Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[supercrystal7]

Dortmund were very unfortunate not to win yesterday, let alone lose the game. It seems whoever comes in to Dortmund and poaches their players, they always come back stronger with better or equal signings. Really do think they will shut Guardiola up this season and beat the "new Barca" to the title, here's hoping anyway!

I don't think they will. They struggle to break down defensive teams and are in the middle of an injury crisis, which does not look like improving any time soon. They should have sold Lewandowski and used the money to buy a replacement rather than letting him go for free.

 

[dan.j.mcfc]

Dortmund were very unfortunate not to win yesterday, let alone lose the game. It seems whoever comes in to Dortmund and poaches their players, they always come back stronger with better or equal signings. Really do think they will shut Guardiola up this season and beat the "new Barca" to the title, here's hoping anyway!

I don't think they will. They struggle to break down defensive teams and are in the middle of an injury crisis, which does not look like improving any time soon. They should have sold Lewandowski and used the money to buy a replacement rather than letting him go for free.

They don't struggle to break teams down at all, they are the top scores in the league and have scored six more than Bayern. If anything they should have many more goals if their finishing at been better at times. The only reason they're not top is a red card and a penalty yesterday, other than that they have been pretty formidable.

 

[supercrystal7]

Dortmund were very unfortunate not to win yesterday, let alone lose the game. It seems whoever comes in to Dortmund and poaches their players, they always come back stronger with better or equal signings. Really do think they will shut Guardiola up this season and beat the "new Barca" to the title, here's hoping anyway!

I don't think they will. They struggle to break down defensive teams and are in the middle of an injury crisis, which does not look like improving any time soon. They should have sold Lewandowski and used the money to buy a replacement rather than letting him go for free.

They don't struggle to break teams down at all, they are the top scores in the league and have scored six more than Bayern. If anything they should have many more goals if their finishing at been better at times. The only reason they're not top is a red card and a penalty yesterday, other than that they have been pretty formidable.

Not true. Yesterday for all the possession they had, they still did not create enough. Through out this season it has been a problem. Without Gundogan and Goetze, they lack that bit of vision. Even in the cup games they have struggled to score against lower opposition. Of course once the game opens up Dortmund can run riot. Mhikytaryan is not the player they should have gone for. Said it before, but expect one of De Bruyne or Kagawa to join to try and help solve the problem.

 

[dan.j.mcfc]

I don't think they will. They struggle to break down defensive teams and are in the middle of an injury crisis, which does not look like improving any time soon. They should have sold Lewandowski and used the money to buy a replacement rather than letting him go for free.

They don't struggle to break teams down at all, they are the top scores in the league and have scored six more than Bayern. If anything they should have many more goals if their finishing at been better at times. The only reason they're not top is a red card and a penalty yesterday, other than that they have been pretty formidable.

Not true. Yesterday for all the possession they had, they still did not create enough. Through out this season it has been a problem. Without Gundogan and Goetze, they lack that bit of vision. Even in the cup games they have struggled to score against lower opposition. Of course once the game opens up Dortmund can run riot. Mhikytaryan is not the player they should have gone for. Said it before, but expect one of De Bruyne or Kagawa to join to try and help solve the problem.

Describe what you mean by struggling to break teams down? Being top scorers in the league, makes what you say seem very very wrong. Its like saying a team is defensively all over the place, lacking any organisation yet they've conceded the least in the league?

Also just to mention, Dortmund has 20 shots yesterday to Bayerns 21, so pretty similar in terms of chances. Can I ask why you think Mkhitaryan isn't the player they need? His goal scoring record is phenomenal, 25 in 29 last season from an attacking mid, he has 4 in 8 or something already for Dortmund. Serious question here, do you have some kind of agenda against Dortmund that I don't know about?

 

[supercrystal7]

They don't struggle to break teams down at all, they are the top scores in the league and have scored six more than Bayern. If anything they should have many more goals if their finishing at been better at times. The only reason they're not top is a red card and a penalty yesterday, other than that they have been pretty formidable.

Not true. Yesterday for all the possession they had, they still did not create enough. Through out this season it has been a problem. Without Gundogan and Goetze, they lack that bit of vision. Even in the cup games they have struggled to score against lower opposition. Of course once the game opens up Dortmund can run riot. Mhikytaryan is not the player they should have gone for. Said it before, but expect one of De Bruyne or Kagawa to join to try and help solve the problem.

Describe what you mean by struggling to break teams down? Being top scorers in the league, makes what you say seem very very wrong. Its like saying a team is defensively all over the place, lacking any organisation yet they've conceded the least in the league?

I mean precisely that. When teams come to park the bus, content on getting a draw, shutting down spaces; Dortmund struggle to create enough chances. When given space or even worse the chance to counter they are deadly. The goal against Marseille was a prime example of this. However, in open games they are perhaps the best in the world. They can really thrash teams once they make the break through, but making the break through is a problem they have. The bigger they become the more teams are going to be content to get the point even playing at home.

 

[Rhineland]

Regionalliga West live on Sport1 (DSF) un tuesday, 8. October KFC Uerdingen - Viktoria Köln

http://mediencenter.sport1.de/de/sendungen/programm_fussball_live/article_42304.html

 

[hideniton]

I mean precisely that. When teams come to park the bus, content on getting a draw, shutting down spaces; Dortmund struggle to create enough chances. When given space or even worse the chance to counter they are deadly. The goal against Marseille was a prime example of this. However, in open games they are perhaps the best in the world. They can really thrash teams once they make the break through, but making the break through is a problem they have. The bigger they become the more teams are going to be content to get the point even playing at home.

Spot on.

It seems whenever Dortmund face disciplined teams that park the bus from the get go they tend to struggle to create high quality chances. The recent cup games spring to mind as well as the league games against Braunschweig, Bremen, Frankfurt and Nürnberg. The games against Bremen and Frankfurt were a little different though. Against Bremen they created good chances at the end of the fist half but failed to convert them. After they went up 1-0 in minute 55' the game was pretty much over for Bremen who looked content as long as they averted a high scoring defeat and Dortmund still had some good chances to score but the ball just wouldn't go in. Against Frankfurt Dortmund were very lucky to get that win. The Frankfurt game was different from the others because Eintracht weren't content with just parking the bus. In contrast to Braunschweig, Bremen and Nürnberg they didn't just hoof the ball forward when in possession. Their short passing and quick counter play was a joy to watch. Would have deserved a point there. Btw... I won't talk about the Gladbach game. That was just sick. 27 shots to 6... how cruel to loose such a game. Well, Bayern didn't do much better. 27 shots as well and only scored once. Good for BVB. They're only one point behind right now. Looks like this year it will be a 3 horse race. Schalke and Gladbach are already too far behind to pose a threat and Hannover, Berlin or Stuttgart lack the quality to close such a gap anyway. With their squad depth and the players seemingly adapting to Pep's tactics I'd say Bayern are still heavy favorites to win the league. They might as well win it by 10 points or more if Dortmund continue the way they did so far.

Also just to mention, Dortmund has 20 shots yesterday to Bayerns 21, so pretty similar in terms of chances. Can I ask why you think Mkhitaryan isn't the player they need? His goal scoring record is phenomenal, 25 in 29 last season from an attacking mid, he has 4 in 8 or something already for Dortmund. Serious question here, do you have some kind of agenda against Dortmund that I don't know about?

The fact that Dortmund scored the most league goals so far pretty much originates from 3 matches. For their victories against Augsburg, Hamburg and Freiburg they scored 15 goals whereas they only scored 6 during the other 5 games. So that doesn't contradict their problems with breaking down well organised opponents at all. It just shows that Dortmund won't show mercy even after securing the win.

But their problems might as well be temporary. With time the new signings will gel with the team even better and fully adapt to Klopp's tactics. Still squad depth might be an issue.

 

[Maldeika]

It probably will not get a three-horse-race. Leverkusen will not have the strength of the other two. It is just a question if it will be a race between Dortmund and Munich - with Leverkusen hanging behind - or if Bayern will be able to push forward alone and Dortmund will fight with a Leverkusen team that might be less strong but more consistent.

Dortmund has two problems. One is their creativity against well organized teams. The other is the difficulty to keep their defensive system in a 2-matches-a-week rhythm. Compare the passing quotes of e.g. Bayern and Dortmund - not of the attacking players, where you have to play risky, but of midfield and defense. They are well below the most of the other teams on top in Europe. Hummels quote is lower because of the long passes he does - but not that of other players. If the ones that make the most passes of the teams are in the middle or in the back of a team and their passing quotes are between 80 and 85% it means that you have to do a lot running to get the ball back... You do that ones a week - you might be able to do that with a big bench with players of equal quality - but it gets difficult on basis of a 2-matches-a-week schedule. Then it is just normal that the players do not go all competitions with full energy - and that two steps too less after CL matches can be cruel.

My prediction: If their CL campaign runs successful Bayern probably will run away again - if not it will be a tough race for the Bundesliga.

 

[Rhineland]

10th round completed in the 2. Liga yesterday, with Düsseldorf rather surprisingly beating former leaders Greuther Fürth 2-1 after coming back from 1-0 down. Abysmal performance in the first half, very different story in the second second half.

With Fürth's failure to at least nick a point, Cologne went top (if only on goal difference) for the first time and are still unbeaten this season. Cologne missed two penalties inside of three minutes (hit bar and post) just before halftime, hit the woodwork on two other occasions and went behind a short time into the second half. They quickly recovered, equalised and should have taken the lead to secure victory. They didn't until the final minutes thanks to a scrappy goal. Lucky, but sure well deserved after having dominated most parts of the match.

It's a 4-horse race now, I wonder if Düsseldorf can make it a 5-horse race. No disrespect to the other teams, but perhaps apart from Frankfurt, who are well organised and did very well last season, I cannot see St. Pauli, Bielefeld or any other team to take part in the race for promotion. 1860 Munich seemed to be strong during the early rounds, but then lost steam and changed their manager. Funkel also gives more care to organisation and defensive play and in the long run that will prove costly as you need to score goals to actually win matches.

Cologne take on Munich next round for the monday night match (live on Sport1/DSF), 21th october. Hope I won't get proven wrong then with my valuation towards Munich :-)


1. 1. FC Köln 10 16:5 20
2. Greuther Fürth 10 18:9 20
3. 1. FC Union Berlin 10 20:12 20
4. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 10 15:11 17
5. FSV Frankfurt 10 15:9 15
6. FC St. Pauli 10 13:12 15
7. Arminia Bielefeld 10 17:19 14
8. TSV 1860 München 10 8:10 14
9. Fortuna Düsseldorf 10 11:12 13
10. Energie Cottbus 10 18:16 12
11. Karlsruher SC 10 9:10 12
12. VfR Aalen 10 9:12 12
13. SV Sandhausen 10 8:11 12
14. Erzgebirge Aue 10 12:17 12
15. SC Paderborn 10 12:19 12
16. VfL Bochum 10 12:12 11
17. Dynamo Dresden 10 10:18 8
18. FC Ingolstadt 04 10 9:18 7

 

[BayernMan]

Good idea!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jURa0W2k5LY[/youtube]