2018-19 German Bundesliga Discussion Thread

[Det the Threat]

And there it is again.

Bayern Munich won the league for a 6th year in a row and there's officially no title race at all anymore in Germany.

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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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Bayern actually started really bad and had to bring back Jupp Heynckes out of retirement, to win the league and get back on track, but the rest of the league also played nice and never really challenged them at all.

Overall the Bundesliga had an absolute down year with even "top teams" playing a really bad style of football, which made watching the games pretty boring.
The only team really going for it was Hoffenheim, under manager Julian Nagelsmann, and they were rewarded with a 3rd place finish and CL football for next season.

The biggest surprise came in the cup final, were Nico Kovac lead Eintracht Frankfurt to their first title in 30 years against his new club Bayern Munich.


Other than that, the league will send Bayern, Schalke, Hoffenheim and Dortmund into the Champions League, while Leverkusen and Frankfurt will play Europa League, with RB Leipzig trying to qualify as well, starting in the 2nd round of Europa League qualification.

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Surprises of last season:

TSG Hoffenheim:
They lost Sebastian Rudy, Sandro Wagner and Nicklas Süle(all to Bayern) and had trouble adjusting to playing in three competitions during the first half of the season.
Though, Julian Nagelsmann was able to do a fine job and coached them to their first Champions League qualification in club history despite all of that.

VfB Stuttgart:
They were in trouble until they appointed Tayfun Korkut as their manager at the start of the second half of the season.
With him, they were able to produce some great results and nearly had a chance to play Europa League qualification, if it wasn't for Frankfurt winning the cup.

Schalke 04:
After being out of Europe and only finshing 10th last season they managed to come back and qualify for the Champions League, finishing the season as "runners up" to Bayern.
New manager Domenico Tedesco did a fine job preparing his team for the matches and even though it wasn't great football, they were able to defend well enough and get the results needed to finish 2nd and above rival Borussia Dortmund.

Eintracht Frankfurt:
Even though they faded during the second half of the season and only finished 8th, after being in the top 6 for most of the year, they still managed to qualfiy for Europe winnin the cup final against Bayern.
Now they'll have to start life without manager Nico Kovac, who'll take over at Bayern, and it remains to be seen if new manager Adi Hütter(YB Bern) keep them in the top half of the table.


Dissapointments of last season:
Well, there are actually way too many of them.

Borussia Dortmund:
They started out incredibly well, winning their first seven games in the league, but then faded quickly and weren't able to play the style their manager wanted them to play.
Because of that they sacked him and brought in former Cologne manager Peter Stöger, who's a very defensive oriented guy and let them play a pretty bland style of football.
It was still enough to qualify for the Champions League, but they'll need an overhaul of their roster and new manager Lucien Favre will have his hands full bringing them back on track.

FC Cologne:
After qualfying for Europe, for the first time in 25 years, the year before they had an absolute horendous season which lead to them being relegated into the 2nd Bundesliga.
They were never able to get anything going and the transfers were really bad and never able to cover for them selling Modeste.
Now it's Aue instead of Arsenal for them and they'll have to get back quick, given that the players who stay(Hector and Horn) certainly wouldn't be around for a second season of 2nd Bundesliga football.

Borussia Mönchengladbach:
In a season were everyone, besides Bayern under Heynckes, was struggling and gave chances left and right to qualify for Europe, we finished 9th and played an incredibly bad second half to the season.
Manager Dieter Hecking will be under a lot of pressure to produce next season and there'll have to changes all around, given that the injury situation was a joke and with a couple of players needing a new challenger and getting old.

VFL Wolfsburg:
They once again dissapointed and all the money they invest doesn't seem to be used all that well.
For a second season in a row they had to play relegation playoffs and managed to stay up, this time beating Holstein Kiel.
Now they're hoping that new sporting director Jörg Schmadtke can reproduce what he did in his first seasons at Cologne and not the last one, were he made quite a few bad signings.


Hamburger SV:
Many years of really bad management cought up to them and for the first time in history, there'll be a Bundesliga season without them next year.
Overall it isn't a surprise, given that they had another three managers this season, played some really bad football again, and wasted money like it didn't matter.
Now they'll have to regroup in the 2nd Bundesliga and need to try and get back fast, so their investor doesn't get bored and they also don't end up like a couple of former Bundesliga members.
I know people in Germany aren't mad it happend, but it's still a shame that a club with those possibilities has been managed that badly to end up in the 2nd Bundesliga.


Joining the Bundsliga for the upcoming season will be traditional sides Fortuna Düsseldorf and 1. FC Nürnberg. Both teams have a rich history and pretty big fanbase that deserves to enjoy Bundesliga football again, even though it will be tough for both of them to stay up.


So there you go.
This is the Bundesliga thread for the 2018/19 season. I hope we get to see better football all around in the upcoming season and have a good time discussing it in here.

Let's have fun and discuss.

[ZoLo]

Thanks Det for the great opening.

Busy day in Frankfurt. Wolf signed with BVB till 2023, for 5m thanks to a release clause. Good signing for BVB of course because it´s basically a steal.
And Alex Meier-Fussballgott leaves Eintracht Frankfurt after 14 years with the club. But he doesn´t want to end his career yet. I guess he will join a MLS team since he is a huge fan of the country.

[Foye]

Thanks Det for the great opening.

Busy day in Frankfurt. Wolf signed with BVB till 2023, for 5m thanks to a release clause. Good signing for BVB of course because it´s basically a steal.
And Alex Meier-Fussballgott leaves Eintracht Frankfurt after 14 years with the club. But he doesn´t want to end his career yet. I guess he will join a MLS team since he is a huge fan of the country.

Low risk medium reward move for Dortmund....doubt he will be able to fill Dembele void but I guess he cant be worse than overpaid guys like Schürrle or Götze currently.

Dortmund needs to significantly overhaul their roster this offseason. Favre was a good start but I doubt he will be able to turn sh-t into gold. He has too many overpaid players with limited motivation on the roster. Should see in training camp which one of them is actually working hard and get rid of those who do not.
Also scrubs like Toprak should be gone sooner than later.

De Ligt and Diallo would be good for them to stabilize their putrid defense but I doubt they are going to spend the 70-80 mil. it would take to get them.

Also from their perspective I would not spend too much on Batshuayi. He is not that good in my opinion. That said, the problem may be that they will lack other transfer options for their hole up front and may be forced to overspend on Batshuayi. Actually, I would try to use Favre to bring in Balotelli instead of Batshuayi.

And finally...they should buy a capable goalkeeper once!

[Foye]

Thanks Det for the great opening.

Busy day in Frankfurt. Wolf signed with BVB till 2023, for 5m thanks to a release clause. Good signing for BVB of course because it´s basically a steal.
And Alex Meier-Fussballgott leaves Eintracht Frankfurt after 14 years with the club. But he doesn´t want to end his career yet. I guess he will join a MLS team since he is a huge fan of the country.

By the way regarding Meier...not very classy from Bobic. God if you don't plan with him, keep him as mascot on the bench or whatever. But the guy has done enough for the club to play there as long as he wants.
Did Juve or Roma throw Buffon/Totti out because they were too old? Piss poor decision by the management.

[ZoLo]

Thanks Det for the great opening.

Busy day in Frankfurt. Wolf signed with BVB till 2023, for 5m thanks to a release clause. Good signing for BVB of course because it´s basically a steal.
And Alex Meier-Fussballgott leaves Eintracht Frankfurt after 14 years with the club. But he doesn´t want to end his career yet. I guess he will join a MLS team since he is a huge fan of the country.

By the way regarding Meier...not very classy from Bobic. God if you don't plan with him, keep him as mascot on the bench or whatever. But the guy has done enough for the club to play there as long as he wants.
Did Juve or Roma throw Buffon/Totti out because they were too old? Piss poor decision by the management.

I can´t really tell what was going on there the last weeks. Did they talk about a contract or did they ignore each other. The decision by Bobic to let him go was made a long time ago imo. It doesn´t come as a surprise to me even with that last goal vs HSV which changed things a bit. Bobic/Kovac and Meier had issues. Kovac didn´t want him at all on his team. And the way Bobic talked about Meier the last months revealed that he closed the door.

I don´t like it, but after all i can understand the decision from their point of view. He is 35 and constantly injured. Fans always demand him, even if he´s not fit. He claims now that he is a 100% fit, and Bobic/Hübner probably doubt that. They just wanted to end this story. But they should have handled this a lot better.

One thing is for sure, Bobic has lost a ton of credit the last days. He needs to score now on the transfer market, and not give away another key player for peanuts.

[Foye]

He didnt even have the opportunity to say good bye in front of his fans in his last home game...that after how many years? And as you say the decision was certainly made prior to that last home game.
Thats really piss poor treatment of a club legend!


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[Det the Threat]

Thanks Det for the great opening.

Busy day in Frankfurt. Wolf signed with BVB till 2023, for 5m thanks to a release clause. Good signing for BVB of course because it´s basically a steal.
And Alex Meier-Fussballgott leaves Eintracht Frankfurt after 14 years with the club. But he doesn´t want to end his career yet. I guess he will join a MLS team since he is a huge fan of the country.

It's a great deal for you guys(you hardly paid anything for him) and for Wolf as well, given that there are reports of him earning up to €5M a year at Dortmund.
Overall I don't really get why Dortmund did it given that they have enough players at his position and with his skillset(speed, trying to go towards goal) and just bought a guy like Maximilian Phillip for €20M last year.

BTW: Talking about Gladbach.
Thorgan Hazard has been linked with Sevilla and now his father and agent have been spotted(and photographed) in Sevilla right in front of the club house.
I hope those spaniards are willing to pay enough(€30M+) for him, given that we'd need some money to replace him and maybe invest in another position.

Nico Elvedi has been linked with Inter Milan and Vincenzo Grifo with Lazio and Fiorentina.
But you never know with those italian newspapers.

[Foye]

Dortmund really just paid 20 mil. for Delaney? Decent player...but jesus they are desperate


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[Foye]

Abdou Diallo to Dortmund for 25 mil. €.
Sucks to let our best defender leave after just one season.
Seems like we are finalizing an 8 mil. deal for Moussa Niakhate as replacement.

[Andi Obst]

Nagelsmann leaving Hoffenheim for Leipzig in 2019 is so disappointing. That's what he wants to do?

[Det the Threat]

Nagelsmann leaving Hoffenheim for Leipzig in 2019 is so disappointing. That's what he wants to do?

Well, it's basically what he's doing right now just with way more money behind it.
It will also give him a better chance to manage a team that plays in Europe, before he goes and finally joins his boyhood club Bayern.

BTW: There already some rumors that this might happen even this summer, given that it would avoid a possible lame duck season for Hoffenheim.

[Det the Threat]

Ah, good 'ol Gladbach and those injuries.

New signing Michael Lang tore a ligament in his right knee and will be out for at least four weeks.
Laszlo Benes suffered a torn hamstring and will miss about as much time.

Lars Stindl's still in rehab and certainly won't be available before September.

Let's see how many guys we'll have available once the season starts...

[Foye]

New season but HSV is still HSV...I dont want to imagine the turmoil that will happen when they lose sight of the top 3 spots


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[JohnPferdelack]

Hamburg had a promising start and good chances but defensively there were a lot of big holes. In the second chapter, Kiel was luckier in terms of scoring and could secure the W.

[Foye]

Kovac gone immediately leads to Eintracht being back at their usual competition level lol


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[JohnPferdelack]

Hütter might be the first coach in the new season who loose his job.

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[Foye]

Hütter might be the first coach in the new season who loose his job.

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I‘m still waiting for them to sign Filip Kostic for xyz million euros...that would really guarantee they are in relegation race for the year...

They have done a poor job on the transfer market and the coach seems to want to play offensive minded. Receipt for disaster I would say.

But to be honest they still have some quality players on the roster...especially Gacinovic...so while they will be considerably worse than last year...I dont think they‘ll be relegated.

[Det the Threat]

Hütter might be the first coach in the new season who loose his job.

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I‘m still waiting for them to sign Filip Kostic for xyz million euros...that would really guarantee they are in relegation race for the year...

They have done a poor job on the transfer market and the coach seems to want to play offensive minded. Receipt for disaster I would say.

But to be honest they still have some quality players on the roster...especially Gacinovic...so while they will be considerably worse than last year...I dont think they‘ll be relegated.

Yeah, changing from a very defensive minded approach under Kovac to Hütter and his offensive minded approach will be though for them.
The biggest reason of their success was their work rate against the ball and all those tactical fouls which made it tough for anyone to play or score against them.

Going for more posession will leave them open an vulnurable for counter attacks. That should lead to them conceeding more goals and I'm not sure they're able to score more goals to make up for that.

BTW: I think they cold be in trouble, but Düsseldorf and Nürnberg are two newly promoted teams with hardly any money to spend and will have a tough time to stay up.

[Cactus Jack]

I'm curious how German fans feel about the league considering Bayern is pretty much a lock to win every year. The Warriors of the Bundesliga.

How do non-Bayern fans stay/feel engaged when the outcome is already predetermined? What's the secret?

[Foye]

I'm curious how German fans feel about the league considering Bayern is pretty much a lock to win every year. The Warriors of the Bundesliga.

How do non-Bayern fans stay/feel engaged when the outcome is already predetermined? What's the secret?

Being a small market team fan...I don't really care about the top of the table.

However, I find it kind of strange that big clubs like Dortmund or Schalke don't even seem to have the ambition to build a team that can compete for a title.
Feels like they will rather sell their top talents to milk EPL teams for money rather than trying to compete. Watzke even said something like "Its our duty to milk money out of EPL teams".
Also, it's kind of a big blow that big cities like Berlin or Hamburg fail to establish a top team for years.

I would argue Bundesliga is about to become the 5th best league in Europe at best.
Serie A and Ligue 1 are in the process of moving ahead of them.

Also in my honest opinion...the football played in the Bundesliga is dumb football. It reminds me more of an "athletics-league" sometimes than a football league.
If you watch even lower level teams in the Primera Division it is very obvious how much they focus on team-play and moving the ball. The football played is straight more technical throughout the league. And that's why Spanish teams have been dominating in Europe.