Bundesliga 2015/2016

Hopefully he learns it until the big matches come...

I have lost all hope in that regard. It's the most basic rule in world football and he doesn't get it. And I'm getting sick of the "big matches" thing. We've done almost nothing but lose big matches since February exactly because of this kind of nonsense.
 
I know De Bruyne had that bad miss but he still looks a class above anyone else in this Wolfsburg team.

Thats because he is. He carries their whole game, which is also why he started every single official game last season and was extremely rarely subbed off. I have very rarely seen a Bundesliga team, which is so dependent on a single player.

Wolfsburg needs to do anything to fend off the advances on him by other clubs. The drop in general quality would be way too severe no matter how much money they would get.
 
Karma bites Pep in the ass. Müller can't take part and Alonso, who has no business on the field, misses and Bayern lose the supercup final again. And of all people it's the Lord himself who ends it. Brilliant.
 
Müller seems to be really happy with that sub as well. Time to follow Basti to Manchester United, Thomas. :lol:

Always when Müller gets subbed in finals or semi finals Bayern...

It is a series - the golden rule. It happened so often. You win with him - and you loose without...
 
Bendtner, of course! Wish Neuer would have waited to see where they shot before chance-throwing himself. Not all penners are perfect in the corner.
 
Bendtner scoring the winning penalty after equalizing in the last minutes. Good stuff.

Also, De Bruyne is indispensable. Wolfsburg have lots of decent to very good players, but De Bruyne is the one that consistently makes the difference.
 
Casteels' German is seriously impressive... De Bruyne, on the other hand, clearly a case of Pfaff-Deutsch :lol:
 
Good game, great penalties, Pep needs to learn to never sub Müller in big matches. It always comes back to bite us.
 
A bit underwhelming game by Bayern. Douglas Costa looked interesting. Thiago once again invisible.
 
Soo, DFB cup time:

Bayern and Dortmund starting at the same time vs. Nöttingen (5th league) and Chemnitz (3rd league) in the first round and don´t seem to be taken much chances, playing with possible top first teams.

So far, only one Bundesliga club exited the first round (Hoffenheim vs. second league club 1860 Munich), but the biggest surprise was 5th league member Reutlingen beating Karlsruhe, who lost the relegation for the Bundesliga just a few months ago. The game included three penalties and three red cards for Karlsruhe.

EDIT: OK, I misread, the Bayern game is not until 16.00 German time :lol:
 
don´t seem to be taken much chances, playing with possible top first teams.
Is today's line-up in your opinion your best team?
BVB: Bürki, Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender, Gündogan, Castro, Reus, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang

Just curious. I thought Weigl looked fantastic in pre-season and could be the best possible Sahin replacement. Any news on Sahin's return? How long is he out?

Have you played a 433 in pre-season with a true 3 man midfield like the one today with Bender, Gündogan, Castro? I haven't seen enough of Dortmund so far, really looking forward to this season and what Tuchel does with the team.
 
Is today's line-up in your opinion your best team?
BVB: Bürki, Piszczek, Sokratis, Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender, Gündogan, Castro, Reus, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang

Just curious. I thought Weigl looked fantastic in pre-season and could be the best possible Sahin replacement. Any news on Sahin's return? How long is he out?

Have you played a 433 in pre-season with a true 3 man midfield like the one today with Bender, Gündogan, Castro? I haven't seen enough of Dortmund so far, really looking forward to this season and what Tuchel does with the team.

I have actually seen a different line up at first with Hofmann instead of Bender, so basically a Castro-Gündogan midfield. I do think this is a viable first eleven, especially against strong sides. A tad defensive for a 1st round game, but Tuchel is probably thinking "better save than sorry". It does involve every availabe key player of the team. For me Bürki-Hummels-Gündogan-Reus-Aubameyang is the axis the team will be built around with Mkhitaryan becoming close to being a clear starter.

I agree with your assessment about Weigl, who has been the biggest surprise of the pre season. I think him being left out today is more about giving both Castro and Bender game time. Sahin is in individual training at the moment and will be probably be built up slowly. We have the necessary players to be patient about that, but in top form Sahin is still arguably our best and most consisten central/defensive midfielder.

Most of our games so far were in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 formation which seems to be Tuchels most favoured set up at the moment.
 
How is Kagawa doing under Tuchel so far? Couldn't follow Dortmund's pre-season...
 
How is Kagawa doing under Tuchel so far? Couldn't follow Dortmund's pre-season...

Not too well, actually. He might be one of the loser of the pre season. As it stands now, you have Auba, Reus and Mkhitaryan as certain starter and then Kagawa, Kuba, Hofmann and Kampl battling for the remaining spot. The Pole is still struglling with his injury, but the two last named looked pretty good in the games so far.
 
I have actually seen a different line up at first with Hofmann instead of Bender, so basically a Castro-Gündogan midfield. I do think this is a viable first eleven, especially against strong sides. A tad defensive for a 1st round game, but Tuchel is probably thinking "better save than sorry". It does involve every availabe key player of the team. For me Bürki-Hummels-Gündogan-Reus-Aubameyang is the axis the team will be built around with Mkhitaryan becoming close to being a clear starter.

I agree with your assessment about Weigl, who has been the biggest surprise of the pre season. I think him being left out today is more about giving both Castro and Bender game time. Sahin is in individual training at the moment and will be probably be built up slowly. We have the necessary players to be patient about that, but in top form Sahin is still arguably our best and most consisten central/defensive midfielder.

Most of our games so far were in a 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 formation which seems to be Tuchels most favoured set up at the moment.
I thought that you played a 42xx in the EURO league qualifier with Weigl and Gündogan sitting in front of the defence, while the 4 attacking players interchanged a lot. Mkhitaryan often drifted to the left, so Reus could roam to the center, often getting ahead of Auba, who started as central forward, but became part of the offensive midfielder quite often.
 
I thought that you played a 42xx in the EURO league qualifier with Weigl and Gündogan sitting in front of the defence, while the 4 attacking players interchanged a lot. Mkhitaryan often drifted to the left, so Reus could roam to the center, often getting ahead of Auba, who started as central forward, but became part of the offensive midfielder quite often.

Gündogan was normally a good deal higher positioned as Weigl, who in turn played the anchor role in the midfield. Closer to a 4-1-4-1 than 4-2-3-1 for me.
 
Carl Zeiss Jena up 1:0 against good ol' HSV. Brilliant!

Not too well, actually. He might be one of the loser of the pre season. As it stands now, you have Auba, Reus and Mkhitaryan as certain starter and then Kagawa, Kuba, Hofmann and Kampl battling for the remaining spot. The Pole is still struglling with his injury, but the two last named looked pretty good in the games so far.

Shame... I always really liked Kagawa. In his pomp he gave me this Tsubasa Oozora feelgood vibe.
 
Line-up: Ulreich - Lewandowski, Costa, Rafinha, Boateng, Bernat, Götze, Lahm (K), Vidal, Alaba, Kimmich

Bench: Neuer - Dante, Benatia, Robben, Alonso, Müller, Hojbjerg

Should we start the Müller rumours again and bury the Götze rumours for now? Awesome to see the Kimmich start. Also, where's Thiago? Injured again? Oh and we play with 4 fullbacks again. The story of Pep's time in Munich. @Piratesoup will love it.
 
Good half so far. Mkhitaryan, Gündogan and Castro with strong performances (our quality in the CM even without Sahin :drool:).

Being able to keep Petersen was soo important for Freiburg. Best striker of the 2nd Bundesliga by a mile. Hopefully the key for them for the direct promotion.
 
Line-up: Ulreich - Lewandowski, Costa, Rafinha, Boateng, Bernat, Götze, Lahm (K), Vidal, Alaba, Kimmich

Bench: Neuer - Dante, Benatia, Robben, Alonso, Müller, Hojbjerg

Should we start the Müller rumours again and bury the Götze rumours for now? Awesome to see the Kimmich start. Also, where's Thiago? Injured again? Oh and we play with 4 fullbacks again. The story of Pep's time in Munich. @Piratesoup will love it.

As long as Alonso isn't starting I'm not even that mad (altough Pep's clearly just resting him for greater things to come). It's just the usual nonsense by now... oh, how my expectations have gone down. At least we'll get to see more of Kimmich. If he scores 4 and assists 5, he might be able to push Alonso out of the line up for good!

Thiago's absence is a bit worrying. Anybody got anything on his status?
 
Thats a pretty good bench the friends from the South of the Republic have there.....
 
Hamburg equalize after the ball had been clearly out before. Damn it.
 
Line-up: Ulreich - Lewandowski, Costa, Rafinha, Boateng, Bernat, Götze, Lahm (K), Vidal, Alaba, Kimmich

Bench: Neuer - Dante, Benatia, Robben, Alonso, Müller, Hojbjerg

Should we start the Müller rumours again and bury the Götze rumours for now? Awesome to see the Kimmich start. Also, where's Thiago? Injured again? Oh and we play with 4 fullbacks again. The story of Pep's time in Munich. @Piratesoup will love it.

I actually really like this lineup. I dont think that we´ll start many games like this, but it is still promising.

Götze - Lewandowski - Costa
Bernat - Vidal - Kimmich - Lahm
Alaba - Boateng - Rafinha
Ulreich
 
Thiago's absence is a bit worrying. Anybody got anything on his status?
Seems like he had some sort of gastrointestinal infection, which kept him from training the last few days. Nothing serious.
 
Seems like he had some sort of gastrointestinal infection, which kept him from training the last few days. Nothing serious.

Thank god.

Jena in the lead again vs. Hamburg. :D
 
As long as Alonso isn't starting I'm not even that mad (altough Pep's clearly just resting him for greater things to come). It's just the usual nonsense by now... oh, how my expectations have gone down. At least we'll get to see more of Kimmich. If he scores 4 and assists 5, he might be able to push Alonso out of the line up for good!

Thiago's absence is a bit worrying. Anybody got anything on his status?
:D Pep really doesn't trust anyone in that pivot role, does he!