Stickied German Football

[G-Dragon]

Would still take Klopp when Rodgers eventually leaves; he's a cracking manager.

By leaves do you mean he gets the sack or goes to Barca or Madrid like Rodgers wants.

 

[yellow]

Clearly means when he gets the sack, because he'd actually have to win something before he's even considered for a proper big club like those two.

 

[mistermagic]

I can't believe anyone would actually think that Rodgers would be good enough for Barca or Real. Barca only take of their own while the Real job is for winners. Not one-season hopefuls.

 

[yellow]

Anyway, to get this back on topic. Schalke edged out Gladbach last night in what was a big result for the hosts, and it is incredibly tight when you look below the top two.

Six games today, starting with a huge game for Klopp and Dortmund, as they travel to Freiburg, one of the sides two points ahead of BVB. Freiburg were also one of the few teams Dortmund managed to beat in the first half of the season, so in my opinion today is a must win for them. The two promoted sides Koln and Paderborn go head to head in Cologne - Paderborn may fancy their chances as Koln are weak at home, with no win in their last five and one win all season.

Bayern travel to Stuttgart, and should be looking for their first three points since the break, against a Stuttgart side that haven't found the net since they beat Hamburg on 16th December. It's also the worst home record against the best away, so you'd fully expect that to continue this afternoon. Second place Wolfsburg host an erratic Hoffenheim side. The Wolves are unbeaten in 6 and have picked up four points in their last two, while Hoffenheim have lost 5 of their last 8, winning the other 3. They have lost both games since the Buli returned last weekend.

Two out of form sides meet at Mainz, with Berlin making the journey there. Mainz won 5-0 last weekend at home to Paderborn, so will be hoping to follow it up with another win today. Berlin have lost both games since the break. The final game today sees Hamburg host Hannover. Not really sure what to expect here but Hamburg had a good win in the week, while Hannover have struggled on the road this season. If Hamburg can record another 3 points it could be huge, with the way the sides around them are playing at the moment.

Really hope Dortmund pick up a win this afternoon.

 

[CFC91]

Keep saying it but surely only a matter of time before Dortmund turn this around, especially after the scenes after the Augsburg game.

 

[mistermagic]

Sod the Buli, the best league in the world has resumed yesterday: the Buli Zwei!

Big win for Aue who beat RB Leipzig 2-0 and are off the bottom. They leave this spot to St Pauli who play today. Aalen drew 0-0 with Darmstadt which puts 1860 in the play-off spot (that's third bottom tier). We host Heidenheim on Monday evening. A big win is needed but we probably won't: we're the worst home team in the league points-wise along with FSV Frankfurt.
At the top, big win for league leaders for Ingolstadt who start 2015 the way they finished 2014 with a 7th game undefeated. They are now 9 points clear of 2nd although Karlsruhe could close that gap to 7 if they beat Düsseldorf tomorrow.

So glad it's back.

 

[SALTIRE]

By leaves do you mean he gets the sack or goes to Barca or Madrid like Rodgers wants.

Who knows what will happen down the line. I like what Rodgers is doing and the team is heading the right way on and off the field, but over the next few seasons he really has to start winning trophies imo. I wouldn't mind seeing him there over the mid-to-long term though, but he does have to start winning.

I can't believe anyone would actually think that Rodgers would be good enough for Barca or Real. Barca only take of their own while the Real job is for winners. Not one-season hopefuls.

Behave, Real and Barca have had plenty of duds in their time. Ancelotti is only there this year since he fluked the CL Final otherwise he'd be out on his ear and they'd have someone like Michel or Valverde in there currently.

 

[mistermagic]

Behave, Real and Barca have had plenty of duds in their time. Ancelotti is only there this year since he fluked the CL Final otherwise he'd be out on his ear and they'd have someone like Michel or Valverde in there currently.

Fluked? They scored a goal in the stoppage time and deservedly so. No fluke at all. He also didn't do too badly in the league despite not winning it. Real just don't give the job to any one-season wonder. Which not saying Rodgers is a bad manager of course.

 

[mistermagic]

Very much the matchday of the away team. Only Wolfsburg scored at home as they beat Hoffenheim 3-0.
Dortmund won at Freiburg 3-0 - only their second away win of the season - and go above their opponents of the day and Stuttgart who lost at home to Bayern 0-2. The battle of the promoted sides - Köln vs Paderbon - ended 0-0 and so Paderborn are still ahead of Dortmund courtesy of a point. Another result is quite a surprising one: Berlin winning at Mainz 2-0, Hertha's first game after sacking their manager and their first win in 5. Mainz could actually get pegged back in this relegation zone. I hope not. I like Mainz. Good ground.

 

[yellow]

Delighted to see BVB win today, they just had too.

Big win for Berlin too.

 

[mistermagic]

Just an example to show how tight it is after the top 6: Borussia Dortmund, who are 3rd bottom are only 7 pts from 7th place!

Big game for Augsburg today who host Eintracht Frankfurt. They'll be 3rd if they win.

 

[yellow]

Yep, 3rd-6th is extremely close aswell. And Wolfsburg are slowly closing the gap on Munich too. I highly doubt that'll actually come to a serious title challenge but it's certainly not the foregone conclusion it looked like earlier in the campaign.

Leverkusen could also go 3rd today if they win and Augsburg fail to. They're travelling to Bremen who are decent at home at the moment.

 

[mistermagic]

Yep, didn't realise Werder haven't lost at home since late October. Good on them.

 

[yellow]

Werder continue their excellent home form with a 2-1 win. Augsburg moving into 3rd at the moment as they lead 2-0.

How long before Markus Weinzierl gets poached? Doing a cracking job there.

 

[mistermagic]

Been to Augsburg lots of times in 2 years and they look really well drilled despite not having a decent striker and still playing Alex Manninger in goal. However, I reckon European football would kill them as their squad is pretty small. I can see them doing a Freiburg if they get CL/EL which looks very likely.

 

[yellow]

Yeh they defended well on Wednesday night when Dortmund had an extra man. It's weird, they didn't seem to have any standout players really, especially upfront. Bobadilla is scoring a few at the moment though, and Altintop seems to chip in with a goal every now and then.

Buli top scorer Alex Meier equalised for Frankfurt, putting a stop to Augsburg going into 3rd.

 

[mistermagic]

No offence to the lad but there must be something seriously wrong with #9s in the Bundesliga this season if Alex Meier is top scorer.

 

[yellow]

Haha! I don't see him finishing the season top of the list to be fair though. Infact if Dortmund continue with Aubameyang leading the line I can see him bagging a few between now and May. Certainly more than Immobile would anyway!

 

[yellow]

Latest rumours seem to suggest Reus will sign a deal with Dortmund… very surprising but great if true!

Also having now seen highlights, Dortmund's third goal was lovely, and Alaba's free kick was just spectacular.

 

[mistermagic]

1860 played at home to Heidenheim last night and of course lost. First half was cagey with no one giving anything away. We were shit and the only bright spark was Rama who brought us a pen (an Okotie panenka which was nice) but the goalkeeper was untested the rest of the game. Anyway 1-0 at half-time and that was good enough.
However, Heidenheim came back in the second half with a teeny tiny bit more envy and scored two goals without too much trouble. Just before the second goal, one of our players got sent off. We are just so shit, I actually want us to go down. Lots of great grounds to go to in the 3rd division. Plus us and St Pauli going down would pretty much render the 2nd division shit. #weremassive.

 

[yellow]

What sort of attendances do 1860 get? What's the general feeling towards playing at the Allianz?

EDIT: Reus signs until 2019. What a turnaround that is. Surely thats got rid of the 20m release clause aswell.

 

[mistermagic]

Stadium half empty most of the time. Went to a friendly against Unterhaching last Tuesday and it was full. 1860 treat the Allianz like Bayern's stadium and I for one cannot recommend going. It's not a good experience. Soulless bowl.

We're great on the road for a reason.

 

[yellow]

Soulless even when Bayern are there? Are there plans for 1860 to get their own ground or no?

 

[mistermagic]

The club's broke so no.

The good thing is we may move back to Grunwald (small stadium in Munich central that doesn't fit the bill for 1st and 2nd divisions).

 

[yellow]

Dortmund kick off this match day with a home game against fellow bottom half side Mainz. It was contrasting fortunes for these two last week, with Dortmund winning comfortably and Mainz getting beaten at home by Berlin.

Tomorrow's games see Bayern play against Hamburg. Munich lost their 100% home record last week when they drew with Schalke, but two excellent goals from Arjen Robben and David Alaba last weekend saw them return to winning ways at struggling Stuttgart. Hamburg are on a run of three consecutive clean sheets on the road, yet have only scored in one of those games (Paderborn 0-3 HSV). A crunch game at the top, and probably game of the weekend is Leverkusen vs Wolfsburg. The hosts are still unbeaten at the BayArena, but only have 4 wins from 10. Wolfsburg are continuing to impress, and are pushing towards Champions League football next term. Gladbach welcome Koln, who are much better on the road than they are at home, so that could be an interesting affair.

Hoffenheim host Stuttgart, and Bremen welcome the impressive Augsburg outfit that is pushing towards a top 3 finish this season. Werder are in excellent form at home, so I think this game will be fascinating to watch. Finally for tomorrow, Schalke travel to Frankfurt. The form guide points towards an away win, with Frankfurt without a win in 6, while Schalke have 5 wins in their last 8.

 

[SALTIRE]

Think I'll watch the Dortmund game tonight - nothing else on the telly anyway.

 

[mente captus]

nice goal by Mainz who are 1:0 up

 

[SALTIRE]

First time I've seen Dortmund in ages. They do look so bereft of ideas and confidence and that half was very poor.

 

[SALTIRE]

Well they got the win in the end and were better in the second half coming out 4 - 2 winners, but they do look flaky. However that will give them more confidence moving forward.

 

[yellow]

Wish I'd been at that game as opposed to the Augsburg one last week..what a difference!

Back to back wins for the first time since the 2nd and 3rd matches of the season. Mainz need to start looking over their shoulders as the bottom 3 are closing in, and their form is pretty poor currently, barring the 5-0 win two weeks ago of course.