Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[bayern blade]

Bayern rested half their team and still looked so strong. Such an amazing squad. The race for fourth looking like it could be over soon. It looks like the same four as last year. Wolfsburg with the money they have will probably take Gladbach's place. Dortmund killed Frankfurt on the counter. If they make the cup final, the CL quarters and get top 3 then Klopp has worked wonders considering the injury crisis.

A lot of people are wondering if the injuries are down to the training, they have had so many it can hardly be just bad luck.

 

[supercrystal7]

Bayern rested half their team and still looked so strong. Such an amazing squad. The race for fourth looking like it could be over soon. It looks like the same four as last year. Wolfsburg with the money they have will probably take Gladbach's place. Dortmund killed Frankfurt on the counter. If they make the cup final, the CL quarters and get top 3 then Klopp has worked wonders considering the injury crisis.

A lot of people are wondering if the injuries are down to the training, they have had so many it can hardly be just bad luck.

I don't think it's the training necessarily, but a combination of the high energy pressing, the small squad, the lack of rotation and competing on all fronts. Klopp rarely changes his team and they have had the misfortune of having very difficult CL games. When all these things are put together then players are going to get injured.

 

[Maldeika]

And their players are always rushed too early back into the matches...

 

[Tbilisi]

Been twice to Hamburg and have to say unlike other German fans they are an unfriendly lot.St Pauli the same.

It always depends on which fans you meet - it like everywhere - there is assholes in every crowd.

But yes - there is a mentality difference in Germany between North and South and West and East. But that is another story of a lot of stereotypes.

I find it funny how whenever i meet people from different regions in Germany the other has some "interesting" things to say about the other...

Probably just ran into the wrong people in Hamburg but on the train in we got chatting to an old German lady.I asked her if she liked English people and she was quite honest and said no....this was due to a firestorm that killed 40,000 people in one night after an allied bombing...I was quite shocked and thought this may have been passed down to the younger generation.

 

[Bembeltown]

It always depends on which fans you meet - it like everywhere - there is assholes in every crowd.

But yes - there is a mentality difference in Germany between North and South and West and East. But that is another story of a lot of stereotypes.

I find it funny how whenever i meet people from different regions in Germany the other has some "interesting" things to say about the other...

Probably just ran into the wrong people in Hamburg but on the train in we got chatting to an old German lady.I asked her if she liked English people and she was quite honest and said no....this was due to a firestorm that killed 40,000 people in one night after an allied bombing...I was quite shocked and thought this may have been passed down to the younger generation.

Well I guess the older generation still has those sentiments against each other and I would assume its not any different amongst the older English folks (or French, Dutch, Polish whatever people).

I doubt that the younger generation has a problem with English people and to be honest I always found the English media/press trying to keep the "hatred alive". Just have a look at whats happening in the English press when we play each other in football....

For us a match against England is special as you are still a respected team and you invented this wonderful sport after all. But other than that that´s it from a German point of view, while I feel in England there is more to it than just a game of football.

Germany vs. Netherlands or Austria is much more tense than England - Germany.

Of course we like to make fun of you (believe it or not...we sometimes like to have a laugh, but only when no one else is around to witness it and spread the word) and while you call us Krauts we call you "Insel Affen" (roughly translated to Island Apes), but that´s just banter. :)

 

[Ruhr]

I agree with most of yours, Bembeltown. People in germany are always a bit embarassed about that british press stuff, mostly about the war language, which is a taboo in germany.

Hamburg is generally seen as the most "british" city in germany, regarding the "understatement" and "coolness" or "stiffness" of the people (at least the upper class).

 

[Rotweiss]

Bayern rested half their team and still looked so strong. Such an amazing squad. The race for fourth looking like it could be over soon. It looks like the same four as last year. Wolfsburg with the money they have will probably take Gladbach's place. Dortmund killed Frankfurt on the counter. If they make the cup final, the CL quarters and get top 3 then Klopp has worked wonders considering the injury crisis.

A lot of people are wondering if the injuries are down to the training, they have had so many it can hardly be just bad luck.

To be honest you can say the same thing about us and Schalke. Not entirely sure if it's because of his training regimes. He hasn't really had that much opportunity to rotate, like crystal mentioned, their CL group really didn't allow it as well.

 

[Tbilisi]

I find it funny how whenever i meet people from different regions in Germany the other has some "interesting" things to say about the other...

Probably just ran into the wrong people in Hamburg but on the train in we got chatting to an old German lady.I asked her if she liked English people and she was quite honest and said no....this was due to a firestorm that killed 40,000 people in one night after an allied bombing...I was quite shocked and thought this may have been passed down to the younger generation.

Well I guess the older generation still has those sentiments against each other and I would assume its not any different amongst the older English folks (or French, Dutch, Polish whatever people).

I doubt that the younger generation has a problem with English people and to be honest I always found the English media/press trying to keep the "hatred alive". Just have a look at whats happening in the English press when we play each other in football....

For us a match against England is special as you are still a respected team and you invented this wonderful sport after all. But other than that that´s it from a German point of view, while I feel in England there is more to it than just a game of football.

Germany vs. Netherlands or Austria is much more tense than England - Germany.

Of course we like to make fun of you (believe it or not...we sometimes like to have a laugh, but only when no one else is around to witness it and spread the word) and while you call us Krauts we call you "Insel Affen" (roughly translated to Island Apes), but that´s just banter. :)

I love German people so friendly whenever I have been,apart from Hamburg.

Why Island Apes?......on second thoughts don't explain it!

 

[bayern blade]

Probably just ran into the wrong people in Hamburg but on the train in we got chatting to an old German lady.I asked her if she liked English people and she was quite honest and said no....this was due to a firestorm that killed 40,000 people in one night after an allied bombing...I was quite shocked and thought this may have been passed down to the younger generation.

This is an attitude that you can understandably find among older people who lived through the bombing in cities like Hamburg and Dresden, not so much in towns less heavily bombed. You don't generally hear it from younger people.
When I watch Bayern in Hamburg I stay in a hotel in Hammerbrook. Walking the streets of this once working class district you see no houses, no pubs or bars, no old buildings at all. Everything is gone, totally destroyed now it is largely an industrial estate.
Walking the streets late at night after a game, searching for an off license, I tried to imagine the walls of fire roaring down the street at hurricane speed but of course you can't.
It wasn't in one night btw, Operation Gomorrah took place over a week with repeated attacks including on residential areas. Whichever side you are on you can certainly understand the feelings of those on the receiving end. Hamburg is very interesting for anyone interested in WWII, there is much to see. The famous battleship Bismarck was built at Blohm and Voss shipworks and they still have unused belt armour plating from her on display.

Right that's today's history lesson, now back to the football !

 

[Maldeika]

Another word about the War thing. I guess a lot of the view here in Germany does not have to do with the war but with the time afterwards - and maybe in which region you grew up. I am born in the South of Germany - here there for sure has always been some American influence because of the US Army that was stationed here for a very long time. I guess all of us have relatives in the US or know people that have relatives in the US. I do not know how it is in the other parts of Germany where the British Forces were stationed.

It took until the 90s to rebuild a lot of the buildings that were bombed during World War II. I grew up partly in Würzburg where the whole city center was made to ashes and during my childhood I often heard stories - but the "survivors" get less. My father is born D-day, when everything was starting to end - and gets 70 in March. That just shows how "far" back this war is.

-------------

Back to football...

First interview of Magath at Fulham

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9AkQfWw3Q[/youtube]

 

[Ruhr]

Holtby looks happy .-)

 

[Maldeika]

Holtby looks happy .-)

He does not have to be happy. He is in relegation fight what could cost some people at the club jobs etc. The next few month will really show what cloth he is cut out of. For me with him I still am in doubt if he can be a very good player or if he just will be mediocre. He is talented - but you have the discipline and the mentality if you really want to go somewhere.

 

[supercrystal7]

Holtby looks happy .-)

He does not have to be happy. He is in relegation fight what could cost some people at the club jobs etc. The next few month will really show what cloth he is cut out of. For me with him I still am in doubt if he can be a very good player or if he just will be mediocre. He is talented - but you have the discipline and the mentality if you really want to go somewhere.

I think he has been good in what I have seen of him so far. Has already created a couple of goals and has a lot of energy. I am surprised that Tottenham let him go, but something was clearly amiss there. If Everton are Europe always a possibility he goes there or back to Germany. I think it would be worth the gamble for Dortmund if Gundogan leaves. I cannot see Schalke needing him since they have Boateng and Meyer.

 

[Maldeika]

Holtby looks happy .-)

He does not have to be happy. He is in relegation fight what could cost some people at the club jobs etc. The next few month will really show what cloth he is cut out of. For me with him I still am in doubt if he can be a very good player or if he just will be mediocre. He is talented - but you have the discipline and the mentality if you really want to go somewhere.

I think he has been good in what I have seen of him so far. Has already created a couple of goals and has a lot of energy. I am surprised that Tottenham let him go, but something was clearly amiss there. If Everton are Europe always a possibility he goes there or back to Germany. I think it would be worth the gamble for Dortmund if Gundogan leaves. I cannot see Schalke needing him since they have Boateng and Meyer.

They just loaned him out. If you see how far some others are that are as old as he is (and he was somebody that was already talked about very early) he still needs to wake up and get going. He gets 24 this year and already played in the 2nd Bundesliga in 08/09 and in the 1st Bundesliga since 09/10. Its his 6th year in professional football.

 

[Alex - Not City Matters]

Hope Magath will do a Pocchetino just to annoy the press.

 

[Ruhr]

Results from the weekend

Mainz 05 2-0 Hannover 96, att. 26,754
1-0 Malli 51. Min
2-0 Choupo-Moting 90. + 4 Min.
96´s good start with the new coach already had come to an end

Bor. Dortmund 4-0 Eintracht Frankfurt, att. 80,100 (sold out)
1-0 Aubameyang 10. Min
2-0 Aubameyang 21. Min
3-0 Lewandowski 47. Min
4-0 Jojic 68. Min
Frankfurt playing B-teams against Bayern and Dortmund these days

Bayern München 4-0 SC Freiburg, att. 71,137 (sold out)
1-0 Dante 19. Min
2-0 Shaqiri 34. Min.
3-0 Shaqiri 42. Min
4-0 Pizarro 88. Min

Werder Bremen 1-1 Bor. Mönchengladbach, 41,100 (sold out)
0-1 Raffael 6. Min
1-1 Obraniak 88. Min
Late equalizer for Werder giving them some hope for the relegation fight

1899 Hoffenheim 4-1 VfB Stuttgart, att. 29,847
1-0 Schipplock 12. Min
2-0 Volland 49. Min.
3-0 Schipplock 66. Min
3-1 Rüdiger 78. Min
4-0 Roberto Firmino 90. Min. pen
Just everyone is talking about the downfall of Hamburg, while Stuttgart is also on the way out of the Bundesliga

Eintracht Braunschweig 4-2 Hamburger SV at. 23,200 (sold out)
0-1 Lasogga 23. Min.
1-1 Kumbela 51. Min
2-1 Kumbela 61. Min
2-2 Ilicevic 76. Min
3-2 Kumbela 85. Min.
4-2 Hochscheidt 90. + 3 Min
now Bert van Marwijk sacked, Mirko Slomka in charge of HSV

Bayer Leverkusen 1-2 Schalke 04, att. 30,210 (sold out)
0-1 Goretzka 28. Min
1-1 Santana 66. Min o.g
1-2 Huntelaar 74. Min
Very fine goal by 19-year old talent Leon Goretzka. Maybe he finally had his breakthrough

FC Augsburg 0-1 1. FC Nürnberg, att. 30, 660
0-1 Drmic 65. Min
THE CLUB, as Nürnberg is called, is by far the strongest team in the relegation zone atm

Hertha BSC 1-2 VFL Wolfsburg, att. 40,648
1-0 Skjelbred 21. Min
1-1 Knoche 58. Min
1-2 Caligiuri 78. Min
Wolfsburg´s hope for the Champions League is still alive

1 Bayern München 59 57:9

2 Bay.Leverkusen 43 38:22
3 Bor.Dortmund 42 51:24

4 FC Schalke 04 40 41:30

5 VfL Wolfsburg 36 35:25
6 Bor.M'gladbach 34 37:26

7 FSV Mainz 05 33 31:35
8 Hertha BSC 31 32:26
9 FC Augsburg 31 30:30
10 TSG Hoffenheim 25 44:44
11 Hannover 96 24 29:37
12 Etr.Frankfurt 21 24:38
13 Werder Bremen 21 25:46
14 1.FC Nürnberg 20 25:36
15 VfB Stuttgart 19 34:45

16 SC Freiburg 18 20:40

17 Hamburger SV 16 35:51
18 Eintracht Braunschweig 15 15:39

 

[Alex - Not City Matters]

So, who do we think is going to be relegated?

I personally think it'll be Braunschweig, and one of Nürnberg, Hamburg or Werder with one of the remaining going into the play-off.

Although Braunschweig have done well as of late, I don't think they have enough to stay up. Then the others I think it'll be down to who is worse than the other, which at the moment looks to be HSV. I think Stuttgart have enough quality and will eventually find some form.

 

[Maldeika]

So, who do we think is going to be relegated?

I personally think it'll be Braunschweig, and one of Nürnberg, Hamburg or Werder with one of the remaining going into the play-off.

Although Braunschweig have done well as of late, I don't think they have enough to stay up. Then the others I think it'll be down to who is worse than the other, which at the moment looks to be HSV. I think Stuttgart have enough quality and will eventually find some form.

Nürnberg will get out of it. Even if that team always had a bad karma. But they started with 3 wins out of 4 matches (the loss was against Bayern) into the second part of the season - and apart from their ability not to win in the first part of the season they only lost 7 of now 21 matches.

Yes - somehow it looks like one of the 2 north clubs Hamburg or Bremen + Braunschweig for the last two ranks.

 

[supercrystal7]

Not watching, but Leverkusen embarrassing the Bundesliga again. It reflects very badly on Bayern when Leverkusen, currently 2nd in the league are put to the sword like this. Next week Schalke, who really should be good enough to give Madrid a game, are likely to get a beating too. It's strange how German players are so weak mentally now. Out of the new generation there's only Muller. Even the past generation, which was one of the weakest in German history was full of mental giants like Ballack (ironic that he lost more than any other player), Hamann, Klose, Kahn, Lehmann etc.

 

[Bembeltown]

Not watching, but Leverkusen embarrassing the Bundesliga again. It reflects very badly on Bayern when Leverkusen, currently 2nd in the league are put to the sword like this. Next week Schalke, who really should be good enough to give Madrid a game, are likely to get a beating too. It's strange how German players are so weak mentally now. Out of the new generation there's only Muller. Even the past generation, which was one of the weakest in German history was full of mental giants like Ballack (ironic that he lost more than any other player), Hamann, Klose, Kahn, Lehmann etc.

One of the reasons why our National team will win fuck all again this summer. :)

Lots of players who care more about how the look on camera than actually playing football, a clueless coach and some big game bottlers like Özil.

Talent doesn't win World Cups.