Bundesliga (und Fußball) - 2017/18

[Ketsbaia]

Myself and WBCP are planning to see Dortmund one weekend, ideally there'd be a St Pauli home game on the other day.

[mattypnufc]

Typically Dortmunds website is in English, but the ticket section is in German.

[Ryan]

I'm heading to Dortmund in the autumn sometime, going to try and get to one of the home games then. Probably just purchase the tickets off viagogo to be safe even though I'll be paying inflated prices 

[TaylorJ_01]

Email club asking if they can hold tickets and hope they are nice. Don't just go straight to a touting site. We got ours through the club fine.

[TaylorJ_01]

Fack it, I sent this to Neil on facebook, might be helpful

 

 

WORD

 

Firstly - the only real place to stay is here -> http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/A-and-O-Dortmund-Hauptbahnhof/Dortmund/46505?sc_sau=rank&sc_pos=1

 

It's perfectly sound. Really close to station, has a cheap bar and is clean. Prices very reasonable if you don't mind a big dorm.

 

German public transport is insanely good. You can get group tickets if there's a lot of you (40 euro for unlimited travel for 4 when I went) - otherwise you can sort out individual journeys. Can't go more than 4 feet without stumbling upon public transport.

 

Matchday - this is the difficult part. Tickets are released a couple months before the games. You NEED to email them with all the details of your trip and they MIGHT reserve tickets for you. Sooner this is put into motion the better. Talking 30ish euros so not bad at all. Worst comes to worst you could go in the away end but obviously only as a last resort.

 

I can help with bars etc nearer the time. Dortmund is a strange place, very active and not massively touristy but it all adds to the appeal imo.

[Ryan]

Cheers Taylor

[TaylorJ_01]

Oh, as I said in another thread - go see Duisburg play too. Great fun.

[Tooj]

http://bundesligafanatic.com/tactical-flexibility-and-transgressive-transfer-policy-shapes-new-bayern-era/?utm_source=feedly

 

Tactical Flexibility and Transgressive Transfer Policy Shapes New Bayern Era

 

http://bundesligafanatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/07152013_editorial_bayern_header.png

 

Last season Bayern Munich already boasted arguably the deepest squad in recent football history.  This offseason they added to that depth with two of the world’s biggest talents in Mario Götze and Thiago Alcantara, which will once again make them favorites not only domestically, but internationally as well.  All the while, there are several questions surrounding Bayern’s transfer policy and squad management going into the new season.

 

Bayern’s summer of bloated spending has come under a fair share of scrutiny to say the least.  The signing of Götze was a controversial and surprising one while Thiago’s acquisition was deemed unnecessary by many.  Adding to that, Bayern remained steadfast in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski despite being able to get him free next season and having had three quality strikers already on their books.

 

And with the squad size increasing, there are questions as to how it will impact the team’s chemistry next season.  Whereas squad depth and quality in their backup players was one of the club’s primary shortcomings only two years ago, it is now without a doubt their biggest strength.  That said, it’s hard to imagine any one club improving on a season as historic as Bayern had last year, and perhaps even more difficult than defending those trophies will be Pep Guardiola’s challenge to balance the expectations and a sizable squad.

 

However, lost amidst all the discussion about where players like Thiago will find playing time in such a congested squad is perhaps the most important point in Bayern’s transfer policy; the recent moves give Guardiola the options and flexibility to truly shape the team in his own image.  The tactical flexibility, already displayed in their pre-season training, should be one of the most notable features of the team under Guardiola in the coming season.

 

In addition, Bayern’s activity in the transfer market this summer is not just an opulent flexing of their financial muscle but a transgressive move meant to elevate them further and cement their legacy as one of the greats of all time.

 

Summer of change

 

Bigger squad = better options. The equation is simple enough. Conventional wisdom suggests that with a treble under their belt, there is really nothing to improve upon for Bayern in the coming season. But great teams remain great not by resting on their laurels, but by being progressive and improving in spite of reaching their desired goals.

 

This summer, Bayern have shown that they have learned from past mistakes and have been conscious of the experiences of other clubs. In the past, Bayern would usually follow one successful campaign with a summer of inactivity, hoping that success would repeat itself.  It didn’t always work and that complacency allowed Dortmund to overtake them in 2010.

 

Last season, Jupp Heynckes found the perfect balance between performance and rotation, keeping a large squad content and playing at the highest level possible week in and week out. With a squad in their prime, adding new elements always creates the risk of disruption and that’s very much the concern with the team now. If managed correctly, competition is healthy in a team environment and can actually enhance player performance, as was the case with Bayern last season. Add one too many competitive elements, however, and you run the risk of diminishing incentive when a player sees opportunities to be too limited.  “Too many cooks spoil the broth” in other words.

 

On the other hand, foresight plays an important, yet overlooked, part in Bayern’s transfer policies.  Daniel van Buyten, Claudio Pizarro and Rafinha are not likely to stick around past the coming season, while players like Emre Can, Mitchell Weiser and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will most likely be loaned out, leaving the team at a similar squad count to last season, albeit at an even higher standard per player.

 

With the likes of Götze, Thiago and Kirchhoff for example, Bayern also reduce the average age of the squad and ensure some of the top young talents in the game are signed to long term deals when some of the veterans are indeed transitioned out of the team.  This summer’s transfer policy therefore has to be looked at as not just luxurious spending, but a serious endeavour in long term squad planning.

 

Tactical Flexibility

 

Then there is the more tangible practical aspect of the team’s actual on-field development.  Guardiola’s vision is different than Heynckes.  As much has been admitted by the players during the summer training camp.  Guardiola has experimented with various formations, has played certain players out of their usual positions and is continually working to add a different dimension to an already well-oiled machine.

 

Last season, Bayern were at their demonstrative best against Barcelona in the semifinals, arguably their best team performance in Europe since the glory days of the 1970s.  Yet Guardiola, always the idealist, believes he can push the team and its players further.  Before Heynckes wandered into retirement, he said that Guardiola is inheriting a perfect team and while that is true, few would deny that this team can get even better.

 

One of the reasons Guardiola so vehemently expressed his desire to bring Thiago over is precisely because he represents the kind of tactical flexibility and versatility that he wishes to convey throughout the rest of the team.  Thiago is capable of playing deep, box to box, off the striker and even out wide if necessary.  It is also why Guardiola has been so adamant about trying players in different positions.

 

Whether it is Lahm playing inside right midfield in a 4-1-4-1, Toni Kroos as the lone holding midfielder or Franck Ribery as the No. 10, Guardiola is seeking to make Bayern more fluid, more versatile, and even more unpredictable.  He is pushing boundaries and aiming for a standard only the best of the best are able to execute.  At Barcelona, he had a group of players who will go down as some of the best the game has ever seen and he is attempting to lay similar foundations in Munich.

 

This season we may see three at the back, Martinez in defense, Götze as the lone striker and Bayern’s perfect vertical play more narrow. All will serve the purpose of making Bayern more ambidextrous all while getting the best out of enormously talented player pool.  Guardiola specifically picked out Gözte and Thiago because they resemble players he worked with in Spain and can realize his football philosophy.  At the end of the day, it’s not so much about the numbers in the squad as it is the degree of quality and flexibility.

 

The fact is that the standards were set so high last season that it is almost impossible for Guardiola to live up to them in his first year. And regardless of whether he wins only two or even one trophy, he will make sure the team is heading in the right direction.  This is not the Bayern of old.  They will not rest on their laurels, they are not satisfied with temporary success and they are willing to spare no expense to assure their place in history.

[Parky]

The Germans will be very critical of him if things don't pan out. They expect at a bare minimum the Bundesliga and CL final.

[Village Idiot]

If anything, Guardiola takes no s*** from no one. I'm not sure he has the pliability to navigate FC Hollywood and the poisonous German press successfully. I don't give him more than two seasons.

 

We aren't the most easy club either, but here he was already a club legend and a tremendously popular figure, so backstabbing and political bickering was kept at a minimum until he left.

[Parky]

If anything, Guardiola takes no s*** from no one. I'm not sure he has the pliability to navigate FC Hollywood and the poisonous German press successfully. I don't give him more than two seasons.

 

We aren't the most easy club either, but here he was already a club legend and a tremendously popular figure, so backstabbing and political bickering was kept at a minimum until he left.

 

Also Bayern is a very German project and when troubles come the Germans will stick together, there are going to be situations where Pep will have to be at his diplomatic best. As you say there isn't a well of goodwill already in place. I give him one season.

[Ketsbaia]

Their midfield options are extraordinary. Maybe he sees Muller as a forward.

[Tooj]

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/7986?cc=5739

 

Having played the greatest season ever by a German team, and adding not only the most sought-after coach in football, but also two of the biggest talents in Europe to the club, is there anyone -- or anything -- that can stop Bayern Munich from winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles?

 

Let's take a look at Bayern's opponents before touching base on what really could prevent Bayern from defending their title. Looking at the current Bundesliga squads, it is unlikely that any team, outside the trio of Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and FC Schalke 04, could realistically compete with Bayern. However, you never know in German football, and over the past decade or so, a few dark horses have ended up on top of the standings at the end of the season.

 

VfB Stuttgart won the title in 2007 and VfL Wolfsburg's title win -- the last great achievement of German coaching legend Felix Magath before he finally turned into the first day trader in Bundesliga, buying and selling players at his will -- was also a major upset, just like Borussia Dortmund's first title in 2011.

 

Despite having to sell Mario Gotze to their fiercest rivals this summer, Dortmund look the team most likely to challenge Bayern for the title. The Champions League finalists have spent wisely over the past few weeks, adding fast attackers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to their "pressing machine".

 

For their shaky defence -- 42 goals again conceded last season -- they acquired the services of the take-no-enemies style of Greece international Sokratis Papastathopoulos. A selection of fine youngsters, such as Erik Durm, Jonas Hofmann and Marvin Sarr, add quality to a squad that looked thin on various occasions last season. It could look thin again as Dortmund will want to make it out of their Champions League group for a second year in a row and then "take it from there."

 

Dortmund's Ruhr Rivals Schalke 04 have, without a doubt, made some well-considered moves on the transfer market -- looking for players to develop rather than established names. In Adam Szalai they have found an experienced Bundesliga target man to lift some pressure off Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, while centre-back Felipe Santana crossed the great divide from Dortmund to Schalke and is likely to stabilize the club's defence.

 

The likes of Leon Goretzka and Christian Clemens, who joined the Royal Blues from Germany's second tier, are two huge German midfield talents and will add to the competition in the squad. Julian Draxler, Max Meyer and Sead Kolasinac have all stormed into Schalke's first team from the club's famous youth academy, Die Knappenschmiede, and Peter Herrmann, the man behind Jupp Heynckes last season, has joined the club as one of the assistant coaches. However, it may be too early for Schalke, who are, nevertheless, on a good path.

 

Bayer Leverkusen finished last season only a point behind Borussia Dortmund but their inferiority complex has not helped them in the past, nor will it help them in the future. Over the past few days, several Bayer Leverkusen players have bemoaned the lack of attention the team receives, with outgoing Bayer CEO Wolfgang Holzhauser suggesting that Leverkusen should target becoming "everyone's favourite second team."

 

Given those discussions, but also looking at the double burden of Champions League football, Leverkusen, who have replaced Chelsea-bound Andre Schurrle with Hamburg's highly rated South Korean talent Heung Min-Son and outstanding right back Daniel Carvajal, who had to return to Real Madrid, with Italy Under-21 Giulio Donati, will more likely be fighting to stay in the top four of Bundesliga. It also remains to be seen if Sami Hyypia had been the man behind Leverkusen's success last year or if Sascha Lewandowski, who was fed up with professional football and returned to the club's youth academy, was the brain behind Leverkusen 2012/2013.

 

So, with maybe Borussia Dortmund and -- an even a bigger maybe -- Schalke 04 the only challengers, Bayern can only be stopped by themselves.

 

The famous phrase "if it ain't broken, don’t fix it" has been slowly creeping into the minds of football fans looking at the current changes at Bayern Munich. Whereas during his presentation in late June, Guardiola claimed he would need "to adjust to the players 100 percent." He has since caused irritations at Sabener Straße by slowly adjusting the players to his needs.

 

First, he introduced a new system, the 4-1-4-1 formation, and got rid of the old, and rather successful Bayern system of the past season, the 4-2-3-1 formation. Over the past couple of days, several Bayern players have commented that this new formation will take some time to learn.

 

"Pep Guardiola has his own ideas," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said, adding the team needed to "work on fine-tuning in the next few weeks." The France international Franck Ribery called the new system "a bit weird" and urged everyone "to talk, learn and train."

 

The second step was for Pep Guardiola to go public with his wish to sign Thiago Alcantara from his former club. During a news conference that left the German public stunned, Guardiola demanded, "I want Thiago and Thiago only." It also became increasingly evident that Guardiola was much more than the humble coach he was during his opening news conference in July.

 

The former Barcelona man knows what he wants and he knows how to get them, through praise. That day he told the media, "Mario Gotze is a super, super player. But I need Thiago." Guardiola also called Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski a super, super player but handed the question of the Poland international's protracted transfer over to Bayern officials Matthias Sammer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. With that, and his statements about Thiago, he basically ended all talks of Lewandowski becoming the second Dortmund player to change colours this summer.

 

The Thiago deal, however, went through over the next couple of days. The Barcelona midfielder had been a Manchester United target but admitted that when Guardiola told him about the option to join the treble holders, he basically made up his mind about his switch to Bayern.

 

With Thiago, the club's midfield is now packed with talent. Players from six nations expected to be involved in the next year's World Cup will be competing for a spot in Guardiola's starting formation. Franck Ribery (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Luiz Gustavo (Brazil), Javi Martinez, Thiago Alcantara (both Spain) and the Germany quartet Mario Gotze, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller and Bastian Schweinsteiger have all been key players for their countries over the past few months. But what exactly is this formation and where will everyone fit it?

 

During his Barcelona days, Guardiola always played with one holding midfielder, Sergio Busquets, covering the two "eights" in midfield. The Spaniard used Xavi and Andres Iniesta most of the time, but at Bayern, before the recent signing of Thiago, German internationals Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger looked destined to become the offensive pairing in midfield.

 

This has now changed. Thiago joined Bayern to win minutes and, after their past history, will know of Guardiola's plans. Without going into further details over who could lose their place, the dressing room could become a problem for Guardiola if the results are not meeting the Bayern standards.

 

If Guardiola pulls Javi Martinez back to the centre-back position, this would mean either Brazil international Dante or German international Jerome Boateng, who are both struggling to be permanent starters for their countries, would be consigned to the bench. Mario Gotze has not joined Bayern Munich to sit on the bench, rather thinking he was Guardiola's wish player, but the youngster, who has been fighting with injuries over the past few years, has yet to start preseason after suffering a muscular injury ahead of the Champions League final.

 

"In such a team with so much quality a lot of very, very good players had to sit on the bench last season," said Toni Kroos, one of the candidates to be dropped from Bayern's starting XI. The Germany midfielder added that playing for Germany "is only possible through good performances for the club."

 

Given that Bayern players could play up to 66 games until next year's World Cup, the deep squad will guarantee Kroos a few games, but whether those games will be enough to win back his place as the first replacement in the holding midfield position on the German international team seems questionable. His competitor for that position is Dortmund's Ilkay Gundogan, who has a guaranteed place in Dortmund's midfield.

 

"When you are the coach at FC Bayern you have to play good all the time, you have to always win. That is the situation," Pep Guardiola said. And, indeed, results will be needed from the beginning to stop Bayern from returning to the old FC Hollywood. If they manage to do so, they will not be stopped in Bundesliga and could be the first team to defend the Champions League title.

[David28]

Lahm is probably the only captain of any professional football team who wears the armband on the squad picture. Little idiot.

[Tooj]

http://bundesligafanatic.com/tactical-analysis-bayerns-4-1-4-1-in-german-super-cup/?utm_source=feedly

 

Canny write up on Saturday's match.

[mattypnufc]

Managed to get tickets to see Bayern Leverkusen vs Borrusia Monchengladbach as part of my best mates stag do.

 

Can't wait.

[Peder75]

http://bundesligafanatic.com/tactical-analysis-bayerns-4-1-4-1-in-german-super-cup/?utm_source=feedly

 

Canny write up on Saturday's match.

 

Good article and a great game. Love to see them play eachother.

[mattypnufc]

Anyone know if ITV retained the rights to show highlight roundup on a Saturday morning?

[Disco]

Just watching the highlights show, looks like some brilliant games this weekend. Mainz - Stuttgart could've been 6-6.

[Neil]

Watched Augsburg-Dortmund and Schalke-Hamburg over the weekend.

 

Gearing up to be a class season.

[Tooj]

http://www.worldsoccer.com/features/tactics-a-bumpy-ride-for-bayern

 

As coach of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola demonstrated a healthily idiosyncratic streak within the parameters of the club’s prevailing philosophy. And, as the new season begins in western Europe, the most pressing tactical question this term is what will he do at Bayern Munich? How will he react to a club that is not so steeped in those principles – and one that won almost everything there was to win last season, much of it in record-breaking style?

 

The basic theory of Jupp Heynckes’ side was much the same as that of Guardiola’s Barca, and that is one of the reasons why he should be such a good match. Bayern sought to dominate possession and pressed high up the pitch, but were more aggressive and physical than Barcelona. It’s tempting to see this as an inevitable part of the evolutionary cycle; a new way of playing that redefines the game and is played at an ever-increasing pace by increasingly bulky players. In this case, Barcelona benefitted from the stretching of the game brought about by the change in the offside law that effectively made an offside trap impossible to employ as a consistent tactic.

 

This allowed their phalanx of 5’7” geniuses to pass the ball among themselves at great pace and without fear of being buffeted by bigger opponents. Bayern and Borussia Dortmund employed similar principles, but did so using more muscular players.

 

It’s important, of course, not to read too much into pre-season games, but there can be no doubt that Guardiola took the German Super Cup seriously. He set Bayern up not in the 4-2-3-1 that was so successful last season, but in a 4-3-3. The distinction is not as sharp as is often made out. When Toni Kroos played as the central creator in Jupp Heynckes’ side he often dropped back. And if Bastian Schweinsteiger advanced with Luiz Gustavo holding, the result was a midfield triangle that could easily turn 4-2-3-1 into 4-3-3 and back again.

 

Alcantara controversy

 

Guardiola’s side against Dortmund in the Super Cup was surprisingly attacking. Gustavo, the most defensive of Bayern’s midfielders, was the odd man out as Thiago Alcantara arrived from Barcelona amid much controversy.

 

Given his agent is Guardiola’s elder brother, Pere, the risk was always there that Alcantara would come to be seen as, at best, a teacher’s pet and, at worst, a dangerous conflict of interests. In the Super Cup, he sat in front of Bayern’s back four in what might be considered

to be the “Sergio Busquets role”, with Kroos to one side of him and Thomas Muller on the other, in a surprisingly attacking midfield. The result was a collapse in the second half as Dortmund swarmed through time and again to win 4-2. The pendulum that had swung in favour of Bayern’s midfield last season seemed to have swooped back the other way, less because of the scoreline than the way the midfield contest was so comprehensively won by Dortmund.

 

The biggest worry was the vast space to the left side of the back of midfield that was constantly exploited by the surges of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That sort of space simply wasn’t there last season when two of Gustavo, Javi Martinez and Schweinsteiger were in tandem. This was reminiscent of the most cavalier days of Louis Van Gaal – the man worryingly (in this context) described by Guardiola as the coach who has had the biggest influence on his career.

 

Martinez seems to be seen almost entirely as a central defender and so fulfils a key tenet of the Guardiola/Van Gaal/Marcelo Bielsa school of thought, which is that one of the centre-backs should be a passer to initiate attacks.

 

Frank Rijkaard played this role for Van Gaal’s Ajax, while at Barcelona Guardiola used Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique and, at times, Busquets, as the distributor from deep. Martinez played the role himself at times in Bielsa’s first season at Athletic Bilbao, but while he has the ability to do this, his presence perhaps slightly weakens the defensive quality of a back four that last season thrived with Jerome Boateng and  Dante in the centre.

 

No guarantee

 

Schweinsteiger’s position is also a cause for concern. He himself has already said that he doesn’t know what Guardiola has planned for him – and his role in pre-season was restricted by an ankle injury – but there seems no guarantee that he will be a regular. He may lack the rarified technique of Xavi or Andres Iniesta, but his dynamism and ability to play either as a holder or a more box-to-box player was central to Bayern’s success last season.

 

Other Guardiola selections – using Phillip Lahm as a central midfielder or Mario Mandzukic on the flank – have been baffling, but what has emerged is the likelihood that Croatian forward Mandzukic, whose energy was so important in springing Bayern’s pressing game last season, will play a secondary role this season. Mario Gotze missed most of pre-season with a groin injury so there was no chance to see how he would perform as a false nine, which is how Guardiola is expected to play him, but Muller, such an adept finder of space, has operated in such a way and it seems likely that is how Bayern will try to play next season.

 

It would be absurd, of course, to be too critical. No side, whoever their coach, can ever sustain the sort of success Bayern enjoyed last season indefinitely, and Guardiola is still getting to grips with his new side as the players become accustomed to him.

 

He showed himself at Barcelona to be intelligent and innovative, able to react to circumstance, so there is no reason why he should not find a way of playing that suits Bayern and the Bundesliga. But what we are seeing, already is that the transition may not necessarily be entirely smooth.

 

By Jonathan Wilson

[Disco]

Canny article on BVB - http://www.soccerissue.com/2013/04/24/the-power-of-comparative-advantage/

[Tooj]

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/bayernmunich/id/1371?cc=5739

 

I was in attendance at the Allianz Arena when Holger Badstuber ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament the first time; an awkward collision with present team-mate Mario Goetze. It was bitterly cold, the first day of December 2012, and I had remarked -- at the time -- that I was happy to see Jerome Boateng come in; not realizing the extent of Badstuber's injury.

 

In February 2013, just two months after the rupture, the defender and German international would sign a contract extension linking him to Bayern Munich until 2017.

 

Treatment of a ruptured ACL has come a long way since this writer's halcyon playing days, where two torn ligaments in three years -- ages ago -- eventually reduced me to punditry instead of my preferred central midfielder spot. So, a quick recovery was expected for Badstuber, by all Bayern supporters, until news broke in May 2013 that his ACL had been torn again.

 

While it was initially played down, Bayern Munich eventually released a press statement revealing the extent of Badstuber's injuries: "On Monday 20 May 2013, Dr. Richard Steadman performed surgery on Holger Badstuber in Vail, Colorado. Due to extensive ruptures, the player's cruciate ligament is no longer functional and was removed.

 

"Before the cruciate can be reconstructed using a surgical tissue graft replacement, the incisions and holes from the original op [sic] must heal completely."

 

So, Badsutber's been walking around without an ACL this whole time? Strange, yeah? I mean, I have a wonky knee, but there's a thread of an ACL left in there.

 

Apparently all the "incisions and holes" (gah!) have healed, and Badstuber's making the jaunt back to the United States this week to have a new cruciate ligament put in. His doctor, Richard Steadman, is "renowned in the football world for his work in helping the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Alan Shearer and Michael Owen recover from major injuries".

 

And we all see how that worked out for Owen. I digress...

 

After five years of youth football with Bayern Munich youth, plus two years on the reserve squad, Badstuber has been capped 30 times for Germany and made 101 appearances for Bayern's first team. There's no question of his defensive prowess, but he will essentially miss football from December 1, 2012 -- through the World Cup -- until, likely, the start of the 2014-15 season. With a ligament replacement.

 

"I can again see light at the end of the tunnel," Badstuber would say at a Fair Play event in Munich recently; remarking on his -- hopefully-- last surgery. But, after missing a year-and-a-half of football? Does Holger Badstuber ever get his groove back?

 

 

The full cruciate being removed man. 

[Dinho lad]

You can say all you like about the money, security, etc, but it must be really frustrating to be out of action for that long. 

[Guest JS]

That's awful - poor guy