Did you miss your game today? Just to remind you, you lost at home against Ingolstadt
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More serious, how do you see your team and what are your expectations for this season?
I had the unfortunate experience of watching it live. We were truly horrible.
Before today's game I'd have said that I expect another midtable finish. Maybe it's a bit kneejerk, but now it feels like it will be a season of fighting relegation. The most worrying aspect of our performance was the complete lack of midfield creativity (not that Ingolstadt were any better, but in their case it looked intentional). This was also apparent in pre-season, including our 3-0 win over Lazio. As it is, we rely almost entirely on our quick wingers doing something special.
On paper, our squad isn't that bad. Karius is a very good keeper, Bell is quality, our fullback options Brosinski and Park are good. Bungert is a bit shaky though, and the backups aren't great.
Our depth and quality on the wings is great, Jairo, Clemens, Muto, Beister, (Koo). Malli is usually pretty good at number 10, we also have some good backups here.
The problem areas are where we lost our star players. Niederlechner looks a downgrade on Okazaki, and central midfield lacks a playmaker. Frei is better playing a bit further forward, so we ended up with Baumi as the DLP, which he's expectedly terrible at. I'd like to see Koo tried in this position
It's not all doom and gloom, we looked dangerous every time we attacked at speed - we simply refused to do it for most of the match. Malli was also really dreadful today. If he plays to his potential, we'll probably look much better.
I'm also looking forward to your lot playing Ingolstadt, what an absolute turd of a team. Vintage Stoke.
Well, this was a bit more of a rant than intended, but I think there's enough substance to it.
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