Bundesliga 2017-18: Any winner you like as long as it's Bayern

candylandriots

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@Schnerres I'm planning to be at the Union/Kaiserslautern game in Berlin on September 25. I would guess you're not traveling for it, especially since it's on a Monday night -- but if you are planning to go, send me a PM if you want to meet up for a beer or something.
 

Schnerres

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Thanks for the callup! @jkempa
I won´t be there. Berlin is too big and too far for me, I have no friends over there to visit and I could never fit this in my work schedule.

Kaiserslautern is once again off to another poor start (last after 1st match, 0-3 @Nürnberg), so they could be in trouble this year. Union Berlin could be one of the teams fighting for promotion, at least they are mentioned everywhere as one of the favorites (but there is more or less a group of teams behind top favorite Ingolstadt and then clubs like Darmstadt, Braunschweig, Union Berlin, St.Pauli likely to form the top two (out of five, with Ingolstadt) and the 3rd team, which will again try to win the promotion playoffs vs. the 16th placed Bundesliga team.

Next match for Kaiserslautern is home vs. Darmstadt...


Bundesliga news?
-Bayern´s James is out for about 4 weeks(?) with a muscle injury
-Hoffenheim looking hard at tomorrow´s CL playoff draw
-Leverkusen still has Kevin Kampl, who said at the start of this summer that he´ll "definitely leave", before he had to stay due to the transfer fiasco with a chinese team and no other suitor from europe, so far
-Hamburger SV buys Rick van Drongelen (18) from Sparta Rotterdam for 3mil.€. [Personal opinion: Will that be another failed youngster transfer at Hamburg? The guy is a defender, played 31 times last year in the dutch Eredivisie, but you basically commit suicide if you start such youngsters in the back of a Bundesliga team. He signed a 5-year contract, okay...but what do they expect instantly and how much time will he be given, if he starts a match here or there and makes mistakes, which will happen and happens often in Hamburg´s mistake-prone team...]
-Mikel Merino(21) loaned from Dortmund to Newcastle with a buying option. He is loaned for 3mil.€ and if he plays in a certain (number not mentioned) number of matches for his new team, Newcastle has to buy him for 7mil.€, the article says.
-Holger Badstuber joins VfB Stuttgart on a free transfer. After years with injuries in Bayern´s team, he was loaned to Schalke last season. They did not want him and Bayern did not want him back. It was rumored he wants a new beginning in a foreign league. Obviously he did not find a fitting team (or enough money). Now, he joins Stuttgart, where he already played as a youngsters before joining Bayern and joins a team full of youngsters in the back. I doubt he is a great player anymore, but they could need his experience at least.
 

Schnerres

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1st matches are played. There´s Cologne trailing @Gladbach (0-1), then the first matchday is completed.
-Dortmund doesn´t miss a beat so far. They will need the depth, ofc, so some time, they have to say what will happen with Dembele. They had a bench of Dahoud, Passlack, Kagawa (each came on) and Weidenfeller(keeper), Subotic, Toprak, Isak. Dembele, Schürrle were out, Reus will be out for months. Isak can´t be counted on in big matches. Subotic was said to have an interest in leaving, but nothing came out of it. Passlack is said to be loaned to Stuttgart or Hoffenheim. And they want to bring in Jeremy Toljan, a young and rising WB from Hoffenheim. Considering they played their new and talented CB of the future, Zagadou (18, came from PSG) as LB, they probably need someone over there.
-Hamburg is still up and down: They lost in the DFB Cup last week, they won this week, so they have now more points (3) after one match, than they had last season after ten matches (2). So, what happened, when Lewis Holtby scored? He jumped up and did a little too much of his figure-skating routine, twisted his knee while landing and tore his ACL (can´t find a clip).
-Schalke beats Leipzig 2-0. Leipzig started last season on a 13match unbeaten-run. Hm..That season will be hard to top. But Schalke had a good start to a season with lots of changes: they have a 31-yo coach who came over from 2.Bundesliga as one of the top license-finishers, Domenico Tedesco, but he´s basically a no-name. He started by ripping long-time captain and Schalke-mainstay Benny Höwedes of the armband. And vs. Leipzig, he played a 3-CB-backline, started a 20yo youth product (Thilo Kehrer) instead of Höwedes. As long as you win, everybody´s happy...
-Bayern beat Leverkusen 3-1, goal by Süle after a free-kick and by Tolisso. They weren´t dominating, it was an open game and they basically won because they had the better keeper in that match - Sven Ulreich started instead of Neuer, who is still out.
-2 hours ago was the draw for the 2nd round of the DFB cup in live TV. My team Kaiserslautern got their 1st home match in almost 3 years in that competition, vs. Stuttgart. Not impossible to advance. But the biggest draw was the one that wasn´t made and everyone knew what happened: there were 30 clubs drawn and only 2 draws were left in the pot: Bayern and Leipzig. In the 2nd round! Nice! Could have only topped that with Bayern Dortmund (think that happened like 3 or so years ago, but not as the last draw). So when they drew Dresden vs. Freiburg, there was already huge moaning and claps already in the TV studio and nobody was interested in the next-to-last draw. They were only interested in who will get homefield? So, they pull out Leipzig and then Bayern. Ah, nice! That will be a tough match for Carlo and his boys, so early in the season with such a tough away draw!
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Well, holding 90% of possession against a 65 minutes man-down Freiburg without scoring is certainly one way not to challenge for the title.
 

bosox4283

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Ancelotti is out at Bayern, a year after winning the league title. What's the story? Any opinions?
 

Schnerres

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I don´t have a huge opinion on this. At Bayern, you have to win the league and "not fail" at the other two (CL+DFB cup) competitions to stay. With the teams you get, this isn´t that hard. Pep basically broke records each season (earliest title, most points, biggest lead, most goals,...) and everybody expected more. OTOH, the club guys let the roster age and and did not really improve it that much. For the Bundesliga, this will be okay, but look around Europe and you see teams spending 50+mil. on multiple players or going big for 100mil., while Bayern is refusing this and is still praising themselves for doing smart business. Of course it´s nice to get cheap guys like Süle (who will be a national team player for 8+years) for 20mil.€. But you need more out of your midfield and attack. Müller is out of form it seems (can be attributed to Ancelotti, who can´t find him minutes), Robben+Ribery are too old to carry the team, Coman is not a great winger at the moment (which he was under Pep!), Lewandowski is probably the only one who you should be happy with.
The defense is out of form, as Hummels and Boateng are not 100% after injuries, Lahm is retired.

When Ancelotti subbed off Ribery a few matches ago, he threw his shirt into the subs stall, there are constant rumors in the press that the old guys (Robben, Ribery) are unhappy that they are "not going for it" when they are leading teams 1-0, 2-0 like under Pep, they would have killed them off 5-0 or even 8-0 at times. Ancelotti is more laid back even in the match field and I can see him being "content" to a degree, which some experienced Bayern guys are not happy about.
I mean Ribery was always talking, under every coach, but in a positive way, criticizing things so that you get better in the end. But in this case it seems Carlo Ancelotti did not find the right mix for this group.

I don´t know who they will install. IMO, it would be hilarous, if they take Thomas Tuchel. The guy was already hated at Borussia Dortmund. He could be superdominating with such a team (like Pep), if his system takes effect. Problem: he has no season break, but at least now there is a 2 week national team break (but lots of players gone...). Tuchel drives players nuts and he could be bashing with lots of Bayern´s big personalities on the grass and behind the scenes. I see Ulli Hoeness jumping his neck taking him in a sleeper-hold...
Julian Nagelsmann is the successor of the future, but he is at Hoffenheim for now. He won´t leave them in the season. They need an experienced guy who would be okay to go for the rest of the season. For now, Willy Sagnol might be okay, but I don´t know if that´s the right choice for the season.

Rummenigge+Hoeness decided after the PSG game (3.30 am) that Ancelotti has to leave. Ancelotti had 5 players against him (I guess it was Ribery, Robben, Lewandowski, Müller and x) and they knew about the situation in the team.
Ancelotti "told" the team about the starting lineup, while placing the 11 names on a paper and not saying anything else. That´s was said in the german press and Ancelotti is quoted as "I don´t regret anything".
Let´s see who they take as a coach...
 

candylandriots

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Thanks for the callup! @jkempa
I won´t be there. Berlin is too big and too far for me, I have no friends over there to visit and I could never fit this in my work schedule.
Hopefully we'll get another chance :eek:

I'm not going to do a full write-up of the Union-Kaiserslautern game since I already did one for the stadium there before, but I had a great time at it (and at 5-0, it was easy to enjoy for the home side.) I went with a German friend, so it was fun to learn some of the songs and stuff. The singing is really hard for me to understand.

If it makes you feel any better, I got home yesterday and watched Crystal Palace lose by an equal score. At least Kaiserslautern has tallied two points. But wow, the Kaiserslautern fans were giving it to the players after that game. I felt kind of bad for them when they came to thank the visiting fans. It was hard to watch. It was a top-quality performance from Union though after a rough stretch of five games.

At least there was a nice moment when both sides agreed that they hated the DFB.

Also, Felix Kroos (Toni's brother) is a class act. He did something really nice for a fan after the game, and definitely made a fan out of me in the process.
 

InstaFace

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Pulisic probably won't at the full 90 at Augsburg, given Friday, but he's looking good. Yarmolenko stole the show with a backheel goal though.
 

InstaFace

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Anyone else watching Bayern-Hertha on FS1? Ribery just stretched his foot a little far to receive a pass in-stride, stepped on the ball and landed awkwardly, then rolled and screamed in pain holding his knee. Probably a ligament of some kind. Ouch.
 

Schnerres

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It seems now like Heynckes(73) will come back for this season to be Carlo´s successor. It is all over the press, so I won´t give a link (but no official statement from Bayern, yet. I guess they are finalizing the contract right now).

-He comes back after retiring as a triple winner with Bayern(13).
-Bayern picks him (4 years out of business) over a guy like Tuchel.
-They risk something in taking an(other) oldie, but they take their time to get "their choice" after this season, instead of being roped into picking somebody (Tuchel?) midseason and probably giving such a guy at least a 1.5 year contract.
-I don´t know, if they would be so innovative at Bayern (usually they aren´t), but with the current results, it would surprise me if they man up and pay the big money for Nagelsmann and go that route. He has shown interest, there are some of the Hoffenheim guys he knows (and will bring with him) in Süle, Rudy and Gnabry. And he has no history in the Dortmund/Bayern battle so far (like Tuchel, Klopp, for example).
 

soxfan121

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Probably a stupid question, but @Schnerres - was Carlo's Eyebrow just not successful enough? Or was his culture/approach so different from the hyper-organized Pep that management felt it had no choice but to throw him overboard lest it affect things for years to come?
 

Schnerres

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1-Ancelotti had to make the players happy.
That´s no small goal, it even includes some winning, but most importantly: playing time. Pep was a master at this, keeping guys fresh through the Bundesliga season, winning doubles. His problem was (that his leads in the Bundesliga were so huge that players grew content and weren´t in perfect shape in the late CL stages) his Bayern teams were a little unlucky.(losing to Real, Barca, Atleti in consecutive semifinals).
The players were very unhappy with Ancelotti and his lack of pressure-cooking it seems. They set up trainings themselves, then were denied doing so and went for secret trainings at tiny fields. They were unhappy with several lineup decisions and it is even rumored that warmups lasted only 3-5minutes and bothered some players. Ancelotti did not have the backing of the club after last season, that was obvious. It´s one thing if there´s one maniac like Basler/Kahn/... back in the days going mad in the press, but if there´s an entire group of experienced guys (Robben, Ribery, Müller, Neuer, etc. are all rumored to be included) then players complain even more to the club and guys like Rummenigge and Hoeness start thinking about missing their season goals.

2-If he had been successful enough, he would have been given a longer rope. But with those losses/draws piling up (not in 1st place in Bundesliga, losing start to PSG in CL, now a killer draw in DFB cup [@Leipzig should be one of the toughest draws they could get, right after @Dortmund, when you consider current form]) the Bayern bosses saw their season goals going down the Isar river and probably wanted to act early. With the players not behind Ancelotti, there was something brewing already. And after the bad results, one thing led to another.
 

Schnerres

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DFB Cup, 2nd round.
Leipzig vs.Bayern, 35mins played. Really close game with small chances on both sides, small advantage Leipzig.
Penalty call for Leipzig, foul from Vidal on Forsberg. Forsberg dribbles past him, Vidal clips him with two legs from behind, ref gives penalty (no video assistant), talks to his sideline assistant. The guy is about 50m away. Both decide that it´s freekick Leipzig. The main contact started before the box, but IMO, the foul continued into the box. Not a really clear situation, but to take that penalty back without video assistance is just dumb.
 

Schnerres

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Keita is off for 2nd booking (1stt was a bit soft, but he has to be smarter afterwards) in 58th minute. That´s 30+, possibly 60+ minutes with a man down vs.Bayern...Good luck.
At about 70th minute Poulsen dribbles into the box, around Boateng and looks for contact. Boateng just stands there and after taking the 1st penalty away, the ref now gives that non-penalty. Forsberg easily makes it.
5 minutes later, Boateng with a chip cross, Thiago is all alone and heads it home, 1-1.
15 minutes to play, Boateng and Hummels are regularly pushing forward into RBs box, as are Tolisso, Rudy(on for Vidal) and Thiago. Martinez plays deep.
Timo Werner is warming up now with 13mins to play. Curious if coach Hasenhüttl brings him in with a man down, Poulsen had a good game so far and can hold the ball better than Werner. Augustin is already off for Demme to stabilize after Keita went down.
The ref is really annoying, I don´t like RB, but he is giving everything, from tiny to big decision for Bayern, besides that wrong penalty to the 1-0. And the ref-crowding is also annoying.
So it´s 80th minute, Werner in, Poulsen off.
 

Quintanariffic

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I had read speculation that the likely replacement was the former youth for Dortmund from when Pulisic was on their U-19 team, so that would be a positive if true I’d think.
 

PedroSpecialK

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To say Wolfsburg got hosed today would be putting it kindly.

Two soft penalties for Bayern (one of which was saved), with the latter awarded as a result of Robben throwing himself to the ground after the defender had tugged his arm on the edge of the area
 

allstonite

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Was hoping to catch Pulisic today but he starts on the bench for this one. Probably for the best because the pitch is a disaster and I'm surprised their haven't been any leg injuries yet. Reus had a great goal a couple minutes ago. How good would he be considered if he wasn't so frequently injured? Top 25 in the world? He does a few incredible things every time I see him play.
 

Schnerres

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I´m scared to jinx it, but I guess it finally happens: HSV will be relegated to the 2.Bundesliga. Another long-time rival could go down (but is in a little bit of an upswing): 1.FC Köln. They are both in the two relegation spots, although Cologne is trending upwards (had only a handful of points at the break) and Hamburg hasn´t won in 10+ matches. They lost 0-6 at Bayern yesterday and Lewandowski also missed another penalty high. They also changed some people in the drivers seat last week to start a new beginning and let the coach (former player Hollerbach) lose this season out and then possibly pick a new guy.

The most interesting things are who will be in the relegation spot (3rd to last and plays 3rd place finisher of 2.Bundesliga), who will finish in the CL/Euro league spots between Schalke, Leipzig, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hoffenheim, Augsburg, Gladbach.

Bayern has a 20point lead with 8 matches remaining, with some help they can win the title next week (Leipzig vs Bayern, Wolfsburg vs Schalke), if Schalke doesn´t win and Bayern wins. They had some CL trouble under Pep when winning the title so early, but I guess they are over this and would be happy to rest some guys. They also need to get Neuer back some time.

Some US News:
-Bobby Wood wasn´t picked to Hamburgs 18man roster for the 2nd consecutive match
-Julian Green (Fürth) scored his 2nd goal of the season. It was a superimportant 1-0 in a relegation battle when Fürth beat Kaiserslautern in a shocking 2-1 win...:-(
-Joe Enochs will coach FSV Zwickau in the 3.Bundesliga from July on
 

Titans Bastard

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Bobby Wood is having a Jozy-at-Sunderland season.

Glad to see Enochs get another shot.
 

SoxFanInCali

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Bayern are doing unspeakable things to Dortmund right now. It's 5-0 at the half, and it actually could have been more.
 

DJnVa

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I can’t see GD right now—is Dortmund crashing out of a Champions League slot?

Hamburg relegates for first time ever. Last team that had never been relegated. Fans burning stuff.
 

DJnVa

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Okay. Was gonna say that the next year was gonna suck for Pulisic if they had.
 

Cuzittt

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Well... Since Hamburg is down... I'm rooting real hard for Holstein Kiel to defeat Wolfsburg for promotion.

(And the question is What two "majorish" cities has cuzittt visited in Germany?)
 

Schnerres

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Well... Since Hamburg is down... I'm rooting real hard for Holstein Kiel to defeat Wolfsburg for promotion.
I think everybody in Germany (except Wolfsburgians) are rooting for the underdog Kiel at this point.
The problem is: The DFB has a licensing point that you need an arena for 15.000 visitors and 8.000 (or 10.000?) seats. And Kiel´s arena only has about 11.500 to 12.000 spots while the newest renovation (to 15.000 spectators) will not be finished for the new season.
There´s already a lot of uproar if the DFB will really hold them down due to this fact or have them play in another city in a rented stadium (with much less of a home factor).
 

Schnerres

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I know not every league (+CL) aren´t finished, yet. But as more and more pre-WC-rosters are coming out:
Where is the WC 18 forum? :)
 

Schnerres

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1st leg:
Wolfsburg (wolves) vs Kiel (storks) 3-1
Kiel had a lot of chances, as it was to be expected by their top offense this season in the 2.Bundesliga.
The DFB gave some regulations (I think it was like: build your stadium up to 15.000 until october/november), but it was allowed for them to play their home matches in Kiel, if they get up.

(Kiel has a wage budget of about 7mil.€. In Wolfsburg you have Yunus Malli at 4.5, Daniel Didavi and John Brooks at 4mil.€ each. Their team is estimated at 60mil.€ player wages. David vs. Goliath.)
 

InstaFace

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So at 93' in the DFB-Pokal final there was a seriously controversial call with Boateng of Frankfurt swinging his leg in the box and getting Hummels' (?) leg rather than the ball. Referee let play continue, a shot was made and blocked and resulted in a corner. They go to VAR, you can see the foul clear as day... and the ref sticks with the (no-)call.

I definitely wasn't rooting for Bayern, and I can understand not making that call in the melee of play, but once slowed down on replay... I just don't understand what happened there.