Gunning4Chelsea
24 Aug 2006, 01:21 PM
First of all - I have seen both games this season, including the preseason one against the Spurs....
Second - why are you riding Ebi so much?....did he insult your sister or something....btw....during his time at Feyenoord....he sat on the pine mainly because of an injury that sidelined him for nearly 2 years.....check your facts chachi
Third - Posting long and profanity laced posts does not make you more passionate or right....
footyfan1
24 Aug 2006, 01:36 PM
why are you riding Ebi so much?....did he insult your sister or something....
Check his production (Or lack thereof, would be better) since week 14 of last season.
The guy has been pure crap for almost 22 consecutive matches now and you ask me why I'm riding him so much??
If you have to ask me that question again, just don't ask me anything anymore.
footyfan1
25 Aug 2006, 07:43 AM
right - because Rosicky's inability to score or make the last pass in the first 20 games last season had nothing do with our poor form or odonkor's futile runs on - which 8/10 times produced one the worst crosses ever seen or a misguided shot attempt at side netting....oh...nevermind that Brzenska was getting burned repeatedly - even by the likes of Hanke or Klimowicz!....not tom mention....the Delron Buckley - who in two seasons went from the best left winger in BL to the worst....
You should be on our e-mail list. Those guys get it from me and everyone else too. I call Brzenska "overrated" because he is, but he's not what you're trying to make him out to be here. What? Did you only see that one match??
Buckley? Yeah, he didn't score any goals last season. And since we signed Frei and Valdez, we've been waiting for him to be shipped out, which he has been!
I've also been telling everyone that Matthew Amoah hasn't really done anything to justify us having confidence in him. Personally, I would have rather kept Buckley. At least Buckley HAS scored in the Bundesliga before. But I understand BvM kept the player he knew better and the club kept the player with the higher potential and lower salary.
Wait. Odonkor's runs resulted in his hitting the side netting 8 out of 10 times?
That has to be the most idiotic thing you've said in all of this!
I think you destroyed any credibility you had right there!
Maybe Odonkor's "hitting the side netting 8 out of 10 times" (your words) is why Juergen Klinsmann took Odonkor to the World Cup and why Odonkor is one of Germany's new young HEROES!
Maybe that's exactly why the comination of Odonkor and Neuville teamed up so well to beat Poland!
Maybe that was because Odonkor finally played with a striker who could actually put one of his crosses into an open net!
Now, it seems to me you are just going to continue to turn a blind eye to the plethora of sitters Smolarek missed in the second half of last season, many of which cost us matches!!!
Even EBI SMOLAREK HIMSELF has said he doesn't know how the hell he's missing these chances!! He knows full well why he's on the bench and at least he's working to try to change that. I give him credit for that, but the bottom line is that when the money was on the line, he was crap and he had the most important job in the offense.
The job which he failed at miserably when we needed it the most!
And what's this bullshit you're talking about our defense?? (Brzenska being burned "repeatedly")
You need to get your facts straight man. Our defense was number six in the Bundesliga last season. Bayern won the title and we only gave up ten more goals than they did! Hamburg gave up the fewest goals and we only gave up twelve more goals than they did.
Our defense only gave up more than two goals in a match THREE TIMES last season and you're sitting there talking about them like they sucked or something!
Leverkusen finished in a direct UEFA Cup spot and they gave up more than two goals in a match the exact number of times we did.
They just scored a hell of a lot more than we did!
Hertha finished ahead of us in that Intertoto Cup spot and they gave up more than two goals in a match FOUR TIMES last season!!
Our problem was inability to finish.
Not inability to create chances
Not inability to stop the opponent
Not inability to function with the match on the line
Our main problem was inability to finish and your boy Ebi was the main culprit.
Hell, we were 11th in the Bundesliga in goal-scoring last season. Two of the relegated teams scored more goals than we did! A lot of that was the strikers' inability to put away sure goal chances.
And the most guilty one was Smolarek!
You continue to scream about his 13 goals. Yes, I appreciate those. However, you can count the number of times Ebi Smolarek scored when we truly needed it last season on one hand!
To me, 13 goals in a 34 match season is not impressive when you score ten of them in the first 11 weeks and just three the other 23 freakin' weeks!
Maybe you can turn a blind eye to that shit or tell yourself it was everyone else's fault, but I can't.
You whine about how the rest didn't do anything. Our most important goals last season came from the midfield and the freakin' defense.
You cry about Rosicky and Odonkor.
Their jobs in BvM's offense isn't to score goals. Their jobs are to set up the strikers, which they were doing WELL!
The strikers, especially Smolarek, were just rotten at finishing when the team needed it! That's why Valdez and Frei were bought!
We saw what finishing was when Jan Koller returned for the final day in Munich. Where that was from him the previous three years, we don't f#cking know!
The team was pretty damned good that day. Including Ebi. But he sure as hell missed at least sitters that could have won us the match. I saw them. I was there.
That's why BvM benched his ass with about 10 minutes left for Amoah.
After week twelve of last season, it seemed Ebi couldn't hit the ocean if he fell off a cruise ship in the middle of it.
And he's shown nothing in his two appearances this season to suggest that has changed.
The new guys aren't doing anything either, but we feel they will. Smolarek has been shit going on a full season now and again, he's shown nothing that suggests he'll come out of it.
I know, I know. Maybe he just needs a goal. Yeah. That's what I thought last season about Buckley and about Smolarek in the second half of the season.
I thought, "Just one goal and Ebi will be firing them in again."
Well, that goal came in the 4-2 victory at HSV. And he then proceeded to play his worst football of the season until the final match in Munich!
Maybe you can turn a blind eye to that shit, but I can't.
And you are dead wrong on Rosicky. He didn't score a lot, but he sure as hell had more success WHEN THE TEAM NEEDED IT last season than Ebi Smolarek did!
That game in Hamburg when Smolarek finally found the net again? Yeah, Ebi got the first goal, but then we went behind 2-1. We needed Ebi again.
He was nowhere to be found as far as a scoring threat. But he did help out.
You talked shit about Rosicky earlier, but Rosicky tied that match, before Kringe scored a damned DREAM GOAL to give us the lead and Rosicky put it away on a breakaway.
Ebi definitely helped in that match, but earlier you talked about Rosicky as if he didn't do shit last season.
Rosicky may not have had a double-digit scoring total, but when the team needed him, he stepped up in the final phase of last season.
Well, except for Hannover, :o but we won anyhow thanks to the captain, Christian Woerns!
Your boy didn't step up at all after Hamburg. I wondered why BvM kept playing him.
And I know why. BvM had the same thought I did. "Ebi just needs one goal and he'll start firing them in again........"
nice - you are right! Ebi is complete garbage
I said he's been crap since the second half of last season.
And yes, since then, he has been complete garbarge!
Now you're sounding like a complete crybaby.
...his 13 goals should be erased from the history books forever...he is the reason - we are in the middle of the table every year now.......but much to your dismay - FC Zurich is not going to get him....
Do you need a tissue oh whiny one??
Damn. My little girl doesn't cry this much when I make fun of her favorite boy bands!
Nobody said "he's the reason we're middle of the table". You put that one out there.
However, with the points we lost due to sitters he missed last season, we would have been in the damned UEFA Cup!
You cry about everyone else, but they didn't miss those sitters. EBI SMOLAREK DID!!
I'll give you three cases near the end of the season where Ebi Smolarek missing sitters cost us three points.
Week 28 at Gladbach: We lost 2-1. Smolarek missed at least three 100% sitters in this match.
Why I remember this match so much is because it's the last one I saw a recording of before I left the USA.
No, Ebi wasn't the only one who had a bad match. Odonkor did too, but Odonkor didn't miss the sitters created by Rosicky, who had a pretty good match that day. Perhaps Rosicky was buoyed by those two goals he scored in Hamburg the previous week. I don't know, but Rosicky played damned well that day and set up Smolarek with some nice chances.
However, Ebi Smolarek missed those sitters. And I'm being nice when I say there were at least three of them. If my memory serves me correctly, there were a couple more.
Smolarek was so bad that BvM finally had to take him off with about ten minutes to go and hope that Salvatore Gambino could do something.
Why was this match so important? If we'd won, we would have leapfrogged Leverkusen and gone into 6th place with Leverkusen coming to Dortmund the next weekend.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he should have only made one of them. That's still a point. We would have been tied with Leverkusen for sixth place with them coming in the next weekend.
BTW, who scored our goal that day when we needed it the most?? Tomas freakin' Rosicky.
Week 29 v. Leverkusen in Dortmund: This was the first match I got to see after my return to Germany. Again, we lost 2-1 and Ebi had the tying and/or winning goals on his foot more than twice in that match.
Who scored our goal? Markus effin' Brzenska about five minutes after Berbatov (That f#cker always seems to score against us!) gave them the lead.
Again, Ebi blew enough sitters for us to win the match. No benefit of the doubt this time. We should have had the three points because he should have EASILY had two goals.
That would have put us at 41 points, two points behind Hertha BSC for fifth place.
What's the next match? Ah, that would be:
Week 30, at Hertha BSC Berlin: Let's see, how can "Gunning" blame the defense for this one?
HE CAN'T!! The match finished as a 0-0 draw!
Why do I remember this one so well? Because we should have been crushed in the first 50 minutes of this match, but we still had chances to take the lead or win.
That and the biggest Smolarek fan I know wanted to jump through the screen and wring his effin' neck!
In this match, Berlin were the ones who missed a bunch of sitters, but as I watched it at the pub, even my friend Mariusz, who I mentioned as the biggest Smolarek fan I know, was cursing Smolarek at the end of that match because again, Smolarek had three points on his boot more than once and found amazing ways to miss the net.
I still sit with Mariusz in that pub in Erlangen and drink beer. I tell him what I think of Smolarek and he says, "I think you are very harsh towards him, but you do not lie."
Yes, I am very harsh toward him. He earned every bit of my scorn. But as Mariusz says, "I do not lie."
Back to that match. We take those three points and we go up to fifth place at 44 points which would have been two more than Bayer Leverkusen.
Those are just a few of the matches where Ebi Smolarek's amazing sitter missing directly cost us points in my opinion!
That's seven more points we should have had except for him missing sitters! With those seven points, we would have been in the UEFA Cup! And that's giving him the benefit of the doubt in one of the matches!
Again, those are not the ONLY MATCHES I can point to where his missing sitters cost us points!
Now let's give him a bit of praise.
This is not his fault at all, but you would think five of his goals would have won us some points?
This is the only time I blame the other offensive players and the defense.
This is where Ebi Smolarek carried the team.
Five of his goals in two matches won us one point. He scored twice when we lost to Bremen 3-2. Again, not his fault, Bremen were just a better side.
And again in the 3-3 draw at Kaiserslautern. Our defense and midfield just could not seem to stop Sanogo and Altintop. Kaiserslautern should have won that match with the sitters they missed. Altintop missed more than Ebi that day.
If I really hated Smolarek, I could scream about the sitters he missed in the second half of that match too, but he carried the club to the point that day. That's what I remember.
But let's take a look at what his goals got us last season.
Match 1: @ Wolfsburg - He scored the first goal of the match. Koller put us up 2-1 and the defense gave it away right near the end.
1 point credited because of Smolarek's goals: Although it was Koller's goal that gave us the draw. Without Smolarek's goal, we would have lost.
Match 2: Scheisse 04 - Smolarek scored our only goal on a clear handball and shot into the net. Scheisse answered back with two to win.
0 points credited, 1 total
Match 5: @ Bremen - Already mentioned. 0 points credited, 1 total
Match 6: Bielefeld - We won 2-0. Smolarek's was an insurance goal in the 83rd minute after we were already up 1-0 on a Koller goal. We would have won the match anyhow. No points credited.
0 points credited, 1 total
Match 9: @ Kaiserslautern - Already mentioned. Without his goals, we get slaughtered.
1 point credited, 2 total
Match 11: Gladbach - We beat Gladbach 2-1. Kehl scored the opener, Smolarek scores an insurance goal in the 90th minute and we give up a goal not a minute later. Three points credited because we couldn't keep the clean sheet.
3 points credited, 5 total
Match 13: Hertha - His best match of the season after Kaiserslautern. We win 2-0, he scores both, definitely 3 points credited.
3 points credited, 8 total
Match 18: Wolfsburg - The club he's made a career on scoring against. He and Rosicky were both freakin awesome in this match. We won 3-2. Ebi scored the second goal that put us up 2-1 at the time. Woerns scored our first goal and Gambino scored the winner. But without Ebi's goal, Gambino's is not the winner, so another three points credited.
3 points credited, 11 total
Match 27: HSV - We win 4-2 as mentioned earlier in this posting. Ebi scored the opening goal of the match. It was the Rosicky and Kringe show after that. Kehl also had an outstanding match as did Ebi.
However, even without his goal, we win. No points credited.
0 points credited, 11 total
Guess what? With seven more matches to go in the season and European competition for this season on the line, SMOLAREK NEVER FINDS THE NET AGAIN!!!!!
I can credit 11 BVB points last season to his 13 goals. I can take away seven points just in three matches I chose due to time constraints. Want me to give you a quick rundown on a couple of the others?
He cost us more than he won us last season.
Let's see, there was also the Munich at home match in week 17 that we lost 2-1 that he had at least two goals on his foot and blew.
There was the Frankfurt match at home (Week 33) where he had one of the most stunning misses I've ever seen in my life. There were at least two or three more in that match. There were a couple in the match in Munich on the final day (I was there) where we could have ruined Bayern's championship party.
Even giving him the benefit of the doubt in those, that makes 13 points lost I can directly link to Ebi Smolarek's inability to finish when the team needed it the most.
And what sucks is that there are more, but I have to get back to work too.
One thing you keep harping on that is true also makes my point here if you allow me to look at it another way.
You keep harping on how much BvM likes Ebi. That's true. Hell, I still "like" him, I'm just disappointed and angry at him for not showing up when we needed him the most.
Anyhow, BvM may "like" Ebi, but how hard is it to figure out that we got two starting-caliber strikers for this season, instead of just one because Ebi Smolarek didn't do his job when the club needed him the most??
This is not just my opinion! The FACTS back it up!
I'm not some guy who hates Ebi Smolarek just to hate him.
HELL, I DON'T HATE HIM! I ALMOST BOUGHT HIS SHIRT LAST SEASON DESPITE HIS SLUMP!!
I wish he'd start scoring again!!
Hell, even if Ebi starts scoring again and Valdez gets benched, I'll HAPPILY sit here and say:
"Yes Gunning, YOU TOLD US SO!"
I WOULD BE ECSTATIC IF WE HAVE TO DO THAT!!!
However, again, Smolarek has done nothing to show that will be the case.
Why can I write all of this? Because I'd already written all of this after last season to another friend who, like you, thought for some reason I hate Ebi Smolarek. Most of it was simply copy and paste.
Hell, we had the same problem the previous two seasons with Jan Koller. But at least Koller was a bit more consistent.
This is not hate toward Smolarek. It's total disappointment. Complete and utter disappointment.
BvM likes him and is giving him a shot at starting XI....
I know BvM likes him. Tell me something I don't already know.
However, as far as BvM "giving him a shot at starting XI", yeah, that's not a shock. Everyone at training has a shot at the starting XI under BvM. :rolleyes:
However, if you think BvM is going to start Smolarek over Valdez or Frei in the coming weeks outside of the DFB Pokal, you must have sources that www.borussia-dortmund.de doesn't. You see, I'm one of the translators for the club's offical English page.
Every thing we've seen from the club suggests that BvM feels the same way that most of us do about Frei and Valdez. Meaning, they just need time to get it going. If there's going to be a new starter in the lineup coming up, it's Tinga, not Smolarek.
"jonam" is the best source for BVB facts outside the club that I know. I don't know anyone who loves the club more than him.
The fact that even he thinks your little wish is pure fantasy tells me all I need to know.
Because, you see, BvM kept faith with Smolarek all last season. Not that he had much choice, but he did. And Smolarek disappointed him. Hence, our having to pick up two strikers instead of just one.
Now, with two World Cup caliber strikers on board, I think BvM is thinking the same way most of us are. Use Ebi as a dangerous weapon off the bench. Which would be perfect if Ebi can find his form of the first 11 weeks of last season again.
However, again, he's done nothing to suggest that's going to happen. Nobody doubts Ebi Smolarek's work ethic. The problem Ebi has there is that Valdez' work ethic is just as strong as Smolarek's. I think Ebi is the better overall PLAYER, but we need goals and there my confidence, as well as seemingly BvM's goes with Valdez right now.
If Valdez and/or Frei go another match or two without scoring, THEN I think you might see Smolarek start a match. Other than that, I think his ass is going to remain planted firmly to that bench until about the 70th minute of each match.........
sadly - footyfan - you sound like one of those disgruntled drunken fans at the pub
And sadly you sound like a little girl who cries when someone makes fun of her favorite boy band.
Now, do you want to continue the mud-slinging or shall we get it back to footballing facts?
I can do it whichever way you want to........ :mad:
As you said before, my long, profanity filled rants don't make me anymore passionate or anymore right.
It's just the way I choose to express myself at times. I tried to be a bit more level here, but honestly, some of the dumbass comments you made pissed me off.
I love to chat about my favorite club with those who care about the club as much as I do.
However, it seems your motivation here isn't any love of BVB, but a love of Ebi Smolarek and you can't stand it when someone speaks of him in "less than glowing terms."
I think you either need to get over that or just ignore my posts. Because as long as the facts back me up, I'll post whatever I want. I don't deal in fantasy or fan worship and I have no time for either one.
Trust me, when, and I sincerely hope it is "when" Ebi Smolarek starts to find the net again, I'll give him all the praise he's due.
But since week 11 of last season, the guy has been mostly crap. The facts back that up. I don't have to tone that down for you or anyone else.
And I will not.
lemons
25 Aug 2006, 02:55 PM
Two things:
1) Keith, that is by far the longest post I have ever read on BigSoccer.
2) We all need to calm down. Let's talk about the Stuttgart match tomorrow, and not Ebi Smolarek.
Go Dortmund.
KUBI_nu11
25 Aug 2006, 08:29 PM
Dam, its crazy in here :eek:
Anyway, before I read everything lets make it simple:
Tomorrow Alexander Frei needs to score and Dortmund to win. It seems simple in theory and it won't be but basically the 2 new strikers of BVB need to react...
footyfan1
26 Aug 2006, 07:13 AM
Dam, its crazy in here :eek:
Anyway, before I read everything lets make it simple:
Tomorrow Alexander Frei needs to score and Dortmund to win. It seems simple in theory and it won't be but basically the 2 new strikers of BVB need to react...
EXACTLY!!!
footyfan1
26 Aug 2006, 07:22 AM
Keith has done it again. haha great stuff even though I didn't read it all. Simplicity is the best medicine. A win for Dortmund no matter how pretty or ugly. Start building the confidence and the wins will come.
I think Kubi had it right. Frei needs to score. That will get not only him, but Valdez going too. Honestly, I think if either one finally scores, the other will build from it.
Hell, I think if SMOLAREK scores, that would be even better! It would show the other two that they have competition.
And if Ebi Smolarek can find that form again, they do have some competition. Boy do they.
However, again, we need to score to win. We have one goal in two matches and that from a young defender who was in the 2. Liga last season.
Our strikers should be ashamed. And they have to start scoring TODAY!
footyfan1
26 Aug 2006, 07:24 AM
Two things:
1) Keith, that is by far the longest post I have ever read on BigSoccer.
2) We all need to calm down. Let's talk about the Stuttgart match tomorrow, and not Ebi Smolarek.
Go Dortmund.
I'm sorry guys. But "Gunning" pissed me the f#ck off........
I just decided to give him the facts, that's all. :)
Vfbstuttgartfan
26 Aug 2006, 07:27 AM
1) Keith, that is by far the longest post I have ever read on BigSoccer.
3600 something words according to my Microsoft Word :)
I actually did read the whole thing, don't know why, but i did. Footyfan made some really good points in it, though, needless to say, i do wish Smolarek would play against VfB from the first minute onwards ;)
Anyway, here's how VfB will play today:
---------Hildebrand
Tasci---Meira---Delpierre--Magnin
------------Pardo----------------
Hilbert-------------------Bierofka
-------Gentner/Farnerud
---JDT/Gomez------Cacau
Tasci will be making his first start for the senior side taking suspended Osorio's and injured Beck's place. Other changes from Bielefeld are Gentner or Farnerud in place of suspended Da Silva and Gomez may play instead of Tomasson as it's not sure whether Jon Dahl will be recovered from his little injury to play.
footyfan1
26 Aug 2006, 07:37 AM
3600 something words according to my Microsoft Word :)
As I said, a lot of it was already done from a mail I sent to a friend after last season who thought I was just "hating" on Ebi Smolarek.
The fact of the matter is, the rest of the team was doing it's job at the end of last season. Our strikers just sucked.
Not just him, but as I said, he was the main culprit.......
And as I also said, if Smolarek comes on and fires us to a win today in Stuttgart, I'd still be F#CKING HAPPY - F#CKING ECSTATIC to come on this board and say:
YES "GUNNING", YOU TOLD US SO!!
I would love to do that....
I truly mean that.
I just want to win, I don't care who gets us there. I would even LOVE IT if it were Ebi Smolarek.
I think I'd love it even more because he helped us through the bad times...... :)
footyfan1
26 Aug 2006, 07:39 AM
[QUOTE=Vfbstuttgartfan]Anyway, here's how VfB will play today:
---------Hildebrand
Tasci---Meira---Delpierre--Magnin
------------Pardo----------------
Hilbert-------------------Bierofka
-------Gentner/Farnerud
---JDT/Gomez------Cacau
[QUOTE]
Still a nice side. My man Cacau worries me...... :)
david29
26 Aug 2006, 11:48 AM
Not a bad night's work. Big match against HSV next Saturday, hopefully this'll put us in good shape. In the meantime, I think I'll just bask in the fact that we've finally cracked it for a goal at the Gottlieb-Daimler. And then some....