Bundesliga, DFB Cup, and other Bundesliga business 2014/2015

Sphaero said:
They are in the group stages no matter what happens in the cup final. The 5th place is a direct seed and not influenced by the cup competition.

They are only two possible scenarios:

If we win the final, we are directly seeded and Schalke goes into qualification
If we lose the final, it is the other way around.
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Are you sure about that? As far as I know Germany has one direct spot, one playoff and one 3rd qualifying round. At the moment Augsburg is directly qualified, Schalke has to play the playoff round and Dortmund the 3rd qualifying round and the playoff round. If Dortmund wins the cup, they get the direct spot and Augsburg and Schalke move down to the playoff and 3rd qualifying round entries.

At least that's how it worked in the past years. The only change is that until last season, the cup loser got the 3rd round qualifying spot if he wasn't already qualified for Europe. Now that one goes to the 7th placed team.

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seems like they actually changed something. Augsburg is definitely already qualified and Schalke is definitely in the 3rd qualifying round and has to win two two-legged ties to qualify for the group stages. Dortmund is as well in the 3rd qualifying round unless they win the cup, then both Augsburg and Dortmund go directly into the groups. Odd rule if true (I only checked wiki), it's all a bit of a mess and difficult to see through completely.
 
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Sphaero said:
Him or Horn would be my two favourite choices, but I have not read much regarding Karius in a while.
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Karius and Geis were very good against Bayern today. Wouldn't really surprise me if the rumours of both of them going to Dortmund are true, both areas of the pitch that Dortmund need to strengthen and both players that Tuchel knows very well. I guess the question is whether Mainz would sell them both in the same window.

Also Firmino's assist earlier was sublime.
 
Sphaero said:
Yeah, at least that is what all the media writes right now.
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Yeah, you're right. I just read up on it. Quite a lot of changes made to the Europa League. Then I'm rooting for you guys. I'm a sucker for a great story and Klopp leaving with a cup win would be a brilliant ending for his time at Dortmund. Don't really care about Wolfsburg.
 
Scorpy said:
Also Volland has signed a new contract with Hoffenheim until 2019. This puts to rest the rumours of him leaving for Dortmund.
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Or it could be a ploy to squeeze extra money out of Dortmund.
 
The goal that "guaranteed" Augsburg a EL spot. Hojbjerg, the 19 year old Danish international on loan from Bayern.
 
Piratesoup said:
Or it could be a ploy to squeeze extra money out of Dortmund.
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Perhaps in the future, but a transfer for this Summer is pretty surely off the table with the new extension. I expect Hoffenheim increased not only the salary but also the release clause (the old one was appearantly 15 Mil. €) with the new deal.

I would be very surprised if the contract would not include one, though. Firmino and Volland are their two players with the necessary skills/potential to look for CL football and unless Papa Hopp opens his purse very widely this won´t be likely for Hoffenheim in the foreseeable future.
 
Volland stagnated quite a bit. He never really made the next step forward since he joined Hoffenheim. He should have tried to join Gladbach. Now he is too expansive for them and top clubs wont be interested.
 
PedroMendez said:
Volland stagnated quite a bit. He never really made the next step forward since he joined Hoffenheim. He should have tried to join Gladbach. Now he is too expansive for them and top clubs wont be interested.
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What? He kept most of his productivity (and that is what Volland is mostly about) despite going up a league and playing in an immensively struggling team, being one of the main reasons why they stayed in the league. He kept on performing well for them scoring double digits comfortably for three years now. An average of around 150min per scorer is certainly impressive for an offensive midfielder/winger at the age of 22. He also clearly stepped up in terms of responsibility for both the nations U21 (he would probably be a regular A teamer if he would not play in the most stacked area) and the club.

I´m not saying that he is the next Müller or Reus, but he would clearly add something for any German team bar Bayern (and even there he would have been pretty useful this season while Robben and Ribery were out) and would start for pretty much all of them. As for interest of top clubs, we are after him for two years now, unless one poor season does not make us a top club (at least on the national level) anymore.
 
I can see your point but disagree. He played on a fairly stable level for three years now, but I don't see any significant development during his time in Hoffenheim. He isn´t much better now than he was during his first season in the 1.Bundesliga. I also don´t think that he would be an automatic starter for Dortmund. Not at all. Last but not least I doubt that he would have extended his contract if big clubs (bayern, dortmund, schalke, leverkusen, wolfsburg) would have really tried to sign him. It makes no sense at all, that he´d prefer Hoffenheim to Dortmund.
 
PedroMendez said:
I can see your point but disagree. He played on a fairly stable level for three years now, but I don't see any significant development during his time in Hoffenheim. He isn´t much better now than he was during his first season in the 1.Bundesliga. I also don´t think that he would be an automatic starter for Dortmund. Not at all. Last but not least I doubt that he would have extended his contract if big clubs (bayern, dortmund, schalke, leverkusen, wolfsburg) would have really tried to sign him. It makes no sense at all, that he´d prefer Hoffenheim to Dortmund.
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Depends on form I suppose. Based on performances of the last years the only one clearly ahead of him would be Reus. Sure, if Kagawa discovers his peak (2011/2012) again and Mkhitaryan brings all his abilities on the pitch in a consistent manner he could be just the Nr. 4 in the offensive midfield, which would still give him a fair amount of play time given the number of games and Tuchel´s propensity towards rotation.

Who knows what motivated Volland towards his contract extension, which IMO leaves him a back door of some sort. Maybe he thought he could develop better (he is still 22 afterall) under a familiar coach and in a team he knows. Maybe the interest of Dortmund cooled off because some things changed (there is a lot of chatter that Mkhitaryan was on the way out, but Tuchel really wants to work with him) and he is no longer a top priority compared to other areas (GK/DM/CM). Does not mean, that he wouldn´t be a useful addition.
 
Volland is a wide forward/winger. He doesn´t add much creativity or control. He adds end product. Dortmund isn´t missing players who are good on the counter or who can score. Dortmund is missing player who can create and control. Of course, he´d be a "useful addition", but there are literately dozens of player who could be a useful addition to dortmund (or to any other club). He wouldn´t be a good value for money signing for most big clubs. Thats at least my opinion.

I dont say that Volland is mediocre or done, but if he has to step up if he wants to play for a club, that plays Cl on a regular basis.
 
I'm not sure why but I was glad to see Stuttgart stay up. Caught the highlights of Bayern vs Mainz, the new Bayern strip looks good and the celebrations after the match were fun.
 
Devil may care said:
I'm not sure why but I was glad to see Stuttgart stay up. Caught the highlights of Bayern vs Mainz, the new Bayern strip looks good and the celebrations after the match were fun.
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Stuttgart,yes. They played partly a real good football.

But I would have liked Freiburg to stay up, too.

Now I hope tomorrow that Darmstadt stays second in the 2nd league. And I do not know if I prefer Kaiserslautern or the Karlsruher SC to go into the relegation matches against Hamburg.

And the kittens should go to the third league.
 
Blackwidow said:
And the kittens should go to the third league.
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Just saw 1860 has an away match at Karlsruhe, who are in the race for promotion - hehe :) That club is really bonkers beyond belief, just read recently they've been trying to reach their investor for half a year without success (a word alien to any member of that club). If he decides to pull the plug on his loans, they are down anyway.
 
I suppose I better dust off the Bundesliga transfer thread! Or make a new one! Either way... silly season starts soon in Germany! Should be big changes this year too.
 
So Schalke finally sacked Di Matteo, I'm suriprised (well I would be if it wasn't Schalke:lol:) that Heldt isn't out the door with him. I wonder who they go for next. Lewandowski? Elgert? Some random guy from Stuttgart?
 
Leg 1 of the relegation playoffs has just started. Rouwen Hennings scored for Karlsruhe in the 4th minute :drool:

Hamburg - Karlsruhe 0 - 1
 
Balu said:
Leg 1 of the relegation playoffs has just started. Rouwen Hennings scored for Karlsruhe in the 4th minute :drool:

Hamburg - Karlsruhe 0 - 1
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That could get real interesting... Karlsruhe has the away goal...
 
This half dead horse really needs to get shot this year. They can't weasel their way out this time, surely.
 
Thats actually the first time in a while that I see a Hamburg game fulltime and man, they really do suck...
 
Does any UK channel show from the Bundesliga? Was hoping to see Hamburg - Karlsruhe
 
I mean Hamburg is a nice city, it´s understandable that Lady Luck and God have a perminent residency there. If the real dinosaurs had the luck and resistance of Hamburg, we wouldn´t be here.
 
Hamburg should run for FIFA president. They are the only thing tougher to kill than Blatter.:lol:
 
hamburg will score a dodgy goal in the return leg in added time to play in the 15/16 bundesliga.
 
Well that was crap. Incredibly fortunate in the 52nd minute. I think we were the better after around 60 minutes. KSC was great, solid defense and the counter attacks were always dangerous.

Sphaero said:
Thats actually the first time in a while that I see a Hamburg game fulltime and man, they really do suck...
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At least it's still a walk in the park when we play you. ;)

strongwalker said:
this. And their management will keep on believing they are destined to play in Europe.
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Yeah exactly, and all Bayern fans are arrogant and know nothing about the sport... Find me a quote where "Europe" is mentioned or keep stuff like this to yourself please. Really pointless to bring this up when it's simply wrong.
 
That'd be a strange move for Wilmots. He has the chance to make history with Belgium in the next few international tournaments, to guide their golden generation to glory and to make a whole nation proud. Don't see what's the pull of Schalke, especially at the moment with the club in turmoil.
 
1-1 at home is not really a good result for Hamburg. I hope they are going down with a 0-0, would be just fair after last year ;)
 
Scorpy said:
That'd be a strange move for Wilmots. He has the chance to make history with Belgium in the next few international tournaments, to guide their golden generation to glory and to make a whole nation proud. Don't see what's the pull of Schalke, especially at the moment with the club in turmoil.
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Belgium's chance of winning the Euro/WC is signficantly overrated in my opinion. Overall that Belgium team isn't that special, it's great for a small country of course, but far from good enough to be a favourite for a title. It'll be very difficult to match the success of their 80's side (Euro final and WC semifinal while playing exciting football at times), let alone surpass that.

Wilmots probably still loves Schalke and the fans still love him. It's where he was the most successful in his playing career. He'd probably earn a lot more money and has an exciting youth generation at his hands. If he's smart he waits another year though. The Schalke job will be available next summer again anyway, so he can move after the Euro.
 
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The cup final starts in 45minutes, the line-ups:

Langerak - Durm, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Kehl, Gündogan - Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, Reus, Aubameyang

vs

Benaglio - Vieirinha, Klose, Naldo, Rodriguez- Luiz Gustavo, Arnold - Perisic, De Bruyne, Caligiuri - Dost
 
Feck the fa cup. Watching this now. Is there something in the air? It's quite unclear.
 
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