Bundesliga 2017/18

uamini

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The 55th Bundesliga season kicks off August 18, 2017 and will conclude on May 12, 2018.

The following teams will participate:
The entire schedule is available here: http://schedule.bundesliga.com/

The first round of the DFB-Pokal will be played August 11th to 14th, 2017 - a week before the league starts. The final will be played on May 19th, 2018.
 
Leipzig/Dortmund battle for #2. Bayern will win it again.
 
We're now at 5 Bundesliga titles in a row and counting for Bayern München. Is this going to be yet another boring season?
Well it depends on what your focus is. Bayern will definitely be the clear favorites once again and it would be a big surprise if someone was able to snatch the title away from them.
However the rest of the league could shape up to have one of the most thrilling seasons in years. There are lots of reasons for this:
  • Two small teams got relegated this time (Darmstadt and Ingolstadt). They are replaced by two much bigger names, Stuttgart and Hannover. Because of this there don't seem to be any clear-cut favorites to get relegated. It's often said that half the league could face relegation in the Bundesliga...this time it doesn't sound like a hyperbole.
  • Last season ended with a lot of surprises: Leipzig, Hoffenheim, Köln, Hertha and Freiburg will all have to adapt to playing international games during the week. On the other hand underperformers such as Schalke, Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach and Wolfsburg will all try to get back to where they think they belong.
  • Last but not least: MONEY! The entire league is now getting more revenues thanks to the new tv deal and it shows. Teams are much more willing to spend cash on the transfer market which makes the upcoming season even more unpredictable.
 
VorZakone said:
Leipzig/Dortmund battle for #2. Bayern will win it again.
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Not sure if Leipzig can repeat their feat. They were only the 5th best team in the second half of the season as opponents started to understand how to play against them. Playing Champions League games will also tire them out so it'll be interesting to see if they can enjoy similar success.
 
I can't see anything other than another Bayern win but Dortmund will be great to watch as usual and with Leipzig seemingly set to keep Keita and Werner they should be decent watch as well, it'll be interesting to see if they can sustain last seasons form.

I never know what to expect from Gladbach, Leverkusen and Shalke but it will be interesting to see if any of them can get back into the CL places.
 
The Bundesliga kicks off in exactly one month.
It's been a rather strange transfer window so far. Despite having a lot more money available, most teams haven't spent that much yet. The current total of 457 Mio. € spent is still 190 Mio. € below last year's sum so there's probably a lot more to come until the window closes. A lot of clubs seem to follow a "sell first, buy later" motto so now that Modeste is gone to China and Aubameyang is set to stay in Dortmund maybe teams will focus more on which players they want to add.
The total numbers look like this as of today:

# Team Spent / Earned / Total
1 FC Bayern München 100,50 Mio. € / 24,30 Mio. € / -76,20 Mio. €
2 FC Schalke 04 47,50 Mio. € / 0,75 Mio. € / -46,75 Mio. €
3 VfL Wolfsburg 45,00 Mio. € / 35,00 Mio. € / -10,00 Mio. €
4 Borussia Dortmund 44,00 Mio. € / 45,50 Mio. € / 1,50 Mio. €
5 RasenBallsport Leipzig 37,50 Mio. € / 8,20 Mio. € / -29,30 Mio. €
6 Borussia Mönchengladbach 35,25 Mio. € / 26,50 Mio. € / -8,75 Mio. €
7 1.FC Köln 27,00 Mio. € / 5,95 Mio. € / -21,05 Mio. €
8 Hamburger SV 16,00 Mio. € / 5,50 Mio. € / -10,50 Mio. €
9 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 14,50 Mio. € / 41,50 Mio. € / 27,00 Mio. €
10 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 13,75 Mio. € / 20,30 Mio. € / 6,55 Mio. €
11 Hertha BSC 13,50 Mio. € / 17,00 Mio. € / 3,50 Mio. €
12 VfB Stuttgart 12,80 Mio. € / 3,70 Mio. € / -9,10 Mio. €
13 1.FSV Mainz 05 12,75 Mio. € / 20,30 Mio. € / 7,55 Mio. €
14 Eintracht Frankfurt 10,55 Mio. € / 4,50 Mio. € / -6,05 Mio. €
15 SV Werder Bremen 8,70 Mio. € / 8,70 Mio. € / +-0
16 SC Freiburg 7,30 Mio. € / 26,90 Mio. € / 19,60 Mio. €
17 FC Augsburg 6,25 Mio. € / 3,00 Mio. € / -3,25 Mio. €
18 Hannover 96 5,00 Mio. € / 0,25 Mio. € / -4,75 Mio. €

There are a few interesting findings there: the big/rich teams who underperformed this year have all been quick to spend relatively high sums of money despite not playing in european competitions. On the other hand Hoffenheim, Hertha, Freiburg and Köln (if you add Modeste's guaranteed fee) have all earned more than they have spent even though they're going to play in Europe in 2017/18. It's a bit puzzling and I'm not sure what those teams are waiting for. They've all lost key players though so it could end up being a difficult season for those clubs.
And of course Bayern has such a huge financial advantage over everyone else that it's getting a bit ridiculous. Nobody comes even remotely close to their spendings and that doesn't even factor in James' upcoming transfer fee (if they buy him, that is).
 
The first round pairings are pretty meh. Wouldn't put it past Leverkusen to get eliminated by Karlsruhe (freshly relegated to 3rd div) though, their pre season didn't go so well and they are always good for an embarrassment.
 
Wino1 said:
Interested to see how quite a few teams get on this season (Hoffenheim, Leipzig, Mochengladbach, Wolfsburg).

Would love to see Munich struggle this season too.
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Big season for Hoffenheim, considering they play in the Champions League playoffs.
 
Wino1 said:
Interested to see how quite a few teams get on this season (Hoffenheim, Leipzig, Mochengladbach, Wolfsburg).

Would love to see Munich struggle this season too.
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Hoffenheim look pretty fecked. Lost two key players in Süle and Rudy - one of them for free, while several top clubs are supposedly looking at Toljan (whose contract appears to be running out).
In turn they brought in mainly Nordtveit who was an allrounder at Gladbach (can't speak for his time at West Ham), Grillitsch who looked like a decent talent for a club like Bremen and Schulz who couldn't make it at Gladbach. The Gnabry loan is their only ray of sunshine, I could see him do really well for them, but that's far from certain either.
Their CL draw piled on the misery, especially playing the second game at Anfield with a very inexperienced team. Getting relegated to the EL might also open the flood gates for players like Toljan, Demirbay and to a lesser extend Amiri (extended his contract recently).
I think making top 6 will be as big an achievement for Nagelsmann as last season's finish, especially since most of the usual suspects for EL/CL football don't have the trouble of midweek fixtures this season.

Leipzig managed to keep their team together and brought in some promising youngsters, they should be challenging for top 4.
 
Been watching the Leverkusen game since the Arsenal game finished and Brandt has been so influential. 2 assists in extra time and he had only come on in the 72nd minute from the bench.

Good play between him and Bailly for the third goal.
 
Damien said:
Been watching the Leverkusen game since the Arsenal game finished and Brandt has been so influential. 2 assists in extra time and he had only come on in the 72nd minute from the bench.

Good play between him and Bailly for the third goal.
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You mean Leon Bailey?
 
We kind of suck against the complete nobodies from Chemnitz. Only goal by Lewa after a free kick.
 
Coman! 2:0 after a well-played counter, mainly by Ribery.

First good thing Coman has done today. Him and Tolisso both are lacking precision.
 
Chemnitz with two big chances in the last two minutes. I can't believe what I'm seeing.

Lewa makes it 3.
 
Ribery scored from another free kick. Before that, he unlaced Bibiana Steinhaus' shoe (the lady referee) :lol:
 
Easy wins for Bayern and Borussia. Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Cologne, Mainz and Heidenheim are through as well.
 
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This cup round is turning out to be as boring as expected. Leverkusen winning on extra time was perhaps the biggest upset of the round thus far.
 
Cristiano Lell said:
That should be red card tbh
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I'm not sure a red card would be the appropriate punishment but I too think it's wrong to just laugh about it. It was both disrespectful towards Steinhaus and the occasion/Chemnitz.
 
do.ob said:
I'm not sure a red card would be the appropriate punishment but I too think it's wrong to just laugh about it. It was both disrespectful towards Steinhaus and the occasion/Chemnitz.
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It's fine to laugh about it as it's hilarious but then it's also obvious Ribéry would not have done this to a male referee - so it shows a lack of respect towards the notion of a woman referee. It was kind of charming, maybe, but this should be a red card no questions asked
 
Cristiano Lell said:
It's fine to laugh about it as it's hilarious but then it's also obvious Ribéry would not have done this to a male referee - so it shows a lack of respect towards the notion of a woman referee. It was kind of charming, maybe, but this should be a red card no questions asked
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:lol: red card no questions asked. Are you serious?
 
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