2011-12 Bundesliga - Dortmund Champion

[Foye]

I'm bored so I'll make an early thread for the 2010/11 Bundesliga.

Defending champion & cup holder: FC Bayern München


New Teams:

1. FC Kaiserslautern

FC St. Pauli



The Bundesliga season will start on August, 20th with Bayern Munich against Vfl Wolfsburg. Current champion against last years champion. Should be an exciting match.
Anyway, Match Day 1 should be very interesting.

08/20/2010
Bayern München - VfL Wolfsburg (2009/10 vs. 2008/09 champions)
08/21/2010
1899 Hoffenheim - Werder Bremen (played one of the best games in recent Bundesliga history with Werder Bremen winning 5:4, both teams have young player and are fun to watch)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - 1. FC Nürnberg
1. FC Köln - 1. FC Kaiserslautern
SC Freiburg - FC St. Pauli
Hannover 96 - Eintracht Frankfurt
Hamburger SV - FC Schalke 04 (two very ambitious teams)
08/22/2010
1. FSV Mainz 05 - VfB Stuttgart
Borussia Dortmund - Bayer Leverkusen (two Europe League teams match up against each other)

Featuring...
Arjen Robben - Franck Ribery - B. Schweinsteiger - Edin Dzeko

-- Toni Kroos --- Lucas Barrios -- Raul Gonzalez -- Carlos Eduardo

Zvjezdan Misimovic Mladen Petric Michael Ballack - Marko Marin




...and many others.

Most notable transfers(incoming):

Michael Ballack to Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Came back from Chelsea to his former club.
Christoph Metzelder to Schalke 04. Back to Germany from Real.
Raul joins Metzelder as the 2nd Real Madrid player coming to Schalke 04.
Arne Friedrich to Vfl Wolfsburg. Due to Hertha Berlin being relegated last season.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos to Schalke 04. Talented, young (he's only 18) Greek defender joins Magath's Schalke.
Marko Arnautovic joins Werder Bremen. Talented young guy who has previously played for Inter Milan.
Robert Lewandowski joins Borussia Dortmund.
Westermann joins Hamburg.
Felix Kroos, brother of current German international Toni Kroos, joins Werder Bremen.

Most notable transfers(outgoing):

Jerome Boateng from Hamburger SV, current German international, joins Manchester City for €12 mil.
Sami Khedira from Vfb Stuttgart to Real Madrid for €13-14 mil.
Mesut Özil joins Real Madrid for 15 mil €.

Haven't happened so many big transfers yet but it's still early.
I'll keep you updated if any big moves happen.

[Sleepy]

Hey, well done.
That's pretty much what we had in mind for the new season for the big leagues.

On topic: Great to see Lautern and Pauli back in action in the division they belong to. (When did the devils change their logo? Noticed it a few weeks back for the first time... new for the season, right?)

It's a post-World Cup season, which means the big teams usually struggle a big till their stars are back to match fitness. Could be again a year for a team like Wolfsburg or Hoffenheim to make some noise.

[Foye]

Feel free to edit my post if you've got anything to add (or I made mistakes) or just post it here and I'll add it into the OP.
I noticed that Kaiserslautern changed their logo not until today. I liked the old one more.

The teams with many WC players might definitely struggle from the start. Their best players will have only around 2-3 weeks to prepare for the season and on top of that there's another international match day coming up on August, 11th which will result in them missing even more time to prepare.

Hamburg seems like a team that could capitalize from WC to me. They haven't had so many national players at the world cup (only Jansen, Aogo, Elia and Trochowski) and they've got a bunch of players who might be able to step in if they're not fit.

Anyway, I'm excited about what Mainz 05 can do this season. I hope they can somehow manage to do as well as last season. They've got a pretty hard working team together. 1st goal is of course staying in the league. They loaned Holtby from Schalke who was regarded very highly before joining Schalke 04 but couldn't do much under Magath. He was a little bit better in Bochum then maybe he can put it together under Tuchel in Mainz.
Watch out for Andre Schürrle. He has already played really well last season and is only 19.
I love this guy. He will make some noise.

David Alaba is another guy to watch out for if Bayern decides to lend him to a club where he can play consistently.

[EdMar_Davis]

Thx for doing this man, really appreciate it. Love the Bundesliga, but find it very hard to follow in Canada. Hope you can keep updating us as the season goes along.

I'm so happy Ballack is back in Germany, even if it's not in Bayern.

[Foye]

Here are some of the young guys you should watch out for next season:

Marco Reus:

Reus already made some noise in the past season (he scored a beautiful goal against champion Munich for example) but he should be able to top that. Very versatile guy who can play in the midfield but also as a striker. He knows how to score.

Andre Schürrle:

Can play multiple offensive positions and played really well as a starter last season for Mainz 05. I may be a bit biased because I'm a Mainz 05 fan but this guy intrigues me the most out of all those guys I name here who could have a breakout season.

Renato Augusto:

Very versatile offensive player, best suited as a right midfielder. Augusto played already very well in the 08/09 Bundesliga season but had a bad last season for Leverkusen due to knee problems. He played only 17 games last season and when he played he did not look like he was completely fit and healthy. That could change this season. Watch out for him to have a comeback season.


Dennis Diekmeier:

Diekmeier was already the starting right back for Nürnberg last season and will now dress up for Hamburg. Don't be surprised if this guy has a real breakout season.

David Alaba:

Perhaps the most talented young guy to come out of Bayern Munich's youth teams in the past few years. At the age of 18, David Alaba is already an Austrian international player. Can play from left winger to left back, best suited as a left midfielder or defensive midfielder though. He will have a difficult time getting enough minutes because Bayern's team is so crowded but if Bayern decides to lend him to another team halfway through the season he could really make some noise.

Richard Sukuta-Pasu:

Talented guy from Leverkusen who is on loan to St. Pauli. He didn't manage to get much PT in Leverkusen due to Kießling, Helmes and Derdiyok but considering that St. Pauli's strikers are not exactly top level strikers it's possible that he will make the jump from being a great youth player to a professional.

Deniz Naki:

Another young guy from St. Pauli. Very versatile offensive player who should get plenty of game time in the upcoming Bundesliga season.

Burak Kaplan:

He didn't get much PT last season on Leverkusen but when he played he did quite well for a young guy. Scored twice and assisted two goals in 4 matches. Could be a winger of the future. On a very talented and young Leverkusen team he may not get enough time to develop, though. Leverkusen should look to send him to another team to get him matches.


Other guys to watch out for:
Ilkay Gündogan, Mehmet Ekici, Robert Lewandowski, Boris Vukcevic, Sebastian Rudy, Martin Harnik, Lewis Holtby, Marko Arnautovic, Ömer Toprak, Kevin Großkreutz.

[and1GS]

What's everyone's take on Carlos Eduardo? I haven't seen him much but he looked like a solid player to me.

[Foye]

What's everyone's take on Carlos Eduardo? I haven't seen him much but he looked like a solid player to me.

Great player. He played really well the past two Bundesliga seasons. It's only a matter of time until he goes to a big name club. He's the soul of Hoffenheim's quick counter attack game.

[Foye]

Heiko Westermann, current German international (missed the WC only due to injury) will dress up for Hamburg next season. He leaves Schalke because he wants to play central back but probably won't be able to do so in Magath's team with Höwedes and Metzelder as the starting central backs.

[Sleepy]

What's everyone's take on Carlos Eduardo? I haven't seen him much but he looked like a solid player to me.

Great talent, but can be a dirty SOB a times. Missed like ten games for unsportsmanlike behavior and has started a brawl if I'm not mistaken. If he gets his head straight, he'll be Champions League material in a year or two. If not, he'll have a journeyman career, just living on his talent without ever being really successful.

[Sleepy]

@Foye: No Toprak? You got like 30 seconds to correct that before I ban everybody and close down the board.

(I really hope this kid makes it. He was such a great talent before his accident. Made an incredible recovery and looked good in the last few games last year, but he's still got such a long way to go. It's still open if he can continue playing on the highest level. If he becomes a regular starter this season, I'm more than happy.)

[Point forward]

I would like to add Kevin Großkreutz to the "guys to look out for" list. He is cocky as hell but he def got game.

As a 1. FCK fan, my only hope is to avoid relegation. We lost several of our best players (Sam, Mandjeck, Jendrissek) and could not replace them 1:1 due to our **** financial situation. Our lineup currently looks like this:

Sippel - Dick, Amedick, Rodnei, Bugera - Amri, Moravek, Nemec, Jessen - Hoffer, Micanski

Looks thin, but we did not wait 4 years to play Bundesliga just to lose! Heja FCK!

[Sleepy]

History repeats itself... Lautern is the favorite for the title. You just need to bring back Otto, Ciraco Sforza, Thomas Schojnberg (sp.), Rathino, a 20 year old Michael Ballack and HARRY KOCH and there's nothing that can stop you.

[Foye]

I added both to the list now. They're not the only one's missing though. Left out the Bender twins and some more guys. The list would be very long if I added any young player with promise. Just to name a few who I think could have a really good season.

[cgf]

Great job on the young players post. You avoided taking young guys who've already had their breakout but haven't yet made a name for themselves internationally like Marin and Kroos. I think Hoewedes can still be on the list since I think he'll have a huge season year as Schalke's best defender.

Curious what's been going on with Holtby, here in the US I can only get the "big" german teams, and I remember he looked insanely talented a year and a half ago.

Anyway who you do think is the best young german striker? We've got a lot of talent at the attacking mid, defensive and goalkeeping spots but striker to me is the most worrying spot for the national side. Although hearing that Gomez might be ready to pull a Metzelder and shut down his stuttering career with a move to Real is great news.

[Foye]

Great job on the young players post. You avoided taking young guys who've already had their breakout but haven't yet made a name for themselves internationally like Marin and Kroos. I think Hoewedes can still be on the list since I think he'll have a huge season year as Schalke's best defender.

Curious what's been going on with Holtby, here in the US I can only get the "big" german teams, and I remember he looked insanely talented a year and a half ago.

Anyway who you do think is the best young german striker? We've got a lot of talent at the attacking mid, defensive and goalkeeping spots but striker to me is the most worrying spot for the national side. Although hearing that Gomez might be ready to pull a Metzelder and shut down his stuttering career with a move to Real is great news.

Yeah, I tried to focus on guys who haven't had a real breakout season/are of the radar. There's probably a lot more guys who could be on the list because we have so many talented young players in the league right now.
Anyway, Höwedes was the starting central back for the 2nd best team in the league last season he already had his breakout season.

German strikers are rare. We've got some guys coming up who might have a solid Bundesliga career in Richard Sukuta-Pasu, Sandro Wagner or Julian Schieber but in all honesty I don't see a world class central striker coming. I would consider Sukuta-Pasu right now the best young german central striker coming out of the youth teams.
We're overly talented in the midfield, have quite a few solid defenders and great keeper's but lack a central striker. I don't think that's going to change over the next 2 or 3 years.

Raul now officially signed with Schalke 04. It remains to be seen whether Raul really has some gas left in his tank or if he will just fail here in the Bundesliga.
Ruud van Nistelrooy hasn't made a big impact here either so far.

[Sleepy]

Raul signing is official? There's nothing on the Schalke homepage and transfermarkt.de doesn't have news on it either. I guess they're still haggling about the wages.


Germany doesn't really need a poacher for the national team. We got enough finishing from Podolski, Müller, perhaps Özil and Schweinsteiger. We could use a smart, hardworking guy, who, just like Klose, opens space and drags defenders across the box. Ivicia Olic would be great...
I don't like Mario Gomez. Patrick Helmes can take his spot if he finally makes it through a season without getting injured. For the more distant future, Mlapa and Sukuata-Pasu look like the best talents. In 2012/2014, I guess I'd start Podolski, Özil, Kroos and Müller and play 4-6-0, with Schweinsteiger and Ballack/Rolfes/Khedira behind them.

[Foye]

It's not official but I read somewhere yesterday that he has definitely decided on Schalke.

In all honesty all our strikers suck at the moment. Klose, Gomez, Kießling, Helmes, Cacau and Kuranyi neither of them is a special player.

[Smoove]

Damn I cannot believe Dzeko will be in the Bundesliga again this season!

[Foye]

Damn I cannot believe Dzeko will be in the Bundesliga again this season!

Nobody paid Wolfsburg so he remains there. What's the big deal?

[Smoove]

Damn I cannot believe Dzeko will be in the Bundesliga again this season!

Nobody paid Wolfsburg so he remains there. What's the big deal?

Just desires to be somewhere else. But anyways looks like the deal isn't going through at all for sure now since Dzeko said his goal will be to score 30+ goals this season. So what you do guys think can he do it? He can close before....