German Bundesliga Thread

[BavarianAfrican12]

I thought i would make a BuLi thread since its an upcoming league but isnt as mainstream as most top leagues in the world.

Braunschweig - Leverkusen 1:0

Surprising win by last placed Braunschweig, maybe a bit too much rotation in Leverkusen's team.

Hertha - Schalke 0:2

Draxler with the last minute second goal.

Hoffenheim - Bayern 1:2

we played sh*t and grinded out the win, 3 strange goals heavily influenced by luck and defensive errors. A lovely assist for the second goal by Ribery, Müller scored and Schweinsteiger f**ked up a huge chance after another brilliant pass by Ribery. Hoffenheim could have scored a few times as well though. Very weird game.

Nürnberg - Freiburg 0:3

Baumann supposedly had a great game after his shockingly bad performance last week, first win this season for Freiburg. Hopefully they continue to get results, really want them to stay in the league.

Hamburg - Gladbach 0:2

Max Kruse with two goals. Gladbach seem to find some form now after a bad start, they really could give Schalke a fight for the 4th CL spot.

Edited November 2, 2013 by BavarianAfrican12

[JMaher94]

Sorry but I hope Dortmund win the title. Think they're class. Obviously so are Bayern! What's your opinion on Schalke?

[BavarianAfrican12]

Sorry but I hope Dortmund win the title. Think they're class. Obviously so are Bayern! What's your opinion on Schalke?

I take no offense so dont worry about it, BvB are the one team i fear cause they know Bayern very well and always ah their best football against us. Schalke has a lot of talent in their squad but they have had injuries to many key players like Huntelear, Farfan, and recently KPB who came back today. In my opinion if they can stay healthy and get a better manager they could be a real force in Germany. I would be looking at Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka, those two will be world beaters!

[Teritus]

What do you think of Stuttgart? Always liked watching them in the Bundesliga.

[BavarianAfrican12]

What do you think of Stuttgart? Always liked watching them in the Bundesliga.

Stuttgart have been underachivers in my opinion, they are one if two BuLi teams whos reserve teams play in the 3rd tier which is the highest a reserve team can go in Germany and have many quality players but poor management has been the death of them. Especially when they won the BuLi with quality players lime Gomez and Khedira they did little to replace them with decent players including the UCL money. They had a good start vs BvB on friday but they played into BvB's game when they went right at them but overall they are a quality team. Watch out for a guy called Alexendru Maxim he is a quality AM!

[BavarianAfrican12]

By the way reports say that Dortmund want Reus to forfeit his release clause (€35m starting in 2015) by upping his wages from 4.5m to 6m.

[Huttsey]

I enjoyed reading this interview with Jurgen Klopp today. Taken from The Times:

Jürgen Klopp is playing an imaginary violin for ­Arsenal. “I think Arsène Wenger likes having the ball, playing football, passes, like an orchestra,” the ­Borussia Dortmund coach says, making a ham-fisted fiddling gesture. “But it’s a silent song, yeah? I like heavy metal more.”

Your instinct, when one of European football’s most sought-after coaches says something like this, is that it is all part of the “Kloppo” persona — the floppy hair, the stubble, the designer frames, the wicked sense of humour and the hugely engaging manner that makes an hour in his company fly by.

It is more than just a throwaway line, though. For all the efforts in some quarters to paint him as the next Pep Guardiola, or indeed the next Wenger, the football that Klopp cherishes is not the symphonic or rhythmic beauty of tiki-taka, but something more like heavy metal or certainly the subgenre known as speed metal — fast, abrasive and technically ­demanding.

“I know it’s not the most important stat, but I love it when I read after the game that we ran more than the opponent,” the 46-year-old says. “If someone tells me we ran 11km more than the opponent [as Dortmund did in their 2-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium last month, with his players running a total of 117km to Arsenal’s 106km], that’s good. I don’t like winning with 80 per cent possession.”

When asked to compare and contrast himself with Wenger, he suggests differences in style mirror those in personality. “I love him,” the Dortmund coach says. “For me, he is Sir Arsène Wenger. He is this guy: ‘Hello’ [simulates polite handshake] and I’m this guy [simulates high five]. I always want it loud. I want to have this [makes explosion noise].

“I enjoy football. To enjoy football, you have to do this [makes rapid backwards-and-forwards motion]. We can win, they can win, post, goalkeeper, save. This is what I love. If Barcelona of the last four years — this serenity, 5-0, 6-0 — were the first matches I watched as a child, I would have played tennis. One team is very good and the other team has no chance to win? I would think ‘Why should I play this?’ If you are lucky, you play on this team and if you are ­unlucky, you play on the other team. Sorry, that isn’t enough for me.

“What I love is that each team has the possibility to win most of the matches. Not serenity football, but fighting football. It’s what we in German call ‘English’ — rainy day, heavy pitch, everybody dirty in the face and you go home feeling like you can’t play football for the next four weeks.”

This sounds like a far more “English” approach than that of the English team that Dortmund face in the Champions League at Signal Iduna Park on ­Wednesday. “I don’t know anything about Arsenal,” Klopp says. “Since you ask me, when I watch Arsenal in the last ten years, it is nearly perfect football. But we all know they didn’t win a trophy [since 2005]. For me, that’s no problem, but in Britain, they say ‘we like Arsenal, but they have to win something’. Who wins titles? Chelsea, but with, I would say, different football.

“This is the philosophy of Arsène Wenger — and maybe of Arsenal, I don’t know. I like this, I love this, but I can’t coach this because I’m a different guy. You think [we] are similar? I hope so in some moments, but there are big differences too. If you watch me during a game, I celebrate when we press the ball and it goes outside the pitch.”

Celebrating successful hustles? Prioritising distance covered over pass completion? Talking up anarchic, end-to-end football over Barcelona-style dominance? If this were a British manager — Tony Pulis, say, or Sam Allardyce — it might be interpreted differently in some quarters, but this is “Kloppo” and it is Dortmund, the new darlings of European football. If it is “heavy metal” football, it comes with a sophisticated modern twist and no little flair.

It really does bear repeating that Klopp is vibrant and frequently amusing company. He also has a serious side and a volatile side, but it is his affable, effusive nature that strikes you above all. You can see why his players, like José Mourinho’s, regard their coach with affection as well as unquestioning respect.

There is a certain wackiness about Klopp. Despite an extremely impressive body of work, with Mainz as well as with Dortmund, it is tempting to wonder what someone like Wenger, or indeed Sir Alex Ferguson, makes of him. If Ferguson expects journalists to dress soberly, eschewing affectations, then he applies an even stricter standard to managers. The high-fives, the laugh that would fill a room — it scared off Hamburg a few years back. You get the sense it would not be to Ferguson’s liking either.

“What is the question?” he asks with amusement. “Does he [Ferguson] like the way I look? I don’t think I have a chapter in his book: ‘How Klopp is looking’.

“I met him during the most sh***y moment of my life. I saw him after the Champions League final [defeat by Bayern Munich in May]. I met him and he said: ‘Great season’.

“We’re different? Well, he’s British. You drink tea at four in the afternoon and nobody in the rest of the world knows why. You drive on the wrong side of the road. We’re different. But I’m sure I could have two days and two nights with Sir Alex Ferguson. I don’t know what he drinks. Red wine? He can have his red wine. I’ll drink something else. I prefer beer.

“Ferguson is unbelievable, unbelievable. He worked with Ryan Giggs for something like 25 years and Ryan Giggs doesn’t [simulates vomiting] if he hears Ferguson’s name. That’s the best you can do in your life.

“Every day, every year, every situation, all the talk, you know everything about this guy, for 25 years, and you like each other. That says everything about Sir Alex Ferguson.”

Is that what Klopp wants at Dortmund? “I hope so, but it [26 years at one club] is not possible,” he says. “I want to see them when I’m old and I like to have common stories we can laugh about and cry about.”

When we meet, Klopp has just signed a new contract, theoretically tying himself to Dortmund until June 2018, by which time he will have been there a decade. He is delighted to have done so, but surprised, too, that, given his worldliness and his wanderlust, he has committed ten years of his life to an industrial town in Westphalia.

“I have an interest in the whole world,” he says. “It’s not normal or typical for my personality to spend 18 years at Mainz [as player and manager] and now ten years at Dortmund, because I can live anywhere. My wife can live anywhere. We can grab the dog and go to the next city.”

So why Dortmund? Why, with Bayern taking his best players and threatening to dominate German and European football for as far as the eye can see, does he believe his long-term ambitions can be satisfied in Dortmund rather than, say, in England or Spain? “Because it is perfect here for us,” he says. “Because we love this. Because we feel the responsibility.”

It is known that Chelsea and Manchester City discussed him before appointing José Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini, respectively, in the summer. It would be staggering if he had not cropped up in conversations at Manchester United too. Did he ever have an offer from an English club? “This is not so easy to answer,” he says. “What’s an offer? I know that some clubs were interested, of course. They thought about us [he and his coaching staff]. You know these clubs. They changed coaches last season.”

His satisfaction in nurturing talents such as Mats Hummels, whom he has known since the defender was a child, Neven Subotic and Marco Reus is obvious, but does Klopp never cast envious glances at the vast financial resources and star-studded squads at Bayern, Barcelona or Real Madrid or some of the wealthy English or, indeed, French clubs?

“I don’t think about things like this,” he says. “I don’t want the most money for a team because that brings problems. I don’t want to have these problems.”

Which problems? “You know these problems,” he says. “You know that, if you have 25 super super super super superstars, each morning when you get up you hope one of them is ill. ‘Maybe today, one of them — what’s his name — will get a cold.’ [Fakes sneeze.] ‘Ah you, I’m sorry you can’t play at the weekend.’ You hope that because you need to give a reason to put him out of the team.

“We should all be in the right situation that is the right place for our personality. Maybe I’m the right guy at this moment for a place like this, where we can be near the top, but we need to work hard to stay there.”

The underlying theme to all of this is that Klopp feels that, while other teams may cast covetous glances at him now, Dortmund wanted and believed in him when others, whether considering him ­underqualified or underdressed, did not.

“Other clubs said ‘No, we’re not sure because of this thing [his appearance],’ but Dortmund they spoke with me ­because of the way my team in Mainz played football,” he says. “I don’t like that it’s only now that [other clubs] want to have us. We weren’t worse two years ago. Two years ago we lost against Arsenal, we lost 3-0 at Marseilles. Nobody was saying then ‘Oh what football, this young team is unbelievable.’ Today you say to me ‘You are a great coach,’ but if we lose ten games in a row, of course you would say ‘He wasn’t the coach we thought.’ We won in Arsenal, but we could have lost in Arsenal. If we hadn’t won, nothing has changed.

“Nobody had pressure to make this decision [over his contract]. We [he and the club] wanted to make this decision. We don’t want to think about different things. If I speak today with a young player, 16, 17, 18, this is the only club in the world where the player knows, for sure, that this is his coach for the next four-and-a-half years.

“We want this situation. Most of these players, which we started with five years ago, are born in 1988. When we started, they were so young. Now they are 24-25 and when this contract ends they will be nearly 30. We can have together the best time in their football lives. I want to be with them at this time.

“The players are similar to the journalists. They always think ‘Ah, he says this and then Real Madrid call and then he’s away.’ They think the same. And this is the message: ‘Everybody can call, but nothing can happen.’ I want to be with my players at this time. Of course some things will change in future, but the best things will stay the best things.”

To the Dortmund supporters who gather on the vast Südtribüne on Wednesday evening, this will be music to the ears. Heavy metal, perhaps, or speed metal, but enough symphonic, orchestral influence to beguile. Arsenal are in for an ear-splitting night.

Dortmund running men of Europe

Possession per match: Barcelona, 66%. Bayern Munich, 54%. Manchester United, 54%. Arsenal, 51%. Real Madrid, 52%. Borussia Dortmund, 46%.

Pass completion: Barcelona, 83%. Bayern, 75%. Arsenal, 73%. Man Utd, 73%. Real Madrid, 71%. Dortmund, 66%.

Distance covered: Dortmund, 121 km. Bayern, 114 km. Arsenal, 112 km. Barcelona, 110 km. Man Utd, 109 km.

* Figures are an average from matches in last season’s Champions League

[BavarianAfrican12]

Great manager, i wish he coached the German NT instead of Loew...

[Zola]

Interesting character!

[RMCM]

Excellent, I love the bundesliga, though I haven't been able to watch nearly as much of it as I did last season thanks to antisocial working hours. I've been a little underwhelmed with Guardiola's start with Bayern this year though, unbeaten and all as they may be. I just think that he is fiddling with the best squad in world football a bit too much. He plays the best right back in the world in central midfield, which I just find irritating and typical of guardiola. But moving on, it's nice to see Werder holding up well after their near-miss with relegation last season. I'm very surprised with Schalke's start, though as mentioned they've been plagued with injuries, but they have a squad with a lot of quality. Draxler and Meyer are definitely the outstanding talents, though i really like Neustadter as a player as well.

[Butterhampton FC]

Saw that you mentioned Max Kruse scoring a brace at the weekend. Watched him play a lot for Freiburg last year and I really like the look of him. Think he is quality and is really the type of player Gladbach need to make them a force in the Bundesliga. Also could be a great player for Germany and I hope he makes the plane to Brazil.

 

What are your thoughts on him?

[BavarianAfrican12]

Schweinstiger is going to have ankle surgery and will be gone for an extended amount of time. Schweinstiger's injury has made me realize how young Bayern's midfield really is,just look at this:

Toni Kroos(23)

Mario Gotze(21)

Thiago Alcantara(22)

Hojbjerg(18)

Martinez(25)

I hope losing a a leader like Schweinstiger will not be too much for these players. Hopefully this will force all of them to step their game up seeing that a slot in this packed midfield has just opened up and it may be their chance to secure a future spot in the starting XI.

[BavarianAfrican12]

FT BuLi scores:

Wolfsburg 2-1 BvB

Bayern Munich 3-0 Augsburg(Bayern break BuLi record going 37 games unbeaten)

S04 3-1 Bremen

Bayer 04 5-3 Hamburg SV

Hoffenhiem 2-3 Hertha BSC

Bayern are 4 points above BvB with both sides playing each other in the next match day! :D

[Zola]

I hope Dortmund smash them!

[JMaher94]

Lewandowski hat trick please

[BavarianAfrican12]

I hope Dortmund smash them!

[Zola]

:D

[BavarianAfrican12]

Great videos! If you wanna understand what makes Bayern one of the beat teams in the world you should check these videos out!

Bayern Munich's Defensive Organisation Analysed

Bayern Munich in Possession Analysis

[BavarianAfrican12]

Some statistics before Borussia-Bayern from http://www.bvb.de/eng:

Borussia Dortmund against FC Bayern Munich – this classic match-up excites the fans. For the 26th year running, the two clubs will meet in Dortmund in front of a sell-out crowd! 80,645 in attendance, 450 media members as well as prominent figures from all walks of life will rush to Signal Iduna Park on Saturday night (kick-off: 1830 CET).

The Scenario: For this ninth time in the Bundeliga, Borussia Dortmund versus Bayern Munich is a first against second affair, with BVB winning four, Bayern two and two ending level. Borussia haven’t lost any of their last six Bundesliga matches against Bayern, winning four of them.

Home/away: Borussia Dortmund are one of three teams in the Bundesliga who have yet to drop a point at home this season, and they have also only once failed to find the net in their past 47 home games (a 0-0 against Stuttgart on 3 November 2012). Borussia have scored the most goals this season in the Bundesliga, including at home (total of 21 or 3.5 on average). Bayern are on a 24-game unbeaten run on their travels (20 wins, four draws) - their last away defeat was at Borussia on 11 April 2012 (1-0).

Personnel matters: Borussia Dortmund will not have their complete back four from last season available (Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer), and will also be without Gündogan. Bayern will have to do without the services of Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Badstuber, Shaqiri and Pizarro.

Tactics: 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 for Borussia Dortmund – 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1 for Bayern Munich. Both coaches have options.

Head-to-head: The two clubs have met on 88 occasions in the Bundesliga with Dortmund winning 22 to Bayern’s 38, with the other 28 ending level. Even though Bayern have the better head to head record, it is still their worst against any team in the Bundesliga. The Bavarians have also only won one of their last seven games in Dortmund, losing three.

Statistics: BVB have their third best ever start to a Bundesliga season after 12 games, the best goal differential (+21) in the league and are the only team that have scored four or more goals on four occasions. Bayern are on a 37-game unbeaten run, a new Bundesliga record, and have a point more than at the same stage last season.

Biggest home win: It came on 3 June 1967 at Rote Erde stadium where Borussia romped to a 4-0 victory with two goals each from Lothar Emmerich and Reinhold Wosab.

[JMaher94]

Gotze!

[BavarianAfrican12]

Im so pissed i missed this game cause of a delayed flight! Ill have to catch the replay....

[BelgradeCFC]

Hate Bayern but glad they won. Since last year's Champions League final I have no respect for Dortmund.

[JMaher94]

Hate Bayern but glad they won. Since last year's Champions League final I have no respect for Dortmund.

Why?

[Phillip]

Me too "why"?  I thought Dortmund played a good CL final, and had nothing to be ashamed of.

[BelgradeCFC]

No heart, no guts and they overrated Bayern. They get into the game like they knew they're going to lose. Their attitude was bad. Back then I wanted them to win but since that final I had lost respect for them and knew Bayern will smash them.