2013-14 German Bundesliga Thread: Bayern Champs Again

[Man of Steel]

Anyone know much about Ricardo Rodriguez of Wolfsburg? Madrid are apparently interested in him this summer.

[AlexDelta]

Giefer to Schalke is stupid. What is he supposed to do there? Besides warming the bench of course.

Well, Fährmann has played a pretty good season so I guess it will turn out just like you expect. But Fährmann doesn't have a big name. So if Fährmann is injured or picks up a stupid red somewhere this might be Giefer's chance to take his spot.


In other news, Schweinsteiger and other players told Guardiola they want to play with 2 defensive midfielders in the home game vs. Real Madrid.
I don't know what is more stupid by Guardiola. Wanting to play with only one DM in the first place when every goal against basically decided the tie in Madrids favour or selecting the defensively non-existent Kroos for the role of the 2nd DM after granting the players wish. Sorry.

The problem with Giefer is that doesn't have any experience on this level. I know he played in the Bundesliga for one year, but didn't think he was that good to be honest. If I were Schalke I would have signed an experienced GK as backup, they are usually more able to play well if they have to step in.

Kroos is a weird player. Earlier this season I thought he was able to shake off his complacency, he suddenly started to go after loose balls or at least try to catch up with opposing players on a counter, but since february or march he stopped doing this and returned to his old ways of just jogging around the pitch. This version of Kroos simply doesn't work as a DM. Wouldn't mind seeing him leave.

[Foye]

Anyone know much about Ricardo Rodriguez of Wolfsburg? Madrid are apparently interested in him this summer.

He has been Wolfsburgs best player this season.
Although, I don't know whether he would really turn out better than Marcelo/Coentrao.

In any case, your bid can start at 25 mil. €. Wolfsburg wants to acquire rather than losing players. Plus, they don't need the money.

[Man of Steel]

Hmmm. Marcelo's performance has dropped lately but he's still a mainstay in the squad when healthy, and Coentrao's been made a priority for renewal after immense performances against Barcelona in the cup and Bayern in the CL. Idk why we'd be looking for another LB.

[Foye]

The problem with Giefer is that doesn't have any experience on this level. I know he played in the Bundesliga for one year, but didn't think he was that good to be honest. If I were Schalke I would have signed an experienced GK as backup, they are usually more able to play well if they have to step in.

Kroos is a weird player. Earlier this season I thought he was able to shake off his complacency, he suddenly started to go after loose balls or at least try to catch up with opposing players on a counter, but since february or march he stopped doing this and returned to his old ways of just jogging around the pitch. This version of Kroos simply doesn't work as a DM. Wouldn't mind seeing him leave.

Arrogance is his problem. You just need to listen to him for once and you know he thinks he is the best player in the world already.
Also he is freaking lazy. The only position he plays well is the #10 because he doesn't have to track back to the own penalty box. I don't have stats to back this up but I guess he is the Bayern player who runs the least miles per game along with the CB's.

The two things that are great about him are his shot and that he rarely loses possession of the ball. Although, sharp tongues would say that it is because he is playing a lot of safe passes to his left and right rather than taking a risk and trying to get something done through the middle.

Either way, if I was a Bayern fan I wouldn't mind him leaving either. Götze is more talented in every aspect of the game but maybe shooting. Müller is running his heart out in every important game. Kroos meanwhile still seems stuck celebrating 2013. It is a shame because talent-wise he is better than Ballack & Effenberg were. He just doesn't have their fighting spirit at all.

[Point forward]

Not directly BL-related, but the DFL is threatening to deny RB Leipzig promotion to the 2. Bundesliga b/c "there is no clear seperation between Red Bull and RBL". In particular, the RBL logo is "too similar" to the Red Bull Logo.



Oddly, the DFB has no problem with this, this is pure DFL-related. You do not have to like RBL, but the reasoning is ridiculous. I mean, Bayer Leverkusen is 100% Bayer-owned, you have to be idiotic not to see connections between Hoffenheim and Hopp/SAP, ditto Wolfsburg and VW, and Hannover 96 is totally dependent on multimillionaire Martin Kind. I mean, Bayer has this club logo:

[Foye]

Leipzig should just go to the European court with this case. Pretty sure that the 50+1 rule itself is already illegal according to European laws.

[Andi Obst]

I'm not at fan of "RasenBall" Leipzig at all, but they slowly begin to get the whole city/region behind them. 16,621 (average) people attented their games every single week. That's pretty good.

And why change the logo when everybody knows Red Bull is paying for everything?

[Foye]

I'm not at fan of "RasenBall" Leipzig at all, but they slowly begin to get the whole city/region behind them. 16,621 (average) people attented their games every single week. That's pretty good.

And why change the logo when everybody knows Red Bull is paying for everything?

I'm not a fan either but at some point you've gotta accept that it is the future of the league.
You have Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim & Hannover doing it already (or close to) in the Bundesliga. Bayern is essentially a company team as well only that they have a large number of companies offering them millions of €s.

I hate Hoffenheim as much as anybody else here but at some point you have gotta admit that you can't build a Bundesliga squad with history alone anymore. See Hamburg, Cologne, Lautern, 1860 and so on. You need a strong management and a solid financial situation.
I don't mind having Leipzig in the league over Hamburg if Hamburg is too incompetent of running their team.

[Det the Threat]

I'm not at fan of "RasenBall" Leipzig at all, but they slowly begin to get the whole city/region behind them. 16,621 (average) people attented their games every single week. That's pretty good.

And why change the logo when everybody knows Red Bull is paying for everything?

I've been in Leipzig for some time(not attented games) and Red Bull thought this one out pretty well, given the region and fan situation.

They got a city with 500,000 and a big region surrounding it and they always have a lot of fans to away games as well.
Most of those fans are people that just want to see some good football and a lot of them are ones that are sick of Lok and Sachsen Leipzig, who's fans are "killing" eachother and have front offices that don't know how to lead a club.

As far as them going to the 2nd Bundesliga goes. I think they'll find a solution at the end and DFL is just trying to show people that they "care" for that 50+1 rule.
Though that logo change is a joke given that Bayer Leverkusen's playing with the companies name and sign forever and no one seems to complain.

Still, Mattuschitz has also shown his true colours today stating that this project will be over if the DFL does not grant them promotion. He would've probably been better of buying some 3rd division team in England and getting it to the premier league.

[Foye]

Choupo Moting to AS Roma. There goes our third best offensive player for nothing. Same will happen with Nicolai Müller 2015 because we can't afford to lose him this offseason now that we lost Choupo Moting. SMH twice.

[AlexDelta]

Comparisons with Leverkusen/Wolfsburg and RB Leipzig don't make sense at all.
Leverkusen and Wolfsburg were founded as sports clubs for their workers and are only allowed to play in the Bundesliga - and in Bayer's case use tho logo - because they are grandfathered.
RB Leipzig was basically founded as a marketing tool and has a club structure that basically does not allow anyone to join the club who is not Red Bull affiliated.

[Foye]

Dortmund has agreed with Juve to buy Immobile. The player wants to come to Dortmund but Torino still needs to agree.to a deal.

[Det the Threat]

Bayern has expressed it's interst in Hamburg's Hakan Calhanoglou.

I'm not sure what he should do there, but they always buy guys left and right and maybe they just buy him and loan him out for a season or two.

[Andi Obst]

As long as Calhanoglu leaves Hamburg at the end of the season, I don't care where he lands. He's too good for that ****.

Can somebody tell me more about Immobile?

[DD12]

Hakan is a die hard Galatasaray fan. He will join us and reject Bayern Munchen.

[cgf]

As long as Calhanoglu leaves Hamburg at the end of the season, I don't care where he lands. He's too good for that ****.

Can somebody tell me more about Immobile?

What I've gathered about Immobile from our italian friends and a few viewings is that he's very fast, puts in great work against the ball, and has excellent control and shooting ability. i'm not sure if he has the skills to become the passer Lewy is, but otherwise he seems a dream replacement.

As for Calhanoglu HSV is exactly at his level if HSV+ can get their front office sorted out. He's great at dead balls and has a beautiful foot on him, but he's still pretty lazy defensively and isn't the best when he has to run. The kid still has plenty to learn and a lower BuLi club like HSV is exactly at that level.

Hakan is a die hard Galatasaray fan. He will join us and reject Bayern Munchen.

This is probably true, I gotta figure he'll be pretty washed up around 2025 and so would be a perfect fit at Gala, they just need to bring riquelme out of retirment to bridge the gap from Sneijder.

[Foye]

Half our offense missing for the last game. Not sure if I should root for them to win and play EL or to lose & avoid EL lol.

Although Hamburg needs to be punished for their disastrous situation so I.guess we should wim today.

[cgf]

You beat HSV, Braunschweig beat the tsg and we get a playoff between them and Furth!

Maybe because I appreciate Hoppe not pretending like he's doing anything other than what he wants with that club, but I kinda hope Hoffenheim pull it off with the guys they've been monitoring. With Baumann looking like he'll join Schwegler on the way in any day now they've got two of their three biggest holes filled. If they add a quality CB to play with Sule and Toljan is legit suddenly that's a capable back 6, and they've been linked to some really interesting upgrades like Obiang or Crisetig to partner Rudy/Salihovic and Schwegler/Polanski in midfield, and Berardi, Mane or Batshuayi to join up with Firmino and Volland up top, that team could push for a CL spot if they pulled it all off and although I'm rooting for BMG to join Bayern, Dortmund and Schalke in the CL, I'd rather Hoppenheim than VFL or Bayer.

[Foye]

The way we are playing right now it seems we want to avoid the EL at any cost lol.