that would be good, I prefer Dortmund tbh, Munich just seem to buy up all the best players from other teams who challenge them.
Bundesliga, DFB Cup, and other Bundesliga business 2014/2015
- Thread starter ManniKaltz
- Start date
that would be good, I prefer Dortmund tbh, Munich just seem to buy up all the best players from other teams who challenge them.
I edited my post a little bit to say that I'm not sure if Gundogan will come back in time for next season. Doesn't really change my opinion all that much, though.
Signing of Lasogga to Hamburg is now official 
8.5 Million € apparently.
On the other hand we lose Calhanoglu, but after the last few months I'm pretty happy that he isn't our player anymore.
8.5 Million € apparently.On the other hand we lose Calhanoglu, but after the last few months I'm pretty happy that he isn't our player anymore.
Leverkusens attacking players are going to be fun to watch next season!
I still think they need a new DM to play alongside Bender though considering Reinartz injury concerns.
Drmic
Son - Calhanoglu - Brandt
Son - Calhanoglu - Brandt
I still think they need a new DM to play alongside Bender though considering Reinartz injury concerns.
This lineup won't work. Who is going to be the creative player in that front 4?
I'd say all 3. Drmic himself is pretty creative as demonstrated in the World Cup. Needs willing runners to support him which all 3 would want to do. Brandt will be an excellent player next season and I rate Calhanoglu highly. That front 4 will work well imo, it's got pace, goals, skill and technique.
Son, Brandt and Calhanoglu won't set up the striker at all. They have a good shot but won't be able to feed the striker. I'm not even sure Drmic will play at (starting)striker when they have Kießling on very high wages as well.
Disagree. Brandt got 2 assists in his last 3 games, he's an intelligent player and can supply the forward easily enough. Despite you hating HC, he'll be a better player at Leverkusen, he's got an impressive amount of Key Passes and with better players around him he'll be a more dangerous player. Agreed on Son though, I wouldn't classify him as creative but he carries a goal threat.
As for the Drmic v Kießling debate... they'll rotate imo. But his form last season was far below standard. He's also 30 and his form will naturally start to dip, while Drmic will only improve. I'd be starting Drmic out of the two myself, he's got much more potential.
HC got 4 assists in 34 games last season (all of them from set pieces I think). He is NOT a creative player. He has an amazing shot and a very good work rate, but he isn't very good at passing.
Brandt is still very young, he won't be able to control the offensive midfield on his own. He's a bright prospect but not a playmaker. He's a winger who will get the occasional assist but nothing more.
What Leverkusen really needs is a player in that number 10 role, and so far they don't have anyone like that.
Well I think it'd work fine and we'll see how they lineup next season. You may disagree, that's your opinion. I think HC will manage fine in that role and Leverkusen will be much stronger than last season. They need a DM to replace Cann though, unless they think Öztunali can step up. Although if they can get Reinartz back to fitness they should look solid in midfield again. We could see a very young Leverkusen team next season.
competitive leverkusen XI of the lowest age:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - leno (22) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
wendell (20) - jedvaj (18) - toprak (24) - donati (24)
- - bender (25) - - öztunali (18) - - calhanoglu (20) - -
- - - - brandt (18) - - - drmic (21) - - - son (21) - - - -
= average of 21,0 yrs
among my picks, newly acquired brazilian RB wendell and 18-year old CB tin jedvaj, who's on loan from as roma, are in fact both unproven, as is levan öztunali - but YOUTH!!!
plus leverkusen own the rights of 23-year old DM sensation christoph kramer, who's just had his breakthrough season - while on a 2-year loan at mönchengladbach - that already gained him his first international caps and even some minutes in brazil. he's due to return to leverkusen after the upcoming season and may indeed be of use to them..
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
competitive schalke XI of the lowest age:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - giefer (24) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ayhan (19) - papadopoulos (22) - matip (22) - kolasinac (21)
- - - - kirchhoff (23) - - - goretzka (19) - - - höger (24) - - - -
- - - - meyer (18) - - - - avdijaj (17) - - - - draxler (20) - - - -
= average of 20,82 yrs
17-year-old semi-striker donis avdijaj is the next in a continuous line of highly praised prospects to make it into schalke's squad, though he's of course not proven in the bundesliga. at all. but YOUTH!!!
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
all in all, both teams are doing quite the amazing jobs, respectively, with regard to their recently rejuvenated squads - and the fact that both clubs have been patiently granting most of their youngsters A LOT of minutes on the pitch on a weekly basis, hence grooming them into actual first team regulars/options at a very very young age.
the main difference between these two similar-looking approaches is the obvious fact that schalke's recent rejuvenation is based on a (seemingly neverending) crop of self-made in-house talent, whilst leverkusen have been assembling a very youngish squad via transfers of bundesliga-proven youngsters like son, drmic, calhanoglu. if only they'd been able to keep hold of emre can as well...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - leno (22) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
wendell (20) - jedvaj (18) - toprak (24) - donati (24)
- - bender (25) - - öztunali (18) - - calhanoglu (20) - -
- - - - brandt (18) - - - drmic (21) - - - son (21) - - - -
= average of 21,0 yrs
among my picks, newly acquired brazilian RB wendell and 18-year old CB tin jedvaj, who's on loan from as roma, are in fact both unproven, as is levan öztunali - but YOUTH!!!
plus leverkusen own the rights of 23-year old DM sensation christoph kramer, who's just had his breakthrough season - while on a 2-year loan at mönchengladbach - that already gained him his first international caps and even some minutes in brazil. he's due to return to leverkusen after the upcoming season and may indeed be of use to them..
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
competitive schalke XI of the lowest age:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - giefer (24) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ayhan (19) - papadopoulos (22) - matip (22) - kolasinac (21)
- - - - kirchhoff (23) - - - goretzka (19) - - - höger (24) - - - -
- - - - meyer (18) - - - - avdijaj (17) - - - - draxler (20) - - - -
= average of 20,82 yrs
17-year-old semi-striker donis avdijaj is the next in a continuous line of highly praised prospects to make it into schalke's squad, though he's of course not proven in the bundesliga. at all. but YOUTH!!!
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
all in all, both teams are doing quite the amazing jobs, respectively, with regard to their recently rejuvenated squads - and the fact that both clubs have been patiently granting most of their youngsters A LOT of minutes on the pitch on a weekly basis, hence grooming them into actual first team regulars/options at a very very young age.
the main difference between these two similar-looking approaches is the obvious fact that schalke's recent rejuvenation is based on a (seemingly neverending) crop of self-made in-house talent, whilst leverkusen have been assembling a very youngish squad via transfers of bundesliga-proven youngsters like son, drmic, calhanoglu. if only they'd been able to keep hold of emre can as well...
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that's not really a given though, one could argue. do they actually need a classic #10 when they could also move on to mainly rely on their fast-paced wingers, skilfull CMs and a versatile striker to play with? i mean the likes of drmic, brandt, son, calhanoglu, even castro, are rather skilled in ball-handling and passing, and they ought to be able to create a lot of danger in an intensified (counter-)pressing formation/strategy - something i do see as a given under their new coach roger schmidt. salzburg style.
btw, the exact same debate - on whether a creative type is missing - is going on in the dortmund fanboards as well. they used to play lewandowski plus reus and/or mkhitaryan as interchanging false 10s - now lewa is gone while reus is severely injured, and the outcries about a foreseeable lack of creativity to crack up deep-lying opposition have been occurring a lot lately - while i do see both managers klopp and schmidt aim for their rebrushed versions of the pressing machine type of game that does not necessarily rely on a classic #10. at least that's what i'd associate with both of them.
That's insanely young squad. Leverkusen's front three actually looks quite good inspite of the age.
schalke have acquired the services of cameroonian international and free-agent erix-maxim choupo-moting, whose contract at mainz ran out. should come good imho. he seems to be the designated successor to schalke's back-up CF adam szalai, whose move to hoffenheim is close.
on another note, mönchengladbach have loaned out chelsea's thorgan hazard for the upcoming season.
on another note, mönchengladbach have loaned out chelsea's thorgan hazard for the upcoming season.
You've got Wendell and Donati the wrong way round. Wendell is a left back, Donati a right back. But I agree with your sentiment, both squads have impressive young players. Really does seem to be the way forward in Germany at the moment. Mainz benefited from giving youth a chance last season with the emergence of Geis, Bell and Karius. I'm surprised no clubs have tried to go for Geis, thought there would be a lot of interest around him this summer.
thanks, and whoopsy. look how late it was.
It's no problem! I'm excited to see Wendell, I've read some articles about him and he's meant to be very good.
bayern have confirmed the acquisition of spanish U21 international juan bernat from valencia, who is a LB/LW hybrid and, apparently, super-fast and offensive-minded. the reported transfer fee is at around €10m. seems like an upgrade to alaba's backup diego contento - who is about to leave the club, i hear. all in all, it seems like an interesting deal to me. and everybody involved managed to keep their filthy mouths shut. woohoo.
Yeah, gives Bayern more options.
Read online that they are moving towards a 3-4-3 and Alaba is going to be one of the three defenders, and this is how it'll sort of look next year.
Surely not though.
Read online that they are moving towards a 3-4-3 and Alaba is going to be one of the three defenders, and this is how it'll sort of look next year.
Neuer
Boateng Martinez Alaba
Lahm Schweinsteiger Thiago Bernat
Robben Lewandowski Ribery
Boateng Martinez Alaba
Lahm Schweinsteiger Thiago Bernat
Robben Lewandowski Ribery
Surely not though.
BILD are stating that the move of freiburg's CB supertalent matthias ginter to dortmund is due to be setteled this week, finally.
IF TRUE, i'd say yay, great transfer and all, but there's one question that springs to mind: how do you convince a highly-sought-after, mega-talented young lad to come to dortmund, when BY NOW they already have three magnificent CBs in hummels, sokratis and subotic - even if the latter is still nowhere near match fitness at the moment, due to his ongoing recovery from a hefty cruciate ligament rupture..
IF TRUE, i'd say yay, great transfer and all, but there's one question that springs to mind: how do you convince a highly-sought-after, mega-talented young lad to come to dortmund, when BY NOW they already have three magnificent CBs in hummels, sokratis and subotic - even if the latter is still nowhere near match fitness at the moment, due to his ongoing recovery from a hefty cruciate ligament rupture..
I had a similar opinion before but after watching more games of Ginter closer and thinking it through I would not worry too much about that.
Subotic is like you said coming back from a heavy injury and will need time to get back into top shape. Sokratis and Hummels both played the WC as starters and especially the latter was at his absolute physical limit at the end. I expect Ginter to get game time (albeit in normal situations less than in Freiburg) in the beginning of the season and if Hummels needs rest or is injured(rather as 4th CB I see him as back up for especially that role).
Then there is of course also his versatility which allows him to play in DM, where we have two injury prone players as first options, although until now he was not as strong there as in central defense. The first year will also be more about getting him used to Klopp´s demanding system, which normally takes quite some time.
While Ginter adds depth to our defensive system right now, this transfer is more about the future than the here and now.
The interesting part about this transfer is that Klopp can mould him into two ways depending on what we will need. He could be build up to be Hummels´ successor, if the latter signals his desire to leave in 2015 or 2016. In that case Ginter is the best possible prospect in Germany because he is the closest in the style with enough potential. The second option would be to make him the replacement for the retiring captain Sebastian Kehl in the defensive midfield. I believe that he has the necessary skill set and potential to excell in each of these roles respectively or even both at the same time.
This transfer could be seen as somewhat of a luxury transfer and is definitively ambitious, but we are an ambitous club and that means we intend to play in three competitions for the majority of the season. Thats plenty of opportunities for Ginter to make an impression.
sphaero is of course right in his reflections, what a surprise really
btw the transfer has now been "confirmed" be sky sports germany as well. i guess it'll be confirmed publicly by BVB tomorrow or so..
ps. YAY!
pps. i' not at all convinced that ginter is what dortmund need in the DM department, but he's been referred to as a probable DM player many a time, while i had read somewhere that he sees himself as a CB. as a DM player, he'd be more of a sven bender clone, right? can't even see bender as a regular starter though, as most teams park the bus against dortmund, at least in the league that is. but hey, klopp is always right, so..
btw the transfer has now been "confirmed" be sky sports germany as well. i guess it'll be confirmed publicly by BVB tomorrow or so..
ps. YAY!
pps. i' not at all convinced that ginter is what dortmund need in the DM department, but he's been referred to as a probable DM player many a time, while i had read somewhere that he sees himself as a CB. as a DM player, he'd be more of a sven bender clone, right? can't even see bender as a regular starter though, as most teams park the bus against dortmund, at least in the league that is. but hey, klopp is always right, so..
Regarding Leverkusen: I don't see the problem with Bayer not having a classic creative number 10.
They'll IMO be fine if they stick to a counterattacking 4-3-3.
Could see them play like this: Kind of a loopsided 4-3-3 with Castro (narrow and deep) on the wing:
They'll IMO be fine if they stick to a counterattacking 4-3-3.
Could see them play like this: Kind of a loopsided 4-3-3 with Castro (narrow and deep) on the wing:
RB-------CB----CB------LB
--Bender - Kramer
Castro--Calhanoglu-------
-------Drmic/Kießling -Son
This would also leave them with the option to bring on Brandt and Bellarabi on the wing later in games if they have to.--Bender - Kramer
Castro--Calhanoglu-------
-------Drmic/Kießling -Son
Bender, Kramer, Castro and Calhanoglu are all hard working and can carry the ball forward in a counter attack. As a second option Calhanoglu and Castro could hit diagonal long balls behind the defense to Son or a simple long ball for Drmic or Kießling to hold up until their runners from midfield arrive up top.Kramer will stay at Gladbach for another year.
Is that a sure thing? Too bad for Leverkusen.
They can still play Rolfes or Reinartz next to Bender though.
According to Rummenigge: Guardiola will never be sacked as Bayern Munich coach...NEVER!!!!!
I hope now they're going out in the group stage in December in a group with CSKA Moscow, Sporting and Slovan Bratislava
I hope now they're going out in the group stage in December in a group with CSKA Moscow, Sporting and Slovan Bratislava
Rode looked quite good for Bayern in the Telecom Cup.
It's a shame that he'll be sitting on the bench mostly. Would have been a better fit at clubs like Dortmund, Leverkusen and especially Wolfsburg where he could have formed a strong midfield next to Gustavo.
It's a shame that he'll be sitting on the bench mostly. Would have been a better fit at clubs like Dortmund, Leverkusen and especially Wolfsburg where he could have formed a strong midfield next to Gustavo.
Everybody is scared that the World Champions (oh, that sounds so good) will have their problems during the season - but Lewandowski and Ribery seem to be so ambitious (especially the later after watching the others), Badstuber seems to be further than we all thought and Höjbjerg etc. are so much promise...
Our u19 just smashed Austria in the Euro semifinal 4-0 despite playing without some of our best players (Mayer, Werner, Goretzka). Quite a few of the players could play a bigger role in the league this season. Stendera & Selke should definitely get a lot of playing time, Öztunali and Brandt of course as well. I also thought both fullbacks, Holthaus and Akpoguma, looked talented, but usually that doesn't mean too much at youth tournaments. Still would love to see Akpoguma get playing time at Hoffenheim and Beck has hardly been convincing at rightback in the past 2-3 years. The final is on Thursday (against Portugal or Serbia), would be brilliant if one of our youth teams won a title this summer as well.
Bayern's U21 just won against Manchester City's U21 with 2:1
That 0:6 against City must really have been a crazy off moment. The 0:0 in the 2. game shows that.
Talking Youth league here.
Imagine Meyer,Werner and Leon in that team. Would be unfair.
I didnt hear so much about the guys who play in Hungary right now. Late starters or "only" a good team with 2,3 great guys?
Talking Youth league here.
Imagine Meyer,Werner and Leon in that team. Would be unfair.
I didnt hear so much about the guys who play in Hungary right now. Late starters or "only" a good team with 2,3 great guys?
We do not talk about the Youth League. That was just a test match today in the Grünwalder with Bayern's second. When can the player's of Manchester United's U21 play against Ribery and Schweinsteiger
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The generation is great overall, but several players who are already part of Bundesliga teams are missing like the 3 mentioned above, but also Sarr and Süle for example in defense. Still a quality team, in my opinion. Kimmich is another very good midfield talent.
The line-up today:
Brandt Selke Mukthar
Öztunali Stendera
Kimmich
Holthaus Kempf Stark Akpoguma
Schnitzler
Quite a few of them were already part of the u17 that lost the Euro final 2 years ago against Holland.
Ivan Perisic out injured for several months with a broken shoulder. That might force Wolfsburg into the market.
What the feck is Frankfurt doing by the way? Nelson Valdez and maybe Hugo Almeida as well? I hate it when coaches at their new clubs bring in average former players of theirs, it's most of the time just lazy and points towards a lack of imagination, which to be honest isn't really surprising with Schaaf now in charge. He never managed to adapt to changes in football and in my opinion Frankfurt made a mistake to appoint him as the new manager.
Schnitzler really should be a name to for an german keeper in an english forum, no?
for an german keeper in an english forum, no? Yeah. Was a big fan of Schaaf in his best days. Bremen was a joy to watch. But he lost it imo. Average players, average strategies and so on.
Valdez and Almeida? Cant he find some great guys in europe like Klopp? They are out there.
Has any of you been watching Leverkusen pre season? Vladlen Yurchenko seems to be impressing, scored a few goals and getting a fair amount of game time. Might force his way into the first team this Season (probably on the bench as an impact sub?).
Nope, not really. Are they back from South Korea ? I've just seen a few pictures of the team in Seoul. I'm still a bit curious, how they solve the problem of losing Emre Can. Kramer is staying in Gladbach, don't they need a new central midfielder now? The line-ups in pre-season games I've seen had Reinartz and Castro in midfield, Lars Bender will certainly start instead of one of them, but after Bayer's financial advance, I thought they would invest more money.