German Football 21/22 | Gladbach sign Farke

Well Dardai is actually very eager to develop kids...quite literally as he goes back to youth coaching at Hertha every time he's not the Bundesliga coach. His son is definitely not the only example, he also gave Mittelstädt, Maier, Dilrosun and Torunarigha their Bundesliga debut (not to mention a lot of other youngsters who turned out to not be good enough) and helped turn unproven youngsters like Weiser or Stark into legitimate players. He's not the easiest coach to get along with but he does give young players a chance if they work hard.

Dortmund seems to have the same contract option as Hertha then. But yeah, it's probably difficult to compare their situations...why would anyone leave Dortmund when they can play Champions League matches at such an early age? It might be the best place to be in the entire world for aspiring young talents.
@do.ob nonetheless remembered correctly what Dardai said about using experienced players. But that was specifically about fighting relegation, he did not want to burn young players in that period but wanted the more mature players to bring the team back on track, they especially signed Khedira because of this.
 
Well Dardai is actually very eager to develop kids...quite literally as he goes back to youth coaching at Hertha every time he's not the Bundesliga coach. His son is definitely not the only example, he also gave Mittelstädt, Maier, Dilrosun and Torunarigha their Bundesliga debut (not to mention a lot of other youngsters who turned out to not be good enough) and helped turn unproven youngsters like Weiser or Stark into legitimate players. He's not the easiest coach to get along with but he does give young players a chance if they work hard.

Dortmund seems to have the same contract option as Hertha then. But yeah, it's probably difficult to compare their situations...why would anyone leave Dortmund when they can play Champions League matches at such an early age? It might be the best place to be in the entire world for aspiring young talents.

I'm not saying Dardai flat out hates kids, but there is a world of difference between being a youth coach and relying on young players to get by in the results driven business that is top level football and his tactical approach just screams short term results above all to me.

There is a decent chance this is just ignorance on my part, but the vibe I get from Hertha is that they are too short term oriented. E.g. you mention Maier, Dilrosun and Torunharigha, but none of them has entirely made it. Like Torunhariga is 24 and he has played less than two seasons worth of minutes. Infact Hertha kept buying CBs after his initial break through. Maier was once a top rated talent and since his break through Hertha brought in Grujic, Tousart, Löwen, Ascacibar and Tousart, before shipping him out on loan. Since Dilrosun joined they brought in like half a dozen attackers. Even Stark fell way short of the hopes that people had for him.

Now of course this is also in part down to the players (e.g. Dilrosun had some bad luck with injuries), but if I was a young player at Hertha I'd bolt at the first opportunity as well.
 
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I'm starting to get something of a good feeling about Hertha. Which is a sentence I would never have thought I'd ever write. Prince, Jovetic, I might pay to watch that team maybe once this season.
If only the stark blue colour wasn't such a turn-off
 
I'm starting to get something of a good feeling about Hertha. Which is a sentence I would never have thought I'd ever write. Prince, Jovetic, I might pay to watch that team maybe once this season.
If only the stark blue colour wasn't such a turn-off

Why? Their coach is still Dardai, they still only have Cunha for exciting players. Jovetic hasn't played a significant amount of minutes in 5 years, nasty people might say Boateng has a bigger profile than Hertha, but bottom line is he's in his mid 30s and spent last year playing in Serie B without going berserk. Their CM still looks like it completely lacks creativity.

Looking at the signings of Richter and Serdar I would guess that they want to play typical, direct, Dardai football, but how does Cunha fit into that or the two oldies they just bought?

I'm sure they are going to do better than last year, but really don't see any reason for optimism beyond a midtable finish.
 
Why? Their coach is still Dardai, they still only have Cunha for exciting players. Jovetic hasn't played a significant amount of minutes in 5 years, nasty people might say Boateng has a bigger profile than Hertha, but bottom line is he's in his mid 30s and spent last year playing in Serie B without going berserk. Their CM still looks like it completely lacks creativity.

Looking at the signings of Richter and Serdar I would guess that they want to play typical, direct, Dardai football, but how does Cunha fit into that or the two oldies they just bought?
Just for fun.
 
Got a sneaky feeling that Bayern will win the league

Munich always wants to be seen as a cosmopolitan city.
Maybe we can convince them to play in france.

Or all nice clubs letting themself relegated and will be playing in the Second BL.
Bayern can then beat Wolfsburg, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, RB Bad-Baden, RB Salzgitter and ten other franchises.
 


Mainz 05 is in close contact with the Mainz Health Office and the German Football League. The health department ordered immediate domestic isolation for a further eight players and two other members of the coaching team, meaning that a total of 14 Mainz players are currently in quarantine.


Before we get out our Julian Brandt rememberance pitchforks out has to be noted that according to the Zerofivers two of the players who tested positive were actually fully vaccinated. Hopefully that will help them now at least.
 
https://twitter.com/Mainz05en

Mainz 05 is in close contact with the Mainz Health Office and the German Football League. The health department ordered immediate domestic isolation for a further eight players and two other members of the coaching team, meaning that a total of 14 Mainz players are currently in quarantine.
Uh oh. They face Leipzig on Sunday, too, so they're in big trouble. Are there separate bubbles for youth-team players vs. the first-team ones?
 
Uh oh. They face Leipzig on Sunday, too, so they're in big trouble. Are there separate bubbles for youth-team players vs. the first-team ones?

To be honest I'm not really sure whether the current hygiene regulations of DFL even mandate proper bubbles. The incidence is really low, most players are supposed to be (fully) vaccinated by now, so I assume that they don't go much further than regular tests at the moment. With all the friendly matches and enlarged squads for the pre season I doubt that it would have been feasible anyway.

And maybe I'm being cynical here, but I think if you had to choose you'd rather get such a situation against a team like Leipzig, where your chances are supposed to be slim anyway, than against a team you're supposed to get some points against.
 
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To be honest I'm not really sure whether the current hygiene regulations of DFL even mandate proper bubbles. The incidence is really low, most players are supposed to be (fully) vaccinated by now, so I assume that they don't go much further than regular tests at the moment. With all the friendly matches and enlarged squads for the pre season I doubt that it would have been feasible anyway.

And maybe I'm being cynical here, but I think if you had to choose you'd rather get such a situation against a team like Leipzig, where your chances are supposed to be slim anyway, than against a team you're supposed to get some points against.
Leipzig and Mainz were playing on a similar level during the last months of last season, not sure if it would have been a clear win for Leipzig
 
Leipzig and Mainz were playing on a similar level during the last months of last season, not sure if it would have been a clear win for Leipzig

The Zerofivers had a purple patch chasing their big goal, but just like Dortmund winning like their last 10 domestic games in a row, that doesn't mean much for the next season, because momentum has been reset.
 
I don't think that means a lot. Had a purple patch chasing their big goal, but just like Dortmund winning like their last 10 domestic games in a row, that doesn't mean much for the next season where m,omentum has been reset.
That's right. Mainz also tend to be poor for most of the season but then kick on into great when it matters most, sort of like Newcastle United.
 
Thank you for your insights on the results that Bayern achieved with their U19s.
Is there a time machine now over in Munich? I didn't know that Pavard, Upamecano, Gnabry, Goretzka, Sane, Lewandowski, Coman have all become younger. Literally half of the starting 11 are Bayern first team.
 
Is there a time machine now over in Munich? I didn't know that Pavard, Upamecano, Gnabry, Goretzka, Sane, Lewandowski, Coman have all become younger. Literally half of the starting 11 are Bayern first team.
Which pre-season friendly are you referring to?
 
As it happens an Eckner piece on Bayern's pre season struggles has been released today. I guess he must be reading this thread!

 
The last game against Napoli where Bayern lost 0-3.
This was Bayern's line-up, with the substitutions and their times:

Ulreich - Pavard (Sarr 46), Upamecano (C. Richards 46), Nianzou (Lawrence 46, Scott 63), Stanisic (O. Richards 46) - Goretzka (Cuisance 46), Musiala (Rhein 46) - Gnabry (Arrey-Mbi 46), Sané (Vidovic 63), Coman (Choupo-Moting 9, Sieb 63) - Lewandowski (Tillman 46)

As you can see, Coman played for only 9 minutes, and all the other senior players were subbed off in the second half, except for Sané who played until the 63th minute. Here's also when the goals were scored:

0-1 Osimhen (69), 0-2 Osimhen (71), 0-3 Machach (85)

So you can't really say with a straight face that Bayern lost 0-3 to Napels playing a good part of its starting 11.
 
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This was Bayern's line-up, with the substitutions and their times:

Ulreich - Pavard (Sarr 46), Upamecano (C. Richards 46), Nianzou (Lawrence 46, Scott 63), Stanisic (O. Richards 46) - Goretzka (Cuisance 46), Musiala (Rhein 46) - Gnabry (Arrey-Mbi 46), Sané (Vidovic 63), Coman (Choupo-Moting 9, Sieb 63) - Lewandowski (Tillman 46)

As you nca see, Coman played for only 9 minutes, and all the other senior players were subbed off in the second half, except for Sané who played until the 63th minute. Here's also when the goals were scored:

0-1 Osimhen (69), 0-2 Osimhen (71), 0-3 Machach (85)

So you can't really say with a straight face that Bayern lost 0-3 to Napels playing a good part of its starting 11.
Sorry, somehow didn’t see your post which elaborated a lot more than my two-liner
 
Why would you even try to infer a crisis from pre season friendlies anyway? It's not like they ever meant something, especially not when squads are as depleted as they are currently for most big clubs. It's obviously possible that Bayern's squad eventually rejects Nagelsmann for being a self important upstart seagull, but you should wait until they drop some points before trying to make out some drama.
 
Why would you even try to infer a crisis from pre season friendlies anyway? It's not like they ever meant something, especially not when squads are as depleted as they are currently for most big clubs. It's obviously possible that Bayern's squad eventually rejects Nagelsmann for being a self important upstart seagull, but you should wait until they drop some points before trying to make out some drama.
Those headlines create clicks, that’s probably all there is to it. And some people just see a 0-3 against Napoli and such a headline and post on forums. :cool:
 
Those headlines create clicks, that’s probably all there is to it. And some people just see a 0-3 against Napoli and such a headline and post on forums. :cool:

I know why the media does it, but I don't really get why fans still jump on that wagon, when they must have seen their share of (meaningless) pre seasons themselves no matter what club they support.
 
I know why the media does it, but I don't really get why fans still jump on that wagon, when they must have seen their share of (meaningless) pre seasons themselves no matter what club they support.
I think over here, when people who are not really interested or invested in a club come over to proclaim a club screwed based on its preseason results - I think we're really just talking about wishful thinking.
 
I think over here, when people who are not really interested or invested in a club come over to proclaim a club screwed based on its preseason results - I think we're really just talking about wishful thinking.
On this forum (or other forums) definitely. But the linked article is from the BBC.
 
On this forum (or other forums) definitely. But the linked article is from the BBC.
Ah, right - I don't even bother reading any of that this time of year. :D
 
Why would you even try to infer a crisis from pre season friendlies anyway? It's not like they ever meant something, especially not when squads are as depleted as they are currently for most big clubs. It's obviously possible that Bayern's squad eventually rejects Nagelsmann for being a self important upstart seagull, but you should wait until they drop some points before trying to make out some drama.
Those headlines create clicks, that’s probably all there is to it. And some people just see a 0-3 against Napoli and such a headline and post on forums. :cool:
I know why the media does it, but I don't really get why fans still jump on that wagon, when they must have seen their share of (meaningless) pre seasons themselves no matter what club they support.
I think over here, when people who are not really interested or invested in a club come over to proclaim a club screwed based on its preseason results - I think we're really just talking about wishful thinking.
What is the whole point of a forum? To post our opinion. Seems like anytime any non-Bundesliga fans post something not so positive about a team from that league, all the fans there come out in full force to criticize which is pretty amusing to me. Kids or not, Bayern has had a terrible pre-season not winning any of their games and added to their national team disappointing Euros campaign, and Nagelsmann a young manager who has never experienced a big team, this has all the tell-tale signs of a bad season for Bayern.
 
What is the whole point of a forum? To post our opinion. Seems like anytime any non-Bundesliga fans post something not so positive about a team from that league, all the fans there come out in full force to criticize which is pretty amusing to me. Kids or not, Bayern has had a terrible pre-season not winning any of their games and added to their national team disappointing Euros campaign, and Nagelsmann a young manager who has never experienced a big team, this has all the tell-tale signs of a bad season for Bayern.

Yes, the age old "I have a right to state my opinion, but people must not comment negatively on it."
 
What is the whole point of a forum? To post our opinion. Seems like anytime any non-Bundesliga fans post something not so positive about a team from that league, all the fans there come out in full force to criticize which is pretty amusing to me. Kids or not, Bayern has had a terrible pre-season not winning any of their games and added to their national team disappointing Euros campaign, and Nagelsmann a young manager who has never experienced a big team, this has all the tell-tale signs of a bad season for Bayern.
You can post your opinion. But don’t be surprised if people call you out when your opinion lacks substance.
 


The algorithm really likes Hoffenheim this year. Cologne are also suprisingly high, given that a lot of people seem to be expecting them to battle relegation this year.
 


The algorithm really likes Hoffenheim this year. Cologne are also suprisingly high, given that a lot of people seem to be expecting them to battle relegation this year.

Yep, Hoffenheim looks high and the Big City Club looks low. And there is a lot of dross in the lower half.
 
Yep, Hoffenheim looks high and the Big City Club looks low. And there is a lot of dross in the lower half.

People might call me a hater by now, but I really don't see more than a big mid table finish for Hertha. I'd probably rather swap their odds with Mainz, but that's about it. I think the group of Gladbach, Leverkusen and to a lesser degree Frankfurt have more reason to complain, with all of them being grouped with Union Berlin at around a 15% chance of making top 4.
 


The algorithm really likes Hoffenheim this year. Cologne are also suprisingly high, given that a lot of people seem to be expecting them to battle relegation this year.

I'd be really surprised if Wolfsburg make 4th with Van Bommel in charge - but here's hoping, cause the Netherlands really need more good domestic coaches...
What is the whole point of a forum? To post our opinion. Seems like anytime any non-Bundesliga fans post something not so positive about a team from that league, all the fans there come out in full force to criticize which is pretty amusing to me. Kids or not, Bayern has had a terrible pre-season not winning any of their games and added to their national team disappointing Euros campaign, and Nagelsmann a young manager who has never experienced a big team, this has all the tell-tale signs of a bad season for Bayern.
So this is what you say when people point out that your post about Bayern losing to Napels with a lot of first team players was wrong, or at least incomplete?
 


What a day to be alive for Die Knappen. First they get to celebrate this 10 year anniversary of their greatest ever club legend and then they get treated with the Steigerliedderby evening blockbuster against Erzgebirge "the German La Viola" Aue.


I'd be really surprised if Wolfsburg make 4th with Van Bommel in charge - but here's hoping, cause the Netherlands really need more good domestic coaches...

GI is an algorithm whose sole purpose is to calculate player (squad) strength. Hence for example Freiburg being so low. I think a lot of people expect them to struggle. But who knows, having 6 substitutes could be a huge edge.
 
GI is an algorithm whose sole purpose is to calculate player (squad) strength. Hence for example Freiburg being so low. I think a lot of people expect them to struggle. But who knows, having 6 substitutes could be a huge edge.
Yeah I know. This is the same as you showed in previous years, right? Still, that table looks pretty reasonable, other than the two we've mentioned (Wolfsburg and Freiburg, both due to their coaches, but in opposite ways...).
 
Yeah I know. This is the same as you showed in previous years, right? Still, that table looks pretty reasonable, other than the two we've mentioned (Wolfsburg and Freiburg, both due to their coaches, but in opposite ways...).

Yes, this is their prediction from last year:


I think you see a lot of correct predictions in there:
Union and Wolfsburg doing really well for themselves, Gladbach dropping in the table despite their top 4 finish, Stuttgart staying clear of relegation worries despite just being promoted and Bielefeld having a real chance of staying in as well, Hertha having a bad season and even Mainz were bottom halfway through the season, before a bunch of transfers and a new coach turned things around.