Five Conclusions From Matchday 18
Marco Reus finds all the right answers to Bayern’s trash talk. Reus’ announcement to move to Dortmund in the summer, triggered a series of trademark taunts from down south during the winter break. Reus supposedly demanded a guaranteed starting spot at Bayern. He chickened from trying to fight for his place in the team. These kind of things. Marco Reus was reasonably annoyed by the taunts and promised to give his answer on the pitch. And so he did, scoring an opportunistic goal and providing a lovely assist in Friday’s Rückrunde curtain raiser. He had some helping hands and feet of course. He benefitted from Manuel Neuer’s black out, Lucien Favre’s overall football genius and a team mate like Patrick Hermann, who is quietly having his break out season in Reus’ shadow. But still, what a player.
Bayern are hard to beat, but easy to outcoach. Bayern still have the highest quantity of top quality players in the league. That fact alone makes sure they remain top favorites for the title. Yet, looking at their five defeats in the league so far, you realize that they’ve all come against coaches with a reputation for their tactical nouse. Lucien Favre (2x), Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Mirko Slomka all devised match plans, with various degrees of clever forechecking, defending and counter attacks, that undid Bayern’s surplus in quality. And you could argue that some other coaches had the same ideas and just not the right mix of players and quality to achieve similar results. This fact is encouraging for those hoping for a close title race. At least for as long, as Jupp Heynckes doesn’t care to adapt to the other teams’ tactics for a change.
Maybe Dortmund are back in title winning form. Just maybe. We thought the same thing, when Dortmund soundly beat Michael Oenning’s Hamburg on matchday one. Then we realized, that this was no particularly impressive feat. Of course, Thorsten Fink’s Hamburg is generally believed to be of a different calibre nowadays, and in this case, beating Hamburg 5:1 in their own stadium is a clear message of intent to the other title hopefuls. Especially because they didn’t even need the help of Mario Götze yet. If anything, it was an excellent opportunity for Dortmund to close in on Bayern’s impressive +31 goal differential.
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Photo: Starry Eyed
By: Jan |
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Gladbach coach Lucien Favre is visibly delighted with his team’s performance against Bayern Munich.
(Photo by Lars Baron/Bongarts/Getty Images)
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Schalke’s Team Goal vs Stuttgart
By: Jan | 5 Comments
Draxler cuts the pass → Marica → Raul → Draxler → Raul → Huntelaar → Draxler → Goal! This is one of the better team goals you’ll see this season. And what makes it even more remarkable, is the small fact, that it was scored by a team coached by all things defense expert Huub Stevens.
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 17
By: Jan | 2 Comments
Na tactics can compensate for individual mistakes. Bayern’s 3-0 win over Cologne was rich in absurdity. Ribery blew a fuse. The match ball blew out. Cologne blew a one man advantage. You could add Solbakken’s one-off idea to bring back the five man backline to this list. Except, that it actually worked out pretty well [...]
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 16
By: Jan | 3 Comments
Bayern Munich are Autumn Champions. Barring a highly unlikely flurry of goals for and against the right teams. More than the virtual trophy, Bayern will cherish the three-point gap, they opened up at the top of the table, taking maximum advantage of the slip ups of both Borussias. Neither of the three teams played up [...]
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 15
By: Jan | 4 Comments
The Bundesliga doesn’t get the concept of extra time. On paper the Bundesliga referees get it. It’s up to them to decide, how much time was wasted through substitutions, injury delays, time wasting or excessive goal celebrations. It’s OK for them to routinely add only one or two minutes or call it quits after exactly [...]
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 14
By: Jan | 6 Comments
Bayern are catching up with Barcelona. Philipp Lahm may speak the truth but his sense of timing is really a bit off this season. Whether it is publishing memoirs in the middle of his career, or making bold claims a day ahead of embarrassing defeats for both Barcelona and Bayern. He just can’t get it [...]
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 13
By: Jan | 1 Comment
There are ways to make life easier for referees. This weekend was dominated by a lot of talk about the difficult and ungrateful job a referee has to make. There has been a lot of talk about pressure. None of that talk might actually help Babak Rafati, as it’s mere speculation, why he attempted suicide. [...]
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Links 09.11.11
By: Jan | 1 Comment
Kyle Barber wrote a review of Ronald Reng’s recently translated book about Robert Enke. (Bundesliga Lounge) Nick Amies examined the reasons behind Mario Gomez’ Super Mario form… (Deutsche Welle) Ryan Bailey wrote about how Union Berlin is planning to sell shares of its’ soul. (Dirty Tackle) Chris Wright cursed the day he saw the Wang Dance – twice. [...]
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Five Conclusions From Matchday 12
By: Jan | 4 Comments
Those were 150.000 Euros not well spent for Wolfsburg. Felix Magath loaned Aliaksandr Hleb from Barcelona for a special €100k per game and €50k per goal fee. Thus, Magath’s total expenses for Saturday’s trip to Dortmund added up to €150k, not counting the damage Dortmund’s fresh in form offense caused all afternoon. Dortmund aren’t quite [...]
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Team News
Preview: FC Bayern vs. VfL Wolfsburg (Updated)
In Match Week 19 of the 2011-2012 Bundesliga season. Everyone already knows, but just to hit all the necessary weekly notes: Bayern comes off a disheartening 3-1 loss to Borussia Monchengladbach, in which offense, midfield, defense, and (especially) goalkeeping failed to measure up to Bayern standards. Still, we sit at the top of the table, and a victory here would correct a lot of problems. The Wolves have a -10 goal differential, yet still somehow sit in 9th place after winning back-to-back 1-0 games. Climb aboard for the preview, y'all.
Jan 26, 2012 | Read this article...
Mid- week Bits and Bobs
A few bits and bobs of news have come up about BVB in the last few days.
Jan 25, 2012 | Read this article...
The Very, Very High Line - A Play in Seven Acts
Not really in the mood for a cute/funny/wacky introduction. We know the drill - a break-down of photographic footage from the previous match, with a particular emphasis on something that FC Bayern did particularly well or particularly poorly.
Any guess as to which today’s episode will be?
Bundesliga Review: Dortmund hammer HSV
Dortmund started the Rückrunde very well, hammering an out- of- sorts HSV by five goals to one. Since Bayern lost against Gladbach and Those-that-shall-no-be-named won against Stuttgart, this means that they, together with Dortmund, all sit equal points at the top of the table, Bayern just edging it because of their superior goal- difference, though we managed to reduce that quite a bit. Gladbach is only one point behind the leading trio, meaning that we are set up for a very intriguing title race indeed.
Jan 23, 2012 | Read this article...
Well That Sucked
Oy Vay
Not the most professional title for not the most professional showing from our Hamburgers. After being so excited to see the Bundesliga return this weekend, I couldn't help but feel extremely tepid about this one. Yes, we won our friendly matches - but far from super convincingly even though they were against much weaker opponents than all but the relegation battling Bundesliga squads. The thing that I was most concerned about was the fact that our offense still didn't look fluid, and we were still very dependent on hucking the ball into box from our full backs. But a few more weeks of training could only help, right?
[caption id="attachment_1201" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="1/16th of the times that Marcell touched the ball."][/caption]
FC Bayern Limps to Ugly Loss, 3-1 (with Video)
Alright, an ugly loss for FC Bayern, but let’s keep perspective. We’re still in first place in the Bundesliga. Keep in mind we suffered an angry-making loss to this same opponent in week 1, only to then go on a winning streak where we looked amazing over the next 2 months. Hell, it might even be good to get a wake-up call.
Some post-game thoughts:
Match Day Thread - FC Bayern vs. Borussia Monchengladbach
Line-ups are announced - for FC Bayern:
Jan 20, 2012 | Read this article...
Preview: FC Bayern vs. Borussia Monchengladbach (Updated)
Back on the horse in Bayern-land, as the long Bundesliga winter break is over. FC Bayern travels to Monchengladbach to take on the Foals tomorrow afternoon. The match is an 8:30 PM start local time (2:30 PM Eastern here in the USA), and will be broadcast live in North American on Gol! TV.
[Some updates made, based on reader corrections. See below.]
A quick look at the table will leave little doubt as to the importance of the clash. Bayern occupies the top spot, with 37 points at the midway mark. ‘Gladbach sits in 4th place, but only 4 points behind us - any kind of result for the Foals would put them in great position for the second half, as well as increasing their lead over Werder Bremen for that last Champions League spot. So, there’s no time to ease back into the schedule - Die Roten must be in good form from the opening whistle.
The Count Dracula Transfer Rumors Are BACK FROM THE DEAD!
Just in time for the start of the season’s second half, FC Bayern is getting involved with the transfer rumor mill. And the first pick-up rumor is a recycled one: the club is said to be looking at out-of-favor Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.
The Berba-to-Bayern story was floated this past spring (I’d link to it, but I dislike the way I was writing back then). As a player, Berbatov break down like this:
Dortmund at the Wintercup Review
The Wintercup (hosted by the Düsseldorf Stadtwerke) took place on the 15th of January. The teams that took place in this competition were Fortuna Düsseldorf, Werder Bremen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Borussia Dortmund of course. Considering that the Bundesliga is about to start up again this weekend, this was a great opportunity to test match- fitness and also check out a few of the other Bundesliga teams.
Jan 17, 2012 | Read this article...
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