Bundesliga 13/14

FT 1-2. Gladbach and Ref wasting 2 minutes of extra time and nothing gets added. Not that it mattered, but it is still the biggest joke of refereeing in Germany.

Dortmund simply lacked cutting edge at the end.
 
:lol:

As I say that, 2 late goals but both for the winning teams. Okazaki with a 2nd to make it 4-2 to Mainz.

Hannover has scored a 3rd, but not sure who scored it?
 
It won't be a mistake, Firmino is a fecking nobody. His stats are probably better than Neymar's but he's half the player. Felipão won't risk someone who has never been capped for the biggest tournament in a couple of decades lol.
 
Sphaero said:
Slow, static? No. Movement is not our problem this game. We have good interchanging between the three offensive midfielder and our pressing as a whole is decent. What we deperatively lacked in this half is accuracy in our final actions. Way too many misplaced passe, which is also credit to Glabbach´s positioning, which is really good today. They were also effective on the counter, which made the difference. Both teams had three clear cut chances. One converts two of them, the other none.

First goal was unlucky in my book. The ball rebounded from Schmelzer exactly in the running path of Herrmann and Raffael never wanted to shoot the ball like that. Second goal was a mistake by Weidenfeller.

Let´s see if there is still anything in it for us. Would be nice to have some players to throw onto the pitch to make a difference, but that is the downside of missing the whole first choice CM and offensive midfield.
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I still disagree with you there, you guys were slow on counters, slow with passing and slow with pressing / trying to disposses Mönchengladbach. Slow by your standards, of course. Another match where Sahin looks poor, Hofmann did some poor decision making and both Lewy and Aubameyang looked poor today. If you looked at how Rafael / Kruse / Herrmann partnership worked today, you'd expect this kind of team work from your players.

Having said that, you were denied a penalty and possibly a red card for that guy who acted afterwards as he was hit in his face by the ball :wenger: ( was a handball in their box )

Schieber is immensely shit, nice efford from Jojic, those goals will definitely help him to settle in faster.
 
Pippa said:
It won't be a mistake, Firmino is a fecking nobody. His stats are probably better than Neymar's but he's half the player. Felipão won't risk someone who has never been capped for the biggest tournament in a couple of decades lol.
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You haven't watched him play then. I'm not suggesting he should start for Brazil, but he'd be a very useful player to have in the squad to bring off the bench if they're chasing a game.

He will move this summer to a top team. I hate it when people say comments like this without having watched the player. Fwiw, Neymar imo is pretty over rated anyway. The Barca fans seem to agree with me too! :p
 
How is Mainz 5th and only 3 points behind Leverkusen all of a sudden :lol: ?

Sixpence said:
Dortmund are finished, they had their high for a few years. Normality has bitten.
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Clearly. Being 2nd in the league, in the semifinal of the cup and in a brilliant position to reach the quarterfinals of the CL despite a ridiculous number of injuries is proof for being finished.
 
Do not tell me that the league is boring. It is fantastic every week to watch how Leverkusen, Schalke and Dortmund really put everything in it to loose points and fight for rank 4...
 
RedSky At Night said:
You haven't watched him play then. I'm not suggesting he should start for Brazil, but he'd be a very useful player to have in the squad to bring off the bench if they're chasing a game.

He will move this summer to a top team. I hate it when people say comments like this without having watched the player. Fwiw, Neymar imo is pretty over rated anyway. The Barca fans seem to agree with me too! :p
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Isn't Pippa Brazilian? I actually would trust him with that judgement and also agree with him about the player. His stats are highly influenced by Hoffenheim's style. He's brilliant to watch but not that great.
 
Balu said:
How is Mainz 5th and only 3 points behind Leverkusen all of a sudden :lol: ?


Clearly. Being 2nd in the league, in the semifinal of the cup and in a brilliant position to reach the quarterfinals of the CL despite a ridiculous number of injuries is proof for being finished.
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They've been on a terrific run since Christmas when they decided to switch goalkeepers to the inexperienced Karius. Since then they've been getting clean sheets and defending very well while keeping their goal scoring up.

Leverkusen have collapsed lately. But don't under estimate what Mainz have done, they've been performing brilliantly lately. They aren't THAT far behind Schalke or Dortmund either!
 
Blackwidow said:
Do not tell me that the league is boring. It is fantastic every week to watch how Leverkusen, Schalke and Dortmund really put everything in it to loose points and fight for rank 4...
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Leverkusen :drool:. I expect a wonderful 'how to loose and feck up their goal difference' performance later today. What a team.
 
Balu said:
Isn't Pippa Brazilian? I actually would trust him with that judgement and also agree with him about the player. His stats are highly influenced by Hoffenheim's style. He's brilliant to watch but not that great.
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Again disagree, we'll see just how good he is when he moves club. But he'll be a terrific player. Has everything required to be a top class player.
 
Blackwidow said:
Do not tell me that the league is boring. It is fantastic every week to watch how Leverkusen, Schalke and Dortmund really put everything in it to loose points and fight for rank 4...
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dont find it a boring league. others may find it boring that Bayern are set to win the title but doesnt mean BL as a whole is boring imo
 
RedSky At Night said:
Leverkusen have collapsed lately. But don't under estimate what Mainz have done, they've been performing brilliantly lately. They aren't THAT far behind Schalke or Dortmund either!
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I know. Tuchel is amazing.

Oh, ffs. Matthäus talking about Hoeneß :(. I want to puke now.
 
Balu said:
I know. Tuchel is amazing.

Oh, ffs. Matthäus talking about Hoeneß :(. I want to puke now.
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They are playing Munich next! But at least its a home fixture and I imagine Munich will rotate their squad a bit. But after that their run in isn't too bad. They have to play Dortmund in the 2nd last fixture away though.
 
Cant see Bayern losing it now, would be a monumental collapse.
 
RedSky At Night said:
You haven't watched him play then. I'm not suggesting he should start for Brazil, but he'd be a very useful player to have in the squad to bring off the bench if they're chasing a game.

He will move this summer to a top team. I hate it when people say comments like this without having watched the player. Fwiw, Neymar imo is pretty over rated anyway. The Barca fans seem to agree with me too! :p
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I have seen him play once or twice, but to say it would be a mistake for Felipão to not take him is not true. It would be a mistake to not take Neymar, a mistake to not take Paulinho, and so forth. Not someone who has never been capped for the Seleção. He hasn't even played with any of the team members in the past 3 years, nor has he ever been called up or been in the provisional team.

And I'm being kind to him if I say that he is even half the player of Neymar, especially if you look at his international level for the past couple of years. Neymar's not overrated on an international level, he's probably the best and most consistent performer
 
Pippa said:
I have seen him play once or twice, but to say it would be a mistake for Felipão to not take him is not true. It would be a mistake to not take Neymar, a mistake to not take Paulinho, and so forth. Not someone who has never been capped for the Seleção. He hasn't even played with any of the team members in the past 3 years, nor has he ever been called up or been in the provisional team.

And I'm being kind to him if I say that he is even half the player of Neymar, especially if you look at his international level for the past couple of years. Neymar's not overrated on an international level, he's probably the best and most consistent performer
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I don't know why you keep mentioning Neymar?

If you did take Firmino he'd probably replace someone like Bernard in the squad. Bernard a player who's playing in a weaker league, in worse form and having played very little all season. While Firmino is 4th top goal scorer in Bundesliga and having played the majority of the season. It's a no brainer for me.

You'll see next season i'm right when Firmino starts playing for a bigger club as he'll be off this summer. Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, PSG, Inter all are interested in him atm.
 
Kostur said:
I still disagree with you there, you guys were slow on counters, slow with passing and slow with pressing / trying to disposses Mönchengladbach. Slow by your standards, of course. Another match where Sahin looks poor, Hofmann did some poor decision making and both Lewy and Aubameyang looked poor today. If you looked at how Rafael / Kruse / Herrmann partnership worked today, you'd expect this kind of team work from your players.

Having said that, you were denied a penalty and possibly a red card for that guy who acted afterwards as he was hit in his face by the ball :wenger: ( was a handball in their box )

Schieber is immensely shit, nice efford from Jojic, those goals will definitely help him to settle in faster.
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Yeah, thats the difference between one team having the complete first choice offensive formation intact and the other one missing it completely apart from the striker who was clearly not at 100%.

We have half a dozen difference makers who can crack open a strong defense like Gladbach´s in the last 30 minutes today. Four of them were missing today, one just came back from an injury. In total we missed six starters.

People expect the same kind of football like in top shape from us, but the hard truth is, we are unable to do that. We have a good squad (a great one considering our financial power), but it has limits. This limit was crossed a long time ago and logically we are struggling.

Sixpence said:
Dortmund are finished, they had their high for a few years. Normality has bitten.
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So normality is being unable to field more than half of your best XI for five months straight? Must be a tough world, where something like this is normality.
 
@Sphaero sent you a PM earlier today. heard Dortmund got new fitness coach this past summer. not sure if that has any significance
 
Sphaero said:
Yeah, thats the difference between one team having the complete first choice offensive formation intact and the other one missing it completely apart from the striker who was clearly not at 100%.

We have half a dozen difference makers who can crack open a strong defense like Gladbach´s in the last 30 minutes today. Four of them were missing today, one just came back from an injury. In total we missed six starters.

People expect the same kind of football like in top shape from us, but the hard truth is, we are unable to do that. We have a good squad (a great one considering our financial power), but it has limits. This limit was crossed a long time ago and logically we are struggling.
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No, I didn't say I expected anything from you and I do understand that your squad is hit with with injury crisis ( hopefully you won't have to add Piszczek to that after today ) but I still do think that the problem today wasn't just with finishing from you lot.
 
Our line-up:
Neuer - Contento, van Buyten, Boateng, Rafinha - Kroos, Schweinsteiger - Müller, Götze, Robben - Mandzukic

Somehow I'm not really confident about our defense in this game :nervous:. Well, need to score at least 3 goals to stay on track for 102 goals anyway, so it should be an entertaining game.
 
Bernard has looked good as a reserve player, both in friendlies and at the Confederations Cup. Club form will not mean much to Felipão, look at how it took a big-money move for Fernandinho to get a call-up even though he has warranted one for years. It's why Júlio César will start even though he plays in Canada.

Firmino has never played for Brazil before yet you think it would be a mistake for Felipão to not take him to the biggest tournament in 20 years. It makes no sense. Club form doesn't always turn into international form, especially if you've never played internationally.

It's the World Cup, there will be next to no rotation. Neymar-Fred-Hulk is arguably the best front 3 in the competition
 
Pippa said:
Bernard has looked good as a reserve player, both in friendlies and at the Confederations Cup. Club form will not mean much to Felipão, look at how it took a big-money move for Fernandinho to get a call-up even though he has warranted one for years. It's why Júlio César will start even though he plays in Canada.

Firmino has never played for Brazil before yet you think it would be a mistake for Felipão to not take him to the biggest tournament in 20 years. It makes no sense. Club form doesn't always turn into international form, especially if you've never played internationally.

It's the World Cup, there will be next to no rotation. Neymar-Fred-Hulk is arguably the best front 3 in the competition
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I really do think only Brazilians rate Hulk. The rest of the World think he's a Heskey. I do like Fred and Neymar though!

But yes, I do think it'll be a mistake if you don't take him. He's a very good player and better than players in your current squad IMO. Doesn't matter if he doesn't have much experience in Internationals or not. That's why I said you'd take him as a wildcard. You also need to rotate the squad a fair bit during the world cup, to keep players in top condition and fresh. Not to mention players that do pick up injuries (which is common during the World Cup), need to be replaced.

Brazils international squad has always been picked on reputation rather than actual club form. It's one of the issues England has as well. It's one of my frustrations :)
 
Pippa said:
Bernard has looked good as a reserve player, both in friendlies and at the Confederations Cup. Club form will not mean much to Felipão, look at how it took a big-money move for Fernandinho to get a call-up even though he has warranted one for years. It's why Júlio César will start even though he plays in Canada.

Firmino has never played for Brazil before yet you think it would be a mistake for Felipão to not take him to the biggest tournament in 20 years. It makes no sense. Club form doesn't always turn into international form, especially if you've never played internationally.

It's the World Cup, there will be next to no rotation. Neymar-Fred-Hulk is arguably the best front 3 in the competition
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Do you think Rafinha has a chance to be part of the squad? How did he play in the last friendly? And you are Brazilian right? I'm not entirely surebut think I've read it in another post.
 
Our bench looks a bit weak today:
Starke, Thiago, Shaqiri, Ribery, Lahm, Alaba, Martinez
 
Balu said:
Our line-up:
Neuer - Contento, van Buyten, Boateng, Rafinha - Kroos, Schweinsteiger - Müller, Götze, Robben - Mandzukic

Somehow I'm not really confident about our defense in this game :nervous:. Well, need to score at least 3 goals to stay on track for 102 goals anyway, so it should be an entertaining game.
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Interesting to see that this is about the second time in the row that you have played a 4-2-3-1 under Pep. Do you think this change will be permanent or will he return to a 4-1-4-1 sooner or later?
 
NoLogo said:
Interesting to see that this is about the second time in the row that you have played a 4-2-3-1 under Pep. Do you think this change will be permanent or will he return to a 4-1-4-1 sooner or later?
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We played quite a lot 4231 since the winterbreak. I think Pep realised that only Lahm can play that lone pivot role. Neither of Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Thiago and Kroos looked convincing enough, so to include all the best players, the 4231 is still the best formation. I liked the 4141 more though.
 
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