Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[Maldeika]

Strange to see Dortmund struggling watched them play arsenal in the champions league earlier in the season and they were the much better side , it was 2-0 but could have been more.

It just shows how much tactics tell about matches.

Arsenal tried to play their usual match.

And Dortmund's usual play is about pressing or counter pressing (fast winning the ball again after losses and catch the opponent on the wrong foot) and drive a fast attack.

That tactics works well against teams that are used to be top sides in their league where they are used to have the ball.

The problem of Dortmund is (with a lot of others that added to it the recent weeks) that the most other teams just do not want to have the ball and that they have found solutions against this kind of tactics - or are very well or even more successful right now copying Dortmund's tactic.

 

[supercrystal7]

Strange to see Dortmund struggling watched them play arsenal in the champions league earlier in the season and they were the much better side , it was 2-0 but could have been more.

It just shows how much tactics tell about matches.

Arsenal tried to play their usual match.

And Dortmund's usual play is about pressing or counter pressing (fast winning the ball again after losses and catch the opponent on the wrong foot) and drive a fast attack.

That tactics works well against teams that are used to be top sides in their league where they are used to have the ball.

The problem of Dortmund is (with a lot of others that added to it the recent weeks) that the most other teams just do not want to have the ball and that they have found solutions against this kind of tactics - or are very well or even more successful right now copying Dortmund's tactic.

That's a huge part, but equally important was Arsenal being rubbish at the start of the season. They were very lucky to get through Besiktas, lucky to beat my team Palace, lucky to draw with Everton, drew with Leicester, actually played well in a 2-2 draw with City and then Villa, then back to losing against Southampton in the cup and drawing with Tottenham.

The Arsenal of the last few weeks bar a couple of games are a completely different beast.

 

[Bembeltown]

Not sure whether Du Bruyne would have much of an impact at City unless he was bought specifically to replace Nasri. I saw him play for Werder Bremen a couple times in 2013 and he struck me as one of those players who drifts in and out of games and doesn’t really impose himself

I think de Bruyne is brilliant this season and he has improved a lot at Wolfsburg and is not comparable to the player he was at Bremen. As you said he really did drift in and out of games at Bremen.

For whatever reason this seems to have changed at Wolfsburg. Maybe it has something to do with him maturing as well...he always came across as very shy at Bremen and looked like a player who needs the perfect environment to blossom.

Seems like he found this environment at Wolfsburg and eventually the fact that he doesn't have the carry the whole team himself helps as well (expectations at Bremen were always huge).

Joining City would obviously a pretty huge next step and I think its still a bit early for him. Let him play Bundesliga for 2 more years and then try your luck and I am sure he could improve City´s team.

 

[cptaidan88]

Really good article focusing on Bayerns finances.

http://swissramble.blogspot.ch/2015/02/bayern-munich-model.html?m=1

 

[Ruhr]

VfL Wolfsburg 4-1 Bayern München att. 30,000 (sold out)

1:0 Dost
2:0 Dost
3:0 De Bruyne
3:1 Juan Bernat
4:1 De Bruyne

Bayern still in the winter break :-)

other results from the weekend

Schalke 1-0 Hannover 96 att. 61,646
1:0 Höger

Nastasic´s first match for a Schalke. Huntelaar got a red card and misses 6 matches for Schalke

SC Freiburg 4-1 Eintracht Frankfurt att 24,000 (sold out)
0:1 Russ
1:1 Darida
2:1 Petersen
3:1 Petersen
4:1 Petersen

Petersen on loan from Bremen with a great debut. Also 58 % of the voters in the city of Freiburg voted for a new stadium

VfB Stuttgart 0-1 Borussia Mönchengladbach att. 46,200
0:1 Herrmann
another unlucky defeat, Stuttgart now in real trouble

Hamburger SV - 1. FC Köln att 56,053
0:1 Risse
0:2 Risse
Köln 2nd best away team in the Bundesliga, Hamburg in free fall

Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund att. 30,210
Dortmund now bottom of the table

Werder Bremen 2-0 Hertha BSC att. 40,187
1:0 di Santo
2:0 di Santo
Bremen now with a team of talented young players on the way out of the relegation zone, while Hertha looked like Bundesliga 2 all the way

FC Augsburg 3-1 TSG Hoffenheim att. 27.090
1:0 Halil Altintop
2:0 To. Werner
2:1 Roberto Firmino
3:1 Bobadilla
Augsburg on the way into europe

1 Bayern München 45 42:8

2 VfL Wolfsburg 37 37:18
3 Borussia Mönchengladbach 30 26:16

4 FC Schalke 04 30 29:21

5 FC Augsburg 30 25:22
6 Bayer Leverkusen 29 28:20

7 TSG Hoffenheim 26 30:28
8 Hannover 96 24 21:27
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 23 35:38
10 1.FC Köln 22 19:23
11 FSV Mainz 05 21 24:23
12 Werder Bremen 20 28:39
13 SC Paderborn 19 21:31
14 SC Freiburg 18 21:26
15 Hertha BSC 18 24:37

16 Hamburger SV 17 9:21

17 VfB Stuttgart 17 20:33
18 Borussia Dortmund 16 18:26

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

We're doing a triple header in March with tickets already sorted for Fortuna Dusseldorf on the Friday and Cologne on the Sunday.

The only snag is that according to their website, Schalke's Saturday game against Hoffenheim is already sold out.

I've been to Schalke before, but has anybody had any experiencing of travelling without a ticket. I presume they have touts, but are we best going to the ground early or hanging around the hauptbahnhof?

 

[Ruhr]

I've been to Schalke before, but has anybody had any experiencing of travelling without a ticket. I presume they have touts, but are we best going to the ground early or hanging around the hauptbahnhof?

They are most of the time on the bridge between the stadium and the tram station

 

[lancs blue]

Lively start at the Allianz, Jerome Boateng red carded for denying a goalscoring opportunity and Schalke's penalty is a backpass to Neuer. Nastasic starts for Schalke on the left of a back three.

 

[Alex - City Matters]

Currently 1-1

Robben with the goal for Bayern
Höwedes with the equaliser

 

[Saxmundham Blue]

Nastasic was quietly impressive for Schalke - looked very comfortable with and without the ball, always well positioned

He is still only 21 - think in time he will be a top class defender, hopefully for us