Bundesliga review

[Bembeltown]

As most of you know there is currently the winter break in Germany, so the majority of teams fly to training camps in the south.

However there is still at least some football as its an old tradition to have indoor football tournaments in the Christmas period.

Worse than "real" football but still a possibility to get drunk and enjoy yourself:

St.Pauli:
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUEwZxcjkPY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUEwZxcjkPY</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Bfb6aGtbA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Bfb6aGtbA</a>

BSG Chemie Leipzig:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtSOL732bMo&feature=player_embedded" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtSOL732 ... r_embedded</a>

 

[davymcfc]

Do the players have a month of intense training or do they go back to their countries for a Christmas break?

 

[Bembeltown]

Do the players have a month of intense training or do they go back to their countries for a Christmas break?

They usually have a couple of days off around Christmas, but then its starting again with intense training, training camps and indoor football events.

 

[davymcfc]

Do the players have a month of intense training or do they go back to their countries for a Christmas break?

They usually have a couple of days off around Christmas, but then its starting again with intense training, training camps and indoor football events.

It's a bit shit without the bundesliga. I always like keeping an eye on it.

 

[Bembeltown]

Other than that Alexander Meier from Eintracht Frankfurt was picked as the player of the first half of the season by bundesliga.de users with 42,45%. Second place is Mario Götze with 25%.

 

[qop]

42,45%? :D

Guess some fan Forum put in some work.

 

[Maldeika]

42,45%? :D

Guess some fan Forum put in some work.

Probably. So Meier certainly had a real great season by now and is a great surprise for most.

But bundesliga.de does not even have him in the best eleven (voted the same way) of half of the season:

I do not know why Reus is there - that is fan hype again. If you look into the kicker marks or the marks the own fans give him at transfermarkt.de he was only mediocre and has been rank 26 midfielder in kicker marks. Hummels even more - when it means Bundesliga there have been a lot of defenders better than him. Alaba - so he has great potential - did not have so many matches this season. Oczipka from Frankfurt should be the left full back in that list.

Kießling should be there, too, instead of Mandzukic.

 

[LoveCity]

It's a very two-team biased 11 especially considering Leverkusen are 2nd!

 

[Maldeika]

It's a very two-team biased 11 especially considering Leverkusen are 2nd!

You are right. Ribery, Müller, Dante, Götze, Lewandowski (later only in a 4-4-2 because Kießling was the better forward) and Adler should be there - maybe Lahm, as there is not really any competition in that spot. But the rest - no.

 

[Maldeika]

Do the players have a month of intense training or do they go back to their countries for a Christmas break?

They usually have a couple of days off around Christmas, but then its starting again with intense training, training camps and indoor football events.

Does any Bundesliga team still take part in indoor events? Some years ago - yes. I remember that I have been in the Olympic hall for an indoor tournament in the end of the 90s when Jarolim still played for Bayern. But even then they usually did not start the stars at this events as they were scared of injuries.

The holidays of the Bayern players started December 19th and lasts until they fly to Qatar on January 2nd. They stay there until January 9th - play 2 test matches against a team of Qatar and Schalke who are at the same hotel and training ground - and play another 2 test matches against Basel and Unterhaching (3rd league team on the outskirts of Munich) in the following week. The Bundesliga starts again January 19th - but the two-matches-a-week-rhythm starts again a month later with the match against Arsenal. In the for top teams usual two-matches-a-week-rhythm there is no time to really work on basic tactics - training often consists out of regeneration and preparation for the next match - but in the first four weeks teams like Bayern or Dortmund will work on their usual tactics and the endurance, too, and will try to peak again later.