Five Conclusions From Matchday 21
By: Jan | February 14th, 2012Dortmund have the right backups for a successful title defense. Dortmund had already benefitted from Robert Lewandowski’s and Felipe Santana’s breakthrough performances in the absence of Lucas Barrios and Neven Subotic in the Hinrunde. Now, they benefit from Shinji Kagawa’s and Kuba’s excellent form, in the absence of Mario Götze. Player for player, Bayern have more quality in their first eleven, but Dortmund can claim to have the better, deeper bench.
Borussia Mönchengladbach play some decent football for a side that got nearly relegated less than a year ago. That’s why I’ve dedicated a whole post to them already.
Lukas Podolski and Hamburg start flirting with European football. Lukas Podolski does so in interviews. Hamburg do so on the pitch. Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen, and as such the Europa League spots, are there for the taking. Yet, Cologne were so uninspired and one dimensional on Sunday, that they look likely to disappear somewhere in the grey muddy middle of the table this season. Which in turn means, Podolski might have to look elsewhere for regular European football during the upcoming primetime of his career. Meanwhile, a win over Bremen in the northern derby next weekend, and Hamburg will be right back in the hunt for the European places. And different to last season, they do have the right coach to get them there.
There is a one in three chance, that a bottom of the table clash turns into an entertaining goal fest extravaganza. Which also means, there is a two in three chance, it’s going to be a snooze fest. Those fortunate enough to give the unsexy Friday match-up between Wolfsburg and Freiburg a chance, were rewarded with a five-goal thriller and some questionable offside calls, to add a bit of controversy. Those who looked to cap off the weekend with some nice Bundesliga football on Sunday, were left bitterly disappointed. Two completely forgettable bottom of the table encounters, at least allowed you, to let your mind wander and dream of all the beautiful football Borussia Mönchengladbach is yet going to play this season.
Michael Preetz is starting to make Dieter Hoeness look like a decent manager. And that’s good news for Dieter Hoeness only. At least Preetz was quick to admit that signing Skibbe was the wrong decision in the first place, following Hertha’s utterly complete meltdown at Stuttgart on Saturday. If there is any logic to how Preetz hires new coaches, there is a small chance it’ll be someone decent. He so far had the habit of replacing smart coaches with uninspired ones and vice versa. Of course, there is also a name like Thomas Doll making the rounds in Berlin, which for me would be a clear indicator that Preetz’ stint as Hertha sporting director is likely going to end this summer.
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Category: Bundesliga
Comments
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Great post Jan- Michael Preetz- oh man- I am laughing my head off right now at the ongoings at Hertha. Leverkusen killed my spirit a bit today though. Hope Bayern gets a decent result against Basel next week. If Bayern wins the CL and finishes second in the Buli, I will have no complaints..:)
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Does Hertha Berlin not have a good youth academy? It seemed to have produced quite a few good players like the Boateng brothers, A. Dejagah, etc, if I remember correctly. How come it has not been able to harness their youth talents more effectively?
And why do clubs like to name former players to be sporting directors even if they have neither experience nor competence? -
@samrin: thanks. I didn’t watch the Leverkusen game. Just heard Dutt was criticized for his overly cautious tactics. I think Bayern won’t have a problem against Basel, and from there onwards we’ll have to see. Would be cool to see Bayern win it in Munich.
But they’ll definitely have to fine-tune their tactics for that. Some Bundesliga coaches have developed reliable tactics to beat Bayern, which other CL teams could use as blue prints… -
@PR: Hertha were among the first to invest in their youth academy, and produced some good players. Most notably, as you said, the Boateng brothers, but they couldn’t get them to sign long term contracts, and sold them off. The output has seemingly dried up recently. Their best young prospect (Lasogga) isn’t from Berlin, but came through Leverkusen’s excellent youth setup.
Maybe they need to take a closer look at their youth setup and see, where they can make improvements and adjustments.
I fear that the current management might not have the required level of competence though. :/
I don’t know why unexperienced/incompetent former players so quickly are given roles as sporting director. Maybe clubs like to use former players, to give their club a face and an identity. And it has worked well enough in many cases, whether it’s Hoeness at Bayern, Zorc at Dortmund etc. So it’s not a negative thing as such. But Hertha look like a club, who even more so than a good coach, need a modern and competent management first.
Just imagine what a slightly better management at the top and Lucien Favre on the sidelines could have done with Hertha by now…
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Hey, sth interesting for you: its about Hoeness and Bayern: http://www.thehardtackle.com/2012/bayern-munich-bundesligas-misunderstood-samaritan/
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Hi Samrin, thanks for the article. Certainly the best part of Hoeness reign at Bayern. He’s given the club a warm and caring human core. I knew these things already, but a good read nonetheless.
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