German Football 20/21

What a dumb penalty to give away from that Bremen keeper. Where was he doing there. :lol:
That's what I don't get; if he's called for it, he needs to deal with it properly. He never looked comfortable in that situation, so he shouldn't have made that shout.

 
With the number of chances that Dortmund have created, they honestly deserve to win this match. However, they do badly miss Haaland. Without him, they don't have anyone who can get himself into goalscoring positions consistently. As promising as he is, Moukoko has some way to go with his decision-making and positioning, but that's to be expected for a 16-year-old player.
 
With the number of chances that Dortmund have created, they honestly deserve to win this match. However, they do badly miss Haaland. Without him, they don't have anyone who can get himself into goalscoring positions consistently. As promising as he is, Moukoko has some way to go with his decision-making and positioning, but that's to be expected for a 16-year-old player.

Moukoko is simply not ready for the first team. He looks like a deer in headlights, constantly swiping at the ball and making poor connections, just doesn't look confident.
 
Look forward to seeing how Maxence Lacroix does against Bayern tomorrow. Top-class CB prospect.
 
Moukoko is simply not ready for the first team. He looks like a deer in headlights, constantly swiping at the ball and making poor connections, just doesn't look confident.
Yeah, playing for Dortmund at this time just after they sacked Favre will probably make things worse. With all of the hype on him, I'm wouldn't be surprised if some of that talk is contributing to some of his nervousness.

Still, despite not being ready for the first team, these minutes will be valuable for him. He'll be learning lots about first-team football, and that should help develop and refine his game further.
 
Guerreiro is now on 2 goals 5 assists in 614 minutes in the league.

You can only do so much in a day, but the wider positioning in possession and playing reus as LCM were two new ideas of Terzic that really worked out well.
 
For all the talk of Dortmund playing poorly and Favre deserving the sack, read an article on the Bundesliga table based on xG and Dortmund would be on top with a 9-1-1 record (before today), Bayern on the other hand would be 7th. Bayern have been far out performing their xG goals for while Dortmund have conceded more than their xGA.

Strange to consider, even while watching Dortmund did not look great.
 
For all the talk of Dortmund playing poorly and Favre deserving the sack, read an article on the Bundesliga table based on xG and Dortmund would be on top with a 9-1-1 record (before today), Bayern on the other hand would be 7th. Bayern have been far out performing their xG goals for while Dortmund have conceded more than their xGA.

Strange to consider, even while watching Dortmund did not look great.

Favre had over 60% wins, not that bad a record. Not sure about xG as a metric, even then, I think RB Leipzig and another club have a better xGF-xGA
 
Moukoko is simply not ready for the first team. He looks like a deer in headlights, constantly swiping at the ball and making poor connections, just doesn't look confident.

I agree that he looks nervous and it seems like he still lacks positional awareness somewhat. However, when Dortmund aren't in possession, I very much prefer Moukoko chasing after the ball compared to Brandt's half-assed attempts of pressuring opponents and covering space.
 
For all the talk of Dortmund playing poorly and Favre deserving the sack, read an article on the Bundesliga table based on xG and Dortmund would be on top with a 9-1-1 record (before today), Bayern on the other hand would be 7th. Bayern have been far out performing their xG goals for while Dortmund have conceded more than their xGA.

Strange to consider, even while watching Dortmund did not look great.
All that tells me is that Favre set Dortmund up to be a bit too cavalier and expected his defensive players to not screw up. This season, he's mainly had two more attack-minded midifelders ahead of a more defensive one instead of the two more defensively adept midfielders that he had in the past. The other problem is the fact that, outside of Hummels, Dortmund's defenders aren't reliable enough to hold off attacks on their own. Can and Akanji can't be relied to defend on their own, and even then, the back 3 doesn't get enough support from others.

With who they have in their squad, Terzic needs to maximise his attacking players' productivity. Without Haaland, he can't necessarily set up a more balanced XI and expect his team to be able to produce the goods.
 
All that tells me is that Favre set Dortmund up to be a bit too cavalier and expected his defensive players to not screw up. This season, he's mainly had two more attack-minded midifelders ahead of a more defensive one instead of the two more defensively adept midfielders that he had in the past. The other problem is the fact that, outside of Hummels, Dortmund's defenders aren't reliable enough to hold off attacks on their own. Can and Akanji can't be relied to defend on their own, and even then, the back 3 doesn't get enough support from others.

With who they have in their squad, Terzic needs to maximise his attacking players' productivity. Without Haaland, he can't necessarily set up a more balanced XI and expect his team to be able to produce the goods.

I think most fans would argue the opposite. When Favre used a 343 variant he deployed two of Witsel/Dahoud/Bellingham/Delaney/Can in front of them, as RWB he only trusted Meunier, whose profile is much more defensive than Morey's. The peak of that was the game against Cologne where he not only used two defensive midfielders, he also used two fullbacks who offer nothing going forward. Effectively playing with 6 defensive players and 4 attackers against a team parking the bus. Dortmund hold the record for the most clean sheets this season. Favre's problem wasn't that he couldn't get the defense under control, it was that there were lots of games where they were barely able to produce a single clean chance, especially when Guerreiro was missing. At the start Haaland made up for that with a beyond world class conversion rate, but once he got wasteful/injured and Dortmund's finishing turned ordinary they basically dropped points every time someone scored a goal against them (e.g. Lazio home, Frankfurt, Cologne).
 
I think most fans would argue the opposite. When Favre used a 343 variant he deployed two of Witsel/Dahoud/Bellingham/Delaney/Can in front of them, as RWB he only trusted Meunier, whose profile is much more defensive than Morey's. The peak of that was the game against Cologne where he not only used two defensive midfielders, he also used two wingbacks who offer nothing going forward. Effectively playing with 6 defensive players and 4 attackers against a team parking the bus. Dortmund hold the record for the most clean sheets this season. Favre's problem wasn't that he couldn't get the defense under control, it was that there were lots of games where they were barely able to produce a single clean chance, especially when Guerreiro was missing. At the start Haaland made up for that with a beyond world class conversion rate, but once he got wasteful/injured and Dortmund's finishing turned ordinary they basically dropped points every time someone scored a goal against them (e.g. Lazio home, Frankfurt, Cologne).
I guess I haven't taken into account how badly Dortmund have missed Hakimi, then. Their right side isn't as threatening without him, and it showed even in the match against Werder Bremen. They've been better with Bellingham in the midfield as he'd push forward and basically take up those half-spaces and make the sort of runs that Hakimi would though not necessarily on every occasion.

In the end, I guess I was wrong. Favre did compensate for his team's defensive weaknesses, but that left his team with a lack of attacking incision. On the few occasions that I watched Dortmund (before the Werder Bremen match, that is), they seemed to be overly reliant on their front 3-4 to create chances with the rest not necessarily coming up to support them (except when Bellingham plays).
 
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Read a German article that suggested
For all the talk of Dortmund playing poorly and Favre deserving the sack, read an article on the Bundesliga table based on xG and Dortmund would be on top with a 9-1-1 record (before today), Bayern on the other hand would be 7th. Bayern have been far out performing their xG goals for while Dortmund have conceded more than their xGA.

Strange to consider, even while watching Dortmund did not look great.
xG is a nice metric and can tell a lot, a magic tool to describe what's going to happen the pitch it isnt. It gives, at this moment, a correct description that Bayern at this moment are lucky to be where they are, the fact that they still are where they are is proof xG doesn't tell the full story.
 
xG is a nice metric and can tell a lot, a magic tool to describe what's going to happen the pitch it isnt. It gives, at this moment, a correct description that Bayern at this moment are lucky to be where they are, the fact that they still are where they are is proof xG doesn't tell the full story.
It's no secret that our team has been dragging along. With injuries and Flick rotating far more to give players rest, our game is one or two levels below its best from last season. That's quite clearly what the xG stats show. But obviously we still have better finishers than most teams, so we still score enough even if the chances are not that many and not that great.
 
Did Schalke beat the losing record?
 
Did Schalke beat the losing record?
It's games without win, record is at Tasmania Berlin with 31. Schalke is now at 28, I believe.

Our starting lineup is wild again. Gnabry, Sané AND Coman on the field? Müller and Lewandowski too, obviously. Tolisso as the only DM in front of Süle/Boateng... I can see us conceding several goals and early. Maybe we can outscore them, but maybe this overkill in attack doesn't work at all.
 
It's games without win, record is at Tasmania Berlin with 31. Schalke is now at 28, I believe.

Our starting lineup is wild again. Gnabry, Sané AND Coman on the field? Müller and Lewandowski too, obviously. Tolisso as the only DM in front of Süle/Boateng... I can see us conceding several goals and early. Maybe we can outscore them, but maybe this overkill in attack doesn't work at all.
I have seen a lot of posts here in the past few weeks commenting on Bayern's line-ups. is this criticism of Flick, or does everyone feel he's just having to deal with a difficult situation, and it'd be weird no matter who's in charge?
 
I have seen a lot of posts here in the past few weeks commenting on Bayern's line-ups. is this criticism of Flick, or does everyone feel he's just having to deal with a difficult situation, and it'd be weird no matter who's in charge?
Injuries and fatigue are forcing his hand, not too much he can do. It's still working somewhat for the league, but in the CL he'd need to put more emphasis on defense. Also some of our defenders have declined, due to a mixture of age, recent injury, and general bad form (Boateng, Süle, Alaba).

I can see us conceding several goals and early.
Yeah... 6th game on end we've fallen behind.
 
xG is a nice metric and can tell a lot, a magic tool to describe what's going to happen the pitch it isnt. It gives, at this moment, a correct description that Bayern at this moment are lucky to be where they are, the fact that they still are where they are is proof xG doesn't tell the full story.

Exactly

On another note, big fan of Maxence Lacroix against Bayern so far. Great future.
 
Insane how Neuer is carrying Bayern this season ( with Coman and Lewy).
Incredible how good he is. Without him Bayern would have lost so many more points , for sure.
 
Neuer is having an amazing 18 months! I keep saying that he's playing the best I've ever seen him play and he continues to play at that level.
 
I have seen a lot of posts here in the past few weeks commenting on Bayern's line-ups. is this criticism of Flick, or does everyone feel he's just having to deal with a difficult situation, and it'd be weird no matter who's in charge?
It seems the approach is to pick the 10 fittest players plus Neuer and make a starting formation out of it. Today that lead to:

Lewandowski
Coman Gnabry Müller Sané
Tollisso
Hernandez Alaba Boateng Süle
Neuer
 
Neuer once again with an outstanding performance.

On top of his game he simply is a level above all other GKs.
 
It seems the approach is to pick the 10 fittest players plus Neuer and make a starting formation out of it. Today that lead to:

Lewandowski
Coman Gnabry Müller Sané
Tollisso
Hernandez Alaba Boateng Süle
Neuer
So nothing much he can do about it. Fair enough - and at least Bayern keeps winning anyway.

Leverkusen beat Köln 4-0 today I saw. That puts them second in most goals scored and second in least goals conceded. Looking good for them. It would be a funny coincidence if a club associated with a pharmeceutical (among other things) company were to get their first title in this COVID-19 season. (If only Bayer made COVID-19 vaccines!)
 
Schalke sack their coach Manuel Baum and bring in *drumroll* Huub Stevens, once more.

Edit: damn you :D
 
Schalke have sacked Baum, Huub Stevens taking over for the 187th time. :lol:
No club, apart from the HSV, will ever have worked so hard to achieve relegation, you really have to congratulate them.

And as for Huub Stevens, he should know better than to listen to his heart, when that heart has severe arrythmia.
 
Schalke need a miracle and Baum doesn't look like he can give it to them. I wouldn't blame him, as he's just a victim of the mess that is Schalke, but I can understand why they sacked him to roll the dice with someone else. I don't think Stevens will help much either, but they are supposedly looking at Friedhelm Funkel anyway, one of the most experienced coaches around.
 
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Schalke need a miracle and Baum doesn't look like he can give it to them. I wouldn't blame him, as he's just a victim of the mess that is Schalke, but I can understand why they sacked him to roll the dice with someone else. I don't think Stevens will help much either, but they are supposedly looking at Friedhelm Funkel anyway, one of the most experienced coaches around.
For a club without money they are currently paying quite a lot of (former) coaches.
 
Stevens is 'only' 67 I saw today. Somehow I thought he was much older and Schalke were doing a kind of Guus Hiddink with him. Let's see if anything at all is salvageable over there!
 
For a club without money they are currently paying quite a lot of (former) coaches.

The Schalke way! :drool:

Seriously though, when you're probably facing brankruptcy in case of relegation then paying off another coach is nothing.
 
How many times have Dortmund conceded with that same set piece play? Header on at the near post and runner at the far post scores unmarked.