Maldeika

Bayern changed the text on there homepage some minutes ago. It is not Mandzukic but Götze who took a fracture of his ankle probably because of that tackle and has to carry a cast the next week and will than have to do about 2 weeks rehabilitation. ---------------- I liked some of the scenes after the match. Schweinsteiger chatting with Lampard, Hazard with Ribery, Dante laughing with David Luiz, van Buyten (and others - but he is the "old man" in the belgium team) trying to console Lukaku. Why did he have to shoot the fifth penalty?

I have not seen any playacting. Maybe I am not so hard with it than you are. But - in slow motion there was nothing without a cause. In my opinion in today's match as an offensive player you just have to do the drama if you want to get your right. If you do not you loose. What I hate - and what I have seen so often with Barcelona or Real Madrid is - when they cheat. When there was no cause. Real dives. We got Badstuber red carded in a CL match against Napoli when Cavani dived without even a contact. ---------------- About Schürrle - he is great when he can counter attack - but in other situations I think you have players that are better equipped. I e.g. like Kevin de Bruyne - so you first have to see if he can make it on a big level - Werder Bremen ain't highest class. ----------------- That Supercupfinal caused some injuries. Robben has something with his knees and has to stop training for atleast 3 days. Martinez has something with his knees and has to stop 5 days or more and Mandzukic has fractured something at his ankle and has to carry a cast for a week and that will be a minimum break of 3 or 4 weeks. But - it is international break... - Schweinsteiger already cancelled the national matches.

I like internationals - but maybe that is easier when you are cheering with the German team. Especially as the next one is an encounter with neighbouring Austria - usually they play the best match of the year against Germany but loose - hope it will be like this this time, too...

Was somehow a special match. Could not have written the script for it better. Was not the same like the CL final - but the bitterness of that (as a fan and probably it is the same for the players, too) has already been softened by the CL win this year and the treble - and the full season. There were so much highlights - especially some of the CL matches. The playing was not so important - not in the aftermath. The defense did not really look stable until Javi came in - but he could not have come earlier as he is not fit enough for a whole match and Schweinsteiger is out - and there is no other possibility than Lahm what than pushes Rafinha to the right... And they could have been a lot more effective and playing more direct in front of the goal. But that is something that is still in work and needs patience - it is just the start of the season. But that are the issues since some weeks - problems with counter attacks and if a better team makes them they soon get dangerous like seen today. That is probably because of some changes made in the systems and some insecurities. Actually - don't we football fans live for the drama, too. Ok, on the end we want our team to win and a big win against a big team is something great, too. But in my memories there are a lot of this matches that had a special script. And winning the match in this way was better than winning it in a more superior fashion. I have not seen the big tears on your players - they seemed okay and already where chatting and laughing after the match. Apart from Lukaku. They did not have anything to loose as Bayern was the big favourite. Maybe having been so close is a good motivation for the start of this season. For Bayern winning in this fashion was great. In the season 2011/12 the biggest problem was to turn results - they never did. If you lay back and you have the luck to turn results that gives more self confidence for the next time you might be in that situation.

No. But it is the best Guardiola can field without Schweinsteiger. That is a major miss especially as Martinez is not fit, Gustavo gone, Kirchhoff not fit etc. Rafinha against Hazard ain't a good idea and I hope Robben knows to track back - recently he is in hero mode again, playing more egoistical and forgetting to track back - but he is scoring well. And Lahm as a 6 is better than all other experiments - he has played that before - but it is not ideal. I hope Guardiola does not think about playing Müller and Kroos both as an 8 in a 4-1-4-1 but plays a 4-2-3-1.

Should be. Lahm behind Kroos and Müller - hopefully Müller playing more freely and Kroos more backwards and not both as offensive 8s. Substitutes: Starke - van Buyten, Martínez, Shaqiri, Pizarro, Götze, Contento

Are you German or do you understand German? How important this match is you might see in the following little youtube video from the tiger. Just for the English - it is one with the assistant of Pep Guardiola (or Heynckes or van Gaal) - the U23-coach that is responsible a lot for getting Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Müller (and before a lot others like Babbel, Hamann etc.) where they are today. He is sitting in between the players on trips. He told in that interview that he was really sick for four weeks after that CL final match in 2012 and he thinks there is still a revenge to do.

It was only luck... No, actually it had to do with mentality. A lot fans overestimate technical abilities, systems etc. and underrate character and mentality. There was something wrong in that team in the beginning of 2012 - do not ask me what - but you especially saw it when it meant the offensive players and their self confidence. Gomez was scoring bundles in the first half of the season - but rarely did the second one. Similar with Robben - he did not find the balance between teamwork and individualist - and apart from 3 weeks in March that kept the whole half of the season. Müller had that problems at the beginning of the season with his own goals but came back at the end of the season. The team broke whenever early goals did not function - and they were not the team to turn matches. As long everything ran smooth in that year all was fine, from the talent of the players just the usual outcome - but if not it was not. ---------------- Chelsea just had the necessary fighter qualities then. And that was what made you win then. And the lack of the right mentality in the Bayern side or the necessary self confidence of the offensive players - and the last bit of it Heynckes subbed out off the match after the goal. Heynckes never subbed Müller in away matches (until the Bundesliga title was made, then he did it to keep him fresh for the CL) or in the big matches last year - everybody else, never Müller. Exception was the CL semi finals when Müller begged for the change and they already led 4:0 against Barcelona.

You know that Müller leads the goals + assists table of Bayern for the last four years - and he is better than Robben or Ribery per minute in the CL since then, has made the most decisive and is by a margin better when it means away matches... - Just wanted to point that out... He gets underrated sometimes... Schweinsteiger looked good again yesterday so he probably will start. Lahm probably would have played in defensive midfield when he would not have started - or he might shift into it when there is problems - but even Guardiola wants him to play the fullback. ------------ Alaba is gold. Not only on the field. He does not have the superstar attitudes some of the other young talents have that have been pampered and called to be the future stars since years. Very humble.

Is there that difference? You have Oscar, Hazard, Schürrle, De Bruyne in that 20-24 category Bayern has Müller (23), Kroos (23), Alaba (21), Götze (21), Shaqiri (22) in that age group - 3 of them for sure will play. Even Boateng and Martinez are only 24. With Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Dante and Lahm Bayern has 5 29 to 30 year olds - but you have the experienced players, too.

Liverpool has won it three times. 1977, 2001 and 2005 ----------- The match facts from UEFA's press kit http://www.uefa.com/uefa/mediaservices/presskits/uefasupercup/season=2013/round=2000456/day=1/session=1/match=2012139/index.html

I think that pretty much will be the line-up Pep will play - if Schweinsteiger is able to play. Martinez is with the 19 players (Ribery flew to Monaco first and will fly to Prague after the voting) that flew to Prague. So if Schweinsteiger will not play I can see him in his old role in the defensive midfield behind Kroos and Müller. I do not think that he will play if Schweinsteiger can. There is pricks in every team. Ribery gets "molested" during about every match from his opponent. I sometimes can understand that he has times when he just cannot hold back. He still is really loved by the Bayern fans and by his teammates. He works hard for the team - it is not the team working for him... And Müller - funny, humble, intelligent and very emotional - somebody you love as a fan because of that. Even if he is talking a lot on the pitch (he talks a lot off the pitch, too - he is the team's entertainer) - he never got a yellow card for complaining. And I never have seen him going on the ground without a contact - he does not dive. It does not mean that he does not know how to draw a penalty and get a defender to foul him when he needs it - so he rarely uses it. He falls easy - he is the skinniest guy on the pitch - but I never have seen somebody getting up that fast again (what sometimes is bad for the opponent as he uses that situation for himself). An offensive player has to know to do some playacting and to know some tricks - let's just face that. The referee has to see that you are hurt if you want the fouls to be called. The unfairness starts when there has not been a real foul - but Müller still is on the right side - drama, yes, but none without reason. And the Alba block - if the referee judged it different it did not get the wrong guy... On the other side I have seen so much defenders doing a block against him without it being called a foul either. And Mandzu - is a "working" forward. One that really can make it hard for the defenders. Some underestimate the Bundesliga and the teams that play in there. Pep learns it on the hard tour right now and realises that it is not a walkthrough and that there are a lot teams that do not make life that easy. Yes, Bayern is always the favourite - but has won the league less often than e.g. Manchester United in the last 10 to 15 years. But this team right now is exceptional (so is Dortmund right now) and the run last year just was the effect of the prior year. It has a lot to do with mentality, morale and character not to be slobby against the smaller teams especially before and after CL matches. --------------- Liverpool has won the Super Cup final in 2001 with 3 - 2 Goals: Riise, Owen, Heskey - Salihamidzic, Jancker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_UEFA_Super_Cup

Thiago and Badstuber are out for longer. Martinez has only played 14 minutes as central defender this season and not one after the week with the international matches. He has problems with his groin and there was talk that he might even have to get an operation. Schweinsteiger is in question - but it looks possible and better than it looked last night. Kirchhoff - a defensive midfielder and defender seems to be out injured, too - but he is just third or fourth choice. Even Höjbjerg, the now 18-year-old who played the Schweinsteiger position very often during the preparation weeks is out injured. If Schweinsteiger cannot play you will probably see Lahm as defensive midfielder and Rafinha as right full back. --------- Pep did not only rotate yesterday, he already did Saturday. He only subbed Kroos and Müller into the match Saturday - others did not play yesterday. Only Neuer, Dante and Götze (who still is off pace and lacks match fitness and the connection to the team) started in both matches.

It is not a glorified friendly. It is still one of three European trophies - it is a lot about reputation. It does not beat the national championship (what is a trophy for consistency the whole season) or the CL - but I would say that it might mean more than e.g. a German Cup win - especially as Bayern has that title in abundance but never won the Supercup. I know that Europe laughed about Chelsea when they did not win the Uefa Supercup and the Fifa Club World Cup. I did. I thought it especially funny that Paolo Guerrero shot the winning goal - a player that came out of Bayern's U23, played with Schweinsteiger and Lahm there - and close friend and his forward partner to Pizzaro in the Peruvian squad. Maybe some kind of Schadenfreude. You are all fans - you can imagine that that night of the CL final was not only bad for the players but kept a lot of Bavarian football crazies off the sleep for awhile. It is the way for Mou and Pep to show that they are doing well in their new jobs. And there is their rivalery, too. And for Bayern there is still that 19th of May - even if in one way that day was the reason why last season was so phenomenal. Sometimes you have to loose big to win big. But it is still in some of their heads. But I think that - apart from Mou - the trophy and the match means more to Bayern than to Chelsea.

Wiki says: Currently, the rules of the UEFA Super Cup are the same as any other UEFA club competition. It is a single match final, contested in a neutral venue. The match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. If the scores are level at the end of 90 minutes, two additional 15-minute periods of extra time are played. If there is no winner at the end of the second period of extra time, a penalty shoot-out determines the winner (to date, no Super Cup tie has been settled on a penalty shoot-out).[4] Each team names 18 players, 11 of which start the match. Of the 7 remaining players, a total of 3 may be substituted throughout the match. Each team may wear its first choice kit; however, if these clash the previous year's Europa League winning team must wear an alternative colour. If a club refuses to play or is ineligible to play then they are replaced by the second finalist from the competition they qualified through. If the field is unfit for play due to bad weather the match must be played the next day.[7] ------------------ Actually - I do not need any penalties... My opinion: If Schweinsteiger plays and Guardiola plays like the last minutes in Nuremberg in the midfield - Kroos as the deeper 8 and Müller in a free role - we have very good chances to win. Robben in difference to two years ago has gotten a lot of self confidence and already scored 5 goals in 5 matches. If Guardiola sees system more important than players the chances too loose are bigger. -------------------- It is the only trophy Bayern never has won. Never was won by another German team or German coach.

Badstuber had his second cruciate ligament rupture in May. Just came back into training from the first one and ruptured it again. Has not played a match since December 2012 and will not get back before maybe March 2014. Maybe in time for the World Cup - but you usually need awhile before you get into old shape. It probably will be next season. Schweinsteiger is not out for Friday - but big in question. He has strained his right ankle again - but no ruptures or anything like this. Last year I would have believed in the thrashing. This year they look a little shaky on the back and not everything is working right now. And offensively - too much ball movements at the outside the box with too less direct play into the box.

What do you mean with open? Did you watch the match or did you only see Shaq's goal - Bayern was dressed in their CL-Kit - that is dark blue. Since Guardiola Schweinsteiger is the most defensive player in midfield - playing without a sweeping type of midfielder. Martinez will play in the defense when he is fit and has done so in the matches he has played this season. Yes, it is very risky - especially in the Bundesliga where a lot teams are very good on the break. Bayern has 3 matches in 6 days - Saturday, Tuesday and then Friday. It is not really a second team - but yes, Rafinha, Contento and van Buyten - maybe even Shaqiri, Pizzaro and a Götze, that still needs some weeks - for sure is a downgrade to Ribery, Robben, Boateng, Lahm, Alaba. But the problem was more that they in the beginning seemed to be some days away and did some sloppy passing (maybe because of the unusual shape, too) and that they did not add more goals in time. At the end it happens what happens very often when you just lead by a goal - the opponent scores by a counter. Schweinsteiger got injured and that did not look like he would be playing again prior to the international break ends - certainly not Friday. And that is a big miss as Martinez ain't matchfit either. Could mean that Lahm is playing defensive midfield.

Bayern started against Freiburg with somewhat a B-Team - Guardiola gave some players a rest. Lead 1:0 but made the mistake to not make the second. Schweinsteiger had to leave the pitch with an injury and that did not look good. Got the equalizer in the last minutes. Bayern played: Neuer Rafinha - van Buyten - Dante - Contento Schweinsteiger Müller - Götze - Kroos - Shaqiri Pizarro Lahm came in for Götze in minute 62, Ribery for Schweinsteiger in the 79th, Mandzukic for Pizarro in the 88th Bayern goal by Shaqiri, assisted by Müller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40jDy8gM54

I am a German Bayern fan. And I did not come to stir up anything and just like to chat so I hope I am welcome. Guardiola told this week that it just would be a match like all of the others - yes, sure a final - but that the final 2012 was forgotten. But I do not think the players think like this. The tiger - Hermann Gerland, Guardiola's assistant who has been the U-23 coach since about 23 years (with some years interruption) and was assistant for van Gaal and Heynckes before - said different in a TV show on Saturday. He told that this final has stolen his sleep for more than four weeks and that he sure wants the team to win that match. The question before - who of Chelsea would get into the Bayern team - I have read that question so often. Maybe none in the big matches - even not Mata - so he sure would be in the normal rotation getting as much time as the others. In the big matches nobody let's Müller on the bench anymore and that probably would be Mata's position - and after last year's final and since he seems to have fought his demons you do not do that with Robben either. Before you might have thought about shifting Müller to the right. In Guardiola's ideas Müller probably could play as a forward, too - then Mata would have to fight with Götze for the no. 10 spot. Both Götze and Müller had better scorer numbers (goals + assists) in the league last year, Müller one every 80 minutes, Götze one every 92, Mata one every 97. In the Champions League Müller had a goal or an assist every 104 minutes, Götze every 88, Mata was better with one every 77 - but where Müller made his goals and assists especially in the final stages against Juve, Arsenal and Barcelona (and the ones before were crucial as one secured the final stage, was the only away goal or came 2 minutes after a red card that could have turned the match) Mata e.g. had five of his scorer points against Nordsjelland. So Mata for sure would be on level with the other options - but he is not superior than them. He would be another option in a crowd of offensive midfielders. If I would have to rate your an our offensive midfielders: Ribery is superior - but Hazard and Mata would probably get match time on level with the other offensive midfielders (Shaqiri is the offensive midfielder at Bayern who is not fully on the level of the others - but he is a great substitute) - Oscar I cannot rate - DeBruyne and especially Schürrle I see a step below. How will Bayern play Friday? Martinez is not fit, Thiago had an operation today and is out injured at least until mid of November, Götze is on the way back - Badstuber is long time injured The team will form a 4-1-4-1 or maybe a 4-2-3-1, Kroos probably will play deeper than Müller does --------------Neuer------------------- Lahm - Boateng - Dante - Alaba ---------Schweinsteiger - Kroos Robben - Müller (- Kroos) - Ribery -----------Mandzukic There will probably just three changes to the team that has played the final 2012. For Tymoschchuk who plays for Zenit and Gomez who plays for Florence now Mandzukic and Dante come in. Alaba who was booked in 2012 will play instead of Contento. The bench - Rafinha (fullback), Pizarro (striker - played for Chelsea in 2007), Götze (OM, wings), Shaqiri (OM, wings), Kirchhoff (defender and defensive midfielder), Starke (2nd keeper) ------------------------------------------------------------ The system is still Bayern's problem - a lot is new - but they can always switch to the old one like they did in the last 25 minutes against Nuremberg. Bayern had 5 competitive matches until now. They lost the Supercup match (Germany's Community Shield) against Dortmund (but had still important player's missing and fitness problems then) but won the Cup match and the first three Bundesliga matches. Not in big style but they atleast won. Arjen scored 5 goals and 2 assists, Müller 3 goals and 3 assists, Lahm 4 assists, Ribery 1 goal and 2 assists (in only 3 matches), Mandzukic scored 2 goals. Bayern plays the Bundesliga match that was scheduled for Saturday tomorrow at 18:30 CET (17:30 English time). ------------------- Dante or David Luiz David Luiz is the defender that plays there for some years whereas Dante was the new one who just came into the view because of playing for Bayern Munich. Nobody cared how good he was when he played for Mönchengladbach. He really was great last season - this year he still has to show it. Sometimes you think he has realised that he is a Brazilian, too, trying not to play the easy way but the more tricky (and sometimes more dangerous one). Could be that it is his spot Martinez will take when he finally will be fit. Boateng has been really great the recent months and has made a great development. He nearly never has blips, is very reliable on the back and offers a lot going forward.