Weekly Dose 04.11.09
By: Jan |
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- An English intern at German footie magazine 11Freunde talks about German and English football. (11Freunde)
- Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger writes about footballers who suffer/ed from depression. (ESPN Soccernet)
- Bayern have an “on” switch and they have a far more popular “off” switch as well. (Ballspiel on – off)
- My personal theory about who may be in charge of that switch. (YouTube)
- A closer look at rookie coach Thomas Tuchel. (SoccerLens)
- The World’s worst football team comes from Berlin – not Hertha. (worldests)
- A wunderkind from Eastern Europe that actually exists – currently under contract auf Schalke and going by the name Levan Kenia. (IMScouting)
- At 23 Aaron Hunt is probably a bit too old for the wunderkind label, but he is still good enough to be wanted by two of the biggest and
most successfulone of the most successful FAs in world football. (Guardian) - Manners maketh man. Winning maketh champions. (Some People are on the Pitch)
One of These Players is not Like the Others #2
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One of these players just doesn’t belong. Can you tell which player is not like the others?
From left to right: former Dortmund striker Márcio Amoroso, Wolfsburg striker Grafite, Bayern striker Luca Toni and Nuremberg striker/midfielder Marek Mintal.
Category: MiscMatchday 11: A Day at the Snail Races
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The top of the league collectively dropped points, allowing Hoffenheim to close the gap but not much more. The bottom of the league collectively dropped points, allowing Hertha to keep dreaming about Bundesliga survival but not much more.
Rookie Coach of the Year. Also known as the Markus Babbel Trophy. Mainz 05’s coach Thomas Tuchel had been the only contender for this prestigious prize until Bochum appointed Heiko Herrlich. Herrlich didn’t have the best of starts, losing 2-1 to Frankfurt, but we’ll have to wait and see, whether he can turn it around at his club. Something that Tuchel already did in impressive fashion with Mainz. This weekend his Mainz side came back twice to draw with Wolfsburg (3-3) and grab their 18th point. 18 points don’t guarantee you a spot in next season’s Bundesliga, but it’s probably safe to say, that Mainz will be part of it nonetheless. That’s surely disappointing news for all the clubs at the bottom, who had hoped for Mainz to have a stranglehold on one of the two direct relegation spots. The Markus Babbel Trophy is not just an honor though, but also a warning, as Stuttgart are proving this season. Time will tell whether Thomas Tuchel is the next big thing in Bundesliga coaching, or just a one-hit wonder – even if it’s one claiming to have a clear vision, tactical concept, a large DVD collection and all that.
Blame Games. Hamburg decided to take things as they come and not complain too much about their ever more prominent injury list. They were playing well enough indeed and backup players stepped up to take responsibility. Hamburg drew with Leverkusen, but could argue that Leverkusen came to park the bus. Hamburg drew with Schalke, but could argue that they had to play with ten men in the second half. Hamburg lost against Mönchengladbach but are running out of arguments this time around. The blame for the defeat and for wasting the third consecutive chance to take over the top of the table is now handed back and forth between Jerome Boateng and Bruno Labbadia. Boateng had received a knock from Gladbach’s striker Raul Bobadilla and was in pain throughout the second half. He signaled that he would like to play on and stated later that he didn’t want to let his team down – there were no central defenders left on the bench. Yet, it was more than obvious for all to see that Boateng was no longer fit to play. All except Labbadia. Labbadia preferred to rely on Boateng’s error of judgement and kept him on the pitch until the 84th minute. Boateng is currently doubtful for Hamburg’s game against Celtic on Thursday by the way. Ideally, both Boateng and Labbadia will have learned a lesson from this match. One lesson Hamburg definitely haven’t learned yet though, is the one they have been taught all season long: they can’t defend their leads, independent from fit, unfit or red carded central defenders. This seems to be a general problem, similar to their tendency to completely underperform against smaller teams.
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Caption This: Raphael Schäfer and Marko Marin
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Nuremberg’s goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer and Bremen’s creative midfielder Marko Marin exchange a few words during their sides’ 2-2 draw on Saturday.
(Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Video: Toni Kroos’ Volley vs Schalke
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A few years ago Toni Kroos was hailed as the next big thing in German football. He won the best player award at the 2007 U17 World Cup, joined Bayern Munich and was promised the #10 jersey. Far from claiming the shirt he instead commuted between Bayern’s bench and the reserves. Meanwhile other next big things popped up, won youth tournaments, first team starting spots and call ups to the German national team. Kroos’ young career came to halt and an Internet fake took his spot in the Times’ list of best young football talents. In January, he eventually joined Bayer Leverkusen on loan to gain some much needed match practice. He did OK so far. This season he is slowly establishing himself in Bayer’s starting eleven – scoring and assisting two goals. His second goal was this wonderful volley in this weekend’s 2-2 draw between Schalke and Leverkusen. A quick reminder of his undoubted potential.
The Numbers Game: Matchday 11
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We keep it strictly binary this week.
0. The combined number of goals Bayern’s strike duo Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni scored so far this season.
1. The number of goals former Bayern striker Lukas Podolski scored so far this season. Lukas Podolski joined Cologne in the summer, after Klose and Toni were continuously given the nod ahead of him. That should show ‘em.
10. Hertha stopped their losing streak against Wolfsburg, but kept their run of games without a victory. In 1990/1991 Hertha managed 18 successive games without a victory and were duly relegated.
11. Leverkusen scored 11 of their 21 goals from set pieces.
101. Mario Gomez is the highest valued player in the Bundesliga’s official trading card game with 101 points.
Photo: Sunset
By: Jan | 1 Comment
Frankfurt’s Marco Russ and Maik Franz celebrate after the match against Bochum (2-1).
(Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Weekly Dose 30.10.09
By: Jan | 3 Comments
I pulled a Jupp Heynckes this week and thus the following links will have to make do for the moment.
- Louis van Gaal is not a god. He’s a jazz singer. (YouTube)
- Football’s winning formula revealed: give the ball to the other team and lose all your challenges. (Ballspiel)
- Mainz 05 are starting to build a global fanbase. Current fan count: 1. (The Adventures of Peter James)
- Of Cevapčići and other famous Balkan imports in Germany. (The Outsiders’ Edge)
- Stuttgart hit rock bottom. (Guardian)
- Stuttgart hit rock bottom harder. (Some People are on the Pitch)
Separated at Birth: Per Mertesacker and Mesut Özil and the Playmobil Giraffe and Zookeeper
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Champions/Europa League Matchday 3: It Takes Two
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2 Blackouts. Stuttgart continued to show signs of life in their game against Sevilla and they continued to produce stupid defensive lapses, which continually cost them the games. Two such mistakes, coupled with the referee missing an offside position helped Sevilla to a comfortable 3-1 victory.
2 Own Goals. When Bordeaux’s Ciani picked up where Freiburg’s Cha Du-Ri left off during the weekend, I had the feeling, that Bayern might have finally shrugged off all the bad karma, that had plagued them during the Klinsmann season and replaced it with an updated version of Bayern Dusel, in which Bayern don’t even need to score the goals themselves anymore. I was quite wrong with that assumption. Hamit Altintop returned the favor with another own goal, which by that time already put Bordeaux in the lead.*
2 Red Cards. Before Bordeaux took the lead, but after the French champions had equalized, Thomas Müller picked up his second yellow for a late tackle. With Bayern reduced to ten men, there was a small chance for an excuse for some of their poor play in that game, but unfortunately they had already played just as bad with 11 man, so Müller’s red wasn’t just unnecessary, it couldn’t even serve as a scapegoat. Daniel van Buyten eventually capped off a miserable night for Bayern, when he picked up a straight red for a last ditch tackle, which also resulted in Bordeaux’s second penalty.
2 Penalties. The first one was awarded following a foul by Butt, who made up for his mistake with a good save. He then channeled his inner Tim Wiese and saved the second penalty as well. Bayern eventually lost 2-1, still leaving them with a chance to win the head-to-head against Bordeaux when the teams meet next in the Allianz Arena.
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