Adler had one plunder yesterday. But he had a lot very good saves, too, with which he kept Hamburg in the match.
Bundesliga 13/14
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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.
Adler had one plunder yesterday. But he had a lot very good saves, too, with which he kept Hamburg in the match.
Relegation fight is hotting up! Hannover could be in trouble here...
Braunschweig is leading 2:0 in minute 55 with 11 men against 10.
Yes, the relegation fight gets very interesting - as well as the fight for rank 4, 5 and 6 might.
Right now it looks like this
13th Hannover -17 goals - 29 points
14th Freiburg -19 goals - 29 points
15th Stuttgart -13 goals - 27 points
16th Hamburg -15 goals - 27 points
17th Nuremberg -20 goals - 26 points
18th Braunschweig -23 goals - 25 points
17th and 18th go down - rank 16th will play a two leg relegation match against rank 3 of the 2nd Bundesliga. Bremen 33points and Frankfurt 35 points seem to be out of danger.
I still think that Braunschweig is going down.
Hannover is only playing against other relegation candidates (Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Freiburg). They need 3-5 more points to avoid relegation and that should be possible. Their matches will have big impact on the relegation battle. Whoever beats them, has a good chance to stay in the first league; whoever loses against them is in trouble.
Stuttgart on the other hand has almost only tough games left (Bayern, Wolfsburg, Schalke, Gladbach, Hannover). They need 5-7 points out of these fixtures and thats gone be a problem. I think they are going down.
Nürnberg has also a tough finish. They play against Wolfsburg, Leverkusen Mainz, Hannover and Schalke. I think that they are still playing fairly well and they are used to relegation battles. They´ll finish 16th and win their matches against the club from the 2.bundesliga. Köln is the only decent team in the 2.league and they are comfortably first. Whoever gets 3rd (Fürth, Paderborn, Pauli, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern) will stay in the second division.
Hamburg with a huge win against Leverkusen. The moral seems to be alright again. The match against Hannover next week will be big. If they win, they´ll survive the season.
Freiburg has already 29 points and they need very few more. Their next match is against Braunschweig. If they win, they are almost save. Even if they just draw, they are in a okay spot.
Hannover is only playing against other relegation candidates (Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Nürnberg, Freiburg). They need 3-5 more points to avoid relegation and that should be possible. Their matches will have big impact on the relegation battle. Whoever beats them, has a good chance to stay in the first league; whoever loses against them is in trouble.
Stuttgart on the other hand has almost only tough games left (Bayern, Wolfsburg, Schalke, Gladbach, Hannover). They need 5-7 points out of these fixtures and thats gone be a problem. I think they are going down.
Nürnberg has also a tough finish. They play against Wolfsburg, Leverkusen Mainz, Hannover and Schalke. I think that they are still playing fairly well and they are used to relegation battles. They´ll finish 16th and win their matches against the club from the 2.bundesliga. Köln is the only decent team in the 2.league and they are comfortably first. Whoever gets 3rd (Fürth, Paderborn, Pauli, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern) will stay in the second division.
Hamburg with a huge win against Leverkusen. The moral seems to be alright again. The match against Hannover next week will be big. If they win, they´ll survive the season.
Freiburg has already 29 points and they need very few more. Their next match is against Braunschweig. If they win, they are almost save. Even if they just draw, they are in a okay spot.
So just read that according to Bild, Dortmund have signed Adrian Ramos and the signing will be confirmed before the Madrid match.
Regular Bundesliga watchers, do you rate him?
Regular Bundesliga watchers, do you rate him?
I'm surprised if true. I'd have thought they should have gone in hard for Drmic as he ticks all the boxes for a Dortmund style signing. Can't say I've watched much of Ramos to be honest. He's certainly a poacher though from watching Bundesliga highlights, good at heading from memory.
Its been rumored for a while now though.
Assumed it was bullshit tbh! He's in late 20's so perhaps Klopps thinking is that he wants some leadership upfront now that Lewandowski is off. He's a useful target from crosses as well, just watched a youtube video and yeah, a lot of his goals have come from crosses/headers.
I see, never seen him play personally.
He really should be the replacement for Schieber and not the first choice striker for Dortmund. If they buy him and Volland, it makes a lot of sense, because Volland might need a while to work perfectly in Klopp's system and Ramos shouldn't be a problem at all. He's an experienced, decent striker who knows the league and played in a comparable style for two years now.
If I could take a Hoffeinheim player, I'd be taking Firmino over Volland. Can't say I've been all that impressed with Mkhitaryan this season. But I can certainly see the logic in taking Volland, I'd take him at United, class player.
He is not a poacher and will fit very well in their counterattacking system; he has decent technique, pace and workrate. I can see why Dortmund wants to buy him; he is a bit like lewandowski (obviously worse). That said I am also fairly sceptically. He wont be a bargaining and he is rather old. I doubt that he has the quality to be their first choice, but I also dont think that they sign him as backup.
Firminio vs Volland would be a tricky decision. I think that Volland is more mature while Firminio can be a bit of a diva. I dont really trust him to perform, when its getting tough.
Aye, just had a look at his stats properly. 88 shots, 16 goals, which is a chance conversion rate of 18%
Code:
Player Shots Goals Conv Rate
Drmic 56 16 29%
Mandzukic 69 17 25%
Aubameyang 57 13 23%
Raffael 68 15 22%
Kießling 72 14 19%
Firmino 76 14 18%
Ramos 88 16 18%
Lewandowski 98 17 17%
Reus 91 13 14%Drmics stats are impressive!
Drmic is younger and more talented, but less proven. He is also more of a poacher than Ramos is; Ramos contributes a good number of assists for a CF. Drmic plays a fantastic season, but lets not hype him too much. His conversion rate proves that he is on an upswing. Neither Drmic nor Ramos can replace Lewandowski. Drmic would be a great second option for Dortmund, while Ramos is awkwardly in the middle between starter and backup.
I personally don´t see Firminho working in Dortmund´s system in the CAM position, because I don´t think he has the needed defensive stability or pressing strength for that. Maybe on the wings, but we are well staffed there.
Mkhitaryan was really hit or miss this season, but I stand by my initial opinion that he fits Klopp´s football extremely well. He really thrives in a pressing line up and when we will finally see this kind of football again consistently he will become a key player.
Volland has been one of my dream targets for quite some time now and I would be delighted if he would be one of the two strikers joining Dortmund in the Summer. Him and Ramos together would be a very solid choice. The latter fits our system well and knows where the goal stands.
Max Meyer scored his sixth goal of the season to give Schalke the lead against Frankfurt in the 59th minute and 7 minutes later Huntelaar misses a penalty!
Farfan makes it 2:0 in the 90th minute with a cracking goal from a free-kick.
Farfan makes it 2:0 in the 90th minute with a cracking goal from a free-kick.
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Why was Draxler's goal taken away? I wasn't really paying attention to the match, I only realised when Huntelaar had his PK that the score was still 1:0
He was offside.
Wolfsburg v Nurnberg looks like it could be a great game.
5 matches, 12 minutes played - a goal in every match... 
M'gladbach - Stuttgart (Sa.) -:- (0:1) Live
Hannover - Hamburg -:- (1:0) Live
Wolfsburg - Nürnberg -:- (0:1) Live
Freiburg - Braunschweig -:- (1:0) Live
Mainz - Bremen -:- (1:0) Live
M'gladbach - Stuttgart (Sa.) -:- (0:1) Live
Hannover - Hamburg -:- (1:0) Live
Wolfsburg - Nürnberg -:- (0:1) Live
Freiburg - Braunschweig -:- (1:0) Live
Mainz - Bremen -:- (1:0) Live
5 matches, 12 minutes played - a goal in every match...
M'gladbach - Stuttgart (Sa.) -:- (0:1) Live
Hannover - Hamburg -:- (1:0) Live
Wolfsburg - Nürnberg -:- (0:1) Live
Freiburg - Braunschweig -:- (1:0) Live
Mainz - Bremen -:- (1:0) Live
The Bundesliga is by far the highest scoring of the major leagues. I kind of like that...
For all geeks out there, goals per game for the current season:
La Liga - 2.78
EPL - 2.76
Serie A - 2.66
Ligue 1 - 2.44
Bundesliga - 3.15
It leads to many entertaining games, but the teams really need to learn how to defend again. Everyone tries to play modern football, most teams try to play pressing, high defensive lines, it doesn't work. There's nothing wrong with a solid deep sitting defense, ffs.
Wolfsburg stunning Nurnberg, 2 goals in quick succession after Nurnberg went 1 up in the opening 10mins. Frantz has come off for Nurnberg due to an injury/
Spanish teams tend to do that a lot as well. It can lead to disaster sometimes though, especially when facing a superior opponent who is capable on the counter.
Do Wolfsburg and Mainz still have hopes for CL places?
Bayern v Dortmund should be interesting even though it's a dead rubber.
For the qualification place (4th), yes.
Before this game day:
Gladbach - 49 points
Leverkusen - 48 points
Wolfsburg - 48 points
Mainz - 45 points
Yeah, but Spanish teams are in general better at keeping the ball which gives a bit of balance. German teams at the moment are way too often trying to play like Dortmund without really knowing what they do, which means they loose the ball too often in positions where it's easy for the opponent to exploit gaps in defense. Teams need to find a balance again, more patience, more changing the pace, switching between quick transitions and slow build-up.
Hmm, thanx.
So, Glandbach, Mainz, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are all obliged to win. Do Leverkusen play tomorrow?
Which explains the relatively bad performance of German clubs (bar Bayern) this season in Europe. Is that the point you are trying to make?
Indeed there are a lot of teams around that are come out with an attacking mentality. So they end up scoring a good amount of goals but also concede a high amount. Best example of this is Hoffenheim. As entertaining as that might be on the European stage against teams that are comfortable in possession they will have limited success with this approach.
The CL was a success for German clubs, but it explains the beating for schalke and leverkusen. There are very few clubs in the Bundesliga, that can sit back and absorb pressure. Its really strange, because that shouldnt be that hard. Except Bayern there isnt a single team in the BuLi, that could do anything like United did against bayern.
Calhanoglu's shots are just a joy to behold. Great freekick.
No, not really. We weren't that bad in the CL actually. Schalke and Leverkusen fecked up the games against the big teams (inexpierence, naivety, lack of individual quality played a part there), but finishing 2nd in their groups ahead of teams like Basel and Donetsk is what I expected from them, can't really complain and Dortmund finishing top of their group and making it to the quarterfinals with all those injuries was great. Last season relatively small or weak clubs finished in the EL places in the league. Freiburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt are all in the bottom half of the table, fighting against relegation at the moment, so I can't really complain that they weren't more successful. Our 2nd tier teams with more money need to establish themselves in the top 6-7, then we will see better performances from more than 2 or 3 teams in the European competitions. Wolfsburg, Gladbach, Hamburg need to step up and fulfill their potential. If they can't do that, we won't match the performances of Spanish teams in the Europa league. Don't think the tactics used by most teams in the league are a problem in Europe, they just make for lots of goals when played against each other.
Yes, against Berlin.
Half time results:
M'gladbach - Stuttgart (Sa.) -:- (0:1) Live
Hannover - Hamburg -:- (1:0) Live
Wolfsburg - Nürnberg -:- (2:1) Live
Freiburg - Braunschweig -:- (1:0) Live
Mainz - Bremen -:- (2:0) Live
Bayern - Dortmund really could be a dead rubber - or could be very interesting. There was a lot stuff off the pitch going on this week. But - both team can say at the end of the match that it was not important when they loose... Bayern already has won the Bundesliga and the important stuff follows - and Dortmund has the most important match of the rest year following on Wednesday against Wolfsburg.
Großkreutz and Robben...
Translation:
Robben: Kevin, droping out of the competition but still being celebrated by the fans - that would be impossible at Bayern.
Kevin: Being celebrated even when dropping out?
Robben: No, ... dropping out, you silly!!
Calhanoglu just keeps scoring, he's been in brilliant form.
Meanwhile Gladbach doing all they can to throw away that CL spot. As it stands Wolfsburg will go 2 points ahead of them in 4th. Really can't decide which one I'd like to get 4th to be honest.
Meanwhile Gladbach doing all they can to throw away that CL spot. As it stands Wolfsburg will go 2 points ahead of them in 4th. Really can't decide which one I'd like to get 4th to be honest.
I always had a soft spot for Gladbach despite our rivalry in the 70's, very weird but I like that club and they showed ambition with their signings in recent years and should have continuity with Favre as manager for a few more years as well. They deserve a 4th place finish and another shot at CL football. Pretty sure, Wolfsburg will finish 4th though unless Lewandwoski works miracles at Leverkusen.
This is why I'm leaning more towards Gladbach for 4th as well. I like their team and Favre is a good manager. They have made some quality signings for next summer and I'd love to see them get a shot at CL but I reckon next year they would have a bigger chance at 4th.
Leverkusen are in free-fall, can't see them getting 4th now. There's always the new manager syndrome though so I wouldn't rule it out completely but it's highly unlikely. I don't really want them getting CL football anyway.
Leverkusen are in free-fall, can't see them getting 4th now. There's always the new manager syndrome though so I wouldn't rule it out completely but it's highly unlikely. I don't really want them getting CL football anyway.
Really? Because there were quite a few Bundesliga teams this season, which managed exactly that (holding their own defensively). Freiburg, Berlin, Gladbach, Mainz and Nürnberg are the first that come to mind.
The thing all this clubs have in common is, that they are led by very good coaches. People like Tuchel, Streich, Favre or Luhukay managed to give their teams a lot of tactical understanding and structure, which led to some pretty good results. Problem is, that their clubs are not in the top bracket in terms of potential so there will be a limit of how much they will be able to accomplish.
Meanwhile clubs with the right potential like Hamburg, Leverkusen, Schalke or Wolfsburg managed to waste said potential or failed to install the right attitude for the international stage.
As much as it pains me to say, the best shout for a third real top team in Germany is Wolfsburg. They now have a solid foundation personal wise with Hecking and Allofs, a strong academy and large financial backing by Volkswagen.
So if you hope for a German team, which is able to really make an impact in the CL, Wolfsburg is the team to root for. That is unless Schalke finally manages to get a top class coach on their hands.
Wolfsburg has Hamburg, Freiburg and Stuttgart next. Tricky because they all fight for survival, but manageable if they play their best football. Possibly with the decisive clash against Mönchengladbach at the 34th matchday.
They can have an impact in the CL after playing a great league season, they'll invest in the summer anyway, so one year EL won't really change their future. I actually could see them adding a few more players for squad depth and actually doing well in the EL, which would help the league a lot more, imo.
At the moment, Keller does a great job at Schalke, imo. Can't really say, he fecked up the season at any point. Though, I still expect Tuchel to take that job in 2015. If they keep most of their brilliant youth players until then, they could become an amazing team.