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What about Schweinsteiger instead of van Bommel? He didn’t have a great season until van Gaal gave him his new role of course, but he is now doing really great and would easily be my pick ahead of van Bommel.
Also if you need the particular van Bommel type of player I would rather take David Jarolim. Captain and leader of HSV, also a bit aggressive and dirty like van Bommel, also lacking in creativity and strategic thinking like van Bommel, but the much better passer of the ball. Jarolim has the highest passing success rate in the opponents part of the field of any Bundesliga player.
Posted from
Germany
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Can’t endorse Van Bommel making it into any best XI, although I think he’s been better than a lot of “love to hate” him observers would give him credit for. Once Bayern got out of the doldrums, no single player has been the key to the winning streak, so it may be a case where longer term team success trumps individual achievement.
Posted from
United States -
Very true Luke it has been a team effort for Bayern to get the ball rolling before the holidays came and it probably isn’t fair to pick out one person from the squad. I can’t see Van Bommel on that list either although he did have a few outstanding games like in Turin. I guess the bottom line is that while it is nice to be on the best 11 list it is still a lot nicer to be on the team that wins the silverware in May!
Posted from
United States -
That is why it is my German football moment of the Noughties.
Had I begin to watch German football more earlier, maybe what happened to Schalke on the final day of the 2000/01 season (which Bayern won instead) would have been considered. Which is why I have to do with the first Bayern Munich-Hoffenheim clash in the Bundesliga.Posted from
Singapore -
Leverkusen will edge to win t regain the top spot from Bayern. 75% of home wins record convince today’s victory.
Posted from
Australia -
Hope this will be a regular feature for the Saturday night matches . . .
Posted from
United States -
I won’t have time to do one this Saturday, which is a pity as Dortmund vs Hamburg is – on paper – one of the best Saturday night matches the DFL has served up so far.
Posted from
Germany -
Ze Roberto is shown moments after being told he won’t be allowed to escape to Brazil on the plane. Does it have enough cargo space for a dinosaur?
Posted from
United States -
Hilarious. Petric looks like a little kid having fun on the place. But Ze Roberto looks less than impressed. Maybe he’s sitting across the aisle from the toilets.
Posted from
United States -
Bwahahah! This one keeps me giggling. I think it’s the look of quiet, childlike alarm on Petric’s face as he slides off into the unknown…
Posted from
United States -
Me too, Juliet. I kept giggling as well.
Posted from
Singapore -
Ruud Van “The Man” Nistelrooy has arrived!
Posted from
Netherlands -
I read that Uli article yesterday and was planning on asking you – any idea as to the identity of “Mr. X” with the falcon?
Posted from
United States -
Hmmm, based on his statements (goalscoring, do well in the league, good cup run) it would need to be a striker/attacking midfielder who doesn’t play for Bayern (five years ago) but at a club better than midtable/relegation. Maybe it was Miroslav Klose?
Posted from
Germany -
“That, I should add, was only the beginning of the story, which also included campfire prayers”… If not the obvious guess of Ribery, I would say one of the Altintops perhaps?
Posted from
Australia -
Ribery wasn’t in the Bundesliga five years ago and Uli Hesse would need to be a fluent French speaker.
Posted from
Germany -
Uli’s done a pretty good job of masking it. My skepticism about it being Klose is that if it was 2005, he and his wife had twin babies, so I’m not sure they would been up for that vacation. Knowing that the person had to be married 5 years ago eliminates Kuranyi, Odonkor, and Ballack at least. Perhaps Gerald Asamoah?
Posted from
United States -
I remember that goal. Reason is I fell out of my chair when it happened! Hopefully with some new leadership Wolfsburg can become a contender again.
Posted from
United States -
Great summary.
Posted from
Australia -
The ticket price comparison is interesting. The Spanish League has prices twice as high as the Bundesliga but not half as many spectators. So they are making more money from the fans overall than in the Bundesliga. While I think it is great that it is so cheap to see the football here, maybe if teams charged €40 a ticket they could afford more top quality players?
What’s the price of a regular type ticket in Munich? In Berlin it is €20 or €22.
Posted from
Germany -
@Paul: Actually, I doubt that Spanish teams have significantly higher matchday revenue. Except for Barcelona and Real Madrid that is.
Here is an example from the 2006/2007 season:
Valencia averaged over 41000 in 19 home matches in the league and played six CL home games and generated matchday revenues of €24.5m.
Bremen averaged over 42000 in 17 home matches in the league, played three CL home games + 4 UC games and generated matchday revenues of €22.4m (source: Deloitte Football Money League 2008).That’s not a big difference at all.
Now, one reason could be that the big two in Spain can afford to charge very high prices and in return also lift the average of the rest of the league. Another very likely reason is the lack of VIP boxes and business seats in Spanish stadiums or the fact that Spanish clubs can only charge significantly less for these premium seats than Bundesliga clubs. Because VIPs contribute a considerable amount to a Bundesliga club’s matchday revenue these days and the majority of Bundesliga clubs have a stadium with a high amount of VIP boxes and business seats.
Still, charging more for a ticket is certainly one way for Bundesliga clubs to increase revenues. But you need to find a way to communicate it to the fans. E.g. Cologne has significantly raised ticket prices this season under the premise that the club will use the extra cash to finance players like Podolski. That worked like a charm. Average attendance is only marginally down and that’s mostly down to fewer fans from the visiting teams. But in the current economic climate with unemployment predicted to rise this year, it would be difficult to sell a significant rise in ticket prices to the fans.
Posted from
Germany -
Any idea how this compares to other leagues? Not necessarily just raw profit/loss but stability wise too? Is the Bundesliga in better shape than say EPL in some respects with so many clubs taking on a ton of debt-
Posted from
United States -
I don’t know really. But generally: there is a consistent level of doom mongering when it comes to football finances, but the actual amount of doom is always rather low. Football clubs are like banks, the big ones are too big to go down or to get punished for their sins and excesses.
Just pointing fingers at clubs with debts is a bit too simple as well. As long as you can service the debts there’s no problem and you can run a sustainable football club, despite huge debts. Also, a club could have €300m declared as debts, but if this money was lent to the club in form of an interest free loan without a specific due date, then the danger for the club is rather theoretical. See Chelsea, where Abramovich converted his interest free loans into equity just like that and wiped out all debts.
So equalling high debts with low financial stability isn’t necessarily true.
There are a lot of unsustainable clubs in Europe of course. But some enjoy the benefit of a rich benefactor, who is willing to pay the bills. Others are in trouble. In the end, the Bundesliga shouldn’t hope or wait for somebody else to go bankrupt. That’s maybe Uli Hoeness’ wet dream. UEFA’s plans in terms of club licensing and forcing financial sustainability onto clubs should enhance the Bundesliga’s financial competitiveness though. Especially compared to Spain and Italy. The EPL is still generating several hundred million Euros more each year. That’s something where the Bundesliga needs to find new revenue streams to catch up and rely on good youth development and clever scouting in the meantime.
Posted from
Germany -
Wasn’t it Valencia that still had problems this year in just meeting their payroll? And left their players unpaid for long stretches? Why aren’t there regulations against that kind of stuff and why is it allowed to go on and on for many months!
The Bundesliga does have the most teams in the top 12 for attendance average which is a pretty imppresive feat in itself.
Posted from
United States -
Well for a quick answer, anytime you have massive amounts of debt you will be unstable. Even with positive forecasting… anything can derail that. Now with the economy in its situation, this will just add to the problem. Even when you have owners like Roman Abrahmovic and the middle eastern contingency of Man City who can pour millions into a club, sooner or later it comes a time when they lose interest and try to sell off. Hopefully this wont happen because as much as I despise clubs like Man City, Chelsea and Manu, I dont want them to disappear into lower leagues let alone disappear completely. However I am so much looking forward to getting our 4th seed back into CL! Its just too bad we arent taking it from the EPL instead of SerieA.
Posted from
United States
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