2017 Winter transfer: Wir verpflichten den Einwanderer. Daumen gedrückt!

I am pessimistic because I don't think money is the deciding factor. Even if we match dollar for dollar any offer I think he is gone

My sense is he wants to go to what he perceives as either a bigger club or league. It's exceptionally hard to compete against that.

Again I hope I am wrong.

 

I actually started with just Raffael/Stindl, Christiansen, Kramer/Dahoud & Sommer; before you guys focussed in on Raffael & Stindl...which is why I said I was just talking about two individuals; as those were the two you guys chose to focus on. Jantschke only got brought up when a BVB fan drew up a mixed team with Johnson in that spot. And in hindsight I should've separated Raffael & Stindl, as I do think that Dembele ranks above the gladbach captain, though I still take their talismanic brazilian over both.

If you'd like to discuss the rest I'd be happy to, but you guys seem to have conceded that Christiansen has been the best CB on either team (although the poster below seems to have allowed the matches where the young Dane was played out of position at the 6, taint his thinking) and that only Weigl is the only midfielder that Dahoud & Kramer do not trump. Jantschke I won't defend vociferously because he made my lineup by default...and even then I acknowledged that it was only until Passlack was ready & won TT's trust.

Now you've tried to argue Burki over Sommer, but I suspect this is just out of stubbornness; as I can't imagine many other than BVB fans agreeing with you. Pep's been blowing smoke up Sommer's ass for years, Sommer has started for the Swiss NT over Burki (under multiple coaches) with zero controversy, and only Neuer distributes the ball better than Sommer in all of world football. But if you're committed to make this the hill you die on, go for it.

Hopefully we get to see both teams in the pokal final & fully fit; as I have a feeling such a match would open your eyes significantly so that maybe you could see what your club sees in the likes of Raffael, and then understand why they keep trying to poach him every summer.

Yeah, in hingsight I should've hedged more on Stindl v Dembele, as having thought more about it I'd take this season's Dembele over Stindl; but Raffael is absolutely better than the Reus we've seen recently, even if we got to enjoy Reus at his best for a full season again (like his final season with BMG or second season with y'all) he & Raffael would be close because Raffael is that exceptional...Miki deserved to be the BuLi's player of the year last season, but Raffael should've won it the previous season and was no worse last year.

Now that Reus was clearly above Stindl, but we haven't gotten to see much of that Reus these past few seasons, and he's just missed too much time this year for me to look only at the small sample size between his injuries. And so I wrote Stindl/Reus in the combined team...with Reus shuffling in when fit & on form, but with that being so rare Stindl would rotate in often enough.

TBH based on what we've seen this year I'd have a hard time taking Reus over Dembele as well...even though Marco is one of my favorite NT players and his final season at BMG deserved the player of the year award. The young frenchmen is still inconsistent and gives away possession cheaply too often; but he's so astounding when on form and the inconsistency hasn't been as regular as it is for a player like Traore...who can do spectacular things when on form, but is not on form more often than not. That inconsistency is still enough for me to pick Raffael ahead of him, as Raffael very rarely gives away possession cheaply; but not enough for me to rate Stindl over him as well...given Stindl's cold streak while Raffael was out.

After thinking about this and discussing it with some BVB fans elsewhere, I'd rate the forwards on both teams like this:
Auba
Raffael / Full-Reus
Dembele
Stindl
Recent-Reus

 

If we lose Auba and Reus, I have no idea how someone can defend Watzke any further - and I would not blame Tuchel for leaving. How can you be expected to challenge for a title, when every year you lose your 2 best players........ it's simply not possible, and cannot be tolerated by a club at our level.

If we managed to keep Auba and Reus, then add Dahoud..... we are at a level where we can legitimately challenge Bayern and look at going to the last 4 in the Champions League. If we lose both of them, I highly doubt Dembele stays for more than another season, and we continue our current circle of losing our best players and having to rebuild time and time again.

 

We're not getting rid of Watzke anytime soon. The board loves him so we're stuck with him for a very long time.

 

Except Reus has been great last two seasons whenever he has been on the pitch. I wonder how much you have actually seen of him? Even this season from his return he was our best attacking player overall. Last season he was very good until around February, where he was once again the best player in the team.

Let's leave the argument there.

 

Over the last 3 years Auba without doubt has been our best player, but that is in a large part due to Reus not playing very much. Miki was excellent last season, but as I have said previously, who was our best player when we had the cup quarter finals, semi-finals, against Porto, against Tottenham and against Liverpool? When we were trying to chase Bayern, who played better?

It's not about the goals you score against Lotte, but it's what you do against Bayern in the semi and the CL quarters that define for me who has the best season.

 

Lukaku would be a brilliant signing, my realistic choice for replacing Auba. Like Auba, he is a goal machine even in inferior teams. His all round game has improved greatly, though still not special. For his size he is still not great at holding the ball up, but does a respectable job. After Werner, he would have be my choice to replace Auba. He needs to work on his fitness though.

Unfortunately Costa is likely to leave this summer and Lukaku will probably be his replacement.

 

For good reasons mind you. We need someone like him to keep us grounded.

I haven't lost all hope yet, but I suspect that Auba will leave in the forseeable future. We can not promise him a lot of trophies in the future with a dominant Bayern that has a stranglehold on domestic trophies, nor could we match the salary other clubs could offer him. Perhaps he likes it so much in Dortmund that he'll stay, but I am not so confident. Nor is it something Watzke could reasonably do against.

 

Just speculation. He wanted out this summer to Atletico and was upset he did not go. Then he wanted to go to China in January. Reports were Conte got him to agree to stay until the end of the season. His form has dropped, despite scoring in his last few games and Chelsea fans expect him to go to China or possibly Atletic if Griezeman leaves.

 

Yes Lukaku is good and all, but doing business with Raiola aint tempting me.

 

Kagawa too, but Reus was the star of most of those games. He is a real big game player.

There's no point cashing in on Auba, when he is arguably the best striker in the world. Yes he won't be as great without his pace, but we don't know when that will be. Robben still has his pace at 33. Auba, though has more than just pace, he has excellent positioning and a natural instinct to get goals. I remember when he was playing right wing, I always said he was not good enough there, but was a natural goal scorer always in the right place to score.(though I admit I didn't think he would be a top striker for us).

If there is any hope of keeping Auba, there should be no discussion. He stays.

 

ffs castro extends till 2020

 

jacob brunn larsen tied till 2021 !

 

Yeh Reus isn't the only big game player, but he is the best. Pulisic has done well for a player of his age, but you can't even begin to compare him with Reus. Think of Shaktar, Malaga, Madrid several times, Ajax, Juventus and Manchester City. Reus absolutely ripped Tottenham and Liverpool apart last season. At Anfield not only did he provide Auba with an incredible assist he then scored a great goal to make it 3-1.

It's good that they are working and announcing all these new contracts. Let's hope they are building up to the climax of Reus and Auba.