He hasn't been this season though has he.
Robert Lewandowski
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss three 1-1 draws.
The first got us knocked out of the FA Cup, the next puts us in a good position in our Round of 16 Europa League game, and the latest was an actual decent performance against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
All hopes for the season now rest on the Europa League - does Amorim have the squad to win it?
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He hasn't been this season though has he.
I'd say he's better than Cavani.
His all round play has impressed me when I've seen him, I just can't see the need unless Rooney is really leaving.
A few weeks ago, I suggested we might replace Rooney with Lewandowski in the summer, and I still think Fergie might have that in mind.
Some straws in the wind:
Fergie loves Robin van Persie.
Rooney is no longer undroppable or unsubbable.
We may have seen the best of him. His form is increasingly erratic, and lately he hasn't always looked fully engaged.
Kagawa plays in his position. Kagawa may even be better in his position.
According to Fergie "He (Kagawa) will be better next year."
The final straw: Fergie values loyalty, and doesn't readily forgive the lack of it.
It could be an interesting summer.
Some straws in the wind:
Fergie loves Robin van Persie.
Rooney is no longer undroppable or unsubbable.
We may have seen the best of him. His form is increasingly erratic, and lately he hasn't always looked fully engaged.
Kagawa plays in his position. Kagawa may even be better in his position.
According to Fergie "He (Kagawa) will be better next year."
The final straw: Fergie values loyalty, and doesn't readily forgive the lack of it.
It could be an interesting summer.
True, but he's a big match player - he's got the mentality of a top player, just needs to remain injury free.
If Fergie values loyalty he should stay clear of Lewandowski. His agent will start selling him to Madrid or Barca a year after he signs for us to get a cut of another signing on fee. He's been in the Polish press for the past few months telling everyone how rich he is and he bought 8 apartments in Warsaw with the money he's made on Lewandowski so far.
I'm still proud and amazed that a Polish player can be considered among 10 best strikers in the world.
I'm still proud and amazed that a Polish player can be considered among 10 best strikers in the world.
Man I still don't know what to make of this.
On the one had I think it would be great to get Lewandowski, especially for 20-30m €, on the other hand I don't want Chicharito and Welbeck seeing even less playing time.
For Lewandowski it's also a tough decision to make because no matter where he goes he will have so much more competition than he ever had at Dortmund.
And of course i don't want us to blow the majority of our transfer fee on a player in a position where we are pretty well stocked to begin with, there are areas of the team that need much more strengthening first imo.
Naturally we could also see Rooney being permanently shifted to midfield but I'm still not convinced that this is a good solution for us and for him and of course there is still the possibility that he will really leave in the summer for PSG.
On the one had I think it would be great to get Lewandowski, especially for 20-30m €, on the other hand I don't want Chicharito and Welbeck seeing even less playing time.
For Lewandowski it's also a tough decision to make because no matter where he goes he will have so much more competition than he ever had at Dortmund.
And of course i don't want us to blow the majority of our transfer fee on a player in a position where we are pretty well stocked to begin with, there are areas of the team that need much more strengthening first imo.
Naturally we could also see Rooney being permanently shifted to midfield but I'm still not convinced that this is a good solution for us and for him and of course there is still the possibility that he will really leave in the summer for PSG.
Agents are such pricks, really can't understand the need for them.
He should stay at Dortmund, he's in his comfort zone there, scoring for fun and first name on the sheet. I get the feeling he could disappoint at a new club wherever he goes. He's been pretty poor for the national team and I wonder how well he's going to do outside that Dortmund side.
He's gone from Polish second division player to a Bundesliga star in just 5 years. He was a big hit in Znicz Pruszków, scored goals for fun at Lech Poznań both in the league and Europe but people still doubted if he could do it in a better league. He had some difficulties at the beginning in Dortmund with competition from Barrios but soon became first choice and has been absolutely great ever since. I wonder how far he could go.
Whatever he plans on doing in the long run, patience is definitely his best friend now. Stay with Dortmund, demonstrate that he can produce consistently over more than a couple of seasons, and see what happens. If he is as good as he appears to be, his position will only get stronger with time.
Plus there's no reason he has to leave Dortmund full stop. They're amongst the champions league elite at the moment, and second in the Bundesliga despite a disappointing season. They're very much on the way up in the world, and only a couple of teams can offer more. So for now he should definitely stay put.
He does have a reason though, his agent needs £3m to invest in real estate and new cars plus Lewandowski feels that Dortmund are too small for him. I don't think it's the case at all, they are one of the biggest clubs in Europe who regularly get 80,000 attendance and are in CL semi-final.
What I would rather know is why so many players put up with this shit. I mean all those agents like Raiola who just wants to move their client from one club to another to get as many bonus payments as possible.
I just can't understand how players would think that these people would do them any good?
I can understand why players would like to have someone alongside them who takes care of the business stuff and the formalities and makes certain they don't get fecked over with contract negotiations.
And there is another bizarre thing about this, why the feck are clubs paying these guys bonuses despite them working for the player?
How the feck does that make sense?
Imagine you hiring a lawyer when you sign a new working contract so he can make sure that everything is legally in order and the salary is about market value and than you send your lawyer bill to the company that just hired you, I wonder if they would pay?
Yeah it seems to be all about the money atm I think the main reason they were not signing a new contract last summer was because Lewandowski wanted somewhere around 130k € p/w which Dortmund weren't ready to pay at that time.
Because that would have meant that Götze, Hummels and Reus would probably have demanded a raise as well in a year or so.
It's a narrow line for Dortmund to walk, they have to make sure that their wages remain competitive but also to not let their wage structure explode within two years.
Never thought about the last part before, it's completely mental. On the rest, I've thought for a while that players should just have lawyers as 'agents', and even then these could be 'in house', i.e constantly hired by the club to represent the players during contract negotiations. So many of these agents aren't qualified in any way, I mean Lewandowski's is just ex-footballer, but more importantly don't seem to have their clients best interests at heart.
The way that they take a cut of the transfer/signing on fee is appalling, it makes zero sense. How can we expect them to offer good, objective advice when the system gives them the opportunity to personally earn millions of each transfer. It's insane. With that temptation I can't even overly criticise them or act surprised when they act like dicks. Agents should just be paid a flat fee during any negotiation, that way they have nothing to gain in giving bad advice.
I honestly cant understand the need for him to leave Dortmund. No matter where he goes he aint going to get the playing time like he does for Dortmund even though quite a few of the big teams COULD use him. And its not like Dortmund are a bad team. They are 2nd in the Bundesliga, in the semi finals of the Champions League, have a good young team and will be in the Champions League next season as well. I think money is the only issue for him. He wants more money and Dortmund arent exactly rich to be paying him whatever he wants.
Wonder if we'll move Rooney into CM and get Lewandowski to keep the 4 striker quota. Not my preferred move at all however these Lewandowski rumours persist
Rooney is basically an attacking midfielder these days, which makes it all the more strange. I really can't see it happening.
Goes past being merely a rumour when SAF confirms it...
Yeah I guess, though if Rooney moves back to centre mid then surely Kagawa should be playing off the striker (arguably should be regardless) in which case we'll only need to start with one striker and rotating four would be unrealistic.
That is some praise.
Big praise for Lewandowski there, no doubt he's a top player but unless we sell somebody we just don't have room for him. If I were Chelsea id probably be throwing all sorts of money his way to secure the signing, he would fit in perfectly there.
Exactly. He would fit in immediately with the system they play in the attacking third. Not only that, buying Lewy would probably also mean they aren't going for Falcao. Now that's a striker I would fear playing for them.
Lewandowski's agent has joined the Caf! 
Someone should ask him about his thoughts on Gundogan.
If Lewandowski does end up here I think someone from our four strikers must be going.
Someone should ask him about his thoughts on Gundogan. If Lewandowski does end up here I think someone from our four strikers must be going.
Bloody Poles coming over here.....scoring our goals.....winning our trophies......what are the government doing about it, that's what I want to know.....
5...4...3...2...1....BOOM
5...4...3...2...1....BOOM
Some good analysis there, especially of Reus.
I rather Falcao or Cavani to be honest. Most in the footballing world would also I'd imagine.
Spot on
Cavani is so overrated. Never as prolific as Suarez for example.
Don't need him or Falcao at al.
How in the world can the paragraph he wrote about Reus be considered as good analysis?
He has overblown his weaknesses and talked down some of his strengths and ignored others completely.
Reus is a player you really would not want? Well, for a one trick pony, who has only pace and shooting technique, scoring 17 goals and 13 assists in 40 games is not that bad for an offensive midfielder. And that is what it comes down to. Reus was bought to fulfill one task: scoring. He is the most offensive orientated midfielder of Dortmund.
I do agree, that he has the habit to fade offensively (his defensive work is outstanding for a player on his position) from time to time, which is actually something he shares with the "classiest" player of Dortmund in the last years (seriously??). However, just as Kagawa, he has these moments of genius, when he produces something amazing out of nothing.
Additionally, there are three other abilities, which make him very valuable for Dortmund:
1. Set pieces: One of the few improvements of Dortmund in this season was in this area, which mainly comes down to Reus. He is by far their best distance shooter and logically also free kick shooter (four direct goals). His crosses from there are also the best.
2. Synergy with Götze: This is plainly to see for everyone who watches enough games of Dortmund. They have a blind understanding with each other. The only pair of players who shows this level of understanding is the Polish right side of Dortmund (Piszczek/Blaszczykowski). The difference between the pairs is, that the latter developed this understanding over years, while the former play together for the first season.
3. Role as game breaker: Dortmunds favourable play style is reactive and they want to invite the opponents to play with them. The problem is, that every team knows that and the least of them do them the favour to attack by themselfes. For 80 % of the Bundesliga teams, a draw against Dortmund is a success, so they do the obvious: they park the bus. Here comes Reus into play. From his 16 goals in this seasons, eleven were 1-0´s. The opening goals that force the opposing side to become braver.
Now that I finished my (way too long) rant about Reus, lets move onto Lewandowski.
If you look at some of my recent posts on here, you will see me discussing in favour of Lewandowski, but even I have to say, that the poster put him on a huge pedestal here, especially in comparision of the rest of the team.
I dunno, where he gets his basis for claiming that most of the Dortmund fans view Lewandowski as the best player of the season for them. This may even be true right now, because he is on a hot streak at the moment and chasing the record of Gerd Müller in the Bundesliga, while Götze hit his first real dire streak of the season in front of the goal at one of the most unfortunate times. However, taking the whole season and all competitions into account, the overall best performing player of Dortmund is still Mario Götze. I actually would put Lewandowski not even on the second place here. The second most important player in the season is Ilkay Gündogan, who becomes more and more influential for Dortmund.
Götze and Gündogan build the brain and creative center of the team. If one of them is missing, the other can fill the void on a good day. If both are missing, the normally so direct and fast paced passing style loses most of its momentum, because they is nobody who can direct the game anymore on the usual level.
It is also not like Lewandowski can fully replace Götze in his function as engine of the offense. He lacks the creativity, passing and vision for that. Lewandowski does play there from time to time, but he surely does not interpret the position as Götze does. Götze plays the AM role as a true play maker (a classic "10"), directing the game, while Lewandowski acts like a second striker, ready to cut into the box if the opportunity comes. This alternative is often used late into a match, to either give the back up striker Schieber play time or to force down the defense line.
Calling Götze´s dribbling mindless is also pretty funny. It is undeniable, that Götze likes to dribble. If I could control the ball like I had magnets in my boots, I would also like it. However, outside some rare exceptions Götze chooses this option carefully. If he does attempt a dribbling, it is most of the time against a highly defensive formation, when all of his offensive team mates are marked. Even if he does lose the ball in the process, it is not necessarily wrong decision making, because it would have still been the highest chance of creating an opportunity to score.
Götze also alternates his play style according to the opponent. This can be nicely seen in the difference between the league and the CL. He dribbles way more in the league, while choosing to pass more against the stronger opponents in the CL.
Lastly, if Götze would lose the ball very often in situations, where he is under high pressure, Dortmund would have a pretty big problem, given the fact that most teams actually double team him all the time. Him binding two players at the same time does of course create space for the other offensive players of the team. The biggest profiteer of that is actually Lewandowski.
Telegraph saying that he's waiting to find out about Rooney/Hernandez situation at the club before a making a decision.
Thats from two days ago.
If it is, apologies. A link got retweeted by a mate just now.
Twitter says that Jupp Heynckes's agent has confirmed that Bayern Munich have signed Lewandowski.
This is good news because it means that we don't sign him and neither do any of our PL rivals.
This is good news because it means that we don't sign him and neither do any of our PL rivals.
RIP Bundesliga
He's very good but I don't think he's top bracket like Cavani or Falcao, just slightly below them.
If Chelsea, City or whoever get either of those instead, I'll be more worried than if they had Lewandowski.
If Chelsea, City or whoever get either of those instead, I'll be more worried than if they had Lewandowski.
Jesus, and people think the Bundesliga is decent..
Oh feck off, don't derail another thread with your anti-German bollocks.
I beg your pardon? You silly little man. Go away.
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