Unglaublich... ...just as Uli Hesse says on his post this week. With 9 games left we were in 17th place & I, for one, was worried & not especially confident. Lakic hadn't done too much this spring, and while Tiffert's season as a playmaker was probably only bettered by Sahin, he couldn't do it alone. Then Lakic scored 5 goals in the final 6 games, Tiffert had 8 assists in the final 8 games, Kevin Trapp went in goal for the final 9 games, we won 4 of our final 5 away games, 5 total in April, 7 of the last 10 & the final four in a row. Whew! We weathered a 5-game losing streak, 5-1 & 5-0 away defeats to Bayern & BVB, and then climbed up 10 places in the table in the final 9 games. Watching the Champions League someone eventually brings up the plan Barcelona (there are others, to be sure) have, which is to peak at two different parts of the season, including of course the stretch run. Obviously Marco Kurz has taken these ideas on board & executed them perfectly. And what probably made the difference between finishing 7th rather than the playoff place or lower, is beating Bayern, pasting Scheisse 5-0 & drawing w/BVB -- all at home. Take away those 7 points going into the final 10 games & it could've been a very different story. Those 7 points gave us not only a cushion, but enough confidence to roar home. Minus those 7 points we'd have finished 15th, but take away those 7 points & with 9 games to go we'd have been 18th, 4 points behind Gladbach. No way we'd have survived that. So hats off to Marco Kurz. He's put us in a position to solidify our place in the 1. Bundesliga. Finishing 7th should mean we can attract a capable replacement for Lakic, and attract more players on par with Tiffert (well, maybe not that good) and ideally finish in the top 10 again. How much teams spend usually = their position in the table. For Kaiserslautern this season, average attendance correlates exactly with our place in the table. Fussballgott willing, we can, in due time, climb up to fifth in both. Over the longer term? I don't know how much debt 1FCK still carries from the bad old days. But if ever that's paid off, we should have enough income from 46,000 average attendance + TV money to eventually compete for Europa League places, and dream of even better days. But first, consolidate & solidify. I'll be happier than a pig in shit if we can make it into the top 10 again. It's taken as given that the 2nd season is the hardest for promoted teams. But I'll let Uli have the last word (as he commented below the story linked to above) on that:
Re: Unglaublich... Uli Hesse does an excellent job covering the BL. He has over 200 columns archived on soccernet. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/soccernet/feature/archive/_/columnist/20/uli-hesse-archive?cc=5901
Re: Unglaublich... Yea, I am familiar w/ his works. I do read him time from time. Thanks for the insight.
Anyone know if this is one for the future or a very hopeful punt on Lakic's replacement? And are we still in tons of debt thanks to the early '00s financial "irregularities?" I would hope/think that a year of 45,000/home game + TV money might help us afford an experienced, proven goal-scorer. Can anyone here share some inside information? If so, I'd be grateful.
So far Kaiserslautern only signed Richard Sukuta-Pasu, a 21 years old central striker, and Olcay Sahan, a 24 years old winger. The rumors discussed at transfermarkt.de are Gil Vermont, a 25 years old offensive midfielder currently playing for Haifa (Israel) Itay Schechter, a 24 years old central striker also playing for Haifa Stipe Bacelic-Grgic, a central midfielder from Sibenik (Croatia), Konstantinos Fortounis, a 18 years old striker from Asteras Tripolis (Greece), Aristide Bancé, the former Mainz striker currently plays in Qatar, and a return of striker Halil Altintop after Frankfurts relegation is discussed, too. From these rumors Altintop and Bancé are BL proven and Schechter proved himself as a scorer in the Israeli league and last years CL group stage. Thus the players are also connected with other clubs.
Both Vermont and Schechter are in Kaiserslautern for training. The deal is basically done, except there have been some internal problems at Haifa that have prevented the deal from being official. Both players were given permission to "visit" but are not signed yet.
Yes, thank you both for the update. Bancé would be worth a punt, though he's hardly played the past two years. Shechter looks more promising. Let's hope he's ready to step up. For what it's worth, Wikipedia says Schecter's been given the #9 by 1FCK. If that were true, it would be a pretty good indication that he's considered the replacement for Lakic. I don't care who does it, we just need 15 goals from someone.
Bad news for 1. FC Kaiserslautern, who will be without Adam Nemec for around three months after the striker suffered a heavy fall from a cherry tree in his garden. Nemec fractured two thoracic vertebrae, broke his collarbone and was also concussed in the accident. He will undergo surgery for the collarbone injury at the Westpfalz University Hospital. Lengthy recovery process The 1. FC Kaiserslautern medical department estimates that the 25-year-old Slovak international should be back in team training in approximately three months if the damage heals without complications. Nemec made 24 Bundesliga appearances for the Red Devils last season, scoring three goals. He has also racked up 62 games (15 goals) in the 2. Bundesliga for FCK and Erzgebirge Aue. He moved to the Betzenberg from Belgium's KRC Genk in the summer of 2009.
I've heard of contracts where players are forbidden to engage in any number of dangerous activities, but apparently we need to add Kirschbaum-climbing to that list. Bad news, thanks for sharing. For those not interested, Nemec means "German" in Slovak (and Czech.) There's got to be a pun in there somewhere.
As shown in this kicker article, the German Football League (DFL) has made changes to Bundesliga match day 6. The Rheinland-Pfalz Derby between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and 1. FSV Mainz 05 will now be played on Saturday, September 17th. Kickoff at Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter Stadion will be at 6:30 PM CET. The scheduled match between Europa League participants and current Bundesliga 2nd place team Hannover 96 and defending Bundesliga Champions Borussia Dortmund, has been moved to Sunday, September 18th. Kickoff at Hannover's AWD Arena will be at 3:30 PM CET.
I was a high school exchange student in the late 80s in Heidelberg. I was recently scanning some negatives recently and came across this photo. Awesome jersey, and I think his name is Olli. You can't mess with the (Kur)pfalz!
Lovely win today to get us off the bottom. Can only look up from here. Not sure if we can produce performances like today, but I will lift my glass fur die roten teufel today
Should have gotten more out of that match. Tiffert played especially well in the first half. When you have a team as talented as Stuttgart on the ropes as we did in the first half you HAVE to take advantage of it.
The game was incredibly frustrating to watch, especially knowing that Lakic, or maybe even Iličević, could've put one of those chances away. Looks like Kuntz has bet the house on Shechter, without realizing that Shechter is but one number on a roulette wheel. But it's going to have to be Shechter, if anyone, because it ain't gonna be Sukuta-Pasu. The man perpetually looks like he's about to fall over and makes poor decisions with the ball, dribbling into dead ends or failing to make the pass. Surely someone, anyone, with more composure on the ball was available on loan. Zweite Liga awaits. Out went Lakić & Iličević, in came six players, none of whom with significant Bundesliga experience.