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samag

by samag
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wacko

wacko

Posted
Posted

When we were walking back to the U-Bahn station after the match fans from both sides were mingling together, people were allowed to drink even when police were there and they seemed to treat fans like adults and this showed in the positive behaviour towards each other.

 

Exactly what we thought too, it was incredible how much beer was flowing just while walking to/from the ground and also during the game, but with no trouble at all. It really is a completely different experience.

 

I went to see Nuremberg play Schalke in Gelsenkirchen once. The clubs have a "friendship", so there was literally no aggro whatsoever and a totally cool atmosphere. There were hardly any police and those that were there were either grinning or looking bored out of their minds.

 

Even when I went to the Leverkusen-Liverpool game in the CL in 2005, the police were totally cool. My mate and I stood at the back of the stand where all the riot police are, and after they'd ascertained that we had tickets (we pointed to our two empty seats a few rows down), they just let us stand there at the top with them.

 

http://u.cnblw.me/images/IMGP0636.JPG

 

World Cup in '06:

 

http://u.cnblw.me/images/P1000377.JPG

 

http://u.cnblw.me/images/P1000376.JPG

 

Me: "What's with the massive boots?"

Her: "They're for kicking your nuts in."

 

http://u.cnblw.me/images/P1000445.JPG

 

Sound as fuck are (most) German coppers.

 

 

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TenkoDaLuz

TenkoDaLuz

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I have a kittie that sleeps near by. She takes some pills so she can't get pregnant. God IS SHE LOVELY.

 

There was a Eurodance hit back in the 90's that went more or less like this:

 

"Me and you! Lalalalala.."

 

I also like flavoured body oils. I have a female cousin also likes this. I have this monthly plan that I don't have to pay for international calls.

 

My dad bought this new air conditioning system last year for our country house. But my mom opened the windows so the panic settled. I remember my dad (which is a Braga fan) crying and yelling "Such an inglorious effort on inner environment control!"

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Guest hydeous

Guest hydeous

Posted
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I've been in Hamburg for a few months now and I haven't figured out which club to support yet. I've seen some of Dortmund and think they're pretty awesome, Munich is ridiculously good of course and it'd feel weird supporting them, having followed Newcastle for the past 15 years, I don't think I'd be able to stand winning so much.

HSV might be relegated this season, St Pauli might be promoted... I think I'm going to go for a few games next season and see which club wins my affection.

Also, if Pards is gone next season, I'll be able to make my long overdue Newcastle trip!

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Deuce

Deuce

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Posted

I'd just go Dortmund. It's a fantastic day out and a fantastic club to support.

 

Yeah, if you do find yourself in the enviable situation of being able to choose a new club to follow, choose one that has a chance of winning something. I speak from experience.

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Guest Spark

Guest Spark

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I'd just go Dortmund. It's a fantastic day out and a fantastic club to support.

 

Yeah, if you do find yourself in the enviable situation of being able to choose a new club to follow, choose one that has a chance of winning something. I speak from experience.

 

Fuck that. Choose someone shit. The victories mean more when they don't come around very often.

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Belfast Mags

Belfast Mags

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I've been in Hamburg for a few months now and I haven't figured out which club to support yet. I've seen some of Dortmund and think they're pretty awesome, Munich is ridiculously good of course and it'd feel weird supporting them, having followed Newcastle for the past 15 years, I don't think I'd be able to stand winning so much.

HSV might be relegated this season, St Pauli might be promoted... I think I'm going to go for a few games next season and see which club wins my affection.

Also, if Pards is gone next season, I'll be able to make my long overdue Newcastle trip!

 

Ahh man HSV all the way :thup: Just got this season top delivered, really hoping we win the playoff and keep the record alive (only top flight team never to have been relegated since the formation of the Bundesliga).

A lots of similarities between Newcastle and HSV, both very well supported clubs despite not having won shit since forever, Keegan etc, you simply have to choice them.

 

Fuck St Pauli and the hipsters, they're so last year :thup:

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Tooj

Tooj

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Posted
Positive attitudes can't hide Bayern's Bernabeu disappointment

 

Arjen Robben was smiling beatifically. Pep Guardiola was proud of his team. Captain Philipp Lahm said it was pleasing to see that his side could now dominate any opposition, even Real Madrid in the Bernabéu, and more than that: "I can't recall any Bayern team dominating here to this extent," he said. Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer repeated that assessment, word for word.

 

There was an element of make-believe in these reactions, of course; there always is after nervy, tight, first-leg matches in European competitions. Managers and club officials have to talk up their team ahead of the all-important return leg, and the players, too, know that dwelling on the shortcomings might simply undermine their own confidence at this stage of the tie. Bayern simply did what any team would have done in the wake of 1-0 defeat in the Spanish capital. They concentrated on the positives.

 

But that wasn't the full story. This wasn’t just self-encouragement or pragmatic whistling in the dark before the floodlights come on again Tuesday. Extraordinarily, Bayern seemed to actually believe what they were saying. They thought they had played well, controlled the game and forced Real Madrid to play like most of their opponents in the Bundesliga do.

 

"They sat back, 40 metres from their own goal," Thomas Müller said, "and they're Real Madrid! Imagine that."

 

In their view, the game had gone according to plan, apart from the slight issue of the scoreline, perhaps. Bayern's contentment with a performance that yielded zero away goals and the first defeat in a truly meaningful game this season brought to mind a great German saying: "The operation has been a success, but the patient is dead."

 

The attempt to disentangle their football from the result is a sign how much things have changed at Säbener Strasse, where winning by any means necessary has long been the only important criteria. Other teams -- the Galáctico-era Real Madrid, for example -- praised themselves on playing "the right way." Bayern only wanted to get the result. Their performance in the 1-0 win at the Bernabéu in the 2001 semifinal would have pleased José Mourinho in its ultra-negativity.

 

By traditional Bavarian standards, this was a poor game. And by the standards they have set over the course of the past couple of years, too: Bayern have become too good to consider a narrow defeat without an away goal in Madrid a pleasing result. So how come Guardiola and his men believe they had essentially gotten everything right?

 

For an answer, one had to listen to the manager's postmatch statement. Guardiola returned to a topic that has occupied him from the first week in Germany and that also loomed large after the recent games against Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund -- the need to prevent counterattacks. "Madrid are the best counterattacking team in the world," he said. "If you play more directly, the quicker you move the ball forward, the quicker it comes back. That's dangerous for us."

 

Guardiola's commitment to the possession game sometimes comes across as ideological, but it’s actually the most complicated way to play pragmatic -- and, dare I say, defensive -- football. His overriding goal is control, not beauty.

 

The much-debated move of Lahm into midfield best exemplifies this thinking. Robben loses support on the right as a consequence but Guardiola believes this a price worth paying for the increased presence in the centre. If you play a high line at the back, an absolute imperative if the possession game is to work, you can only protect your defenders by cutting out the long ball.

 

Bayern's counterpressing in Madrid's half did work extremely well for long spells -- they won the ball 23 times in the opposition half -- but games at this level are defined by things going wrong, not right. The former are remembered because they prove decisive, while the latter are quickly forgotten. Despite all of Bayern's dominance, Madrid broke through three times before the break and were unlucky not to increase on their lead.

 

"Bayern made football an optical illusion," the German newspaper Die Zeit reported. "Real, positioned far from Bayern's goal, were in truth quite close to it. And vice versa."

 

Guardiola would counter that this view might well be an illusion, too, a classic cognitive bias. You see what happens -- Bayern conceding chances through their high line -- but not the countless chances Madrid didn't create.

 

Is it reasonable to assume that Carlo Ancelotti's team might have threatened Manuel Neuer's goal a lot more if Bayern had allowed them more than 30 percent possession? And is there any guarantee Bayern would have produced more cutting edge in the final third if they had sat deeper or committed more men forward? Madrid's destruction of Schalke and Dortmund, both of which adopted those measures, point to different conclusions.

 

Guardiola and Bayern wanted to play in a certain way and they were able to do just that against one of the best teams in the world -- at least in the first half. When their ability to press diminished after the break, they ceded control of the game and couldn't pin the Spaniards back anymore.

 

And here's where it gets worrying for the Germans. Without movement and strength in attack, their tiki-taka is just catenaccio in a different form -- a goal avoidance strategy. There's a theory that a lack of competitive action since they won the Bundesliga title has caused the drop in physical intensity. It's impossible to prove, though, and perhaps a tad simplistic: Madrid didn't seem to suffer from having been given the weekend off by La Liga.

 

Could the reasons run deeper? At the beginning of Guardiola's tenure, well-connected football reporter Ronald Reng wrote that Bayern officials were worried about the level of physical preparation in training. Again, it's hard to substantiate without access to performance data.

 

There is no doubt, however, that some individual performances were a bigger problem than Guardiola's tactics. Franck Ribéry, a key player, was again miles off his best and should have been replaced earlier. Striker Mario Mandzukic was also far too easily contained. Maybe the Croatian, too, was tired, after frequently filling in for the Frenchman in midfield when Bayern lost possession.

 

Bayern will have to force the issue in Munich, but Guardiola has already said that he expects a similar game. There won't be a Plan B, no reckless abandon. Controlling Real Madrid's counterattacks will be even more pivotal now. If Guardiola is to fail, he will fail on his own terms. The 43-year-old didn't get to five Champions League semifinals in a row by questioning his methods. Wednesday's reactions would suggest the players don't either. For the moment.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ryan

Ryan

Posted
Posted

I think it's something they're definitely planning.

 

They've been heavily linked with Immobile over the past couple of weeks, Drmic from Nurnberg too.

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Dr Colossus

Dr Colossus

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Posted

I've been in Hamburg for a few months now and I haven't figured out which club to support yet. I've seen some of Dortmund and think they're pretty awesome, Munich is ridiculously good of course and it'd feel weird supporting them, having followed Newcastle for the past 15 years, I don't think I'd be able to stand winning so much.

HSV might be relegated this season, St Pauli might be promoted... I think I'm going to go for a few games next season and see which club wins my affection.

Also, if Pards is gone next season, I'll be able to make my long overdue Newcastle trip!

 

Ahh man HSV all the way :thup: Just got this season top delivered, really hoping we win the playoff and keep the record alive (only top flight team never to have been relegated since the formation of the Bundesliga).

A lots of similarities between Newcastle and HSV, both very well supported clubs despite not having won s*** since forever, Keegan etc, you simply have to choice them.

 

f*** St Pauli and the hipsters, they're so last year :thup:

 

Aye, from watching the Bundesliga highlights on ITV4 this season I'm really liking Hamburg. Seem like they're capable of playing some great attacking stuff on their day, but also capable of huge capitulation. Calhanoglu is a great talent, too. Scored something like the joint-most free kicks and joint-most goals from outside the box in the top 5 leagues this campaign.

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