To continue the Tottenham-Chelsea match discussion here, even if it's just the League Cup, Hudon-Odoi looks ready to play at this level against very good teams. His youth surely won't be an issue next season. I like that he tries long balls as well. Switching the sides with passes isn't something our wingers do. It feels to me that BL defenses close down the space for our wingers faster or don't leave that much space in the first place, though. More importantly for us and not really a surprise, Tottenham is capable of playing good football, although Chelsea looks better. They have good techniqe coupled with pace and we need to watch out for their fast attacks. Son goes to the ground way too fast, we have to be careful there in regards to penalties and freekicks. But he has proven against us how dangerous he can be. Rüdiger has put him in his pocket and had another potential goal saving tackle right after the break. We need a similarly good defensive effort.
Yes Chelsea need a striker though, they lacked a presence in the box. The other thing Tottenham have is amazing strikers of the ball. Kane, Eriksen and Son are all very capable of scoring wonder goals. Trippier an excellent free kick taker. Tottenham was probably the hardest possible draw we could have got. What works in our favour is their inexperience.
https://www.barcablaugranes.com/fc-...578/official-barcelona-sign-jean-clair-todibo This is a prime example of trying to extend your players and if they refuse, you sell them. They essentially get nothing for this youth product to leave and go to the wealthy Barca
Bayern sign Pavard for 35M. He is VfBs best player. One of Hummels and Boateng are in trouble. With Hummels posting his own stats on twitter, it looks more and more like him.
I think there was an urgency to it because of how they mishandled the Hernandez thing....so stupid...they should have triggered his buyout and be done with it instead of worrying about “relationships.” Clowns
Apparently Bayern tried to pay the clause in installments. Hernandez is reportedly to have extended:shrug:
According to most Stuttgart fans, he has been "trash" this whole season but he is still young and maybe this season has been atypical for his standard but the same can be said for last season's success...
Annoying...Bayern could flex for anyone they want...I mean they could reasonably spend 300mil in one transfer period since the arena is paid off...but we are fretting about paying focking 80mil installments!?
Bayern looking like they will sign Pavard and Werner at the very least in the summer. They will probably get another winger too and possibly Havertz. They have bought well for the future.
Paying transfer's in installements is nothing new but the Pavard announcement probably is related to stalling with Athletico. Hernandez could still come at a discounted price in the summer. Needless to say Bayern will be a new looking team this summer. Shedding some of the older players and relying more on a younger core Benjamin Pavard - 22 Renato Sanches - 21 Kingsley Coman - 22 Niklas Süle - 23 Serge Gnabry - 23 Leon Goretzka -23 Joshua Kimmich - 23 Alphonso Davies - 18 CHO (potentially) - 18
With the winter break, I have been watching a lot of non-Dortmund football and it's put into perspective what an incredible job Favre is doing. To be blunt, we just don't have the quality of player of the other top teams in Europe. We have one world class player, a very good player in Witsel and an excellent youngster, but the other top teams have several world class players. Even Bayern have Neuer, Sule, Kimmich, Alaba, James Rodriguez, Lewandowski, Thiago etc and they are strengthening. City just have an embarrassment of riches in Edison, De Bruyne, Sane, D. Silva, B. Silva, Fernandinho, Aguero and Sterling. Tottenham having the likes of Moura, Kane, Eriksen, Ali, etc. To be competing with these teams is a huge credit to Favre. It does worry me the season will fall apart, because with the quality I don't think results are sustainable. Bayern seem to have corrected their ship and are building a fearsome team for next season, arguably the best squad in the world again. I can't even blame the board. They have tried to bring in top players like Werner, but have been rejected. There's no point spending for the sake of spending, but if one of their top targets is available in January, then we need to capitalise, because I don't see as coming close to Bayern next year. There's also a saying, you lose someone the way you get them. Sancho left Watford when he saw a better career path at City, he left City when he saw a better career path at Dortmund. We need ton be prepared he will leave in the summer. Looking back at his development I would be shocked if he didn't try to force a move in the summer.
I think Bayern have a very good chance to win the title this season and at the same time this season is our best chance to win it before Bayern get closer to rebuilding their team. It's obvious they aren't clowning around. If they get Hernandez, Werner and one those rumored 10s, they have a strong basis that can grow for years and that will be almost impossible to beat in the league. Sancho has extended at the start of the season so I'm not that concerned about this summer. It also seems that he has matured quite a bit after last season when there were some negative comments regarding his discipline. But we need to remain competitive at the highest level to attract and keep these kind of talents.
Bayern getting world class players doesnt concern me. Thats something money can buy. Getting a world class coach who can get the players to win is something that we should be worried about. I hope they keep Kovac and Nagelsmann doesnt go there.
Bayern are killing Hoffenheim 2-0 with Leon Goretzka getting both goals. They look very strong. They have a new balance in the team. It's very hard to see us holding out against them, especially with cup and Cl games.
Second half was a different story as Hoffenheim had ample opportunities on the counter but just do not have the quality in the final third to convert. The team needs to just focus on their game and the next opponent instead on Bayern and their pursuit. The Ruckrunde will be a big psychological test on the team and Favre as will take a mental toll on the players and the key will be motivating the squad game in game out.
Even in the second half Bayern showed good resilience. Of course Dortmund need to focus on each game, but Bayern are favourite with the bookies for a good reason.
Leverkusen had a typical Bosz performance, but they are more suited to play his system than we were. He has also dropped the defensive line slightly. Brandt was very good attacking getting two goals and 3 assist.
I think not signing Brandt or at least going all out for him in January is going to come back to haunt the club. I know he is playing in the KDB (Guardiola false 8 as some like to call it), but he could easily play the Raphael role here where he comes inside from the left wing. January was the cheapest he was going to be for some time. I think he is going to have a great end to the season. If we had got him in January I would have been very confident of the league and a CL semi-final possibly even winning it (as long as we were lucky with injuries.)
Now we'll have to hope that arch rivals Schalke get a result with their ugly football. But they usually just lay down and accept their fate against Bayern. A 0:0 would be great.