The Bundesliga Thread

[ShiftyPowers]

They have some good players and a better platform to build on to achieve success. Whatever ex-Communist backyard team would have replaced them would go straight back down like Paderborn. If HSV make some smart personnel changes they can start building towards midtable. If they go do down, they will probably stay down and so the Bundesliga loses a giant.

Karlsruhe is in Baden-Wurtemburg in the southwest corner of the country next to France in relatively close proximity to Stuttgart, Freiburg, Frankfurt, and Mainz. It's not a backwater.

Going down could have helped Hamburg fix some problems, but now they will just keep duncing around.

 

[Xifio]

Going down could have helped Hamburg fix some problems, but now they will just keep duncing around.

they should've kept hold of Calhanoglu and H-M Son ... it doesn't bode well when an old and useless Rafaël van der Vaart remains your undisputed captain till he hobbles out the door ...

anyway, I hope you're wrong about their immediate future ... they have the pedigree to attract good players looking to prove themselves ... it wasn't so long ago that they had the capacity to make smart moves for talented players (Raffie himself, Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany, etc.) ... rediscovering that m.o. would obviously be the priority ...

 

[ShiftyPowers]

No promising player would want to go there now. It's a clown car of a club. There's a reason why all their good players have left recently. VdV is still captain, but he can't even get a game for a team that should have been relegated and were only kept up by Schalke's incompetence on the last matchday.

 

[Xifio]

they have won a European Cup, are -- according to the coefficients -- in the second best league in Europe (and by extension, the world), in a country with stellar attendance records ... it's a poor president / director who can't use all that to reinvigorate the club via campaigns, on and off the pitch, to remind fans and players alike of the once and future history of the club ...

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, there are dozens of examples of relegated clubs being better off for it.

 

[theo]

How good is Draxler? He looked really promising a couple of years ago but I haven't seen that much of him lately.

 

[Mandieta6]

Mostly coasting on that promise and might not be the crown jewel anymore but he has also been injured and shuffled around in a very disappointing side. I still think he can be a top player.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

A lot of people think Max Meyer is already better. Meyer is more preferred as a #10 and Draxler has been pushed to the wing.

 

[4ndr3i]

We payed 18 mil for fucking Zaza but only made a 15mil offer for Draxler! Juve

 

[ShiftyPowers]

they have won a European Cup, are -- according to the coefficients -- in the second best league in Europe (and by extension, the world), in a country with stellar attendance records ... it's a poor president / director who can't use all that to reinvigorate the club via campaigns, on and off the pitch, to remind fans and players alike of the once and future history of the club ...

Nottingham Forrest has won the European Cup too.

 

[Xifio]

I expect Hamburg is in slightly better shape than Shottingham ...

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Obviously, but they are in far worse shape than you seem to understand. Winning the European Cup in the 80s doesn't mean anything.

 

[theo]

Funny cause in ten years' time people will say that winning the CL in the 90s doesn't mean anything, and so on.

But I agree, football has come a long way.

 

[Mus]

At least (in the forseeable future) it will still be the CL, not a different title

 

[Arnau]

Modern football starts with Sacchi and Cruyff

 

[Mandieta6]

Supercup. Pretty even. Costa got the better of Vierinha several times initially but that duel has balanced out. Bayern in what looks like a 4-2-3-1, their midfield has done nothing of note. KDB just cleared Neuer but missed the shot.

 

[Mandieta6]

This is going to pens. Overall pretty even, Wolfsbueg were vetter for longer stretches but fitness has played an issue.

 

[Arnau]

Nicklas Bendtner

 

[Arnau]

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Lucien Favre quit Gladbach abruptly because he doesn't think he can figure out solutions to the squad's problems. Could be a really tough season for them.