Bundesliga review part 2. the new one :)

[Alex - City Matters]

Anyone see the pyro display from St. Pauli today at Heidenheim, no doubt a huge fine will be coming from the DFB.

 

[Maldeika]

Essentially the Aue supporters likened Mateschitz (creator of Red Bull) to a Nazi.

I think the banner roughly translates to "An Austrian calls and you follow blind and every child knows how that ends. You would have been good Nazis!"

I think it's good humour but I can understand Aue distancing themselves and apologising on behalf of their supporters.

Good humour? No. I know that in the English speaking countries there is jokes like this - in Germany everything concerning the Third Reich is nothing to make jokes about - and is seen like this from about everybody.

Oh - it is not that Germans do not understand humour. But I guess every country/culture has topics that you just do not make jokes about.

 

[Schalker]

..
Oh - it is not that Germans do not understand humour. But I guess every country/culture has topics that you just do not make jokes about.

You proved it again the famous German sense of humor ;o)))

edit: and as far as Innsbruckblue is concerned the Austrian sense of humor too

 

[Innsbruckblue]

..
Oh - it is not that Germans do not understand humour. But I guess every country/culture has topics that you just do not make jokes about.

You proved it again the famous German sense of humor ;o)))

edit: and as far as Innsbruckblue is concerned the Austrian sense of humor too

Strange comment to make seeing as I'm not Austrian.

 

[supercrystal7]

If Wolfsburg become one of the top teams in Europe getting to CL finals etc then they will get fans in Germany. As for history you can make your own. Reports said Schurrle was good yesterday.

Dortmund have actually defended quite well in recent games. Hummels in particular has acted like a true captain. Gundogan and Reus still not back to their best, but had moments. A big win for them and they have some winnable fixtures. Notably Mkhitaryan, Ramos and Immobile were all on the bench. Kagawa was not great, but grew into the game. They still need a 10 and a proper striker. They have some winnable fixtures, but they need to win every game from now till the end of the year to give them confidence for Juventus.

Bayern scored two incredible goals from Robben and Alaba. They rely on Robben a bit too much now. They have not been creating a lot in recent games. I don't see them winning the CL, but no way Wolfsburg can catch them. The cup might be interesting though.

 

[Maldeika]

If Wolfsburg become one of the top teams in Europe getting to CL finals etc then they will get fans in Germany. As for history you can make your own. Reports said Schurrle was good yesterday.

No - or better, not in abundance. In China or elsewhere, maybe they'll get a new hipster club - but in Germany apart from the region: No.

Leverkusen is a top German club since years - and has been in a CL final. Wolfsburg has been Bundesliga Champion. Just, no, they won't.

Dortmund have actually defended quite well in recent games. Hummels in particular has acted like a true captain. Gundogan and Reus still not back to their best, but had moments. A big win for them and they have some winnable fixtures. Notably Mkhitaryan, Ramos and Immobile were all on the bench. Kagawa was not great, but grew into the game. They still need a 10 and a proper striker. They have some winnable fixtures, but they need to win every game from now till the end of the year to give them confidence for Juventus.

Freiburg could not have made it more easy for them. Presents - and then they even took the ball... Maybe now for the sixth or seventh or eighth time this season the crisis is over and they will start to do a series... ;)

Bayern scored two incredible goals from Robben and Alaba. They rely on Robben a bit too much now. They have not been creating a lot in recent games. I don't see them winning the CL, but no way Wolfsburg can catch them. The cup might be interesting though.

Right now I do not see anybody winning the CL. But it is not won in February and not in autumn. For me it is normal problems because of different changes with the system and the usual problems after the winter break. Let's wait and see...

 

[supercrystal7]

No - or better, not in abundance. In China or elsewhere, maybe they'll get a new hipster club - but in Germany apart from the region: No.

Leverkusen is a top German club since years - and has been in a CL final. Wolfsburg has been Bundesliga Champion. Just, no, they won't.

Neither of those clubs had sustained success or won the CL. By a top club I meant winning several league titles for a 10 year period and possibly a CL. City shirts are now sold all over London. My girlfriend should support Hamburg like the rest of her family, but supports Bayern, because they win. I have never known a club to be successful and not popular.

Leverkusen are called Neverkusen and Wolfsburg have done nothing in Europe. These things don't change immediately, but if either club had 10 years of challenging Bayern making CL finals then the younger generation would flock to them.

Freiburg could not have made it more easy for them. Presents - and then they even took the ball... Maybe now for the sixth or seventh or eighth time this season the crisis is over and they will start to do a series... ;)

Maybe we will see. Depends on their luck with injuries.

Right now I do not see anybody winning the CL. But it is not won in February and not in autumn. For me it is normal problems because of different changes with the system and the usual problems after the winter break. Let's wait and see...

I agree there is no standout team, but that alone should be worrying. Bayern were one of the dominant teams in the last 3 years. In theory you have gotten a stronger squad where as Madrid, Dortmund, Barca, Atletico and PSG have all become weaker. Arguably Juventus and City have remained the same. Only Chelsea have become strong yet now you no longer the stand out team compared to them.

The next few weeks will tell us a lot.

EDIT

What do you make of Selke and Werner by the way? Would be nice to hear your opinions on which is the more promising.
How do you think Meyer compares to a young Gotze?
Do you think Rudiger can be a top defender?
Hojbjerg, Max Arnold or Goretzka which do you think has more potential?

 

[Maldeika]

What do you make of Selke and Werner by the way? Would be nice to hear your opinions on which is the more promising.
How do you think Meyer compares to a young Gotze?
Do you think Rudiger can be a top defender?
Hojbjerg, Max Arnold or Goretzka which do you think has more potential?

You cannot say anything about them and who is getting to which heights. Until now you just can say that they will make decent Bundesliga professionals - and hopefully they do not get hyped too much as that never was good. The last six or seven years really have shown that. I love to look into the list of the Fritz-Walter-Medal. It's rewarded to the most promising U19, U18 and U17 player of each season.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Walter_Medal

They have all a lot talent. Rüdiger reminds a little bit on young Boateng - he needs to calm down and concentrate and work on his distribution but when he works hard and makes the right moves that will not be a problem. He has the physical attributes for a good defender.

Höjbjerg - at him I do not know if he is the biggest talent football wise - atleast the usual fans that love to hype young players do not do it with him. But - I have seen him playing in command for the U23 team of Bayern when he was 17/18 and he was bossing the team - and I have seen him keeping Ibrahimovic calm in his first match for the national team a year ago. For such a young player he already has a real personality - and I think that is something that is very important in addition to all other factors that should not be underestimated.

Look at Emre Can... With 16/17 the most promising of his year. With 18/19 he seemed to get one of this talents who is too arrogant to really work on it. I think he did a lot partying, too. Out of the environment in Leverkusen he seemed to have found it again - and in Liverpool he now somehow looks like he is gonna have a big career coming.

There is so much factors...

 

[Bembeltown]

Can currently looks like the bargain of the century for Liverpool...only 10 million pound!

Considering that Bayern bought an aging Alonso, who seems to be completely out of form at the moment, and let a young talent like Can go might become one of the few wrong decisions made by Bayern/Pep.

 

[Maldeika]

Can currently looks like the bargain of the century for Liverpool...only 10 million pound!

Considering that Bayern bought an aging Alonso, who seems to be completely out of form at the moment, and let a young talent like Can go might become one of the few wrong decisions made by Bayern/Pep.

Like I said - he did not seem to develop the way he probably should in the last two years at Bayern. It looked like this from the outside. Sometimes players that made it to a professional contract of a big club think they have made it - but that is the time when it really starts and you have to work the most. Maybe moving out of the boarding house and living on your own without supervision when you are 18 does the rest. Maybe the change of scenery is all what it needed with Can or getting over the "I am 18 and I am free"-phase.

In the matches he played for the Bayern professionals he looked pretty lost - whereas the much younger Höjbjerg looked a lot better then. And it was time for the loan - or here a sale with buy back clause.

That is why I do not like the predictions about the youth players. Just as an example - who would have thought 6 years ago when both were 19 and playing in the 3rd league that it would be Müller and Reus who would be the two that would be the best of their age year 5 years later? None of them really had youth caps - Müller had some with the U15. There were others in their teams that played in the youth national teams and never made the step. And a lot being hyped at the age of 19 that afterwards never had the big heights. Take Marko Marin the "new Messi" for example.

Draxler looked like the superstar to be with 19 and 20 - he does not look like that anymore. Götze seemed to get to real big heights - he still is just a reserve player in the national team and only no. 5 on the team sheet of the offensives at Bayern. They are not at the end of their development, but...