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

Did somebody post that before? Schalke's new tunnel the players have to pass to go to the match...

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FC Bayern München ‏@FCBayern 1 Min.
Aufstellung FCB / Line up: Neuer - Alonso, Lewandowski, Shaqiri, Boateng, Götze, Rode, Lahm (K), Müller, Alaba, Badstuber | ^M.Hörwick

Alonso starting!

#s04 line-up: Fährmann, Ayhan, Santana, Matip, Höwedes, Höger, Kirchhoff, Sam, Meyer, Draxler, Choupo-Moting #s04fcb
 
Actually I am more surprised that Shaqiri starts. How many chances does he get...
 
ctp said:
I don't think he is ready for a game against a big opponent. Dortmund went past him quite easily in the Supercup match.
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He has great technique and match intelligence - but the body of a skinny 15-year-old. Imagine him against Yaya Toure in the CL...

Then you understand why Bayern was keen on getting Alonso...

The tactical line-up will probably be like this:

Neuer
Lahm - Boateng - Badstuber - Alaba
Rode - Alonso
Shaqiri - Müller - Götze
Lewandowski

(could be Müller on the right, Götze in the middle and Shaq left, too - but Shaqiri recently played on the right side when he played - and in the last matches Götze played more on the left and Müller with Lewandowski

Interesting is that Badstuber already beats Dante...
 
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ctp said:
I don't think he is ready for a game against a big opponent. Dortmund went past him quite easily in the Supercup match.
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He looked great in the opening game. Alonso coming straight into the lineup must be a proper kick in the teeth for the lad. It's not like Schalke are a team of 30 year olds after all, he's be facing a fairly young team.
 
RedSky said:
He looked great in the opening game. Alonso coming straight into the lineup must be a proper kick in the teeth for the lad. It's not like Schalke are a team of 30 year olds after all, he's be facing a fairly young team.
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He's 17 years old… He shouldn't expect to play one single Bundesliga game. Every minute he plays in the League is a bonus for him.
 
gofelx said:
He's 17 years old… He shouldn't expect to play one single Bundesliga game. Every minute he plays in the League is a bonus for him.
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Every minute of training with the professionals already is. The usual step would be U23 (they play against adult teams) then the professionals. The reason why Müller and Badstuber were so successful from the start was probably that they carried the U23 in the 3rd league the season before. And even if Alaba was pretty early with his debut van Gaal had to save him after a really bad match in Frankfurt and he first went on loan before he came back into the team.
 
So, Schalke without a clear striker and with Matip+Santana in the central defense?

Thats gonna turn out ugly....
 
Aaand it begins....
Surprisingly impressive season by Rode so far.
 
Lewandowski off the mark for Bayern. Good play by Rode, too.
 
Whole DM/CM of Schalke (rightfully) booked after 15 minutes. No organisation in their extremely deep lying back line and no pressure on the ball/space. You never have a chance like that vs. Bayern. Thats not good enough even with all their injuries. Bayern will just rip them apart unless they get careless. Only a matter of time.
 
Just saw a replay of Neuer do his legendary trademark charging tackles outside the box. He clears the ball and then sprints back like Bolt, and then changes his mind and turns back to tackle the player who's going for a long range shot. Absolute madman. It's gonna bite him in the arse one day that. :lol:
 
Cheech Wizard said:
Just saw a replay of Neuer do his legendary trademark charging tackles outside the box. He clears the ball and then sprints back like Bolt, and then changes his mind and turns back to tackle the player who's going for a long range shot. Absolute madman. It's gonna bite him in the arse one day that. :lol:
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Yeah, definitely. I still enjoy the countless times when it doesn't though :drool:
 
Deserved, but shocking defense. Completely lost the plot after 35 minutes.
 
We should start playing football again.
 
What I really miss about this team in comparison to the one under Heynckes is the switch between possession and sitting deep. There are always times when your opponent will push for a goal, when you simply can't control the game because your opponent commits more players in attack, plays with more energy for whatever reason. Heynckes allowed us to sit deep and counter attack in these moments, accept the change of flow in the game and adjust. Since Guardiola took over we always try to get our possession game back, and if it's not working we look like headless chicken. It's just stupid in my opinion and costs so much energy without being effective.
 
Could also be FC Basel . All three are known as FCB
 
Well deserved draw for Schalke here, got to admit that, even though I deeply dislike them. Bayern under Guardiola really seems like a one trick pony to me. Lots of different systems but only one way to play. Bayern kind of lost the plot after 25 minutes, if Schalke had their whole team ready they could have even won. Then again, if Bayern had been competing with their entire squad ... Really a big shame that the three biggest clubs (Dortmund/Schalke/Bayern) have had so many problems with injuries recently, Leverkusen on the other hand has had loads of luck in that area. Well, let them get ahead, they'll bottle it eventually anyways. Bet that Schalke regrets loaning Papadopoulos to Leverkusen now.

Otherwise a great matchday, lots of goals and good results for the most part. Only Bremen really should have gotten a win against Hoffenheim, who were really poor in the second half today.
 
Balu said:
What I really miss about this team in comparison to the one under Heynckes is the switch between possession and sitting deep. There are always times when your opponent will push for a goal, when you simply can't control the game because your opponent commits more players in attack, plays with more energy for whatever reason. Heynckes allowed us to sit deep and counter attack in these moments, accept the change of flow in the game and adjust. Since Guardiola took over we always try to get our possession game back, and if it's not working we look like headless chicken. It's just stupid in my opinion and costs so much energy without being effective.
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That's what I really loved about Hyenckes team. They had down the ideal combination of possession football crossed with lighting fast Dortmund style transitions and passing. In general his style looked like the most flexible and suited to beat any kind of opponent set before you. The team was capable of a patient build up when the opposition sat deep and with loads of movement from deeper positions and fast ball movement you opened those opponents up with patience. Teams who allowed you space got punished by lighting fast transition movements and got hit on the counter, losing the ball against this team in your own half was as good as a death sentence for any opponent.

If there is any manager out there that seems to favor a fairly similar approach to the one of Heynckes it has to be Ancelotti. While he mostly favors a counter attacking style against the big teams his team is also capable of keeping possession very well when up against a weaker opponent. I'm still surprised though that there aren't more managers trying to implement this kind of flexibility with their teams.
 
NoLogo said:
That's what I really loved about Hyenckes team. They had down the ideal combination of possession football crossed with lighting fast Dortmund style transitions and passing. In general his style looked like the most flexible and suited to beat any kind of opponent set before you. The team was capable of a patient build up when the opposition sat deep and with loads of movement from deeper positions and fast ball movement you opened those opponents up with patience. Teams who allowed you space got punished by lighting fast transition movements and got hit on the counter, losing the ball against this team in your own half was as good as a death sentence for any opponent.

If there is any manager out there that seems to favor a fairly similar approach to the one of Heynckes it has to be Ancelotti. While he mostly favors a counter attacking style against the big teams his team is also capable of keeping possession very well when up against a weaker opponent. I'm still surprised though that there aren't more managers trying to implement this kind of flexibility with their teams.
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It might well be that Heynckes was the superior tactician. Unlike Pep, he had the calmness that comes with old age, he sat back, enjoyed the ride while it lasted, had nothing to prove and didn't fall for vanity. Pep, while maybe guilty of many of the things mentioned before, has a vision. The team is a construction site in the moment anyway.
 
NoLogo said:
That's what I really loved about Hyenckes team. They had down the ideal combination of possession football crossed with lighting fast Dortmund style transitions and passing. In general his style looked like the most flexible and suited to beat any kind of opponent set before you. The team was capable of a patient build up when the opposition sat deep and with loads of movement from deeper positions and fast ball movement you opened those opponents up with patience. Teams who allowed you space got punished by lighting fast transition movements and got hit on the counter, losing the ball against this team in your own half was as good as a death sentence for any opponent.

If there is any manager out there that seems to favor a fairly similar approach to the one of Heynckes it has to be Ancelotti. While he mostly favors a counter attacking style against the big teams his team is also capable of keeping possession very well when up against a weaker opponent. I'm still surprised though that there aren't more managers trying to implement this kind of flexibility with their teams.
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But they would not have been able to do that with the team of today. Some just do not understand that Bayern has a lot injuries, too - and with a couple of new players did not have a good preperation for the season. They have not really found the right balance and we could not live of the synergy of Robben and Müller we lived of the last weekend.

Alonso did really fine in his debut and he is the one we need there right now. But he just had 20 minutes to get to know the team today as he arrived yesterday evening and they did a short and soft training session in the morning.

The first 25 minutes were good - then Bayern lost the plot.

What I do not understand - why are Schalke's injury problems mentioned but not Bayern's? Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Rafinha, Martinez, Thiago were not playing - others are only back since 3 weeks. Some new guys are playing, the bench is full of youngsters. And not youngsters like Meyer who already are part of the team since a season. How good do you think the Heyckes tactics of the last CL weeks (he did not play like this prior to that) would work without this two wingers and without the engine in Schweinsteiger and Martinez?

The transitions - the team can still play them. The second goal last weekend was one and atleast on in the cup match.
 
Blackwidow said:
What I do not understand - why are Schalke's injury problems mentioned but not Bayern's? Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger, Rafinha, Martinez, Thiago were not playing - others are only back since 3 weeks. Some new guys are playing, the bench is full of youngsters. And not youngsters like Meyer who already are part of the team since a season. How good do you think the Heyckes tactics of the last CL weeks (he did not play like this prior to that) would work without this two wingers and without the engine in Schweinsteiger and Martinez?

The transitions - the team can still play them. The second goal last weekend was one and atleast on in the cup match.
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Burden of the favourite. Schalke missing Huntelaar, Farfan, Boateng and Goretzka does cost them more in terms of first XI quality than Bayern having to play without all the mentioned, which simply shows the difference in squad strength. Looking at the team sheets every player who started for them today bar probably Shaquiri and Badstuber (who is not at 100% yet) would walk right into Schalke´s best possible XI. The injuries should not be used as an excuse for the last 60 minutes Bayern played in this match.

On top of that, Bayern can react better on the transfer market like they did with the Alonso signing, a deal which Schalke could never have pulled off.

The hard pre season does play a bigger role right now, eventhough Bayern chose to complicate it further with their US tour. I do agree, that football like under Heynckes in 2012/2013 should not be expected of Bayern right now, though, because that extremely versatile system was very demanding and required a lot of understanding among the players, which the current Bayern side can´t possess at the moment.
 
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