German Football 21/22 | Gladbach sign Farke

Maybe Kostic only plays 45 minutes? Heynckes did timesharings all through the end of the season in 2013 while he totally rested others.

That fight could actually get so interesting that it is not Leverkusen or Freiburg but Leipzig that falls out of the top 4... It is 1:0 for Gladbach and Leverkusen right now.
 
These empty stadiums are a pretty sad sight, I can sort of understand it for Gladbach, because it's against Leipzig and at this point their fans openly loath their team.
But why have Leverkusen left a third of their seats empty? They are in the middle of securing their first CL finish in years and they are giving heavy discounts..
 
Leipzig equalised. But they really have to win, as they are at risk of dropping out of top 4. Even 6th placed Köln still has a theoretical chance of getting the 4th.
 
stefan92 said:
Leipzig equalised. But they really have to win, as they are at risk of dropping out of top 4. Even 6th placed Köln still has a theoretical chance of getting the 4th.
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Leipzig's GD is like an extra point. With a draw they'd still have it in their own hands to equal Freiburg's tally from the last two games. And a Gladbach lead means very little this season anyway.


3-2 shots in the Leverkusen game.. aside from the score line in Gladbach it's really a misreable set of games today..
 
do.ob said:
For some reason they left Kostic of all players in the team, but other than him and Jakic it's basically all rotation players in midfield and attack.

Anyway.. Leipzig managed to concede to Gladbach and suddenly their top four finish is in grave danger again:

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Freiburg and Leverkusen face each other on final match day, so we might get a situation where Leverkusen are already qualified and could screw over their brothers.
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Leipzig is playing Bielefeld and Augsburg in their last games. They probably have better chances than us even if the matches end now
 
Zehner said:
Leipzig is playing Bielefeld and Augsburg in their last games. They probably have better chances than us even if the matches end now
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Leverkusen needs a draw against Freiburg OR a win against a Hoffenheim side that hasn't won in 7 games. And even if they fail at that Freiburg AND Leipzig would still have to get 6 and 4 points respectively. It's nearly impossible to mess this up with current results

And it would be especially hilarious for all the "Leipzig are Bayern's real challenger" expert pundits, if they missed top four.





Don't really like the refereeing in Gladbach: during the first half he showed a lot of leniency when Gvardiol should have received his second yellow and now on the other end he gives Elvedi a straight red, where referees sometimes pretend another defender could have interfered still.
 
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2 matches left to go


RankTeamMWDLGoalsDiffPoints
1Bayern München (M)32243593:336075
2Borussia Dortmund (P)32203980:503063
3Bayer 04 Leverkusen32177874:443058
4SC Freiburg321510756:401655
5RB Leipzig321661067:363154
61. FC Köln321410851:46552
71. FC Union Berlin32149943:41251
 
do.ob said:
Leverkusen needs a draw against Freiburg OR a win against a Hoffenheim side that hasn't won in 7 games. And even if they fail at that Freiburg AND Leipzig would still have to get 6 and 4 points respectively. It's nearly impossible to mess this up with current results

And it would be especially hilarious for all the "Leipzig are Bayern's real challenger" expert pundits, if they missed top four.





Don't really like the refereeing in Gladbach: during the first half he showed a lot of leniency when Gvardiol should have received his second yellow and now on the other end he gives Elvedi a straight red, where referees sometimes pretend another defender could have interfered still.
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And yet Gladbach even score another goal and win 3-1.

Leipzig out of top 4 for now, Freiburg 4th. Second loss in a row for Leipzig.
 
Would be way more relaxed with that if we would not be playing Hoffenheim away and then Freiburg in the next two games. Petersen scoring as a substitute in the 79th minute to kick us out of the CL is written in the stars.
Sadly, Leipzigs last two games are pretty easy.
 
stefan92 said:
@do.ob what do you think of this rumour: Özcan from Köln to BVB (a defensive midfielder)?
https://www.express.de/sport/fussba...bvb-heiss-auf-oezcan-ersatz-aus-leipzig-95596

I know the source isn't great, but would you see him as someone who could fix your issues in midfield?
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I guess he fits the more aggressive profile Dortmund are looking for and they were linked with both him and Skhiri by some reports from Cologne a month or two ago. But I don't really see it. Özcan didn't even start for Cologne until this season was well underway. It's incredibly risky to sign players in the mid 20s, because they had a few good months for the first time in their career. Schlager and Laimer sound a lot safer on paper, even Skhiri has been performing consistently well (relatively speaking) for a long time now. On the other hand he could just be a cheap(er) replacement for Emre Can, a little gamble for depth.

In any case I find it hard to understand what the plan in central midfield is. With Witsel's decline (and departure) the squad is crying out for a proper holding midfielder, who can (also) orchestrate the game. None of the candidates I've seen mentioned so far fullfill that profile.
And while I'm in general all for getting rid of players like Brandt and Guerreiro, the club needs to watch out that they don't end up with a squad that's so "straight forward no nonsense hard working" that they keep running their heads straight into a wall when they face defensive opponents.
 
do.ob said:
I guess he fits the more aggressive profile Dortmund are looking for and they were linked with both him and Skhiri by some reports from Cologne a month or two ago. But I don't really see it. Özcan didn't even start for Cologne until this season was well underway. It's incredibly risky to sign players in the mid 20s, because they had a few good months for the first time in their career. Schlager and Laimer sound a lot safer on paper, even Skhiri has been performing consistently well (relatively speaking) for a long time now. On the other hand he could just be a cheap(er) replacement for Emre Can, a little gamble for depth.

In any case I find it hard to understand what the plan in central midfield is. With Witsel's decline (and departure) the squad is crying out for a proper holding midfielder, who can (also) orchestrate the game. None of the candidates I've seen mentioned so far fullfill that profile.
And while I'm in general all for getting rid of players like Brandt and Guerreiro, the club needs to watch out that they don't end up with a squad that's so "straight forward no nonsense hard working" that they keep running their heads straight into a wall when they face defensive opponents.
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At least both Shkiri and Özcan now have experience as the single DM in crazy attacking 4132 setups, where they effectively had to cover central midfield on their own, so they at least have some skills and experience at orchestrating. But I agree, neither is a real expert at this. Will be an interesting transfer summer, at least CB seems already settled now for Dortmund.
 
stefan92 said:
At least both Shkiri and Özcan now have experience as the single DM in crazy attacking 4132 setups, where they effectively had to cover central midfield on their own, so they at least have some skills and experience at orchestrating. But I agree, neither is a real expert at this. Will be an interesting transfer summer, at least CB seems already settled now.
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There are so many open questions it's nearly impossible to make predictions:

Witsel, Zagadou, Bürki and Haaland are (all but) certain to leave.

Can, Hazard, Brandt, Guerreiro, Schulz are all likely on the market. Dortmund could generate €100m + Haaland in fees and safe a ton of wages to finance a lot of transfers, or a lot of them will stay and postpone the issue for another year.
 
do.ob said:
I guess he fits the more aggressive profile Dortmund are looking for and they were linked with both him and Skhiri by some reports from Cologne a month or two ago. But I don't really see it. Özcan didn't even start for Cologne until this season was well underway. It's incredibly risky to sign players in the mid 20s, because they had a few good months for the first time in their career. Schlager and Laimer sound a lot safer on paper, even Skhiri has been performing consistently well (relatively speaking) for a long time now. On the other hand he could just be a cheap(er) replacement for Emre Can, a little gamble for depth.

In any case I find it hard to understand what the plan in central midfield is. With Witsel's decline (and departure) the squad is crying out for a proper holding midfielder, who can (also) orchestrate the game. None of the candidates I've seen mentioned so far fullfill that profile.
And while I'm in general all for getting rid of players like Brandt and Guerreiro, the club needs to watch out that they don't end up with a squad that's so "straight forward no nonsense hard working" that they keep running their heads straight into a wall when they face defensive opponents.
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Would someone like Dennis Geiger at Hoffenheim fit that role? He's out of contact next year I think and I think he's a really good mix of someone who can control the game from midfield and be defensively strong.

Only issue is his injury history though.
 
hasanejaz88 said:
Would someone like Dennis Geiger at Hoffenheim fit that role? He's out of contact next year I think and I think he's a really good mix of someone who can control the game from midfield and be defensively strong.

Only issue is his injury history though.
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I can't really say. I think defensive players are notoriously hard to judge fairly, unless you watch them very often and pay very close attention to them - or well - they make a lot of mistakes. But having said that: there is actually a Hoffenheim player I could see in that role, but it's Grillitsch - he's out of contract this summer and being 26 years old, he's at a good age if you want a reliable player, too. There doesn't seem to be that much interest in him though, so maybe I'm missing some glaring weakness or he's just a bit too slow.
 
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"Wait, it's all Thomas?" - "Always has been"


I have to say my inner Müller fanboy enjoys how Bayern's social media team is going all in with the Müller content on behalf of his contract extension :D
 
What's going on with Leipzig?

This was the away block against Gladbach:



And apparently Leipzig will only be using 1000 of their allocated 2500 tickets for their EL semifinal.
 
I have the Bochum-Bielefeld game on in the background and even though it ended like half an hour ago the stand behind the reporters, who are wrapping it up) is still almost completely full and the fans have been chanting non-stop. It's the last home game of the season and all, but considering they were always nick named the grey mouse and seemed to be heading for apathy after their last relegation it's really surprising to see so much enthusiasm.


Bielefeld however absolutely needed to win this and now have more than one foot in the 2nd division.

W4B6KhC.jpeg


Feels like I'm watching Kreisliga and Bundesliga at the same time.
 
Wait, why isn’t the second to last matchday spread over three days? It always was all games at 15:30 on Saturday.
 
I'm sure you guys couldn't forgive yourselves if you'd miss it, so I'm sharing the link:



Dortmund vs Schalke u19 championship semi final.



Semic, Bynoe-Gittens and Rothe are players, who already picked up some first team minutes.

Kamara and Fink have already become sort of regulars in the 3rd division.

And Collins used to have massive hype about him when he was 16, but seems to have stagnated in his development a bit since the pandemic disrupted everything.
 
Blackwidow said:
Does not always make sense. Frankfurt and Leipzig played Thursday evening...
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Nice explanation, but there is Bochum v Bielefeld on Friday, Bayern v Stuttgart on Sunday and Hertha v Mainz on Saturday evening. Therefore Thursday‘s Europa League games cannot be the whole reason.
 
do.ob said:
I'm sure you guys couldn't forgive yourselves if you'd miss it, so I'm sharing the link:



Dortmund vs Schalke u19 championship semi final.



Semic, Bynoe-Gittens and Rothe are players, who already picked up some first team minutes.

Kamara and Fink have already become sort of regulars in the 3rd division.

And Collins used to have massive hype about him when he was 16, but seems to have stagnated in his development a bit since the pandemic disrupted everything.
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1-1 at halftime.
 
unplayable said:
1-1 at halftime.
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Yeah, first half was disappointing, considering Dortmund's team looks ridiculously stacked on paper, while Schalke are a bunch of nobodies in comparison. But I guess the second half rectified that mistake :drool:
 
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Hamburg are so afraid to get promoted that even if they can hold on to the 2-1 it will still feel like choking, with all the free counter attacks they've missed. :lol:

edit:
Game over! Reverse HSV still in progress!

tZRLRc7.png


At the very least third place is in their own hands now.

St. Pauli beating Schalke tonight and maybe Bremen losing to Aue (not very likely, I know) would make for an insanely tense last matchday.
 
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Can't wait for Hansa to destroy HSVs promotion dream next week:drool:
 
Hoffenheim's stadium is a sea of empty seats today. The pandemic seems to have hit the plastic clubs a lot harder in that regard. I wonder why they seem to have lost so much more fan enthusiasm than regular clubs.


Kasper said:
Can't wait for Hansa to destroy HSVs promotion dream next week:drool:
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Do the two clubs have some "north derby rivalry" going on between them?
 
Höööööler

edit: goal ruled out. feck off VAR, that should stand.
 
unplayable said:
Höööööler
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It's concerning to see how many goals Freiburg concede lately, but at the same time encouraging how little they seem to be shaken by them. :lol:


Hoffenheim, YES! My favourite club! :drool: :drool: :drool:
 
hellhunter said:
Please :drool:
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As fan of a big club that have their own promotion ambitions I would have expected you to be all for Hamburg fecking off to Bundesliga. The worst that could happen to promotion hopefuls would be Darmstadt winning the playoff against Stuttgart.
 
do.ob said:
As fan of a big club that have their own promotion ambitions I would have expected you to be all for Hamburg fecking off to Bundesliga. The worst that could happen to promotion hopefuls would be Darmstadt winning the playoff against Stuttgart.
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You're joking, but I'm really sick and tired of Karlsruhe playing HSV, losing to a dodgy ref decision Karlsruhe is not strong enough to overcome. So I'd be pretty happy with Hamburg fecking off to Bundesliga again. But then, are you even a football fan if Schadenfreude isn't your biggest motivator?
 
hellhunter said:
You're joking, but I'm really sick and tired of Karlsruhe playing HSV, losing to a dodgy ref decision Karlsruhe is not strong enough to overcome. So I'd be pretty happy with Hamburg fecking off to Bundesliga again. But then, are you even a football fan if Schadenfreude isn't your biggest motivator?
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Fair enough. And I wasn't entirely joking. Every year there is one club, who suddenly battles for promotion after finishing mid table. Who knows what club it'll be next season.
 
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