2017-18 German Bundesliga Discussion Thread

[Det the Threat]

Here we go again.

Yet again, Bayern Munich was able to win the Bundsliga title, making it five years in a row.
After having some trouble in the first half of the season, they ran away after the winter break and never looked back.


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Information for Bundesliga Fans in the US:
FOX Sporst will keep broadcasting the Bundesliga and here are some important links.
Fox Sports Bundesliga
Bundesliga.com

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Overall it was a season of surprises, besides Bayern winning the title, given that newly promoted RB Leipzig finished second and even left Borussia Dortmund behind them.
People knew that they weren't a normal promoted side, but finishing second wasn't really expected of them.

It was also a season of surprises because most teams that played in Europe couldn't really keep up in the league and weren't able to repeat their success of past seasons.
Because of that, Hoffenheim will be playing in Europe for the first time ever and try to qualify for the Champions League in the playoffs.
Cologne will be back in Europe for the first time in 25 years, after striker Anthony Modeste willed them to fith place nearly on his own.
Hertha and Freiburg will round out the european spots, also showing that both newly promoted sides were a benefit for the league as Leipzig and Freiburg will participate in Europe, at least as long as UEFA doesn't ban Leipzig given their dealings with RB Salzburg of Austria.

The dissapointments of the season are clearly Wolfsburg, Schalke, Gladbach and Leverkusen.
Neither of those teams were able to qualify for Europe and Wolfsburg even had to play in the relegation playoffs to avoid being relegated in the 2nd Bundesliga. All of that even though they've got a top 3/4 budget within the league.


Bayern did "struggle" a bit in the league, showing that they're not as focused as they were under Guardiola. Though, in the end the quality assembled in that squad was just too much for the rest of the league.
Still, their big goal of winning the CL wasn't achieved, again, as they were beaten by Real Madrid, also thanks to Bayern not keeping their cool and playing one men down in both matches.

Incoming:
Niklas Süle(Hoffenheim)
Sebastian Rudy(Hoffenheim)
Kingsley Coman(Juventus) had been loaned before

Outgoing:
Medhi Benatia(Juventus)
Holger Badstuber(unknown)
Philip Lahm(retirement)
Xabi Alonso(retirement)


Leipzig is, without a doubt, the most controversial side to ever participate in the Bundesliga.
After being formed not even ten years ago, they were able to make it to the Bundesliga thanks to the backing of Red Bull and really didn't care too much about that 50+1, bending it all over, rule usually applying to the clubs of the league.
This was the reason they had to deal with a lot of scrutiny during every away game, with that match at Dortmund being the worst of them all and something no one should have to endure.

Though, on the pitch they showed a crazy pressing game that also included fast paced offense and created many chances.
If UEFA doesn't rule them out, they'll be playing in the CL next season and will have to show if they're able to play this style with those extra games and pressure being on them.

Incoming:
Yann Mvogo(Young Boys Bern)

Outgoing:
Davie Selke(Hertha)
Rani Khedira(unknown)



After losing Hummels, Mikki(not trying to type his name here) and Gündogan Dortmund had to rebuilt their squad and find other ways to make it happen.
Overall, finishing third, only losing in the quaters of the CL(after that horrible attack of the team bus) and winning the cup was a pretty good season.
Though, manager Thomas Tuchel seemed to not really work internally for the club and their decision makers and because of that was let go after the season.
BVB tried to get former Gladbach and Hertha manager Lucien Favre as his replacement but Nice is said to have nixed that deal which forced Dortmund to look somewhere else.
According to some source their new manager will be Peter Bosz, who led Ajax Amsterdam to the Europa League final.

Incoming:
Ömer Toprak(Leverkusen)
Mahmoud Dahoud(Gladbach)

Outgoing:
Adrian Ramos(Dangdai)



Another surprise team of the season was Hoffenheim. Led by 29 year old manager Julian Nagelsmann they were able to play a very consistant season with good offensive minded football and were able to reward themselves by finishing 4th and playing CL playoffs next season.
Like with most Bundesliga sides, their good season made some of their players attractive to other teams and they'll now have to replace Niklas Süle and Sebastian Rudy, who left the club to join Bayern Munich.

Incoming:
Florian Grillitsch(Bremen)
Kevin Akpoguma(Düsseldorf)

Outgoing:
Niklas Süle(Bayern)
Sebastian Rudy(Bayern)
Permin Schwegler(Hannover)



25 years after playing in Europe Cologne will finally be able to do so again. Thanks to Anthony Modeste scoring goals for fun and a very organized defense, they were able to hold on and qualifiy for Europa League.
Though, keeping Modeste will be really tough and if they do lose him they'll have a hard time replacing that production. On top of that, they'll have to show they can manage those extra games and Thursday-Sunday rhythm with a squad that has been playing 1st Bundesliga for only three years now.

Incoming:
-

Outgoing:
Neven Subotic(Dortmund)



After last season's mediocre second half to the season, Hertha was able to do a better(not great) job this time arond and finished in 6th place which will put them in the europa league directly.
Pal Dardai has shown that he's able to play a brand of football that works in the league and has his team play better than the individual parts would make you believe.

Incoming:
Davie Selke(RB Leipzig)
Matthiew Leckie(Ingolstadt)

Outgoing:
John Anthony Brooks(Wolfsburg)
Samy Allagui(St. Pauli)



Just two years after being relegated from the Bundesliga Freiburg came storming back into the Bundesliga and finished with a brilliant 7th place.
Manager Christian Streich showed once again why he's so highly regarded within the Bundesliga and managed to get the most out of his players.
Like everytime, next season will be tough, given that some players(Grifo, Philip, Soyuncu etc.) had a great season and will leave Freiburg.

Incoming:
Pascal Stenzel(Dortmund)
Florian Niederlechner(Mainz)

Outgoing:
Vincenzo Grifo(Gladbach)



This one wasn't a great season for Gladbach. Playing well in the cup competitions(CL + round of 16 EL, semifinal german cup) they never really found their way in the League and finished 9th, the worst finish in six seasons.
This can clearyl be attested to a pretty poor first half of the season(17 points from 17 games) and loads of inuries that never allowed the team to get into a rhythm.

Incoming:
Vincenzo Grifo(Freiburg)
Mickael Cuisance(Nancy)
Julio Villalba(Cerro Porteno)

Outgoing:
Mahmoud Dahoud(Dortmund)
Andreas Christensen(Chelsea)



Everything looked to be on the way up when Schalke brought in sporting director Chrisian Heidel(Mainz) and manager Markus Weinzierl(Augsburg) last summer.
Though, given to a terrible start of the season(losing first five games in the league) they never were able to get back on track and finishehd 10th in the league.
The team also didn't play anything close to insipiring football(like most of the past seasons) and Weinzierl will be under big pressure to deliver this season.

Heidel also has a tough task making decisions on the team this summer. Konoplyanka(which they had to sign after the number of games he played) never had a shot under Weinzierl and has openly criticesed the manager. Max Meyer has stated that he won't sign an extension and only has one year left on his deal. Sead Kolasinac will go on a free while midfielder Leon Goretzka also has just one year left on his deal, doesn't seems to be interested in signing a new one and has been heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich this or next summer.

Incoming:
Nabil Bentaleb(Tottenham)
Even Konoplyanka(Seville)

Outgoing:
Holger Badstuber(unknown)
Klaas Jan Huntelaar(Ajax)
Dennis Aogo(unkonwn)
Abdul Rahman Baba(Chelsea)



Both teams had been the biggest dissapointments of the season. Leverkusen at least managed to get out of the CL group stages and stay up without ever being a clear danger of being relegated.
Wolfsburg, on the other hand, just played a terrible season and showed that a team of individuals won't get you anywhere in modern football.


We also get to welcome Stuttgart and Hannover back to the Bundesliga, after their one year hiatus in the 2nd Bundesliga.
This also means that there's no single team that people can actually write off as a pretty clear favourite to be relegated next season.

There you go, this is the discussion thread for the Bundesliga during the 17/18 season.
It should be an interesting one given the surprises of last season and with Gladbach, Schalke, Leverkusen and Wolfsburg certainly focused to get back to Europe, while the surprise teams of last season certainly won't go away willingly.

Let's have fun and discuss the heck out of the upcoming Bundesliga season...

[Foye]

Good job Det. I would give you 10 and1s but I cant from my phone.


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[Foye]

Seems like Dortmund are going to pay 20 mil. for Philipp. While I like Philipp this is relatively ridiculous.


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[Det the Threat]

Seems like Dortmund are going to pay 20 mil. for Philipp. While I like Philipp this is relatively ridiculous.

Yeah, that would be quite some money for him.
Though, there are two reports. Kicker says it's 14M, while Bild's reporting about those 20M.

Anyways, at least Freiburg will be compensated and able to buy replacements. I mean, we got Grifo for 6M, which was below his market value.

[cgf]

With the money they have to burn and the need they have it's a solid buy even at that price. Makes a lot more sense than if RB had pulled him for that price. Philipp / Schurrle / Isak is a solid rotation up front with Reus, Dembele, Pulisic, Gotze, Mor, and the Dahoud-Weigl partnership to feed them especially if Dahoud's arrival means that Guerrierro can take over at LB from Schmelzer, while Passlack makes the necessary strides to do the same on the right.

Hopefully Freiburg hold onto Soyuncu for another season, cause he could draw an insane fee with another season at this level to build his hype. Kid was easily one of the best non-Bayern CBs in the league. I'm not a big fan of Grifo's and so don't think his lose will be too painful, but losing Soyuncu on top of Philipp would hurt.

[Det the Threat]

Hopefully Freiburg hold onto Soyuncu for another season, cause he could draw an insane fee with another season at this level to build his hype. Kid was easily one of the best non-Bayern CBs in the league. I'm not a big fan of Grifo's and so don't think his lose will be too painful, but losing Soyuncu on top of Philipp would hurt.

Pfft...
I think he's pretty good and we really need someone with good set pieces as we don't have that since Arango left.

Soyuncu's going to stay at Freiburg, which is something they've been very clear about for some time.

BTW: It seems like Eberl will have a tough task this summer.
According to some sources Zakaria will not join us and back plan Arnold is either staying at Wolfsburg or joining Schalke.
That leaves us with ...um...option C....or whatever
I'm not really sad about losing out on Arnold, cause I'm not that big of a fan of his, but Zakaria would be really nice.

Also, 18 year old CB/CM prospect Reece Oxford(West Ham) is rumored to join us on a loan deal for one season.
I don't mind that one but one year would be a bit short for a young guy like that, given that you can't expect everyone to haven an impact from the start like Christensen had.

[Det the Threat]

According to swiss newspaper Blick we've reached an agreement with Young Boys Bern on midfielder Denis Zakaria.
According to them, we'll pay about €12M for him.

Also, Julian Korb will transfer from Gladbach to Hannover for about €3M.

[cgf]

According to swiss newspaper Blick we've reached an agreement with Young Boys Bern on midfielder Denis Zakaria.
According to them, we'll pay about €12M for him.

Also, Julian Korb will transfer from Gladbach to Hannover for about €3M.

Between Benes, Cuisance, Zakaria, Sow, and Ndenge; that midfield should be world class once again pretty soon. Now to figure out what happens to the defense...plus I'd love for the Bertrand Traore rumors to be true.

[Foye]

What do you think about HSV giving up on Walace and Santos already No_20? Seems like a new all-time high of incompetence from HSV officials to me. I thought by now everyone would know that Brazilians need at least one year to adapt to German culture. Seems HSV officials dont know.


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[Det the Threat]

Between Benes, Cuisance, Zakaria, Sow, and Ndenge; that midfield should be world class once again pretty soon. Now to figure out what happens to the defense...plus I'd love for the Bertrand Traore rumors to be true.

It seems like Sow could be loaned to YB Bern for a year or so.
I think that would be a good move, cause he'd have a hard time playing, especially without those extra games in Europe on our schedule.

I would like Traoré, but that transfer fee(we supposedly offered €17M) just doesn't make much sense to me, especially after Eberl clearly stated that we're looking for an option B at striker(I know he can also play on the wing) and we're certainly not going to spend that much on him.
Unless, of course, Hazard somehow had a change of heart and wants to leave.

On defense we've got Vestergaard, Kolo, Jantschke, Elvedi, Doucoure and even Strobl who could play at CB. Even Marvin Schulz could, if he'd ever stay healthy.

What do you think about HSV giving up on Walace and Santos already No_20? Seems like a new all-time high of incompetence from HSV officials to me. I thought by now everyone would know that Brazilians need at least one year to adapt to German culture. Seems HSV officials dont know.

I'm pretty sure that front office doesn't know what the hell they're doing, like they've shown in the past...
I guess Walace was a guy that was brought in before Bruchhagen and he wants to do something else. I mean, they also tried to get a Bundesliga proven CM in the winter but couldn't get one, so they bought him.

So I can't help you there.
But hey, I'm also still waiting on Halilovic to rule the Bundesliga, like No_20 told us he would...

[cgf]

Between Benes, Cuisance, Zakaria, Sow, and Ndenge; that midfield should be world class once again pretty soon. Now to figure out what happens to the defense...plus I'd love for the Bertrand Traore rumors to be true.

It seems like Sow could be loaned to YB Bern for a year or so.
I think that would be a good move, cause he'd have a hard time playing, especially without those extra games in Europe on our schedule.

I would like Traoré, but that transfer fee(we supposedly offered €17M) just doesn't make much sense to me, especially after Eberl clearly stated that we're looking for an option B at striker(I know he can also play on the wing) and we're certainly not going to spend that much on him.
Unless, of course, Hazard somehow had a change of heart and wants to leave.

On defense we've got Vestergaard, Kolo, Jantschke, Elvedi, Doucoure and even Strobl who could play at CB. Even Marvin Schulz could, if he'd ever stay healthy.

That would be good for Sow; as for Traore he could be groomed to replace Rafael/Stindl/Hazard while also getting time on the wing. The fee's high, but so is the talent level and that Christensen money is still there.

On defense I want to see a young RB brought in to free Elvedi to play CB full time as I'm still worried by Kolo, Jantschke is very injury prone, Doucoure needed a year of polish before losing last season to injury, and Strobl is very bleh. If you use a back three at all another young CB to push Kolo could be very useful at the right price...though not as important to me as Traore & a RB would be.

[Little Nathan]

Schalke fire yet another coach after yet another disappointing season. They're now looking for their own "Nagelsmann" in Tedesco, who will leave Aue after helping them to stay in the league.

Heiko Herrlich will apparently coach Leverkusen next season (and leave Regensburg to do so).

Willy Sagnol is back in Munich as Ancelotti's assistant.

And the original Nagelsmann signs an extension until 2021 in Hoffenheim, which at the very least means they will get a lot of money for him if he leaves earlier.

Busy news day

[Foye]

Its crazy how much the transfer sums are going up. 7 mil for Jannes Horn a defender with little Bundesliga experience.


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[cgf]

Horn is one of our biggest 97-born talents though. If the NT keeps a back 4, pretty soon we'll be starting him, Mittelstadt, or GL Itter at LB.

[Det the Threat]

Gladbach officially signs Denis Zakaria.

The transfer fee is believed to be about €10 - €12M.

BTW: Tedesco was in the same class as Nagelsmann and finished with a better grade them him.
That doesn't mean too much, but he should try to have Schalke playing offensive minded football.
I mean, he even had Wismut Aue playing offensive football even though they were in deep trouble to be relegated and he had quite a limited team to do so.

[shawn_hemp]

Good recap

I'm confused though, there is a chance that Leipzig won't be allowed to play in the champions league? Would their spot just go to the next qualifying team then?

[Det the Threat]

Good recap

I'm confused though, there is a chance that Leipzig won't be allowed to play in the champions league? Would their spot just go to the next qualifying team then?

Yes it would, but I wouldn't count on it.
Leipzig will find yet another loophole to make things happen for them.

If they don't, than Hoffenheim would qualify directly for the CL, Cologne would be playing CL playoffs, Hertha + Freiburg would go directly into the EL and Bremen would be playing EL qualification in July...

[Foye]

Gnabry to Bayern. Next Rode/Kirchhoff/Ulreich. Rip your career.


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[Det the Threat]

Gnabry to Bayern. Next Rode/Kirchhoff/Ulreich. Rip your career.

That's just a strange move.
He just ran away from Arsenal to get playing time last summer and is now going to Bayern to sit on the bench again...

BTW: The first round of the german cup has been drawn.
1860 Munich vs Ingolstadt
Duisburg vs Nurnberg
Bonn vs Hannover
Chemnitz vs Bayern
Cottbus vs Stuttgart
Erfurt vs Hoffenheim
Halberstadt vs Freiburg
Osnabrück vs Hamburg
Magdeburg vs Augsburg
Rostock vs Hertha Berlin
Dorfmerkingen vs RB Leipzig
Paderborn vs St. Pauli
Leher vs Cologne
Lüneburg vs Mainz
RW Essen vs Borussia Mönchengladbach
Würzburg vs Bremen
Morlautern vs Greuther Fürth
Schweinfurt vs Sandhause
Saarbrücken vs Union Berlin
Nöttingen vs Bochum
Regensurg vs Darmstadt
Wehen-Wiesbaden vs Aue
Bielefeld vs Düsseldorf
Norderstedt vs Wolfsburg
Unterhaching vs Heidenheim
Erndtebrück vs Frankfurt
Koblenz vs Dresden
Rielasingen-Arlen vs Dortmund
Karlsruhe vs Leverkusen
Eichede vs Kaiserslautern
Kiel vs Braunschweig
BFC Dynamo Berlin vs Schalke

[Foye]

Gnabry to Bayern. Next Rode/Kirchhoff/Ulreich. Rip your career.

That's just a strange move.
He just ran away from Arsenal to get playing time last summer and is now going to Bayern to sit on the bench again...

Its the deadly combination of player overrating his own abilities and not having a smart management in place.

I can tell you right now what will happen...Gnabry will sit on Bayerns bench for one or two seasons, does hardly develop and some stupid club will still pay Bayern 15 mil. for him.
Perfect deal for Bayern, though.