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ReiseReise

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  1. The Paderborn win streak was one of those common "surprisingly promoted clubs" phenomena. They were pretty fast out of the gate, got some troubled opponents in the first few games and thanks to that got a few wins under their belt. Everything turned into a big party for a while up until they lost big to a team that was bottom tier at the moment (0-4 to Werder on matchday 13 it was, they haven´t been the same since. Right now they loose to teams they are on level with. Nobody expects them to beat Bayern, Gladbach and teams like that, but getting pummeled by Mainz and losing to Hamburg at home by three goals are losses that hurt. Of course there is still lots of time and 30 points to be won, but it´s not going to be easy for Paderborn. It never was to begin with, so maybe that will turn out to be the club´s biggest strength. I think Bayern should beat Donezk, but over the last three matches (Cologne, Hannover in the Bundesliga, Braunschweig in the cup) they looked sluggish. Set pieces, Neuer and at times the refereeing seemed to be the only thing to work from the get go. Of course, when you are up 1-0 after a great 45th minute free kick against a lower division team or get awarded debatable free kicks at the edge of a box and gifted a penalty against opposition that was testing you, the match will be way easier at one point, but it´s nothing to rely on. Especially considering there are stronger teams than Donezk with actual home games.
  2. Been away for a while, here is what happened in Germany. Cup: Besides Werder Bremen losing to third division Bielefeld, Round of the last sixteen pretty much concluded as aspected. Bundesliga teams won their respective matches, with both Bayern and Dortmund being troubled a bit. Same goes for Bayer Leverkusen who needed an extra time win at home against second division Kaiserslautern. Quarterfinals: Bielefeld - Moenchengladbach, Dortmund - Hoffenheim, Bayer Leverkusen - Bayern Muenchen, Wolfsburg - Freiburg Bundesliga: On the bottom end, Stuttgart and Freiburg are the teams you have to be most-worried for, at 18th and 17th place which would mean direct relegation. Paderborn is - as of now and barely - clutching 16th, a place that would mean a play-off against second divisions third place (very open race there, lots of teams tied and close to each other on points). What speaks against those three is their incredibly negative trend: Freiburg and Paderborn both won one match in 2015, Stuttgart managed three draws and no win so far. Speaking FOR at least Paderborn and Freiburg is the fact that both teams are only - again, as of now - one win (2 points for Paderborn, 3 for Freiburg) away from places which would prevent relegation. Hertha BSC Berlin and Hamburger SV sit on 14th and 15th place, both having won 25 points so far. Last season, 27 points were enough for Hamburg to win 16th place and enter the relegational playoff, I´m pretty certain you will need more this year. Dortmund seems stabilized after all the domestic trouble they went through so far this year, but 29 points at the moment mean that they are not out of the battle against relegation yet. They are six points away from the danger zone (relegation), but still would have nine points to catch up. Werder Bremen - somewhat of a team of the second half of the campaign, winning as many points as the top two Bayern and Wolfsburg - and Hoffenheim (after getting lots of praise in the early parts of the season) are both sitting on 33 points, which still means five points to go for an Euro League spot. The battle for CL-qualification is shaping up very interestingly: Augsburg (6th), doing amazing work for quite a few years, are tied with Schalke (5th place) and only one point behind fourth place Leverkusen, which would mean a Champions League qualification spot. Gladbach in third place hasn´t pulled away yet, they sit at 41 points. Bayern profited from a Wolfsburg loss and horrible refereeing, turning a 0-1 deficit at Hannover into a 3-1 win. Bayern´s 61 points mean they are eleven ahead Wolfsburg. The form they have shown over the last three domestic games however aren´t very promising for their Champions League campaign. It will be interesting to see if their is a different showing on European level.
  3. Cena vs Rusev was great fun. I think I would have liked the finish better if Cena would have still been conscious for a moment followed by slowly passing out. It looked a little bit like it was the groin shot / head kick combination that finished him off instead of the Camel Clutch, I would have liked "going low" better as a difference maker than being the actual decider. It is a minor thing, though. The big thing will probably be the usual "John Cena problem" with him going over Rusev clean in a few weeks time, maybe using a Super Angle Adjustment in a good match with a deflating finish and Rusev being stuck in limbo afterwards since "undefeated streak" was the best gimmick they actually had for him. Which is a shame, because the guy has a unique and menacing look, good agility and a well suited set of moves for what he does.
  4. Dortmund vs Juve had a good first half. Both teams looked really shaky, giving up goals due to horrendous defending. Juve looked stronger in the second half and controlled the game, should have made it 3-1 at one point. Leaves all possible outcomes for the 2nd leg.
  5. Real screamer by Coutinho. Bundesliga Day 22 concluded today. Both top teams won their matches (Bayern and Wolfsburg), both widened the gap to third place. Bayern is now eight ahead of Wolfsburg, who are in turn 10 ahead of Gladbach. After that it´s pretty close in the battle for respective spots in Euro- and Champions League. Both, Bremen and Augsburg, were able to equalize in stoppage time. Augsburg not only took the cake by using the 94th minute against Leverkusen, but also their goal keeper to achieve that. BEWARE, LOW QUALITY! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2htlkc_augsburg-kalecisi-hitz-94-dakikada-topu-aglara-yolladi_sport Werder Bremen´s 1-1 draw at Schalke means an unbeaten run of six games for the Northern Germans, who will host Wolfsburg next week. Down at the bottom Dortmund manages to claw their way back out of the depths of the Bundesliga with a 3-2 win in Stuttgart. Dortmund looked better than their opposition in every regard, but still showed that they have a long way to go, Three Bundesliga wins in a row is what counts, though, and it´s a first all season in the Bundesliga for Dortmund. Stuttgart needs to make something happen, and they need to do it fast since they are the only team as of now which is more than one game away from the safe zone. Hertha BSC Berlin is the other team who is now on a sport for direct relegation after a 1-2 defeat at Wolfsburg. Paderborn won last week in somewhat surprising fashion in Hannover, but are right back down to earth after being crushed 0-6 by Bayern. Thanks to Freiburg only drawing Hoffenheim at home, Paderborn manage to stay away from sixteenth place which would mean a play off against 2. Bundesliga´s third place. Still quite a few games to go and only three points between 17th and 11th place, so this is long from being over. .
  6. Was a thrilling game, both teams came to score goals which made it very entertaining. I think IF Dortmund would go on a run, this is game which turned it around for them. Mainz got a very early lead, Dortmund answered with blazing guns but didn´t mention to equalize beforet the second half. After the break, guns blazing turned into tanks walzing. As soon as Dortmund scored the 2-1, Mainz just shifted gears it seemed and Dortmund occured to be visibly shaken for a few minutes, but they didn´t crumble, came back and won the game. I reccomend everyone checking out the third goal, fantastic pass by Marco Reus and a clever finish by Aubameyang. I apologize for the horrible music and quality. Today sees the derby of Moenchengladbach vs FC Koeln. Both clubs have a livid rivalry, often lots of bad blood among them. Hope that their will be no riots, but singing wars and an emphatic match. The other classic match up of today is Bayern and Hamburger SV, which is - as usual over the last few years - barely a classic historically. HSV however has won their matches of the last two matchdays and Bayern hasn´t been as dominant as they used to be or at least not as lethal with their dominance. Leverkusen host VFL Wolfsburg in today´s top match. A loss for Leverkusen would certainly cause trouble among the West-German squad who are currently sitting at sixth place.Also the teams of the hour meet: Werder Bremen plays FC Augsburg, Werder having a 4-0 run and Augsburg being unbeaten over the last four games, drawing their last match against Frankfurt and winning three before that. Looks like a fun day in the Bundesliga.
  7. In a surprising turn of events, Marco Reus signed a contract extension for Borussia Dortmund till 2019. The new contract doesn´t have 25-million-euro-clause like the last one had. Didn´t expect that, to be honest. I thought he was set to play somewhere else next season, whether it was Bayern or one of the big clubs outside the Bundesliga.
  8. Saw it aswell. It was like all the Africa Cup finals I have ever seen. Lots of physicality, lots of spirit, lots of defending and thousands of long distance shots which rarely came close and the occasional half chance. The PHs made up for the whole match with drama, some comically bad and some extradordinarily well taken kicks. The story around the Goalkeeper was quite something. Ivory Coast was so close on a number of occasions over the last few years. Good for them to finally win the damned thing again after 23 years.
  9. Bundesliga matchday 20 is almost concluded as of now with Augsburg leading Frankfurt at home 2-1. EDIT: it´s 2-2 now, thanks to Frankfurts goalscoring machine Alex Meier. Dortmund got their first win 2015 at Freiburg, winning by 3-0. Freiburg seemed absolutely abysmal and never seemed to be able to do anything while leaving much space for Dortmund. Reus and Aubameyang (2) scored the goals. Bayern won their away game in Stuttgart 2-0, wonderful shots from Robben and Alaba. Still not the Bayern performance one grew used to in 2014, but a deserved win thanks to individual class. Werder Bremen won their last four matches including 2-1 wins at home over Dortmund and Leverkusen. Since the change in their coaching staff after being winless after matchday 9 they got 22 out of 33 possible points. They are now sitting on 8th place. Even Hamburger SV won their match, the first time in two years they managed to win two in a row. Big wins for the Northern German teams who are battling relegation. Hertha won their first match after firing coach Jos Luhukay 2-0 at Mainz. Wolfsburg solidified second place with a 3-0 at home against Hoffenheim, two assists from the debuting André Schuerrle. FC Köln drew Paderborn at home with a 0-0, which is their fifth goalless draw in a home match this season.
  10. Glad to help and contribute, these topics here are give and take, in a pretty relaxed atmosphere and it´s always good to give something back with so many mainstays contributing so much good stuff. The frightening thing is just how uninspiring Dortmund LOOKED actually. They didn´t seem to develope anything at all to create stuff from what I saw (bits and pieces of the simulcast aswell as the final ten minutes). Some of their at one point great players like Gündogan, Reus and Sahin looked terrible and like they are totally lacking confidence. I get the feeling creeping up on me - and I hate to say it for he has done a hell of a job for 6 out of the 7 years - that Juergen Klopp might not be the right guy for this job as of now. Just as Zheroen said, there just doesn´t seem to be a plan B to take a turn in a different and better direction.
  11. It´s a mix of losing important players to other teams and injuries coupled with stubbornness in re: their playing style and a false sense of security, I´d say. First the players: Of course they had some incredible bad luck with a lot of key players not being there for a majority of the pre-season. Some even suffer from the dreaded "Post-World-Champion-Syndrome", which is often seen in players every four years. Most of Borussia´s world champions didn´t even get to play much, but maybe this is the actual problem. Most of Bayern´s World Cup Players were starters, therefore somewhat "World Class". Dortmund had Hummels, who was playing on a high level during the summer, but never really got into that form. He was out with injuries a lot. Großkreutz, Durm, Ginter (who came from Freiburg) and Weidenfeller all didn´t play a single minute while officially being part of the "23 men roster that was best of the world". I know it is a shot in the dark, but especially Großkreutz struck me as guy who was there for his hard work and who might let this get to his head. He has been atrocious all season up until now. Durm and Ginter are young and have every right to be inconsistent, but they are already needed and with lots of defenders out or off in regards to form they are a liability. Reus, who could have been the guy hungry and motivated after the injury right before the World Cup, got the same injury three times before the winter, the final injury putting him out in a game against Paderborn that might even had turned things around. Gündogan came back in the middle of the season, no real preperation etc. Lots of other players had problems with injuries aswell (Mhkitaryan, Subotic, Kuba, Pisczek, Sahin) or were the "new guys" who were still learning the system and playing style (Immobile, Ginter even "rusty" Kagawa to an extent). Then, system and playing style: Dortmund still tried to play the football they played successfully since Klopp took over in 2009 and it backfired horribly. Fast paced football with high pressure and 90 minutes of running only works if all your players are at 100%. And if the players are used to it and have adapted it already (which might be a reason why Immobile and Ginter had so much trouble so far). For the first ten or so games they only seemed to lack the finish, and it seemed accurate to blame it on the loss of Lewandowski. But then they even started lacking in the creational department and had so many individual howlers. Here I´d like to say that DfA´s golfer analogy is quite accurate imo. They never got off the ground when it came to finishing / finishing off games in the league (prime examples would be games against Hannover, Hamburg, Paderborn and Wolfsburg where they weren´t able to score or even finish off opponents). Overall it seemed more fitting to blame their losing streak on lack of fitness and later on lack of confidence, which came after the beginning of a first long winless spell. The Champions League seemed to be the competition where they got a little extra mileage out of the tank. But when you play some midtable teams in the Bundesliga, it seemed like all the weariness took its toll. And once they got into a bad stride, then the club itself (all its coaches, players, fans) and even opponents stated that they are "way better than their current spot in the Bundesliga table". I think up until Christmas they still thought to turn stuff around with a good winning streak and make Top 7 at least, if not Top 3. Judging from the approach of the Leverkusen game last Saturday, they might have realized they are battling relegation and this realization came not a day too soon. Trying to be defensively sound is the key. They haven´t managed to come back from being a goal down for a win at any point this season and this is a big weakness. Next step would be to overcome the problem of scoring goals, which is of course easier said than done. All this, however, I only believe to have "figured out" in retrospective. It will be great fun when the match against Augsburg tomorrow shatters all my "profund analysis".
  12. Wait for him to have the inevitable volatile periods for everyone to declare him the worst player in BPL. That assist was amazing, though. Bundesliga is having what us Germans call "English week". Today matchday 19 starts with - among others - Bayern vs Schalke. Poor Schalke having to play the woken hounds. Wolfsburg play at Frankfurt , Schuerrle will not be in the line-up which is understandable since he´s been with Wolfsburg for roughly 30 hours as of now.. Tomorrow will have last place Dortmund hosting in-form Augsburg at home as well as Paderborn vs Hamburg, who both had a very negative trend dropping points to direct relegation rivals in their first match after Christmas.
  13. Great win for Wolfsburg. I have a hard time seeing Bayern collapsing in the championship race, but it´s nice when domestic competition can show their vulnerability every once in a while. And Wolfsburg did just that, using their chances quite efficiently and defending Bayern´s attacks solidly apart from a short phase after Benats goal for 1-3 (which was a little bit of slapstick). Will be interesting to see what the rest of the league does today and tomorrow. There are a lot of questionmarks, especially in battle against relegation. Leverkusen will play Dortmund at home today, there wasn´t much talk out of Dortmund over the holidays and January, so it will be interesting to see how they will get out of the blocks. And it will be interesting to see if teams like Gladbach and Augsburg can keep up their good form this season after break.
  14. Wolfsburg supposedly paying up to 35 million Euro for André Schuerrle. As a club who once in the last five years made it to European competition. I love how a lot of Bundesliga fans always praise our domestic league as the financial fairplay paradise. Than again happy to see a player like Schuerrle in the Bundesliga. At least when if he gets back to his usual level. Bundesliga starts today with Wolfsburg vs Bayern, which is funnily enough the game of second vs first place aswell. Of course, as of the last three years it doesn´t really matter that much if Bayern plays against second or 18th place, but still, it is - technically - a big way to start the second phase of the Bundesliga.
  15. Ronaldo takes home his second Ballon D´or in a row (third in total), beating Messi and Neuer in the vote. Well deserved. On this year´s achievements and quality of play it should have been between him and Neuer in my opinion, but I´m only mildly surprised by it being CR7 and Messi atop of the vote. They are both more marketable, more established and more revered around the world than Neuer, therefore it was to be expected Bayern´s goalkeeper would take same place as Ribery the year before. Glad to see Mesut Özil returning from injury yesterday. Here´s hoping he will get back into the form he used to be in for the majority of his time at Real.
  16. To be fair, they have been a relegation zone them for a few weeks now themselves. And as of right now, they finally look like a team battling against relegation. There are no excuses anymore. Up until three games ago, if you saw their matches and heard somebody go "Well, they are playing decent, but individual mistakes, bad luck and bad finishing cost them many games...", you could believe them. The last two away games in Berlin and Bremen however were horrendous. Their attack looked abysmal, their defense somehow managed to look even worse. For weeks it looked as if both, Subotic and Ginter, were safety hazards in defense and things would be set straight once Hummels was at a good fitness level. Yesterday it was clearly Hummels who was the safety hazard after being back for quite a while now. It seems like he adapted after a great game at home against Hoffenheim and got into the form the team has instead of getting to be his best. I have the impression that nobody of the club has realized the danger the club is in up until now. Maybe a look at the last few games plus the 5 week football break will help them come to realizing it. 15 points out of 51 is a ratio that gets you relegated in any league of the world.
  17. Happened is the right word. I really have to say I´m disgusted with Bayern to the max. Dominating the league and winning almost every game in walkthrough fashion isn´t enough, they still get teams slipping up in the dieing minutes of the game to take three points in one of the very few games where they looked closer to defeat for a good sixty minutes. Okay, maybe not "losing", but Mainz didn´t give them anything and had the better chances up to that kick by Robben right in the 90th minute. Even for the last 30, when Bayern were applying the pressure, they didn´t really create any opportunity. Kind of feel sorry for Mainz, but in the end, it´s totally on them. They played a really good game, but passes like that one from Okazaki will mess you up against every team of the league. Well, aside from Dortmund atm, they would either miss an open goal or try to dribble the ball across the line instead of shooting.
  18. I´m biased, no question, but seeing Neuer´s way of defending long passes which are splitting Bayern´s midfield and back line apart makes me think he should get the FIFA Golden Ball coming January. With all the hyperbole in today´s sports media, his way of goalkeeping is indeed revolutionary. There have been quite a few goalkeepers who were good footballers since the backpass rule was inserted, but I have never seen one play the position like Neuer does, not even in one game, let alone as consistant as the Bayern No.1 did. Then again, Cristiano has been really great this season aswell and won the CL in summer after scoring a bazillion goals. So I guess it is indeed my bias, since it´s not only a German but also a goalkeeper (I was one during my youth days aswell) who is among the top three.
  19. Borussia Dortmund wins their home game against Hoffenheim in an intense opener of the Bundesliga´s 14th matchday. Their inability to score is still astonishing. Lots of good, some even great chances for Dortmund, but the scoreline was 1-0 in the end, thanks to an early Gündogan (flying) header. Early in the second half they got a goal disallowed which should have stood and I´m sure the Bundesliga officials will breath their sighes of relief after this didn´t lead to them dropping points like they did against Paderborn. Hoffenheim didn´t have their best day, they started out okay, but then looked to be out of it after about ten minutes. They weren´t able to recover after the goal and it was pretty much all Dortmund. Quick sidenote: Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is an amazing player, of course his athleticism is his trump card, but he is also really good with the ball and thinking quick on his feet.
  20. Arsenal is playing a good game against Dortmund and the match is generally entertaining. Still a little baffled how the linesman missed Sanogo´s offside, looked to have a pretty clear view. From how the game went from then on, the lead is deserving, although a draw would have been appropriate aswell as of now. Win was deserved aswell. Arsenal was one step ahead for the most of the match, Dortmund weren´t good at defending and didn´t create much up front. Maybe that means they will start winning in the league now? Watched the last half hour of Leverkusen vs Monaco. Nothing much to write about. Monaco are an ugly side to watch, but if you win you are right. Terrible week for the German teams. Kind of glad, though, after all the UEFA-5-year-thingy-talk over the last weeks whenever the teams performed well.
  21. Haha. Aside from the two horrible slip-ups in the end by two players who normally won´t make these kind of mistakes, this game is great at showing why nobody is beating Bayern in the domestic league. City are no slouches, they have a great set of players. They were unable, however, to control the game against Bayern who were missing many key players, the game had no particular meaning to them and they were down one man after twenty minutes aswell as one goal. This is NOT due to City being bad, I would say they took quite the fight to Bayern, but aside from the last 4-5 minutes, they were just not getting into the game the way they should have been after the goal. Kudos to City and Agüero especially who was great at taking his chances. Schalke, on the other hand, was just really really bad today from what I saw. Chelsea has been strong in BPL and if they have now found their groove in CL, they will certainly be a final four candidate, but you shouldn´t loose 0-5 at home to a side that is mostly known for being strong on the defensive end. The third goal was a prime example how they were hit by Murphy´s law today, when Santana, Höwedes and Kirchhoff bumped into each other with Kirchhoff heading into the own net.
  22. Poor Marco Reus. Another ankle injury - extent seems to be unclear up until now - left him being carried off the pitch in Dortmund´s match at Paderborn. Adding to the injury: Dortmund threw away a 2-0 lead in the 2-2 draw. They still can at least partially blame it on the refs, who disallowed a goal that easily should have standed when the result was 2-1. Right after that situation Paderborn pushed up the field and scored for the point. Gladbach, after being unbeaten for a while, lost their home game to Frankfurt after being up 1-0. Bayern beat Hoffenheim by 4-0 and should be able to win the league in cruise control right now. There is nobody to really trouble them and I really don´t see nearly enough match ups anymore to trouble them. They´ll maybe drop a few points here and there, but they are just too strong. Even with their fullbacks being badly injured, they are able to control matches and they basically keep their opponents from creating enough clear cut chances. If some opportunity drops the opposing teams way, there is still an extraordinary goalkeeper between the sticks. Wolfsburg ended their winning streak losing at Schalke in a very weird game. DiMatteo´s team went up 3-0 and everything seemed to work pretty well, but after 30 minutes the game suddenly changed and Schalke wasn´t able to switch the flip back to on. Wolfsburg was able to pull one back before half-time, then reduced the deficit. Even with quite a few chances at the end they couldn´t get the equalizer, though. Sunday will have the Northern German derby between Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen which in this year is a battle for points against relegation. It will probably be very heated, but I´m not really sure if it will be fun to watch. Both clubs have had quite limited quality over the last few years.
  23. Germany beat Spain in Vigo in the battle of the second stringers after a goalkeeping mistake by the subbed on Casilla (no typo there). Germany showed some good defending, especially the back line and the midfield-fullbacks looked quite decent. Kroos and Khedira - oddly enough being veterans - had somewhat weaker games, especially Kroos gave the ball away far too often. It´s the first victory for Germany over Spain in fourteen years and the first away victory for Spain since the 1982 World Cup. This also concludes the international season for Germany. The FIFA ethics commission thing is beyond belief. Incredible farce. But, to be honest, I don´t feel like anyone of us here expected anything else. FIFA is always acting like they were looking into things, analizing etc., just so they can ultimately flip the bird in everyone´s faces. And football fans like us, admitted, are stupid enough to watch the stuff anyway. The only way I can see myself NOT watching the World Cup´s 2018 and 2022 is if teams actually really start boycotting those tournaments.
  24. Definetly not alone on that one. I´m not sure if it is due to his playing style, form or a bit of both, but Kagawa looks like he is not yet really a part of the midfield. He looked like he hadn´t missed a beat in his first match back, but yesterday, while playing alright, he was the weakest of the midfielders. Same goes for the good BVB-performances in the Champions League matches. It will be interesting to see if Dortmund will get their act together in the Bundesliga right now.
  25. Dortmund finally broke their duck today. After a handful of good chances, they scored thanks to... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMls5_-FKmk Christoph Kramer. Greatest own goal I personally saw in a live match. Dortmund dominanted the game and deserved the win, but what ultimately got them three points was lady luck. Something they´d been missing in a lot of games this season. After Gladbach´s first loss, Wolfsburg takes the title of reigning "Bayern hunters". The team beat the Hamburger SV at home two goals to nothing. Bremen and Freiburg, who only recently won their first match this season, managed to get their second W right away with 2-0 victories at home. Bremen beat Stuttgart, Freiburg downed Schalke. Bayern aren´t slipping up so far. They won 4-0 at Frankfurt, being really effective for the first two thirds of the match, then picking Frankfurt apart in the latter stages.
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