SOCCER - Spring 2015

[Charro!]

Oh, and noted shitbum Mike Ashley says he won't sell Newcastle "until we win a trophy, or qualify for the Champions League". So I'm suck with this arsehole forever. Fuck.

 

In all fairness, Big Mike actually came across as a OK guy on his interview with Sky Sports. He seemed passionate about wanting to invest in better players & such, it was kinda like his 'face turn today (if we're going by wrestling terminology).

 

Also well done to Newcastle today. They should never have been in that position in the first place, but they came out fired up and what a way for Jonas to mark his comeback with the decisive goal. Not sure if he's being offered a new contract, but he certainly deserves one and he'll forever be a hero on Tyneside Unlucky for Hull and they did well against Man U getting a draw. They'll probably bounce back up with Stevie Bruce anyway. Don't know what on earth happened at Stoke for Liverpool today, for Stevie G's last game that performance was an insult. 

[Dewar]

Jonas actually gives a shit about playing for Newcastle. He's exactly the type of guy who should be kept around.

[Pete]

Oh, and noted shitbum Mike Ashley says he won't sell Newcastle "until we win a trophy, or qualify for the Champions League". 

 

Would this count?

 

[SirFozzie]

Seeing today's Stoke result.. all I can say is LOLerpool

[Jiji]

Premier League Stuff

‏@EPLStuff

Brendan Rodgers: "Judge me after 3 years."

 

3 years later,

HT: Stoke City 5-0 Liverpool.

Derp.

 

First time Liverpool have lost by 5 goals in the league since 1963. 

[sabremike]

So now when does fat frank show up in the Bronx? Or Stevie G in LA? Anyone know if they have to wait until a certain date before they join their MLS sides?

Yesterday saw the Cosmos defeat San Antonio 3-0. Also got a Pele bobblehead that looks nothing like Pele and free Nestle's Quick, so it was a good day. Today it's Metro playing Philly, so a nice chance to kick Nick Sackoshit's corpse.

[Pete]

So now when does fat frank show up in the Bronx? Or Stevie G in LA? Anyone know if they have to wait until a certain date before they join their MLS sides?

Yesterday saw the Cosmos defeat San Antonio 3-0. Also got a Pele bobblehead that looks nothing like Pele and free Nestle's Quick, so it was a good day. Today it's Metro playing Philly, so a nice chance to kick Nick Sackoshit's corpse.

 

 

Maybe the best Victor Rivera bobblehead I've ever seen.

[cubbymark]

It looks like a Sammy Sosa bobble head minus the bleach.

[Pete]

I'M AFRAID I'VE GOT SOME BAD NEWS... for Swindon.

[odessasteps]

Count the fans on 606 who want Klopp next year

The red team

West ham

Newcastle

I presume if Arsenal had lost, they would calling for him too.

[Death From Above]

Klopp to West Ham is about as likely as any of us being named the next manager of Real Madrid.

[Guest Edwin]

Klopp is being linked with Liverpool if they sack Rodgers.

Mario Gomez is being linked with by New York clubs and Andrea Pirlo is being linked with NYC. Pirlo has said he would rather live in New York than he would in Qatar.

Mario Mandžukić is being linked with Milan and Liverpool and Gonzalo Higuaín is being rumored as a replacement for Atlético Madrid if he leaves.

Manchester United decide not to sign Falcao and let him return to Monaco.

[Charro!]

Klopp to West Ham is about as likely as any of us being named the next manager of Real Madrid.

 

Yea I see him going to Liverpool if Brendan Rodgers does get let go. Unless Mike Ashley (who actually seems committed now to wanting Newcastle to compete for trophies) might starting throwing money around Ted Turner WCW style and give Klopp an open checkbook to sign whomever he wants. Rumors are that Michael Laudrup will end up at Newcastle, but I think they should keep John Carver around as the type of passion he had yesterday you can't buy.

 

Jonas actually gives a shit about playing for Newcastle. He's exactly the type of guy who should be kept around.

 

Exactly, even if it's just a one year deal, but if not they should keep him around in some capacity, as he essentially saved their season. 

[Dewar]

Carver is passionate about Newcastle, but he's not a good manager. His career win percentage is under 30 percent. They need to be bringing in a bigger name than him to right the ship.

[odessasteps]

Looks like being stuck in traffic did Boro no favors.

[Pete]

Norwich 2, Boro just showing up. Yeesh.

[odessasteps]

I volunteer to console Kay Murray.

[RIPPA]

CANARIES BITCHES~!

[Death From Above]

Nice to have them back, if only because they have such a quality uniform.

[ReiseReise]

 

Considering how late in the season Dortmund was in the relegation spots (new Year's) to see them qualify for Europe via the league is.. wow. the Bundesliga other then Bayern was rather averaged out weren't they?

 

Schalke got off to a shaky start, but got things together.

 

 

While I agree with the first part of the statement, Schalke´s season was pretty terrible and would have been the biggest disappointment if it wasn´t for Dortmund´s abysmal first campaign half.

I would replace Schalke with Augsburg, who might have struggled towards the end, but were really solid overall and made in to the EL, something that even after their very good season of 2014 wasn´t really to be expected. Anyway, my attempt at a season-analysis.

 

Champions League

1. Bayern 79 points

2. Wolfsburg 69 points

3. Gladbach 66 points

4, Leverkusen 61 points

Those top four did pretty well. Every team from 2 to 4 beat the almighty Bayern, Wolfsburg and Gladbach even before Bayern secured the championship. Gladbach even managed to beat them in an away game and didn´t conceed in both games. THIS was a major problem during the last two years of Bavarian dominance: They didn´t drop any points before it was all done. They did this season, which made it a little more exciting to take a look at the top.

Make no mistake about it: Bayern played a good domestic season by all means, a very unlucky semi-final in the German cup away from turning this into another great domestic season. Their CL campaign was very dominant in the first stage of the competition, and in the end the huge amount of injuries caught up to them. Bayern lost a semi-final to an outstanding Barcelona-side with pretty much everyone on board, something that would happen to probably every other team in Europe. They will still need some serious regrouping and new planning, though. The main problems lie within the roster imo and the utilization of certain players. Lahm needs a serious talk, he needs to get out of this CM spot, at least in international matches. The two young Spaniards, Thiago and Benat, need to step up. Thiago seems great at times, and the big injury hampered his developement, I reckon, but Benat needs to show that he is more than a mediocre fullback. They paid too much for him to just be that. Age is becoming a huge factor aswell. A lot of the players are in their 30ies and seem to be way more injury prone. The Kroos-Alonso-switch might have been one of Munich´s biggest mistakes over the last few years. Alonso is still better than a majority of European footballers, but I wouldn´t say he can be top class for the majority of matches in the season. Same seems to go for Schweinsteiger. The injury problems - something Bayern officials loved to point out regarding Dortmund, their biggest rivals over the last few years - were huge this season and became a major factor. The powerstruggle (or whatever it was) between Guardiola and team-physiotherapist Mueller-Wolfahrt led to the latter resigning from duty, which is a huge blow. Some of Guardiola´s tactics and especially the repeated way of handling matches after Bayern won the Bundesliga have been criticized repeatedly. Guardiola even admitted mistakes after last year´s loss to Real Madrid before, this year he can still point at the injuries for an excuse. Which, in return, would lead to some people pointing back at Pep for using players he was allegedly told not to use...

Next season is pretty much make or break for Gurdiola and his legacy in Munich, where national titles aren´t regarded as highly as they should be. An example from the past is Felix Magath, who managed two doubles in a row and got canned after a disappointing first campaign half in the 2006/2007 season. This is not to say Bayern´s campaign doesn´t deserve respect or shouldn´t receive praise! Bayern have a traditionally tough time after big tournaments, with all the internationals etc, and they did great this year. But your ambitions are high when you´re from Munich and to call his time at Bayern a "Gurdiola era", he probably needs that CL win.

Wolfsburg´s 69 points tie their own record from the 08/09 season where they won the championship. Gladbach never got more points since the introduction of the 3-points-a-win-rule. Leverkusen  managed to go into the CL once more. Leverkusen and Wolfsburg are both teams I can´t grow a liking to, though. The Bundesliga always tries to portray the image of a domestic championship with no calamity regarding money from owners and investors, but both clubs are basically totally independent from the quality of their work and get the money anyway. Wolfsburg took five years in obscurity, sometimes even battling relegation after their championship and is still able to pay 25 million Euro for de Bruyne and 35 million Euro for Schuerrle and buy away players from other clubs like Kruse or Hunt just for the fun of it. Leverkusen is not only backed by medical juggernaut Bayer, they are also a club going out of their way to advocate stuff like Red Bull Leipzig, a concept I truly and utterly despise. Anyway, both clubs did really well this season. Wolfsburg could have been champions in a lot of seasons I recall, especially in the late 90ies and earlier 2000s, where 65+ was a pretty good shot at winning that ugly shield thingy. Leverkusen were solid and had a few really good runs strung together after a somewhat troublesome start in both campaign halfs. In the end, they repeated their 61 points from last year, which is a good result to get the CL qualifier spot.

The team of the season award has to go to Borussia Moenchengladbach, though. The club put in serious work over the last few seasons and are now rewarded for it with good results and a spot at the captain´s table of the European footie cruise ship dinner that is the Champions League. Tieing and breaking many club records, 66 points mark the best result since the 3 ppw-rule was introduced. Adding in a good international performance with an unlucky elimination against the reigning and defending champions from Seville, the only negative result has to be the unexpected loss in the cup quarterfinals in Bielefeld. It could have been Gladbachs year to win the cup, after all. Still, the biggest questionsmark are what to expect from the club. It´s really hard to imagine them as a "Bayernjäger", hunter of the big FC Bayern Munich. I think, coach Favre has a really big task at hand replacing key players Max Kruse (to Wolfsburg) and Kramer (who is going back to Leverkusen after a two year loan) to direct rivals. Assuming some of the lesser performing teams (more on that down below) recover in 2015/2016, it´s going to be tough to defend the top 3 spot. For now, though, they should enjoy the spoils. Congratulations on a great season, Borussia Moenchengladbach.

All four teams have a shot of doing well in Europe, albeit this might be a problem for Gladbach - maybe even factoring into their domestic performances. Especially, with them not being used to a high frequency of matches like CL will demand.

 

UEFA EURO League

5. Augsburg 49 points

6. Schalke 48 points

7. Dortmund 46 points

 

All of these might come as a surprise, albeit for a different reason. Maybe they shouldn´t be in hindsight, but I admit I wouldn´t have called it beforehand. Augsburg have shown the ability to to very much with very little in the past. Last year´s 8th place was met with much applause from rival-fans and neutrals alike. Many even were a little disappointed, because they thought this might have been Augsburg´s only chance at ever making Europe and lot of people though they deserved it last year. While they recorded four points less than last season, this season marks Augsburg´s best finish yet in the Bundesliga and also matches under floodlight in different stadia all over Europe. At the same moment, they can claim away victories at Signal-Iduna-Park and Allianz Arena in one season, something that can´t be claimed by many over the last few years.

Schalke´s season got off to a really shaky start, then seemed to get back on track with DiMatteo, but a horrible last third with uninspiring football and fans turning their backs ultimately left a sour taste. Again, there will be questions asks to club officials and especially if the sacking of Jens Keller was really neccessary. DiMatteo´s biggest success was the 4-3 win and the great showing in Madrid, but in the end he seemed to fail in motivating the team to play a convincing final part of the season. I tend to think a few players were in a kind of post-World Cup mode which might make for an argument that the top six finish accounts for somewhat salvaged season but I´d say it´s more of a failure if anything for Schalke. The ambition was Champions League, I´m sure. Speaking of Champions League: Despite finishing one ahead of the big "Revier"-rivals Borussia Dortmund, the yellow-black neighbours might be in a better mood in the end. It will all depend on next Saturday´s cup final against Wolfsburg if this season will be remembered positively in Dortmund, but after the shocking period from summer 2014 to January 2015 where Dortmund looked like relegation was a serious issue, Dortmund turned up in the second half despite not playing at the level people were used to. 31 in the second compared to the 15 points of the first campaign half not only prevented that, the combination of 7th place with the cup final assures Dortmund will play Euro League one way or the other.

Out of these teams, EURO League matches could probably be a major factor in Augsburg´s domestic performances, because of roster depth and the like. I can´t see Schalke and Dortmund having trouble in that regard. They might even have shots at performing well in said competition, but very often, the big German teams get stopped by clubs you don´t really count on, so there´s not even a guarantee as to how far they could go. I´ll keep my fingers crossed for them. Dortmund in Euroleague means at least one giant stadium filled up to the very last seat. For domestic performances in general, Augsburg might get caught up in lower mid table, maybe even battle relegation, there is a distinct possibility. In Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund we will see a very interesting silly season, I assume. New managers and lots of new faces make it almost impossible to predict how they will perform. A feeling tells me both clubs need regrouping. If they could secure EL spots in 2016, the following seasons might be a great success.

 

Midtable and proud of it?

  8. Hoffenheim  44 points

  9. Frankfurt    43 points

10. Bremen 43 points

11. Mainz 40 points

12. Koeln 40 points

 

I chose the headline for this section because I think the teams did the best with what they really could do judging player material and surroundings. I put in the questionmark however to question if they couldn´t have done better given the circumstances of how this season played out.

Hoffenheim looked to be on a good way to make it to the top six at numerous points in this season. When the christmas break crept along, they were sitting in 7th place, but only two points behind 3rd place in a very close race. They never got a decent run of wins ( I think they couldn´t even win two in a row all season) and ultimately, when crunch time came along, never looked ready to come out victorious in the battle for European competition. Losing out on European football seems to have been the reason for losing Roberto Firminho, a player to watch out for in the future.

Frankfurt started this season with a new manager, long-time Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf, and they performed like Werder used to do under Schaaf in the majority of his time: They scored a lot, they conceeded a lot. Like Hoffenheim, Frankfurt looks so close to the EL-spots, yet they seemed so far away. Good emphatic wins were followed by surprising but deserved losses, there was no major streak or anything, followed by the loss of outstanding goalscorer Alex Meier and the end 9th place means you´re as mid table as you ever could be. Considering Frankfurt has been battling relegation for quite a few times in recent history, it might not be all that bad.

The same conclusion could be drawn for Werder Bremen, at least at the very end of the season. Taking a look at the fever curve though, Werder´s season looks far more interesting to phrase it positively. Werder started out with three draws, always coming from behind, followed by a few losses and only four points in the first nine games. After manager Robin Dutt was replaced with Youth coach Skripnik, who collected 26 points in the next 23 matches, including an incredible 6 game winning streak. The northern Germans seemed to be serious contenders for a spot in the Europa League. However, after the big run, there were losses and draws to teams close to the bottom of the table like Stuttgart, Paderborn and Hannover. Where Werder´s road leads to seems impossible to call, however.

The both clubs from the carnival capitals, Mainz and Koeln, follow, tied on points. Mainz lost their coach Tuchel to a sabbatical before the season, and they got of to a really rough start with Dane Kasper Hjulmend, getting eliminated in Euroleague qualifiers and losing in the first round of the German cup. After a good campaign start in the Bundesliga, they got into a slump and started losing. A lot. The good old manager-switch helped, and soon Mainz was out of the danger zone. The once great FC Koeln has had a past of unrealistic expectations, wild transfers of crash landings, leading to one or the other stay in the 2. Bundesliga. This season was different, fans and management aiming for nothing else than preventing relegation and succeding by grinding out results, with a lot of nil-nil-draws, nine to be precise. It will be interesting to see how the club from the river Rhine will play next season.

 

Escaped by the skin of their teeth

13. Hannover 37 points

14. Stuttgart 36 points

15. Berlin 36 points

 

Those three teams didn´t expect to battle relegation, and a majority of neutrals, fans and pundits were surprised about one of the clubs the most. Hannover however has to be the biggest surprise of the three, after a decent first half of the season, the club from Nethersaxonia was sitting on a good 8th place and 24 points. Then came a horrific spell of 15 games without a win, alienation with the clubs Ultra-fanbase and all of the sudden, with only three games to go, Hannover were ranked 17th, which would have meant direct relegation. 8 points from the last 4 games under the new coach Michael Frontzeck lead the team to its rescue. Stuttgart might have expected better, but they were basically regarded as a troubled squad from the getgo. They got deep into trouble very early on into the season, and for a long time seemed to be lacking the turnaround moment you need. Later into the season, Stuttgart became the place of emphatic home games, and ultimately the club was able to get to safety at the very end of the season. I have no real connection to the club or the team, but they looked like they deserved to stay in the league at the very end. Berlin is one of the clubs that performed worse than they should given the surroundings, but even though they only managed to get the last spot in the safe zone, they will probably aim higher next season. I´m not sure if they can go higher, though. They could have very easily gone down this season with their losingstreaks and were lucky that the final matchday pairings and situation made it nearly impossible for them to go down. Berlin is a prime example how big cities with traditional clubs don´t neccesisarily result into a big player club, which of course leads to another example...

 

History repeats itself...

16. Hamburger SV 35 points

 

... the Hamburger Sport Verein. The mighty HSV has fallen into a bottomless pit, battling against historic failure of being relegated after being part of the Bundesliga since the very first day of its existence for the third year in a row. The last and this season were the worst, with legitimate fear of going down up until pretty much the very last matchday of the league. This year, they recorded more points than the incredibly weak 27 of 2013/2014, put the season was even more chaotic. Four managers were needed, the lowest low probably being the 2 game spell under sports director Peter Knäbel, which showed lifeless performances against Leverkusen and Wolfsburg and made it seem like the club was finished once and for all. A huge amount of transfer money somewhere on the up of 30 million euro was spent aswell for - ultimately - 8 points more and the same rank which means, like 2014: relegational play offs. They are awaited of 2. Bundesliga´s third place Karlsruhe, who were only edged out by one point in the battle for promotion.

 

Detention looks the following for the Hamburger SV:

28th May 2015, Hamburger SV - Karlsruher SC

1st June 2015, Karlsruher SC - Hamburger SV 

 

Time to say goodbye

17. SC Freiburg 34 points

18. SC Paderborn 31 points

 

Freiburg is the team which probably earns more sympathy than any other team in Germany for going down. They are probably the team least phased by it aswell. Freiburg is one of the clubs doing the most solid work in Germany, with good finances and great concepts working well within the boundaries of the club. Ultimately, they will be a candidate for one of the top two spots in the 2. Bundesliga next season, which means direct promotion.

Paderborns relegation means the end of a football fairytale. The club did a lot more than anyone expected, while in the end still doing what everyone called before the season even began: They went back down into the second division straight away. Paderborn earned a lot of respect, but I wouldn´t list them among my favourites to go back up into the Bundesliga right now.

This year´s Bundesliga season is almost over, with only the the relegation play offs remaining. Those will probably be interesting, but since I mentioned the one team still applying for promotion, it´s only fair to mention the teams who already managed to make it into the league:

FC Ingolstadt - won the 2. Bundesliga championship, last year´s favourite to go big in the division, but only managed a midtable position. A club with good money and investors, not that big of a fanbase as of yet

SV Darmstadt 98 - only went up from the "3. Liga" (third division) the year before in a dramatic relegation play off, made the the promotion with even less money than Paderborn the year before, club with a rich history and a solid fanbase within the city

 

This was my thoughts and short analysis of how I experienced this year´s Bundesliga season. I´m already looking forward to the next one. My club St. Pauli survived the 2. Bundesliga fight for survival barely and I hope for a better season in 2015/16, but it was really tense and to be honest, this is pretty much what footie is about. The summer will of course have considerably less football, but there are still cup finals and european cup finals to be played. Even after that, it´s not over! Now, we have silly season, U21 European championship, Women´s World Cup (I know I´m gonna watch it) and all the leagues with march-autumn-schedules! So: fear not. There´s always football around the corner.

[RIPPA]

Nice to have them back, if only because they have such a quality uniform.

 

The where my first love when I started playing Football Manager/Championship Manager

 

That shifted over to Reading eventually but I would say they are still 1A

[Guest Edwin]

Ancelotti has been sacked as Madrid coach. Replacement to be announced next week.

[Charro!]

Carver is passionate about Newcastle, but he's not a good manager. His career win percentage is under 30 percent. They need to be bringing in a bigger name than him to right the ship.

 

Yea, his win percentage isn't great, but remember he was thrown in at the deep end once Alan Pardew left for Palace. I do agree Newcastle need an experienced manager and there are quite a few high profile names out there who are available - Ancelotti, Klopp, Benitez among others. But the thing which swings it in John Carver's favor is that he is from Newcastle & he's passionate about the club. When you bring in say a Kloop or Rafa, you don't really get the same passion from them because they don't really know the history and how passionate the fanbase is. It's kinda like when England got Sven & then Capello managed England, they were essentially there to fulfill the role & whilst they had the motivation to succeed, it wouldn't have been in the same way that say a Stuart Pearce would have if he was given the England job. One name which would be ideal for Newcastle, although he might be slightly out of touch since he hasn't managed for quite a while is Kevin Keegan, but I doubt whether he'd want to work under Big Mike, unless he's won over by his change of heart & promises of investment & such. Thing is though, I doubt whether John Carver would be kept around, unless he goes with Carver instead of his usual Assistant Terry McDermott.  

[Guest Edwin]

Roma beat Lazio in the Derby della Capitale today with a late game winning header 5 minutes after Lazio had scored an equalizing header.

[AxB]

Keegan? Seriously? Nah. He doesn't know tactics. Great motivator, good pep talks and that, but he's a 2 out of 10 for strategy. And really, he's had his chance at Newcastle two times already. If he was good enough, he'd still be there.

 

As far as Ancelotti, Klopp and Benitez as targets, not a one of them would lower themselves to managing a team of such little ambition (the fans have ambition, yes. But the guy who pays the wages specifically doesn't want to succeed). The only big-ish names Newcastle would be looking at are guys like Brendan Rogers or Manuel Pellegrini, (if they get fired). Or Andre Villas-Boas maybe. But what Mike Ashley wants is a 40 Points = Safety = Job Done guy, like Pardew, Pulis or Allardyce. He's already had two of them, after all. He'd hire Allardyce back tomorrow if he felt like it.