Bundesliga 2016/17

Managed to catch 3 games over the opening weekend.

Bayern 6 Bremen 0
Okay I know it's Bayern and this is what they do but Werder Bremen put in p much the worse 90 minute performance I've ever seen. Abject from start to finish. They set up v defensively, understandable, but with zero commitment to actually defending. Therefore it was really just 10 blokes standing in their own half whilst their opponents passed the ball around them. At one point Bayern had a throw at roughly the halfway line, they weren't on the break or anything just a normal throw. It was thrown in on the diagonal towards the middle of the pitch about halfway between the centre circle and the edge of the Bremen goal, Thomas Muller controlled it with a minimum of 12 yards clear space on all sides of him, took a touch to just outside the box and hit a shot onto the post. The most useless defending I've seen in years (and I watch lfc regularly!) Sanches was left on the bench which was a shame but Xabi Alonso played well and Muller had 3 assists including one peach of a cross for Lewandowski to convert (he got a hat-trick). I hope the rest of the league can rouse themselves a bit more when it's their turn to play Bayern.

Gladbach 2 Leverkusen 1
Much better game this. Leverkusen without either Hernandez or Kiessling but Bellarbi was fucking great in the first half. Felt like Leverkusen took all the initiative and Gladbach had real problems overcoming the high press...but when they did they had 3 one-on-ones with the keeper in the first half alone. The first 2 Leno saved with his face, the 3rd Hahn slotted nicely right on half time. Lev pulled one back but Lil' Hazard provided a sweet assist about 2 mins after coming on for Stindl to slot the winner. Kramer has gone back to Gladbach from Leverkusen and he was good, as was Baumgartlinger for Lev. Jonathon Tah looks super bulked up to me compared to last season.

Hoffenheim 2 Leipzig 2
Could have been 2-2 after 10 mins let alone 90. Useless defending coupled with some neat attacking. Could kind of tell neither team rated the other much so was quite fun. Surprised to see Peter Gulacsi in goal for RBL who I only remember because I used to sell him whenever I played as LFC on FM10.

Hopefully get to see Dortmund soon as their signings look v good, Schurrle excepted.

Hoffenheim-Leipzig was fun.

Hertha-Freiburg was good too - Hertha switched off after scoring but managed to hold out until the 93rd minute when Freiburg equalised. Hertha then promptly went up the other end and scored a winner.

Post Pep Depression - Bundesliga 2016/17

Glad it finally started...
Defense problems ofLeverkusen seem to be just history repeating at this time of the season, Schmidt trying again to force through his superpure pressing approach. Which might last again until autumn, when half of the starting eleven is injured and every opponent can look forward to getting lots of one-on-ones on the counter against Ramalho/Papadopoulos. The matches against Roma last year were a nightmare in this regard.

Schürrle might be my single greatest surprise of the weekend. Don't know which strings Tuchel pulls in him, but it seems to work.

Hoffenheim have come back from 1-4 to 4-4 in the last fifteen minutes.

Mark Uth on the scoresheet as well, he was allegedly one of our targets this summer. But seeing as he might be soon in the German squad possibly out of our range.

Congrats to Bremen for somehow managing to turn in an even more inept performance in the first half vs Gladbach than they did in the debacle at Bayern on the opening day!! A feat that I would not have thought possible. At least they managed to look like they'd actually played football before in the 2nd half and Arsenal legend Gnabry got an absolute better of a consolation goal.

I missed Dortmund's 2 demolition jobs this week but did see their deserved defeat to Leipzig. I love Weigl but they look like they're having real problems moving the ball through the team with no Gundogan/Mkhitaryan. Really missing Hummels in this role as well. Bartra trying his best to mirror Hummels distribution but falling well short so far.

Starting to become a fan of Kampl this season has looked really good so far and has unfurled a couple of killer passes that I didn't think he had in him already this season.

Do you think Thorgen will go back to Chelsea?

i'd be v surprised. not sure how much appeal chelsea holds for young-ish players right now. his goalscoring and final ball has come on a hell of a lot but so far he hasn't shown all that much more than marko marin did back in the day.

slightly concerned at the lack of minutes kingsley coman has had this season at bayern so far.

tonight should be a good gage as to where dortmund are at as they play wolfsburg.

what a weird game. dortmund won 5-1 at wolfsburg but were unconvincing somehow. bartra provided a nice through ball for the opening goal to make a fool of me for criticizing his distribution up thread, then went off injured to be replaced by the slightly shaky ginter. dortmund 2 up after 20 mins after which wolfsburg dominated the middle of the pitch and the game until about 55 mins in. They pulled one back from didavi and would have scored then but for an incridible double save/miss. dortmund overrun time and time again but then scored 2 quick counters (dembele and aubameyang) before adding a 5th.

they definitely look less assured in the centre of midfield and have a difficult time moving smoothly into the last third by once they do get into the attacking third they are lethal with dembele, gotze, pulisic, guerrero etc

Obvs super early but Leipzig are looking like a very decent side.

yah saw the demolition of hamburg. strangely the only competent defensive performance i've seen them put in was against dortmund. against hamburg and hoffenheim i thought they were all over the place and were lucky not to be one or two down vs hamburg. fun going forward though.

fuck me schalke have lost 3-1 at home to cologne. that's zero points so far after 4 games. i really thought weinzierl would do a great job there.

Dembele was amazing last night for Dortmund. Add in pulisic and emre mor and Bayern are gonna have a heck of a team when they buy them in a couple of years time.

Ready to join sharivari on the Leipzig bandwagon. Looked v legit tonight vs Augsburg. Keita at DM was incredible as was Paulsen at left wing forward.

Anthony Modeste, briefly of Blackburn, is top scorer at the moment with eleven in nine games for Koln.

He scored three and missed a penalty against Hamburg today. Surely Hamburg can't avoid relegation this time. They look even more hopeless than usual.

only just got around to watching last nights leverkusen-leipzig game. leipzig were excellent for the last 30 mins and came from behind to win 3-2 and go top of the league!! red bull money blah blah blah but they're a really well constructed team and they haven't really got many 'superstar' players. timo werner probably the most touted and he's coming off a relegation with stuttgart.

dortmund-bayern right now, bayern unconvincing under ancelotti but they'll probably win this.

oh dear tuchel's gone to his 3 at the back which i last saw getting wrecked vs leverkusen.

Have not have had enough time to pay close attention, but Leipzig are the real deal aren't they?

I do not get why Ancelotti is sticking to 433 when Bayern's got the perfect players for a 4231.

don't know what's more surprising leipzig top after 1/3 of the season or thomas muller on zero goals after the same.

aubamayang 1-0!!

set up by gotze

Do you have a live stream?

ball threaded between hummels legs. lol.

nope sorry it's on britisher tv :(

Ah I see. Shame cause it sounds like fun. ARD's got a Darmstadt-Ingolstadt recap :(

this game is as chaotic as a prem game, although that's perhaps a cliche as man u-arsenal wasn't chaotic at all.

bartra has been all over the place and is poised to receive a red card. weigl vs kimmich in midfield is fun.

Found some iPhone app and got this streaming like clockwork

It's very frantic isn't it? Lewa not in this

ooh think dortmund needed that, decent save neuer.

another half chance

bayern finally starting to pep ball it.

trying to work out a future germany midfield that could fit kimmich/weigl/kroos/gundogan/ozil in it somehow.

dortmund not even countering now. xabi off the bar!!

ridiculous amount of space down the right side for bayern. equaliser feels inevitable.

dortmund have been really disappointing. but they're winning (shrugs)

ah that was the game right there. aubameyang 1-on-1 with neuer and hit it straight at him.

4 mins stoppage time. would not have bet money on dortmund keeping bayern out tonight.

2 inches wide from lewy

saw it out. sokratis was immense.

leipzig and hoffenheim only unbeaten teams left. who'd have thunk?

bayern don't really have a strategy now, other than get it to ribery and hope he creates something.

According to L'Equipe Draxler is off to PSG. Wolfsburg brought in Bazoer earlier - who I rate v highly - but this will not make things easier for them I reckon.

Pandemic, what's up with Wolfsburg this season? Why are they bottom dwellers?

havent got round to starting my niklas sule tumblr yet

― r|t|c, Thursday, 5 March 2015 13:36 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

would follow

― pandemic, Thursday, 5 March 2015 13:40 Bookmark

i am the prophet

Hats off to the Bayern Munich and Hamburg Historical Reenactment Societies for yesterday's astonishingly realistic recreation of Bayern's 8-0 win of February 2015.

Had Leipzig not lost at home to Hamburg earlier this month, they could be just two points off the top. They won again yesterday.

Dortmund are close to signing Ajax' Peter Bosz as manager. This is good news for Bosz, and for me (he did well with Ajax and this is a massive disappointment for them).

Such a shame Pandemic is still MIA.

hey hamburg are top of the liga! bobby wood is the man. where's the new thread?
their game against koln tonight had 13 minutes of stoppage time cause the ref went off injured.

No new thread since we're probably all still hoping Pandemic to return and do this (against all odds :-( ).

It would be nice to see HSV out of trouble for once.

Dortmund four nil up at home to Schalke in 25 minutes, still 4-0 with half an hour to go. Ended 4-4.

Bosz ist raus

I wouldn't be surprised if Stoger is a stopgap and they'll be trying to tap up Wagner in the summer.

dortmund-bayern 2nd half last night was so so good. great to see reus finally get a run of injury free matches. dahoud and sancho were great and the delicious delay on alcacer's dink finish over neuer for the winner was glorious. ribery was terrific for bayern in the first half and kimmich had a good game too.

Sancho and Nelson have been terrific this season. It’s great to see English players do what they’ve done.