Bundesliga 2016/17

Balu said:
They're awful as well. It's so weird to ask the players who's the 'loser of the season'. Last season Kampl was third in that ranking behind Götze and Kruse. I still wonder what Kampl has done to piss off the other players in the league to vote for him, even though he clearly improved a lot compared to his season in Dortmund and was actually a pretty important player for Leverkusen with some excellent performances. I don't trust the players at all in these votings, they're all so sensitive and barely anyone votes honestly. Usually the opinion from the journalists is much better even though the quality of football journalism has declined so much (especially at kicker magazine), that it's best to ignore award season altogether.
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I admit I had totally forgotten on the 'loser' question, and totally subscribe to your opinion on the Kampl answer. I wrote and still find these polls 'interesting' because the anonymous nature of Kicker's voting system (similar to the player association's questionnaire) makes it more likely that players give their honest opinion. That's different when you look at awards where you can see who voted for whom.
Whether players' opinions are well-thought through or not is a very different animal but to me still more interesting to get their perception via an anonymous poll than journo opinions. If you ever have the chance to get seated within or close to the media section in your stadium and listen to journo conversations before, during and after the matches, or during several training sessions, go for it. It's worse than Sport1-Fantalk and Sky90 combined.

The quality of Kicker journos has become so incredibly poor that it's IMO not worthwhile spending a second on their player ratings and hence not their lists.
 
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Crossie said:
If you ever have the chance to get seated within or close to the media section in your stadium and listen to journo conversations before, during and after the matches, or during several training sessions, go for it. It's worse than Sport1-Fantalk and Sky90 combined.
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Why would you want to do that? A damn great part of going to matches is that you don't have to listen to a stupid commentator.
 
Balu said:
Why would you want to do that? A damn great part of going to matches is that you don't have to listen to a stupid commentator.
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I wanted to put my hypothesis to the test that journos talk the same shite in a closed environment than they say or write in public; something which I assumed but had been told by journos that they of course could do better but do not because their audience wants that trash talk stuff, and they have to serve their audience.
 
Crossie said:
I wanted to put my hypothesis to the test that journos talk the same shite in a closed environment than they say or write in public; something which I assumed but had been told by journos that they of course could do better but do not because their audience wants that trash talk stuff, and they have to serve their audience.
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:lol:
 
Balu said:
They're awful as well. It's so weird to ask the players who's the 'loser of the season'. Last season Kampl was third in that ranking behind Götze and Kruse. I still wonder what Kampl has done to piss off the other players in the league to vote for him, even though he clearly improved a lot compared to his season in Dortmund and was actually a pretty important player for Leverkusen with some excellent performances. I don't trust the players at all in these votings, they're all so sensitive and barely anyone votes honestly. Usually the opinion from the journalists is much better even though the quality of football journalism has declined so much (especially at kicker magazine), that it's best to ignore award season altogether.
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It is actually quite shocking just how much the quality has fallen. I had a subscription for the magazin for over a decade. It used to be a ritual of mine to read it on the train ride to work every monday and thursday, but two years I cancelled it because I could not take it anymore. Their transition into the "digital age" was handled really poorly. At first it was just the website, but the garbage slowly transitioned into the paper form aswell.

It started with a harshly declining accuracy in their sources, because they picked up pretty much any rumour no matter how farfetched. Then their writing turned shitty. I mean, my writing experience consists of a bit of freelancing work I used to do for local papers during my university days, but even I could write better pieces than 90% of the stuff in there with minimal effort. At last, their last saving grace, their interviews turned into 15 futile attempts to get a juicy head line out of the people.

It is a damn shame because that magazine accompanied me a long time, but it is just not what it used to be.
 
Sphaero said:
It is actually quite shocking just how much the quality has fallen. I had a subscription for the magazin for over a decade. It used to be a ritual of mine to read it on the train ride to work every monday and thursday, but two years I cancelled it because I could not take it anymore. Their transition into the "digital age" was handled really poorly. At first it was just the website, but the garbage slowly transitioned into the paper form aswell.

It started with a harshly declining accuracy in their sources, because they picked up pretty much any rumour no matter how farfetched. Then their writing turned shitty. I mean, my writing experience consists of a bit of freelancing work I used to do for local papers during my university days, but even I could write better pieces than 90% of the stuff in there with minimal effort. At last, their last saving grace, their interviews turned into 15 futile attempts to get a juicy head line out of the people.

It is a damn shame because that magazine accompanied me a long time, but it is just not what it used to be.
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Can't resist to refer to Jürgen Klopp here who nailed it for me. A couple of years ago (around 2013 IIRC), he said in a documentary he has been reading Kicker magazine for almost 40 years, and it's a shame that ever since SportBild entered the scene, Kicker 'aspired' to reach SportBild's level of sensationalism and story-telling/story invention; it should have been the other way round, SportBild should have aspired to focus on the game, the actual sport, as Kicker used to do.

It really makes me laugh that Kicker still refer to themselves as 'Fachmagazin' these days. They couldnt be more far away from it.
 
I never knew players voted for a "loser of the season". It seems incredibly harsh. Kampl even being in contention for the "title" is an insult considering how good he's been since leaving Dortmund.
 
Yagami said:
I never knew players voted for a "loser of the season". It seems incredibly harsh. Kampl even being in contention for the "title" is an insult considering how good he's been since leaving Dortmund.
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Barely anyone knew about the players vote for awards thing, doubt many gave a feck about all these awards. On the Caf it of course became a huge deal this summer and the new 'real' player of the season award, because Mkhitaryan won it. The 'loser of the season' votes for players and managers suck big time though, not sure why they have that along with the other votes (for best player, referee and manager). Players simply shouldn't participate in such votes where they condemn fellow players and managers (usually one gets it, who was already sacked within a few months of the season anyway).

I hate the whole thing, which is why it annoys me quite a bit that so many now emphasise that this 'voted by players' award is much more important than the regular 'player of the season' award, which Boateng won (and clearly shouldn't have considering he missed half the season through injuries).
 
Gerland will be our first assistant coach now that Clement joins Swansea as their manager. I thought Davide Ancelotti would get Clement's place, but I don't think it matters who's first and who's second anyway.

On another note HSV dropped Spahic.
 
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What is the point of the exceptionally long winter break in Germany if teams are just going to compensate for a lack of match practice by playing a million friendlies in January?

Dortmund seem to play an awful lot of them. They smashed someone 1-6 earlier.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
What is the point of the exceptionally long winter break in Germany if teams are just going to compensate for a lack of match practice by playing a million friendlies in January?

Dortmund seem to play an awful lot of them. They smashed someone 1-6 earlier.
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What is wrong with test matches?
The players were in holidays from December 22nd to January 2nd to 4th. Then most teams were in a training camp in warmer countries building up form for the second part of the season. And they make test matches during that period - the same you do in summer, too. Bundesliga starts Friday again - it is only a month break this season. This year we really know why there is a winter break. At some days it stays below 0 Celsius night and day and in some areas the night temperatures are near -20 degrees Celsius.
 
German clubs aren't the only ones who have so many friendlies this month. Dutch, Austrian, Swiss, Russian and other clubs from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia also do. It is slightly weird but I could understand the logic behind it. They want to keep the rust off without delving too deeply into competitive intensity.
 
Blackwidow said:
What is wrong with test matches?
The players were in holidays from December 22nd to January 2nd to 4th. Then most teams were in a training camp in warmer countries building up form for the second part of the season. And they make test matches during that period - the same you do in summer, too. Bundesliga starts Friday again - it is only a month break this season. This year we really know why there is a winter break. At some days it stays below 0 Celsius night and day and in some areas the night temperatures are near -20 degrees Celsius.
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NYAS said:
German clubs aren't the only ones who have so many friendlies this month. Dutch, Austrian, Swiss, Russian and other clubs from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia also do. It is slightly weird but I could understand the logic behind it. They want to keep the rust off without delving too deeply into competitive intensity.
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Instead of a month off, they should take 2 weeks off and then get back to playing real games. If they're playing games anyway, they might as well be real.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
Instead of a month off, they should take 2 weeks off and then get back to playing real games. If they're playing games anyway, they might as well be real.
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The weather is not a reason?

Do the Russian teams play their matches in Russia? Or the Swiss teams in Switzerland? FC Basel is meeting Moscow this week in Marbella. And Dortmund has been in Spain until the weekend - where a lot teams held their training camps. As the Bundesliga starts again most teams got back in the recent days to acclimatise themselves to the weather here again. Bayern, Gladbach and Mainz played the Telekom Cup last week in Düsseldorf - 45 minutes each match with the roof closed due to the weather.
 
Blackwidow said:
The weather is not a reason?

Do the Russian teams play their matches in Russia? Or the Swiss teams in Switzerland? FC Basel is meeting Moscow this week in Marbella. And Dortmund has been in Spain until the weekend - where a lot teams held their training camps. As the Bundesliga starts again most teams got back in the recent days to acclimatise themselves to the weather here again. Bayern, Gladbach and Mainz played the Telekom Cup last week in Düsseldorf - 45 minutes each match with the roof closed due to the weather.
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Russia is a far more extreme environment. France's clubs are back in action already. As you know, they share a border with Germany.

Seems excessive.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
Instead of a month off, they should take 2 weeks off and then get back to playing real games. If they're playing games anyway, they might as well be real.
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I think your view is way too simplistic. Bundesliga teams use the break to work on their tactics and cohesion in warmer countries it's not like they are sitting on their arses..
And I'm quite sure that there is a huge difference between a friendly and league games. During the regular season teams have to set aside a lot of time for travels match prep and recovery whereas during the winter pre season they can focus entirely on themselves and also keep a tight training schedule despite the friendlies, because most teams rotate very heavily, so players stay fresh despite them.

I'm sure teams are theoretically very capable of starting again two weeks earlier, but why should they if they don't have to? When they can use the time to improve.
 
WhoDaGOAT said:
Russia is a far more extreme environment. France's clubs are back in action already. As you know, they share a border with Germany.

Seems excessive.
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Right - because you can compare the weather from Bordeaux or Marseille with that of Munich or Leipzig?

It is not just about the players. There is a lot people around here right now that stay at home and do not do unnecessary ways with the car outside due to the weather.

Why should other countries give up on their winter break just because the EPL is too greedy to implement it? In Germany the winter break is not even a topic to discuss about.
 
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WhoDaGOAT said:
What about Lyon, Paris and Nancy?
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Coldest temperatures in the whole of France are around 0 degree these days. Where i live it will get -15 tomorrow...
There is a huge huge difference in weather between France and Germany. France is more southern, and a lot more maritime. The German border to French is by far the warmest area in Germany, the east (Bavaria, former DDR) is often 10 degree colder during winter.
It's colder in Germany this winter then in most of the European part of Russia. At least where the Russian football clubs are situated.

Comparing French and German weather is absolute bollocks overall.
 
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It is cold in Bayernliga tonight
-8 degrees Celsius (will probably be -11 by the end of the day)

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Starts 20:30 or 19:30 GMT
 
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That was foul for Freiburg. Bayern almost scored here.
Bayern being a shitter version of Barcelona. Edit: Lewa equalizes.
 
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Bayern are gonna win it easily in the second half.
Freiburg's first goal was fecking classy :drool:
Kimmich on for Vidal. I guess he is gonna score another decisive goal ;)
This second half is :boring:
Half of the pitch is frozen, lol!
What a shit dive that was! Deserved yellow.
Great goal, tbf. But Freiburg's defence allowed Ribéry too much freedom.
 
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Guess that´s why they pay Lewandowski the big bucks.:o What a goal. :eek:
 
That goal was pure art. One of my favorite goals of the season. One fluid motion, the ridiculous chest control while falling backwards, right foot, left foot... fantastic.
 
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