1899 Hoffenheim 08/09 thread [R]

[footyfan1]

maybe they want to be the "new" Kaiserlautern? However they are a pleasure to watch


IMO, Hoffenheim definitely looks better than FCK did back in 97-98.......

[schumi26]

even when i really dont like the project of them. But big respect what Rangnick and Peters doing in the Kraichgau:eek:.
A small Village want empire the Throne of Germany. A dream in Sinsheim which maybe coming true. ;)

[FCMN]

I'm more and more impressed by this team. How far do you guys think they can go? Is this ever happened in the Bundesliga?

[berloha]

I'm more and more impressed by this team. How far do you guys think they can go? Is this ever happened in the Bundesliga?


Yes. Kaiserlautern came from the 2nd division 97/98 and later they finished as German Champion.

[schumi26]

Yes. Kaiserlautern came from the 2nd division 97/98 and later they finished as German Champion.

I should say no because lautern was before the relegation the whole time in the 1st division. The work of Rehhagel in the Season was the key that he made it to the championship. But Hoffenheim is a complete newbie in the 1st Division. If they win the championship that would be a much bigger sensation than the win of Lautern. And look at the squad. There are no stars and expensive players there.

[Projekt4]

Let's wait and see.

Karlsruhe was in 4th place until matchday 14 last season. On matchday 10, they had exactly the same number of points as Hoffenheim has today, the only difference being how comparably disfunctional Bayern, Bremen and partly Hamburg are this season.

[berloha]

Well,

Hoffenheim deserved to loose against one team and that was against Leverkusen. The draw against Stuttgart was lucky for the guests, and even in Bremen we could have won. I think we hit the bar at least two times in this great game.

The boys being on top ? Fully deserved ! They play the best football and la defensa learned from the mistakes against Leverkusen and Bremen in a very fast way.


I am not sure about the Bochum match. My bet 1-0 for 1899.

[footyfan1]

Let's wait and see.

Karlsruhe was in 4th place until matchday 14 last season. On matchday 10, they had exactly the same number of points as Hoffenheim has today, the only difference being how comparably disfunctional Bayern, Bremen and partly Hamburg are this season.


Dude, KSC never looked this good last season.

I don't recall anyone saying Hoffenheim would do this.

I don't see anything wrong with some people speculating that they might.

Don't blame you for wanting to calm speculation either.

But this is BigSoccer. People will speculate. The thing about this speculation is that it isn't anywhere near as ridiculous as some other speculation you see around here on a daily basis. ;) :D

[panicfc]

We were discussing Hoffy at work today, kind of cool isn't it.

What positions do you think are their weaknesses?

[The Old Lady Hertha]

Defensively they can be absymal at times. Not a fan of Compper, but he's played decently well. Ozcan is also pretty dodgy as a keeper, after all he is the #3 of Austria still right?

[SpursGlory]

Wow this team just brings out the hate doesn't it? I'd take a Hoffenheim any day over Bayern at the top of the heap as usual. A breath of fresh air! So what they're spending money... they're obviously spending it wisely on good young hungry players. They're hardly a team of big name superstars!

All the hubbub about the name & 1899... If they originally started the club back then with the year in the name what's wrong with them resurrecting it? Nothing. Sure you could argue they weren't playing football then but a lot of German clubs started as purely as "athletics" (i.e. gymnastics) clubs. Football as sport & professional football were reviled with suspicion in the old days. So you've got an alphabet soup of letters and numbers for a lot of club names... because they all wanted to claim to be first (as in 1.FCN).

If you haven't read Tor! The Story of German Football then you should, it details all of this with humor... a great must read for any Bundesliga/German football fan.

[Hobo]

IMO, Hoffenheim definitely looks better than FCK did back in 97-98.......

It is a little fuzzy but I agree. Nonetheless, being first almost the whole season was pretty huge for FCK that season.
From http://www.fussballdaten.de/vereine/1fckaiserslautern/1998/

http://www.fussballdaten.de/bilder/verlauf/da9b8464e7e0a48a694bfea9922f184e.png

Also, Olaf Marschall's 21 goals in 24 games was outstanding!
http://www.fussballdaten.de/vereine/1fckaiserslautern/1998/kader/

[berloha]

http://i37.tinypic.com/2qktd07.jpg

:dream:

http://i35.tinypic.com/14j3zbo.jpg

Salihovic should become captain. I know that he is a heat head, but he is leader. I've said it before, he reminds me of Román Riquelme. He may not be so smooth with the ball like Román but he is young and has a bright future in front. His left foot is pure magic.

[Equilibrium]

We were discussing Hoffy at work today, kind of cool isn't it.

What positions do you think are their weaknesses?
They should buy a real good keeper imo.

[footyfan1]

It is a little fuzzy but I agree. Nonetheless, being first almost the whole season was pretty huge for FCK that season.
From http://www.fussballdaten.de/vereine/1fckaiserslautern/1998/

http://www.fussballdaten.de/bilder/verlauf/da9b8464e7e0a48a694bfea9922f184e.png

Also, Olaf Marschall's 21 goals in 24 games was outstanding!
http://www.fussballdaten.de/vereine/1fckaiserslautern/1998/kader/


I remember it. I was there for a lot of it.

And of course, I was referring to match to match team performance.

Also, I believe this Hoffenheim team is facing better competition than that FCK team did.


Dude, I still have a soft spot for FCK, but I believe FCK's only real competition was Bayern. I believe FCK only did what they did because most of the rest of the league was "down" that season.

Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing season and I LOVED seeing Otto Rehhagel get his revenge on Bayern, but there's also a reason that's the only time it has happened.

Not only was it unprecedented, a lot of it was luck.

Dortmund had just won the CL and lost Ottmar Hitzfeld, while falling to 10th place.

Leverkusen were building up toward their "always second best" reputation.

At this time that season, only one team was within five points of FCK. Bayern.

There are six teams within five points of Hoffenheim.

I know neither of us is probably right or wrong. Just differing opinions. I only wanted to show why I believe what I do.

[footyfan1]

They should buy a real good keeper imo.

They'll probably buy a youngster and build him up. They seem to be truly sticking to that plan.

Sure, they've bought a few who were "Bundesliga Ready" (Obasi, Ba, Eduardo), but if you see what some are writing in different places, you would have thought Hoffenheim went out and bought Toni, Klose and Ribery.

[berloha]

eduardo did a nice interview with MARCA

http://www.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/internacional/es/desarrollo/1179024.html


Tomorrow Bochum match. I am still not sure, but I hope we can beat them 1-0.

[soccer krazy]

good article on the suprising teams in Europe Hull City in England and Hoffenheim in Germany, both of these teams werent seen as possible champioship contenders but after their displays this season, that has changed
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well,
the draw against Stuttgart was lucky for the guests

I'm not gonna go into the politics of Hoffenheim anymore.

BUT I wasn't able to discuss this match when it was played since I guess Hoffenheim weren't on enough of a hot streak/in vogue enough at the time to buy themselves a couple of fans.

But now they are, so i'm happy to be able to talk about it now.

I don't we got lucky in this game, it was an equal game, both sides had there chances, Hoffenheim had the better ones but did nothing with them whereas Stuttgart had more control on the game and did nothing with that either. Neither side played at their best, or at their worst, that day and I think the 0-0 draw was a fair result at the time.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

What positions do you think are their weaknesses?

The fanblock :D

On a serious note, I do believe they have a strong all-round side. Ozcan is perhaps a weak point, he had a very good 2. Liga standard but he hasn't been able to make the jump to the first league too impressively yet so far. They should've gotten Hildebrand at the last minute when they had the chance imo.

The defence is average. I was really pissed at VfB for letting Beck leave in the summer, who I always rated as an enormous talent, and I think my reasoning has proven to have been correct as he's been very impressive so far this season. Compper has also played a strong year so far. Other than that, Ibertsberger is good, certainly first league standard, but not Europe-standard and Jaissle and Nilsson are solid but not particularly great either. If they want a proper good defence, they need 1-2 more defenders imo.

The midfield is good although i'd single out Teber as not having impressed me so far.

The attack meanwhile is excellent. In fact i'd say that, in the long run, the attack is the only part of the side that will be able to consistently play at the form that they find themselves in currently. The team is playing above their heads at the moment, but I'll admit that i'll be shocked if they hold on to a top 3 spot for the rest of the season. It's possible, but I don't think it'll happen. top 5 may well happen, but to be honest if I had to make a prediction, i'd say that Hoffenheim will not qualify for Europe this season. Might sound controversial consider the current form they're on, but I just don't see them maintaining for the whole 34 games.

We'll see in May whether I was right or not.

As for their most important member? For me it is undoubtedly Rangnick. Many people were shocked when he took them over in the third league (which, to people saying they buy up-and-coming talents only etc etc... I love how no one has mentioned that they lured one of Germany's best managers into the third division thanks to their finances, which no other third league side could ever DREAM of doing.. but shhhhhhh.... don't wanna get anything started...), but I gotta say Rangnick has done an absolutely phenomenol job. The side's rise has been inevitable, but there's no doubt that he has played an immense role in speeding up the process. Major props to him.