2013-2014 Bundesliga Match Day 26: Hannover 96 v Borussia Dortmund [R]

bvbSlash · Mar 22, 2014

SirManchester said: ↑

Miki will have a huge task of dropping deep to support CM's but once again the main task will fall to Lewandowski who will be asked to be creator, presser and goal outlet as well.
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If we lose by 2 goals in Madrid, Lewandowski will not be able to get us out of that gigantic hole. Unless Miki picks up a red, he will play the full 180 min. Make no mistake that every player has a HUGE task at hand. Its just that Mik's is even more so. Sounds poetic but he will have to be our Steven Gerrard over those 2 matches.

swit0539 · Mar 22, 2014

How was Kirch?

SirManchester · Mar 22, 2014

bvbSlash said: ↑

If we lose by 2 goals in Madrid, Lewandowski will not be able to get us out of that gigantic hole. Unless Miki picks up a red, he will play the full 180 min. Make no mistake that every player has a HUGE task at hand. Its just that Mik's is even more so. Sounds poetic but he will have to be our Steven Gerrard over those 2 matches.
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absolutely. true test of mental character of team but more importantly tactical nous of Klopp and team. Let's see if this system is reliable enough to carry team without some key players. I am skeptical of course as I've said for two years now but even if Dortmund crash out, the excuse will continue to be lack of first teamers, etc.

I will be shocked if Dortmund go through. Shocked.

heynckes' hanging leftnut · Mar 24, 2014

bvbSlash said: ↑

Fully agree with what you're saying. But I think what we are all trying to get at here is that Miki has a wide range of attributes that would be very useful against a Madrid side that attacks down the flanks but can also be a threat down the middle. Furthermore, they are no longer a team afraid of playing against a team that presses in their 3rd of the pitch.

Remember Marcelo likes to venture forward. Catch him on the break and you've created a great opportunity to counter attack and we need Reus and Miki to make those few chances count.
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bvbSlash said: ↑

Well think about it. Klopp will likely have Sahin drift out wide to support Durm against Bale or Ronaldo, fairly straight forward and something he was tasked to do against Hulk. Reus will be playing further forward on the left so he cant cut in and run at Pepe, something a lot of wide AMs do. KG will likely play in the right so he can drop deep to help Piczszek against Ronaldo or Bale, something he should be fairly used to. Kehl....well all he has to do is make sure he doesn't humiliate himself or the rest of the squad by not being run over in midfield; he isn't being asked to do something he never has. Sokratis has to play like Neven did last year, which is focus on just being a rock in the heart of defence because only Hummels will be allowed to venture forward so he can find Reus and whoever the striker is...an understanding both these centerbacks can and should develop over the next couple of weeks.

So that just leaves Miki. He is more mobile than Alonso and even Modrid, almost as good defensively as Khedira. He will have to drop deep to help Kehl and form a compact midfield along with Sahin, make box to box runs because he is playing in the hole after all and he will have to pull defenders along with Reus when high up the pitch, a tactic he deployed to score a lot of goals when playing for Donetsk. Everybody knows he isn't as good as Gotze but he has a wider set of skills than him. He has more stamina, speed, defensive acumen...attributes Gotze lacks but managed to get away with at Dortmund because he had Sahin in his prime or Gundogan and Bender behind him.

What happens if Miki doesn't show up? Well Kehl will get run over in midfield as it'll likely become 3 vs 1 or 3 vs 2 in that zone of the pitch. The striker (Auba, Duksch or even Reus) will become completely isolated. Sokratis and Hummels will sliced wide open. Sahin will likely drift back into the middle and give Ronaldo or Bale license to get into dangerous positions to score. And they will score...a lot.

So my argument still stands. If Miki doesn't show up, we don't stand a chance.
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Dude..all good in theory. But in practice - will it proceed like this? That depends on who gets to the ball first, who moves smarter, who thinks more clearly on the day and..etc. How did your outlook for barcelona for yesterday match up with what happened? It is called the real world; not theory.

That is why it is 50/50 for me. Real madrid has not played bvb this season in a CL knockout match. We dont know how they will react . I have a strong hunch that bvb will play the games of their season against them (the dynamic from last season is a reason for this). Trust me - it is experience of the club over the years and of the last two years in the CL of this particular group of players that tells me this. And that is why there is a 50/50 chance of going through. Just wait and see if you don't want to believe it.

By the way, i think it is very, very good that the revierderby is not right before this match. Over this CL-campaign and the last, this group has almost always dropped points on either side of a CL-match.

bvbSlash · Mar 24, 2014

heynckes' hanging leftnut said: ↑

Dude..all good in theory. But in practice - will it proceed like this? That depends on who gets to the ball first, who moves smarter, who thinks more clearly on the day and..etc. How did your outlook for barcelona for yesterday match up with what happened? It is called the real world; not theory.

That is why it is 50/50 for me. Real madrid has not played bvb this season in a CL knockout match. We dont know how they will react . I have a strong hunch that bvb will play the games of their season against them (the dynamic from last season is a reason for this). Trust me - it is experience of the club over the years and of the last two years in the CL of this particular group of players that tells me this. And that is why there is a 50/50 chance of going through. Just wait and see if you don't want to believe it.
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That's the thing man, I want to believe but I don't know who else will get injured at BVB or if Carlo will field Di Maria out wide for Madrid. I am basing my analysis on what I have seen Madrid do more often than not this season and how they tried to play us last year....all 4 times.

heynckes' hanging leftnut · Mar 24, 2014

And In the end they were well beaten last year. Trust me

This prediction IS affected by the personnel, so the injuries have brought it down to 50/50. If bvb had the first choice team right now, i would have said the chance of going through is 65/35 (or something in that range).