Are Bremen that bad that you consider them possible relegation candidates? They used to be a top team not so long ago, what happened there?
Bundesliga 13/14
- Thread starter Balu
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
In short: they have no money despite all the years of CL football. They have problems getting a good main sponsor that pays them well. They used to be able to compensate through really good transfers but were less fortunate over the last 3-4 years and now the lack of CL football becomes noticeable in their fianances as well, they simply can't afford a quality team anymore.
Well his time at Real was overshadowed by his knee injury that kept him out until November and after that he didn't really get much play time. Around 100 minutes in the league and a couple of games in the CL that Real played with their b-team. Iirc he did neither bad nor great and well we all know how it is at Real - you either shine or you're left behind.
His time at Liverpool was just weird. Iirc he was forced to play out of position for a couple of games and then Rodgers decided to pick Henderson ahead of him and from mid November on he didn't play another minute.
Of course Klopp knows how to get the best out of him, but if he would not have picked the wrong club twice (Real was too big a step for him and Liverpool was either a huge misunderstanding or pure stupidity from Rodgers) maybe he'd be playing on a similar level for a club like Arsenal now.
Rodgers playing him as an AM absolutely boggles the mind.
To be fair, Sahin looked totally unfit in the games I saw him and didn't have the legs to play CM at the time.
Today's games:
Mainz - Stuttgart 3-2
Schalke - Hamburg started 5 minutes ago, Huntelaar scored for Schalke after 2 minutes.
And Bayern is playing a friendly in Győr, in which Götze is playing his first minutes for Bayern. He came on after 60 minutes and scored the 2-1 three minutes later. Shaqiri scored twice, so it's 3-1 now with 15minutes to go.
Mainz - Stuttgart 3-2
Schalke - Hamburg started 5 minutes ago, Huntelaar scored for Schalke after 2 minutes.
And Bayern is playing a friendly in Győr, in which Götze is playing his first minutes for Bayern. He came on after 60 minutes and scored the 2-1 three minutes later. Shaqiri scored twice, so it's 3-1 now with 15minutes to go.
Draxler went off injured, Goretzka came in for him, and shortly after Hamburg took the lead with a great header from Beister, 2-1 now. Van der Vaart scored the equaliser earlier with a penalty.
Götze scored again in Bayern's friendly, the game ended 4-1. Can't comment on his role in the team though, haven't seen the game. The live ticker I followed sounded exciting, I'm really looking forward to him playing with Ribery and Müller, it'll be amazing.
Götze scored again in Bayern's friendly, the game ended 4-1. Can't comment on his role in the team though, haven't seen the game. The live ticker I followed sounded exciting, I'm really looking forward to him playing with Ribery and Müller, it'll be amazing.
Just put Schalke v Hamburg on to see Hamburg go 3-2 ahead. Looks like a cracking game.
Dirty bastard injured Draxler. Clearly intentional.
A bit surprised at how well Hamburg is is doing. Thought that would end up being a pretty one sided match.
Phenomenal save from Adler!
Adler spills the ball and Szalai taps it in.
3-3, 18 minutes to go.
3-3, 18 minutes to go.
I'm really surprised by both teams. Wouldn't have thought they are capable of such an entertaining game so early in the season. Fair result if it ends 3-3.
Comical defending can result in fairly entertaining games. In total, 37 goals were scored on the first play day, round about four per game. Was a good start for the fans after the long break.
Moany stooged us fair and square with Sahin. Wenger has been a long time admirer, in fact he had followed him since he was 15 or so.
But Moany wanted the big cash up front, and Brendy didn't insist on a signing on clause. So Moany forced him to move there, despite Sahin wanting to come to us. Glad to hear he's playing well again.
I'd argue it's better to play for Dortmund than Arsenal right now so all in all Sahin has ended up doing better for him.
Klopp's really great at getting the best out of his players, I doubt many of current Dortmund stars would succeed to the same extent elsewhere. He signs players who suit his system and then further adapts the system to players strengths, I fully expect Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan to be proper stars in a year.
Klopp's really great at getting the best out of his players, I doubt many of current Dortmund stars would succeed to the same extent elsewhere. He signs players who suit his system and then further adapts the system to players strengths, I fully expect Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan to be proper stars in a year.
Sahin will find himself back on the bench once Mchitarjan comes back from injury (he returned to training with the squad yesterday).
to be fair, I think Mkhitaryan is already a star. He was the best player of a very good Shakthar team.
I love the way Dortmund buy new players and slot them into their 4-2-3-1.
Tremendous debut from Aubameyang, playing on the right of the 3 behind Lewandowski and scoring a hattrick against Augsburg.
Tremendous debut from Aubameyang, playing on the right of the 3 behind Lewandowski and scoring a hattrick against Augsburg.
Bayern's setup, wow, I really can't wait to see how this will end up against top quality teams in CL.
Schweinsteiger again as defensive midfielder, with Kroos and Shaqiri in front of him.
Edit: Mandzukic, great goal!
Schweinsteiger again as defensive midfielder, with Kroos and Shaqiri in front of him.
Edit: Mandzukic, great goal!
20mins in Bayern with 70% of the play...
1-0 win for Bayern. They overdid things in front of goal sometimes and really should have scored more often. Were lucky not to concede at the end.
I have a little bit of time on my hands, so I make a little summary about the saturday games (no friday game this weekend):
Bayern 1-0 Frankfurt
Quite a struggle by Guardiola´s team. Had around 70% possession, but did not much with it. Their defense still looks really shaky from time to time. Frankfurt looked decent and would have deserved a draw IMO.
Stuttgart 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Not much to say about this game tbh. Not much happening with the slightly better side being victorious.
Hamburg 1 - 5 Hoffenheim
One word to describe Hamburg´s defense: pathetic. Hoffenheim could especially in the 2nd half do whatever they wanted. MotM Hoffenheim´s Brazilian Firminho, who was directly involved in all of Hoffenheim´s goals (2 goals, 3 assists).
Freiburg 1 - 2 Mainz
Result makes the game look closer than it actually was. Really deserved win by Mainz.
Wolfsburg 4 - 0 Schalke
Schalke´s defense just as shocking the one of Hamburg. It was the debut of Gustavo for Wolfsburg. He took control of the midfield instantly and never gave it away. Pass accuracy way beyond 90 % and over 80 % won tackles. Absolute class performance by him. Schalke overall with a very poor start of the season.
In a couple of minutes the evening game Hanover - Gladbach starts. A very interesting match up IMO, not that anyone on here will care
.
Tomorrow: Nürnberg - Berlin and Dortmund - Braunschweig
Bayern 1-0 Frankfurt
Quite a struggle by Guardiola´s team. Had around 70% possession, but did not much with it. Their defense still looks really shaky from time to time. Frankfurt looked decent and would have deserved a draw IMO.
Stuttgart 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Not much to say about this game tbh. Not much happening with the slightly better side being victorious.
Hamburg 1 - 5 Hoffenheim
One word to describe Hamburg´s defense: pathetic. Hoffenheim could especially in the 2nd half do whatever they wanted. MotM Hoffenheim´s Brazilian Firminho, who was directly involved in all of Hoffenheim´s goals (2 goals, 3 assists).
Freiburg 1 - 2 Mainz
Result makes the game look closer than it actually was. Really deserved win by Mainz.
Wolfsburg 4 - 0 Schalke
Schalke´s defense just as shocking the one of Hamburg. It was the debut of Gustavo for Wolfsburg. He took control of the midfield instantly and never gave it away. Pass accuracy way beyond 90 % and over 80 % won tackles. Absolute class performance by him. Schalke overall with a very poor start of the season.
In a couple of minutes the evening game Hanover - Gladbach starts. A very interesting match up IMO, not that anyone on here will care
.Tomorrow: Nürnberg - Berlin and Dortmund - Braunschweig
Why was Martinez not in the squad yesterday?
Good to have quite a few BuLi watches in here. I'm quite excited over this year's campaign.
Sammer went on a rant against the Spanish FA yesterday, looks like he was totally exhausted when he came back from the nationalteam and wasn't able to play because of that.
Hofmann scored for Dortmund today, they're winning 1-0 so far. Gundogan on the bench, Reus got subbed on. Mkhtariyan played the whole game so far too.
Lewandowski has been awful.
Hofmann been very good since coming on.
Hofmann been very good since coming on.
Yeah, been impressed with Hofmann these few games he's played so far. Just got taken down for the penalty as well for Reus to make it 2-0.
Holy hell, that was one hard piece of work for Dortmund. Braunschweig was one hard nut to crack for them, which was not really surprising given that they defended with every man and did not enter Dortmund´s half once for 25 minutes in the first half. Even giving that setup, Dortmund still struggled more than they should, though. All their pace did not mean much when charging at one large white wall. It was all pretty uninspiring, which mostly came down to Gündogan missing and Mkhitaryan, while having a good first 15 minutes, clearly still needing game time to fit in after his injury.
The one to break it up at 70 minutes was like others already mentioned Dortmund´s brightest youth prospect Jonas Hofmann, who scored after a nice key pass by Hummels. It was also him, who earned Dortmund a penalty a couple of minutes later, which was netted by Marco Reus.
That was not the end, though. It would not be a typical Dortmund game, after all. Their biggest weakness is probably closing out games. Braunschweig scored in the 89th minute after a corner and a deflection off Lewandowski´s head (don´t know yet, if the goal will be counted as own goal).
Game ended 2-1 making Dortmund leader of the table after two play days.
The one to break it up at 70 minutes was like others already mentioned Dortmund´s brightest youth prospect Jonas Hofmann, who scored after a nice key pass by Hummels. It was also him, who earned Dortmund a penalty a couple of minutes later, which was netted by Marco Reus.
That was not the end, though. It would not be a typical Dortmund game, after all. Their biggest weakness is probably closing out games. Braunschweig scored in the 89th minute after a corner and a deflection off Lewandowski´s head (don´t know yet, if the goal will be counted as own goal).
Game ended 2-1 making Dortmund leader of the table after two play days.
Agent Lewandwoski already trying to sneak in the goals for Bayern I see.
Hummels also had a really good game tonight. Made the assist for the 1-0 and was very good defensively.
Hummels also had a really good game tonight. Made the assist for the 1-0 and was very good defensively.
I read that Lewandowski had his wage raised from 20k to 60k a week. Surely that's bollocks, he can't have been on only 20k?
It's true. He never signed a contract extension, so he was still on the €1.5m a year he got, when he first joined Dortmund as a basically unknown player.
Overall, Bayern not yet looking as solid as they did last year, but neither are BVB. It is of course too early to judge, but Wolfsburg might take on the role of surprise team and could annoy a few favorites. Schalke lost Huntelaar for the next 4 weeks and might face yet another disappointing season.
I know what you mean but it's mental that anyone would think "he only earns £20,000 in a week".
I thought Dortmund played well enough in the segment I saw. They still scored twice against a team that merely parked the bus, you can't ask much more than that.
I was just talking about his "basic weekly wage" which is crazy low for one of the best strikers in the world, fair play to Dortmund.
So happy to see Dortmund win and keep pace with Bayern. They were struggling today too.
I thought their general play was very good and much better than their opening game (expectedly given it was at home), but they weren't clinical enough. The new signings seem to have bedded in very quickly into the system but that probably contributed to the lack of final ball.