First league game, first win, first clean-sheet and first assist for Raeder
Performance wasn't great though. It's worrying me that Ribery looks out of form as well..
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.
Performance wasn't great though. It's worrying me that Ribery looks out of form as well..
Both goals from Bayern looked a bit offside IIRC. Götze was a little bit offside when he assisted Pizarro, and Mandzukic was running back to the defensive line when Raeder booted it up field. Ribéry looked awful IMO.
At least we aren't playing that awful WM formation anymore, but that's really the only positive thing I take away from today's performance.
I have only seen the highlights, but from the looks of it Bayern Munich seems to really lack tension, structure and motivation right now. The very early league win turned out to be a tricky situation for them. On one hand you have to take into account that most of their unconvincing performances were dead rubbers, but on the other hand they also did not look good vs. Dortmund (important in the matter of prestige and setting a sign for the Cup final) and the Cup Semi final vs. Kaiserslautern.
This is a dangerous situation and probably Guardiola´s biggest test as Bayern coach until now. Can he flip the switch in the team early enough for the upcoming deciding games? If he fails to do so, Bayern could finish this season with just one title, which is not enough in the light of their own expectations.
This is a dangerous situation and probably Guardiola´s biggest test as Bayern coach until now. Can he flip the switch in the team early enough for the upcoming deciding games? If he fails to do so, Bayern could finish this season with just one title, which is not enough in the light of their own expectations.
It is never offside when the goalkeeper...
Was it the England match when Klose scored the 1:0 after a similar situation from a kick or throw of Neuer?
About Bayern - Ribery seems to be not fit or not in his role since he came back from his injury. Everybody else - I do not really know how much has to do with running less or being scared of injuries - or too much rotations. We will see Wednesday. Every talk about that now is just wasted.
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It was a goal-kick? Oops, I noticed the Braunschweig defenders pushing the line forward.
Was it a set piece and not open play? I thought it was open play and then offside works just as usual...I'm not 100% sure though.
Beim Abstoß gibt es kein Abseits. (German Wikipedia)
Need to find something similar in English.
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English Wikipedia:
Regardless of position, there is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from a corner kick, goal kick, or throw-in. However, an offside offence may occur if a player receives the ball directly from either a direct free kick or an indirect free kick.
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But the best message of today is that Badstuber did his first full team training session today with the rest of the team that stayed in Munich. It is for sure too late for the World Cup after he has been out so long but maybe he can play some minutes in the last match in the Allianz Arena this season and there is big chances that he will be fully back for the next season.
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Julian Brandt starting again for Leverkusen. This is a big game for both clubs. Leverkusen for the first time in months has dropped out of the top 4 while Nurnberg are in a relegation scrap. A win for Nurnberg will see them going up into 15th place, a win for Leverkusen sees them go back to 4th ahead of Wolfsburg.
I read rumors that Dortmund is going to trigger Drmic's cheap release clause if Nürnberg relegates, so I'm obviously for Nürnberg.
Spahic's goal was superb at the beginning, really great volley. Brandt also looking good so far, what a talent he is.
FC Bayern München @FCBayern
Aufstellung FCB / Line up: Neuer - Dante, Ribéry, Martinez, Pizarro, Boateng, Götze, Weiser, Müller, Alaba, Schweinsteiger | ^M.Hörwick
vs.
SV Werder Bremen @werderbremen
Aufstellung: Wolf, Fritz, Prödl, Caldirola, Garcia - Bargfrede, Makiadi, Theo, Hunt, Junuzovic, Di Santo!
Aufstellung FCB / Line up: Neuer - Dante, Ribéry, Martinez, Pizarro, Boateng, Götze, Weiser, Müller, Alaba, Schweinsteiger | ^M.Hörwick
vs.
SV Werder Bremen @werderbremen
Aufstellung: Wolf, Fritz, Prödl, Caldirola, Garcia - Bargfrede, Makiadi, Theo, Hunt, Junuzovic, Di Santo!
Javi-Bastian at DM, my eyes must be deceiving me!
Why you no rest players for Champions League? Why?
Wolfsburg will be in the CL next season, won't they?
Their confidence and spirit must be at their highest against Real. A good convincing win here is needed. I doubt the players are that tired, anyway, with the constant rotation and laid-back attitude in last few games.
we rest a couple of them. Robben, Lahm, Manzukic, Kroos. There was also a lot of criticism, that a couple of players lost their rhythm/form, so giving them time on the pitch (with a positive experience) might be beneficial. We had enough rotation anyway; non of these players should have the excuse to be physically exhausted.
Bremen 1:0 up after their first couterattack.
What is happening to Bayern ? This doesn't look like the spirited team under Heyneckes that kept winning even after the Bundesliga title was confirmed...
A much needed goal for Ribery, boost his confidence hopefully.
What is happening to Bayern ? This doesn't look like the spirited team under Heyneckes that kept winning even after the Bundesliga title was confirmed...
These games are less meaningful than a pre-season friendly.
If Heynckes was so awesome as people are suggesting on this forum, they would bring him back in a heartbeat. People just looking for excuses/scapegoats...
I'm sure they would bring him back in a heart beat, but he left didn't he? Didn't he retire as well?
That doesn't make any sense to me. He retired, how and why would they try to bring him back?
Shinji Okazaki scores for Mainz making him the most successful Japanese goalscorer in the Bundesliga. What a season he's had, great transfer for Mainz.
fecks sake, stop conceding...
fecks sake, stop conceding...
De Bruyne is so incredibly wasteful
Mate I'm not saying there have to be scapegoats, suggesting that Heyneckes is awesome > Pep or anything of that sort. And I know these games are just a formality. But still Bayern's gameplay and results since winning the title this season have been a bit weak. Last year they were confirmed Bundesliga champions on 6 Apr but still their ruthless nature didn't subside. They still kept the results going and won 5 out of their last 6 games only drawing to Dortmund. Not to mention they won away at Juventus, thrashed Barcelona 7-0 and won the CL final on top of winning the Pokal. This season there's been a noticeable drop in form in the past few weeks and seems like they've taken their foot off the gas. They were quite unconvincing against us at times, they lost at Real, drew at Hoffenheim and lost to Augsburg and Dortmund.
He wanted to stay another year but they didn't want to miss out on the chance of getting Guardiola. According to Hoeness, at least.
It's not literal what I am saying there. But I am tired of all this implying that had Heynckes remained at the helm, then Bayern would surely be doing better now. If anything, Bayern won the league more easily than last season, but in the CL, where top quality opposition can be found, they have been less impressive, probably due to the rest of the top European sides being better prepared when facing Bayern. The amount of criticism people have thrown at Pep (who I am not a fan of) is preposterous. As if any team, no matter how good they may be, could not lose at the Bernabeu...
I have just a genuine contempt for all this fuss/paranoia over managers. Just a diversion, a suspension of rational thought, so that heroes and scapegoats can be created for the public.
Oh Bayern. 2-1 Bremen.
Anyway, in my opinion, the problem with Bayern seemingly not taking the BL seriously anymore and relaxing is that players can't turn their focus on and off between each game. The remarkable thing about Heynckes is that he kept them 100% focused even after winning the BL. The Bayern players cannot expect to play at 50% before an important CL game and suddenly turn it up to 100% for that CL game.
Anyway, in my opinion, the problem with Bayern seemingly not taking the BL seriously anymore and relaxing is that players can't turn their focus on and off between each game. The remarkable thing about Heynckes is that he kept them 100% focused even after winning the BL. The Bayern players cannot expect to play at 50% before an important CL game and suddenly turn it up to 100% for that CL game.
What they did in the league after they have won it is completely and totally meaningless. Say they beat Hoffenheim, Augsburg and Dortmund. Then what? It would just make the statistics look better.
Last season, other big European teams, such as Juventus and Barcelona would not have faced Bayern with fear and dread. This is not the case this season. This is a massive and crucial difference, far beyond any potential effect that any manager/tactics could have. The fact that the rest of the elite clubs are willing to be largely negative against you, and not completely falling into your trap as Barcelona did, changes everything.
And one more thing, I think that the 4-0 aggregate scoreline over Juventus was somewhat flattering for Bayern, while the 7-0 over Barca was just a joke. Bayern definitely the better team of the two, but some of the goals in the first leg were dubious at best, while the 2nd game was a formality. Remember that even last season's Bayern had a very hard time against both Arsenal and Dortmund. No team is invincible in football. Simple as. You can be mixing your tactics all you want, when you play against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, the chances of you losing, are quite high.
Well, they do have a much better and wider squad this season to be fair. Arguably worse opponents on the domestic stage, as well. I agree that criticism of Guardiola is a bit over the top lately but I understand some of it. They were the best team in the world last season and seeing a new manager come in and make so many, unnecessary according to some people, changes could be a bit frustrating. They have no right to complain about the results though. Their fans are too spoiled, that's all.
I wouldn't overanalyse the whole thing. Last season was heavily influenced by loosing the CL final at home against Chelsea. We were a team on a mission from the first to the last day. There was no way that we could replicate it this year. Guardiola made a few mistakes in the past months, but comparing the team with last season isn't fair. It was actually surprising how long we kept going on such a high level. Despite all the talk about how easy the Bundesliga is for us, the past weeks show that if you loose only 1 or 2% of your focus, your motivation, you instantly struggle. We're not as far ahead of the rest of the league as the points difference showed, we just played consistently on an insane level for a very long time. And let's not forget that we had countless injuries to key players this year, we were much more lucky with injuries last season.
They were the best team in the world last season, but the others did not know it. This year, they do. It's just like Barcelona back in 08/09 and 09/10. Up until the Bayern Munich quarterfinal of 2009, and the 2-6 Clasico, teams thought they could face Barcelona with orthodox tactics (i.e. not parking the bus) After those two results, everything changed, and Barcelona have been facing parked buses ever since (early 2009) This is what Bayern will have to be dealing with from now on as well.
Oh, and people seem to forget that Bayern are still on course for another treble...
Sorry but I don't see it that way. Their form has definitely been dodgy these past few weeks and the results have gone south - 3 losses 2 draws in the last 7 games + CL games and 1-2 down at HT today are very unflattering when a couple of months ago they were sweeping teams left, right and centre. Although they did have Thiago in superb touch then so it could be a factor. Anyway let's agree to disagree. Maybe i'm reading too much into it and it's just a case of Gotze, Ribery etc being out form.
I don't think the reason for Bayern's poor form after winning the league is anything to do with the manager. It is more likely to do with the fact Dortmund had won the 11/12 Bundesliga so Bayern would have been really fired up for last season and it showed, they would have been determined to show who was the top German team again. You could see a similar effect with United last season following City's win. However, after winning it last season the desire and motivation will drop slightly, that is normal. Their quality was good enough to ensure they still dominated the league this year but once they won it so easily all motivation has evaporated temporarily and gone towards Europe.
This thought progress is way too simple. There is a reason why so many coaches stress the fact that keeping up the focus is extremely important, because flipping the switch between less meaningful and more important matches is far from easy, which could be already seen in the matches vs. United and Real, where they were far from being at 100%. Keeping motivation high at this point in time is very tricky, though.
The Dortmund game had also a different character than a simple dead rubber. Not only has this fixture developed a character of its own over the last years, it had also a signal effect towards the cup final. Losing as clearly at they did at home fueled Dortmund´s confidence, which could turn out to be extremely dangerous looking at the final in May. If they can do that in their crippled state away from home, why not do that in Berlin, which is basically a home game for them?
It's not so much that you 've lost your focus 1%, it's the fact that you have been playing C-sides in some dead rubber Bundesliga games and with good reason...
Don't think that's true and we rotated just as much last season after winning the league.