2011-12 Bundesliga - Dortmund Champion

[JAIL BLAZER]

Alas we meet again Mr Foye, was one of the best defenders at WC 2002, outperformed most at that tournament. Would you have not thought he had a glorious career ahead of him after aiding that awful team to the final? Not discounting Ballack & Kahn's contribution tho.

[Foye]

Alas we meet again Mr Foye, was one of the best defenders at WC 2002, outperformed most at that tournament. Would you have not thought he had a glorious career ahead of him after aiding that awful team to the final? Not discounting Ballack & Kahn's contribution tho.

All i said is he never was world class.

We haven't faced a single good team that WC until the final (Brasil) in 2002 btw.
If you tell me he has been a wc defender back then because he helped us to beat Paraguay, USA and South Korea in the knockout stages without conceiving a goal. That team we had in 2002 had 2 WC players, Kahn and Ballack.
Metzelder was a good defender back then but he was never close to being WC in his life.

[Sleepy]

Metzelder, just like Mertesacker, needs smart, reliable players around him and only looks good on a working system. In 2002 (and certainly in 2006) he had that. Thomas Linke doesn't really strike fear into the hearts of opposing strikers, but he was smart&reliable and he and Metzelder formed a great duo. Mertesacker and Metzelder in 2006 also worked well.

Metzelder alone, without a tested partner and weak players (Hans effing Sarpai) around him, is a disaster. He's not good enough to compensate his lack of quickness if the positioning with the rest of the defense doesn't work. That's his problem today and that's what bothered him in Spain.

Metzelder didn't help our defense in 2003/04 because we were horrible back then. Have a look at these atricous lineups: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaftsspiele/2003/
Thrown in such a terrible team, Metzelder will always be just another liability. But if you got a good team, he can stabilize the defense with his smart movement and positioning...

so what I'm trying to say is this: Metzelder (and Mertesacker) are only as good as the team around them. Arguing about how good a guy like Metzelder is on his own is pretty pointless.

EDIT: #$%! sake, look at this: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaf ... rankreich/

They had a prime Henry and Trezeguet. We had Fredi Bobic and Kevin Kuranyi

I feel bad now...

[Foye]

Bayern Munich seriously needs to do something about their conversion ratio.

When they're up by 2 goals they start becoming selfish. Especially Robben (and Ribery to a lesser extend) start ignoring the own players and try to score goals themselves.
That's why they lost to Inter, too. Schalke was too weak to take advantage of that but if Bayern had played a team today that's still in fight against relegation they would've had more troubles today.
Fully expect them to draw the next game in St. Pauli at best.


Anyway, this day has been great with Mainz 05 almost locking up that Europa League spot.
I hope that Bochum doesn't make it to the Bundesliga. That would increase the chances of Fuchs staying. We need to go after two or three impact players anyway, with Schürrle and probably Holtby, too, leaving.

[Point forward]

Congratz Dortmund! They were the best team, played the best soccer and did wonderful things with young hungry homegrown players, nothing but praise from me.

My 1. FCK had a huge big point yesterday and need the work of satan to relegate (6 pt ahead, +9 goals) but I am so happy that we got to 40 points!!

[Foye]

Yeah, Dortmund really played some wonderful football this season.
I hope they can keep their current core together.

[Point forward]

Today's headline, courtesy of FSV Mainz: "Daum hat die Nase voll von Frankfurt"

(Joke not translatable into English)

[magik9113]

Beck is rumored to go to Juve for about the 527th time now. This time it seems more serious.

wanna tell me how good he is?
I believe the interest is a bit more serious, as it should be since Juve's right backs are worthless.

[Point forward]

Beck is rumored to go to Juve for about the 527th time now. This time it seems more serious.

wanna tell me how good he is?
I believe the interest is a bit more serious, as it should be since Juve's right backs are worthless.

Strengths: sound "modern" player, good defender, excellent stamina, great character
Weaknesses: inconsistent on offense (he tries but often fails, has a weak foot)

Beck is either the best "ok" player or the worst of the "good" players. He is a solid RB who will not necessarily change the pace of a game, but will do his job. Off the pitch, he exudes a lot of natural authority, he is not for nothing one of the youngest team captains in the Bundesliga.

[Foye]

Beck is rumored to go to Juve for about the 527th time now. This time it seems more serious.

wanna tell me how good he is?
I believe the interest is a bit more serious, as it should be since Juve's right backs are worthless.

I kinda don't follow him because I tend to avoid his fashion club but he's a solid right back. Played for the national team already. It remains to be seen if he's capable of playing good in the Championsleague as he has played just a couple times there when he was still in Stuttgart. Wouldn't necessarily rely on him on offense.

I'd say he's one of these guys that play well when the team works well but he won't be a guy that can turn things around.

[Point forward]

I'd say he's one of these guys that play well when the team works well but he won't be a guy that can turn things around.

+1

IMHO Beck is the 2011 version of Carsten Ramelow (remember that guy?) - superb when the team plays well but mediocre when the ship is going down

[JAIL BLAZER]

Metzelder, just like Mertesacker, needs smart, reliable players around him and only looks good on a working system. In 2002 (and certainly in 2006) he had that. Thomas Linke doesn't really strike fear into the hearts of opposing strikers, but he was smart&reliable and he and Metzelder formed a great duo. Mertesacker and Metzelder in 2006 also worked well.

Metzelder alone, without a tested partner and weak players (Hans effing Sarpai) around him, is a disaster. He's not good enough to compensate his lack of quickness if the positioning with the rest of the defense doesn't work. That's his problem today and that's what bothered him in Spain.

Metzelder didn't help our defense in 2003/04 because we were horrible back then. Have a look at these atricous lineups: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaftsspiele/2003/
Thrown in such a terrible team, Metzelder will always be just another liability. But if you got a good team, he can stabilize the defense with his smart movement and positioning...

so what I'm trying to say is this: Metzelder (and Mertesacker) are only as good as the team around them. Arguing about how good a guy like Metzelder is on his own is pretty pointless.

EDIT: #$%! sake, look at this: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaf ... rankreich/

They had a prime Henry and Trezeguet. We had Fredi Bobic and Kevin Kuranyi

I feel bad now...

All your "statistics" you referenced, he didn't play in any of the the losses except France. Way to go on your research.

Anyways, keeping hearing a lot of hype about this Nils Petersen guy, anybody who watches Bund 2 justify his hype?

[JAIL BLAZER]

Oh yeah forgot to add, Christoph was voted the best player under 23 at WC 2002. All I'm saying had he been able to maintain his fitness, he would have developed into one the world's best defenders today.

BTW Would not list Linke as a reliable defender


http://stanjames.teamtalk.com/football/ ... 21,00.html

[magik9113]

thanks for the input on Beck. I've been thinking they should be looking for someone idk...more established? but with our best right back being a youth team call up whose natural position is CB, i will not complain. With Krasic already on the right I'll be more concerned with his defending than offensive abilities.

[Foye]

Oh yeah forgot to add, Christoph was voted the best player under 23 at WC 2002. All I'm saying had he been able to maintain his fitness, he would have developed into one the world's best defenders today.

BTW Would not list Linke as a reliable defender


http://stanjames.teamtalk.com/football/ ... 21,00.html

Lukas Podolski, I believe was voted best player under 23 in the 2006 WC, too. Look at what he does now. He's a good player on an average club but nowhere near a world class player.

[Foye]

Loddaar isch angrie. Ai dell uu sambthink...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q_llvkg01c&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Roman Weidenfeller interview: " I think we have a grandios Saison gespielt..."
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHw-H03U4bs[/youtube]

I can't stop laughing...

[Basti]

I saw the 2nd video on Sunday with my lady and the both of us busted out laughing. Seeing Loddar being angry while speaking English is even better than the 1st video. Damn.

German accent FTW!

[Sleepy]

Metzelder, just like Mertesacker, needs smart, reliable players around him and only looks good on a working system. In 2002 (and certainly in 2006) he had that. Thomas Linke doesn't really strike fear into the hearts of opposing strikers, but he was smart&reliable and he and Metzelder formed a great duo. Mertesacker and Metzelder in 2006 also worked well.

Metzelder alone, without a tested partner and weak players (Hans effing Sarpai) around him, is a disaster. He's not good enough to compensate his lack of quickness if the positioning with the rest of the defense doesn't work. That's his problem today and that's what bothered him in Spain.

Metzelder didn't help our defense in 2003/04 because we were horrible back then. Have a look at these atricous lineups: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaftsspiele/2003/
Thrown in such a terrible team, Metzelder will always be just another liability. But if you got a good team, he can stabilize the defense with his smart movement and positioning...

so what I'm trying to say is this: Metzelder (and Mertesacker) are only as good as the team around them. Arguing about how good a guy like Metzelder is on his own is pretty pointless.

EDIT: #$%! sake, look at this: http://www.fussballdaten.de/freundschaf ... rankreich/

They had a prime Henry and Trezeguet. We had Fredi Bobic and Kevin Kuranyi

I feel bad now...

All your "statistics" you referenced, he didn't play in any of the the losses except France. Way to go on your research.

He also played against Spain, which weren't the powerhouse back then that they are today and conceded three goals. Anyway, I probably should've said that he wouldn't have helped us, even if he had been fit. Metzelder can make a good defense great, but not a poor defense good.

Anyways, keeping hearing a lot of hype about this Nils Petersen guy, anybody who watches Bund 2 justify his hype?

He has that scoring instinct that you want your striker to have. 24 goals in 31 matches is great, not matter in what league. Can he do it against first class opposition? Hard to say, but anything better than 10 goals next season would surprise me. I'd rather target Julian Schieber, but Stuttgart won't let him go if they're not totally daft.
Some rumours say the Bayern are after Petersen... would be a bad decision, I can't see him getting alot of playing time there. Hamburg or Freiburg would be better destinations.

[Foye]

I would take Petersen over Schieber.

Don't know why but I just don't like Schieber. He has played relatively well this season but I can't warm up myself to him. Needs way too many chances to score a goal, imo.

[JAIL BLAZER]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer ... neuer-deal

Usually don't trust goal.com but if this is true would suck to be dumped within six months