Bundesliga 2015/2016

NoLogo said:
Damn I missed the Dortmund vs. Gladbach game. Great result for Dormtund.

What the hell happened to Dortmund though? 89% pass success rate and 61% possession? Never thought I would see those numbers in combination with this team. :lol:
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holy sh.t - but then gladbach were just incredibly bad really. favre looked and sounded clueless during and after the match as well.
 
That "offside" goal from Mkhitaryan was also very sweet (can't find a video of it unfortunately), it's amazing how that guy seems to have turned himself around.
 
Tuchel IMO is a brilliant young manager and looks like a great chap as well. Credited Klopp for their win yesterday for his work with the team. IMO they will do really good and like his style as well.
 
Enigma_87 said:
Tuchel IMO is a brilliant young manager and looks like a great chap as well. Credited Klopp for their win yesterday for his work with the team. IMO they will do really good and like his style as well.
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In a way I think that the "new" Dortmund is not that dissimilar from the old. Obviously the players are mostly the same, but Tuchel also didn't abandon Klopp's pressing as their foundation or the quick transitions after possession switches sides. Some of the goals from yesterday could've been typical goals of the Klopp era. Atm I'd say that Tuchel enhanced Klopp's Dortmund by teaching them patience in possession and better structuring their build up and passing.

Balu said:
I did post a clip of it yesterday.
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Thanks
 
Enigma_87 said:
Tuchel IMO is a brilliant young manager and looks like a great chap as well. Credited Klopp for their win yesterday for his work with the team. IMO they will do really good and like his style as well.
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He's annoying and whiny. Definitely brilliant though.
 
VfL Wolfsburg XI: Casteels - Vieirinha, Naldo, Klose, Rodriguez - Guilavogui, Arnold - De Bruyne, Kruse, Perisic - Dost

vs

Eintracht Frankfurt XI: Hradecky - Hasebe, Zambrano, Abraham, Oczipka - Russ, Reinartz - Aigner, Inui - Seferovic, Castaignos

starts in an hour.

Gustavo's still injured right? Anyone know when he's supposed to be back?
 
Gustl already played in a test match this week. So it will not be out for much longer.
 
Very curious as to how De Bruyne will do this season. He was immense last season.
 
What a cross from Kruse. 1-0 Wolfsburg, Perisic scores.
 
1-0 Wolfsburg

They had more possession but I thought Frankfurt looked a lot more dangerous and sharper so far. This will of course change everything.
 
2-0 Bas Dost. My 6-1 prediction might actually become true.
 
Tough for Frankfurt who had a promising start up to the 1-0 but the 2nd goal was a bit of a ridiculous goal to concede. Can't come to Wolfsburg and defend like that.
 
Poor Frankfurt. Imo they looked pretty well, like they wanted to win the game.
 
Seferovic had an eternity to time that cross.
 
I'm a bit surprised Wolfsburg decided to drop their 4-2-3-1 for a 4-4-2 so they can accomodate Kruse and Dost. De Bruyne hasn't done anything playing out wide so far.
 
Clear penalty... Zambrano being his usual self..
 
Zambrano is such a cúnt of a player. Still stupid by De Bruyne here.
 
0:2 Stuttgart - Cologne
Two goals in two or three minutes

So Cologne>Chelsea... (Cologne>Stuttgart>ManCity>Chelsea) and that without Podolski.

And now penalty for Stuttgart. 2:1

75 minutes nothing happened. Now 3 goals in less than 5 minutes...
 
one team to specifically look out for is schalke imho.
seems like their new manager andré breitenreiter approaches the team in the right ways, so one could almost be inclined to look forward to seeing their not-yet-golden generation return to fruition - i've somewhat felt that schalke's latest crop of exciting youth prospects have been stagnating for at least a year now, under roberto di matteo's rule, to be precise. i'm speaking of the likes of julian draxler (22), max meyer (19), leon goretzka (20), sead kolasinac (22, torn ACL in october 2014) or kaan ayhan (20), who had all flourished under former manager keller, more or less, with leroy sané (19) being the exception: he entered the stage under di matteo.
also, if it weren't for CB matija nastasic's (22) freshly torn achilles tendon that'll rule him out for several months, i'd be close to praising their magnificent, strong backbone of up-and-coming young guns as the next big thing to watch out for the seasons to come, which is also due to the fact that their newly acquired key-signing johannes geis is also only 22 years of age, and he has instantly taken on his very crucial role as their go-to playmaker and seems to be gelling in just fluently. geis came in for a fee of around €11m, after two highly acclaimed seasons at mainz 05. he's a calhanoglu-esque enigma of a sniper when it comes to free-kicks and also excels at long, wide opening passes and corner balls.

btw from what i've read, it seems like max meyer, once internationally proclaimed as the next german wunderkind in the vein of götze, kroos or özil, is now struggling to find his role and place under the new manager and in their momentary 4-4-2 formation, which rather caters to the abundance of goal-striking types in the likes of huntelaar, di santo, choupo-moting and sané. 26-year-old argentinian striker franco di santo just got brought in from bremen after a truely remarkable 14/15 campaign there (scoring 13 goals), and for an overly moderate buy-out clause of €6m that was.

so, if only breitenreiter somewhat miraculously goes on to steer that ship away from the bogus and odd delusions of grandeur that have been haunting schalke since, erm, forever, i could indeed see him as the right man - and a probable long-term solution - to successfully install a more down-to-earth, yet ambitious environment at the club - but then that's not just in his hands really, to phrase it diplomatically.

on the other hand, they've now lost a true veteran player in jefferson farfan, their stand-out RW, and they've so far been failing to get a hold of a proper 1-to-1 replacement, meaning an actual winger type who can cross and offers width. as for sidney sam, i don't know how much of an actual competitor for the now-vacant RW position he is. i feel it's safe to say that he has to find a way to shake off his rather catastrophic 14/15 campaign and find his flair back.
 
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Spahic at it again. According to Bild he was responsible for an altercation with teammate Holtby in the Hamburg locker room after the Bayern-match.

After the coach gave his speech, Holby is reported to have said "Come on guys, pull yourself together", which prompted Spahic to shout "Shut your face or I'll punch you in the mouth!"

What a ray of sunshine Spahic is. I still can't believe any club signed him after what he did in Leverkusen.
If the report is actually true it's not a good sign for Hamburg's professionalism that things like these get out of the locker room in the first place.
 
VorZakone said:
Dortmund should have went all in for Geis.
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I strongly disagree. It looks like Dortmund are playing something inbetween a 4141/4231. For the balance-giving CM they have Gündogan and Castro, maybe even Mkhitaryan if need be. So no need here.
For the more attacking CM position (or #10) they have Kagawa, Reus, Mkhitaryan and Castro can play here too. That at best leaves the solo / defensive 6 for him. Where they already have Sahin (who imho Geis is quite similar too, but still worse), Weigl and maybe Bender/Castro as more situational options.

If Weigl can't keep his current level then they could probably use another #6, but so far he's performed really well and in any case I think Mainz was asking too much with their demand of €12-15m and a share of his next sale.


If they decide to spend big it should be for a LB, (Schmelzer has had a very good start to the season, but he still has his limitations), a second striker or a more convincing AM alternative than Kampl. However aside from my doubts about Ramos (and assuming that Weigl will remain a useful option) I think that their squad looks excellent in terms of depth and first XI, at least by Bundesliga standards.
 
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Piratesoup said:
Spahic at it again. According to Bild he was responsible for an altercation with teammate Holtby in the Hamburg locker room after the Bayern-match.

After the coach gave his speech, Holby is reported to have said "Come on guys, pull yourself together", which prompted Spahic to shout "Shut your face or I'll punch you in the mouth!"

What a ray of sunshine Spahic is. I still can't believe any club signed him after what he did in Leverkusen.
If the report is actually true it's not a good sign for Hamburg's professionalism that things like these get out of the locker room in the first place.
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You cannot prevent stuff like this getting out of the dressing room. You always have 25 guys in it with individual interests and one will always (out of different interests) feed the press with stories.
 
do.ob said:
I strongly disagree. It looks like Dortmund are playing something inbetween a 4141/4231. For the balance-giving CM they have Gündogan and Castro, maybe even Mkhitaryan if need be. So no need here.
For the more attacking CM position (or #10) they have Kagawa, Reus, Mkhitaryan and Castro can play here too. That at best leaves the solo / defensive 6 for him. Where they already have Sahin (who imho Geis is quite similar too, but still worse), Weigl and maybe Bender/Castro as more situational options.

If Weigl can't keep his current level then they could probably use another #6, but so far he's performed really well and in any case I think Mainz was asking too much with their demand of €12-15m and a share of his next sale.


If they decide to spend big it should be for a LB, (Schmelzer has had a very good start to the season, but he still has his limitations), a second striker or a more convincing AM alternative than Kampl. However aside from my doubts about Ramos (and assuming that Weigl will remain a useful option) I think that their squad looks excellent in terms of depth and first XI, at least by Bundesliga standards.
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Are you joking? That's a great sum for Geis, I think you're giving him a disservice here, he was excellent at Mainz and has carried that form to Schalke.

As we're talking about players who should have moved etc... why hasn't any Bundesliga clubs taken a punt on Niklas Stark? He's already got an assist and a goal in 3 games in Bundesliga 2 after a very successful international tournament in the Summer (granted Germany weren't great but Stark had a very good tournament). Goal scoring CBs are hard to find! He's been filling in at LB this season so far after an injury crisis in that position.
 
RedSky said:
Are you joking? That's a great sum for Geis, I think you're giving him a disservice here, he was excellent at Mainz and has carried that form to Schalke.

As we're talking about players who should have moved etc... why hasn't any Bundesliga clubs taken a punt on Niklas Stark? He's already got an assist and a goal in 3 games in Bundesliga 2 after a very successful international tournament in the Summer (granted Germany weren't great but Stark had a very good tournament). Goal scoring CBs are hard to find! He's been filling in at LB this season so far after an injury crisis in that position.
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I think Geis is decent at a lot of things but great at nothing aside from maybe long shots and free kicks. He's sort of physical but not really a ball winner, he's not painfully slow but not fast either. He can handle the ball but I don't think he has the technique or composure to outplay an opponents pressing or beat someone 1on1. He can play a good long ball but at the same time his passing is sloppy, he passes it high way too often and not precise enough for my liking and his short passes aren't always on the ground and crisp either.
I think he can be a good squad player, but I don't necessarily see the potential to be a top player at a club which plays CL every year in him (which is what Schalke surely aims for). He's had one decent season at Mainz, but I wouldn't say he carried them. Something close to €8-10m (without add ons) would've been a fair offer imho, but Heidel is a top DoF for a club like Mainz, he realized that Heldt was under immense pressure and that a couple of clubs with money were interested in Geis, so he bled them dry.

That's just my assessment though, maybe @ctp can give us better judgement, since I'm sure he's seen the most of Geis.
 
Piratesoup said:
Spahic at it again. According to Bild he was responsible for an altercation with teammate Holtby in the Hamburg locker room after the Bayern-match.

After the coach gave his speech, Holby is reported to have said "Come on guys, pull yourself together", which prompted Spahic to shout "Shut your face or I'll punch you in the mouth!"

What a ray of sunshine Spahic is. I still can't believe any club signed him after what he did in Leverkusen.
If the report is actually true it's not a good sign for Hamburg's professionalism that things like these get out of the locker room in the first place.
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A ray of sunshine who hasn't changed at all his days in Ligue 1. Once a cnut, always a cnut.
 
do.ob said:
I think Geis is decent at a lot of things but great at nothing aside from maybe long shots and free kicks. He's sort of physical but not really a ball winner, he's not painfully slow but not fast either. He can handle the ball but I don't think he has the technique or composure to outplay an opponents pressing or beat someone 1on1. He can play a good long ball but at the same time his passing is sloppy, he passes it high way too often and not precise enough for my liking and his short passes aren't always on the ground and crisp either.
I think he can be a good squad player, but I don't necessarily see the potential to be a top player at a club which plays CL every year in him (which is what Schalke surely aims for). He's had one decent season at Mainz, but I wouldn't say he carried them. Something close to €8-10m (without add ons) would've been a fair offer imho, but Heidel is a top DoF for a club like Mainz, he realized that Heldt was under immense pressure and that a couple of clubs with money were interested in Geis, so he bled them dry.

That's just my assessment though, maybe @ctp can give us better judgement, since I'm sure he's seen the most of Geis.
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I have to disagree with this. Geis is a fantastic player the boss, and comfortably good enough to play for a Champions League side. I even have him down as the natural Schweinsteiger successor for the national team.

There are two points of your critique I'd agree with; he's not a pacey player, but that's no big deal as speed of thought is far more important for a midfielder than raw pace, and the quality and consistency of his short passing is not what you'd like in a top level midfield. This is something he'll have to improve.

Geis is very impressive at everything else you'd expect of him. His defensive positioning and reading of the game are very good, but he can also get stuck in and tackle opponents if required. I disagree with you about his pressing resistance, I think he's quite adept at it.

His long passing is fantastic, and he is generally very accurate with it. Moreover, he has the vision to see the runs the forwards make and create chances by quickly playing them in. It was actually our main source of creativity last season, and we're sorely missing it (and him) right now. Geis's shooting technique is very good too; he doesn't get many opportunities from open play because of the position he plays in, but you've seen what he can do with free kicks.

Above all that, the quality I most like about him is that he's a leader. I know it's one of those intangibles, but he has that aura about him. From the first time he stepped on the pitch for us, when he was little more than a kid, he was the boss, and it was obvious to everyone watching.
 
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