile, Hertha BSC decided to not carry on with current coach Pal Dardai, as after 5 years during which the Hertha ex player and club legend managed to stabilize the Berlin club in midtable territory, the Hertha leadership now wants to take the next step in evolving the club's style of play and aim for higher ambitions with a more progressive coach. Dardai has announced to take a one year break and then return to the Hertha Academy as a coach, where he worked before taking over as their first team manager. An early candidate to succeed him who has reportedly already turned down the job is BSC Young Boys Bern coach Gerardo Seoane, who has just won the Swiss Championship in his first season as Bern manager.

In the 2. Bundesliga, league leaders FC Koln have fired their manager Markus Anfang, who had joined them at the beginning of the season after almost getting promoted to the 1. Bundesliga with Holstein Kiel last season. Although Koln have basically already secured promotion and are on target to win the 2. Bundesliga, the club leadership decided that a rather weak defense along lacking attacking play was testament to Anfang not being able to unlock the team's full potential and keeping him was a risk, especially in light of playing in the 1. Bundesliga next season. For the rest of the season, an interim coach from the youth academy will take over. Dardai, who will leave the Hertha first team manager job this summer, has reportedly been approached by Koln to take over next season, but has in accordance to his plan of taking a year off and then returning to Hertha as a youth coach, turned them down already.

As of now, that leaves VfB Stuttgart, FC Koln, Hertha Berlin and probably Hannover in search of a manager for next season, after Gladbach, Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg have secured new coaches already, and Schalke being on the brink of signing Wagner.

Will be very interesting to see how Wagner gets on at Schalke, worked miracles last season with Huddersfield so I wonder how he’ll fare at a big club.

Early days but do you reckon Stuttgart might stick with Willig?

 

[krackpot]

I wouldn't ven put it beyond them to gift Dortmund the Championship...on the other hand Dortmund are just as flakey.

What's really the point of Bayern? haven't won anything in Europe. They were too strong for their league until a season ago.

Winning the CL is no joke (look at PSG), but this is a club with unlimited money and huge draw. They should be winning it, before PSG even, because of their pedigree.

I think it's a very good thing for the Bundesliga if Bayern have deteriorated.

 

[Toby]

Early days but do you reckon Stuttgart might stick with Willig?

Don't think so. It's been said clearly by Hitzlsperger and Willig himself that he will only stay until the end of the season.

Willig is a great talent, but he's very grounded and connected to his home. Seems that he's just not yet longing for the publicity and workload of working as a Bundesliga manager. He said he feels very comfortable as U19 coach and enjoys helping young guys evolve as players and people so they can have a successfull career.

I think it's the right choice. Suttgart is still troubled and I wouldn't want to waste the next talent trying to fix that. Willig seemingly doesn't even want the job right now. Think he'll get his shot in 2 or 3 years when he feels ready.

Will be very interesting to see how Wagner gets on at Schalke, worked miracles last season with Huddersfield so I wonder how he’ll fare at a big club.

Think Hecking might be the better choice. Wagner did a good job at Huddersfield, but they weren't exactly playing good footie - not even in the Championship. Think with Wagner it might end just like it did with Tedesco. Hecking is no progressive coach with a positive style who can develop a trademark team - that's why Gladbach will exchange him for Marco Rose -, but he has proven that he can stabilize struggling clubs with rather big expectations and keep them on that level for a few seasons.

 

[luigicalzone]

Leverkusen is leading 6:1 against Frankfurt at HT

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Amazing just before they play against Chelsea this week can't get any better.

 

[SomGooner]

Congrats to FC Koln who won promotion back to the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga is full of historical teams and yet they stand no chance of winning the league title thanks to those Bavarian scums.

PS. Shout out to Lukas. I can only imagine how happy he is for his club.

 

[Toby]

Bundesliga is full of historical teams and yet they stand no chance of winning the league title thanks to those Bavarian scums.

I cannot often enough say how much I despise Bayern, but to some degree you can only respect the work they did over the last three decades. They are/were so good on all levels - football knowledge, business acumen, shrewdness. Hoeness is a **** and a convicted criminal and I never liked him, but he might just be the best football executive ever. Of course they were successfull before he came in, but how he cemented that status and build up Bayern as a modern football behemoth dominating its domestic league and keeping up with international investor clubs despite the 50+1 rule is just astonishing. Great football mind, great business man and massive **** in one.

Absolutely hate them for it and how they operate, but still. Other German clubs should take notice - and tbf some of them do. There's a lot of clubs who can go a long way.

 

[Toby]

https://www.transfermarkt.de/-bdquo...oln-ndash-ablose-wird-fallig/view/news/335472

https://www.transfermarkt.de/nur-ei...m-vfb-ndash-dehm-soll-folgen/view/news/335460

Two more Bundesliga clubs are on the verge of having found their new coaches for next season.

BILD reports FC Köln are close to an agreement with Achim Beierlorzer, another Rangnick/RB alumni, who currently manages SSV Jahn Regensburg. He left RB Leipzig U19 and took over Regensburg in the summer of 2017 after they had just been promoted from 3rd to 2nd league under Heiko Herrlich, who instantly left for Bayer Leverkusen after this achievement. In that first 2. Bundesliga season, Beierlorzer managed a respectable 5th place finish with newly promoted Regensburg, this season they're currently sitting in 8th.

Meanwhile VfB Stuttgart are close to signing another manager from the 2. Bundesliga, Holstein Kiel's Tim Walter. This is his first season as a first team manager after stints at Karlsruhe Academy, Bayern Academy and Bayern 2. Nevertheless, Walter has impressed at Kiel. After they just missed promotion to 1. Bundesliga last season, they lost manager Markus Anfang - who joined Köln but has been sacked there by now - as well as a host of key players. Walter managed to quickly rebuild a team and implement a progressive, possession and pressing based system - not unlike Ajax' Erik ten Hag who shares a Bayern past with Walter. Despite the summer's exodus, Walter managed to keep Kiel - tipped by many to be a sure relegation candidate as of the bloodloss - consistently in the top half of the league, at times even closing in on the promotion battle and now set to finish around a solid 7th, while becoming every german tactic analyst's favourite manager for his brand of football.

It is also reported Stuttgart will simultaneously hold talks with Kiel over 23-year old rightback Jannik Dehm, one of Walter's key players and rated as a fairly promising talent.

With Köln and Stuttgart now closing in on managers, that leaves Hertha BSC Berlin, Schalke and Hannover on the lookout. While Schalke had first been linked to Dieter Hecking and by now ex Huddersfield manager David Wagner having emerged as the chosen candidate, there's been no fresh news on that front.
Meanwhile Hertha, who got turned down by their first choice, Bern manager Gerardo Seoane, reportedly next looked at David Wagner and Andre Villas-Boas, who have both been deemed too expensive or weren't interested. Next they were rebuffed by ex Hertha co-coach and ex Hungary manager Bernd Storck, currently managing Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium's Jupiler Pro League. Currently emerging as favourite to land the Hertha job is their U23 coach Ante Covic - which would be a move basically emulating what they did with Pal Dardai.

 

[carter777]

 

[SomGooner]

Schalke has finally got a proper manager. I believe he’ll do well, better than people expect.

 

[The White Pelè]

Can't believe how Dortmund have cocked up. The title has been them to lose and they have managed to do it in style. They won't have a better chance next season.

 

[PoleInGoal]

What is it with Dortmund and Dodgy keepers? Genuinely one of the worst things I’ve ever seen from a keeper for the Düsseldorf goal. And Bayern score immediately after, big mistake from AMs favourite Konate

 

[PoleInGoal]

Dortmund retake the lead, not convincing from rensing in the Fortuna goal. Maybe all the BuLi keepers are poverty

 

[PoleInGoal]

Bayern’s goal chalked off, thank god for VAR. Hitz now gives a penalty away, mare of a game from him so far

 

[PoleInGoal]

Can't believe how Dortmund have cocked up. The title has been them to lose and they have managed to do it in style. They won't have a better chance next season.

Basically us in early emirates years, a couple of fantastic players but dodgy defence and **** keepers