what a sad lil win for us, barely scraped it and then we were clunching to it and time wasting like like some underdogs
We got away with this today, but Favre needs to learn from this and learn quickly. 1. Stop playing Reus as a striker. He doesn't have the touch or the physical presence to hold off defenders. All his best skills are wasted there. 2. Dahoud must start, because his energy, ability on the ball and movement frees up space for the attackers. 3. Stop playing Wolf he is rubbish. The extra defensive stability he provides is not worth what we lose by playing such a limited player. 4. LP is way past it and MUST not play the next game. Since Zagadou is needed as cover for CB, then I can understand why Schmelzer may start, but he needs to be dropped too. Schmelzer defends badly half the time, LP defends badly nearly all the time and they both constantly lose the ball. I was very disappointed with Witsel. His movement was terrible, his passing was slow and he ruined good attacks. Weigl was far better than him. Gotze was awful too. Kagawa in a much shorter time, despite not being great did a lot more.
He has to get better in the players he selects. Abysmal. I would wager pulisic was not completely ready so I understand the sancho choice. Wolf has no business in there. I swear I'd rather see isak than wolf.
Not really. Wolf should never be playing for Dortmund, Schmelzer should be dropped as soon as there is an alternative, LP should be dropped immediately for Hakimi. Weigl was excellent today and so much better than Witsel, he is the one that deserves to start. Next match the line up hopefully looks like this. ----Burki---- Hakimi--Akanji---Diallo--Schmelzer -------Weigl---Dahoud----- Pulisic---Kagawa-----Reus -----------Alcacer Realistically though, this was Weigl's first match and he probably won't be fit for the weekend so Witsel, very undeserved will start.
Lucky win. I thought at least the passing was faster in this game, players didn't keep the ball for long. But besides that, we didn't create many good chances despite a lot of possession in their half. Also, we used to be a great counter-attacking side. That seems a thing of the past as well. There were several opportunities in that game to hit them on the counter. Brugges was tired after 65 minutes and we weren't really able to take advantage of that. I agree that this was a situation where Dahoud could have potentially exploited that weakness better.
One break I noticed , nobody assisting the breakout , Wolf too busy being an extra right back . That’s down to the coach . Too negative .
Yeah, I forgot weigl didnt finish the match..my I deal 11 would be: Pulisic weigl dahoud reus Paco hakimi diablo akanji schmelzer and add in witsel maybe. Burki
I like this lineup! Will Alcacer be back by the weekend? I agree with most of what all of you saw today, but I'm not that critical of Witsel because I don't expect from him build up play. The playmakers we have are Dahoud, Kagawa and Gotze. I think Kagawa was slightly better today than Gotze but both disappointed. I think over the last few seasons we've seen Kagawa have good stretches, so maybe that will come. And maybe until then, we should play 433, with Dahoud, Weigl and Witsel. Oh.. It's good to see Weigl closer to his form of 2 seasons ago! The goal, although somewhat lucky, came from the positivity of both Pulisic and Dahoud. Dahoud, unlike Gotze, can create something (or half of something) from tight spaces with quick decisions.
I agree, I like that lineup. Witsel wasn't good today, but he has been okay before, so I am not so upset if he starts and Weigl subs. I'd rather Weigl starts and Witsel subs whenever Weigl runs out of gas. I love the idea of Reus, Kagawa, Alcacer, and Pulisic. In my mind, they make some beautiful one-touch punctuated with slicing runs. And have Pulisic run hard, so when he is beat, and his defender is too, you put Sancho in.
Awful game. No going around that. But a very important win and first step for our CL campaign. I would prefer an awful win over a beautiful loss any day of the week. With that being said, some things should be crystal clear by now: Weigl-Dahoud should be our starting duo in midfield. We saw that without Dahoud, Weigl struggled as he was playing almost alone. Witsel I think will be a great rotation player and occasional starter. Delaney I should be a last resort. Wolf is not fit to play in any attacking position IMHO. He is limited, somewhat clumsy and really predictable. He has his uses in defense, no doubt. I think that he could be tried on the wingback position - he seems to have a great engine and is actually good in his defensive duties. Back to the wingbacks - rubbish, as usual. LP and Schmelzer gave away possession far too cheap. Can't wait to see how Zagadou, RG and Hakimi do there, they really can't be worse that the current starters. Reus is not a forward. Clear and simple. The fact that we only have 1 striker is a huge issue, seeing as how Isak is far from ready (I don't think he will ever start for us, but here's hoping he proves me wrong). Gotze is declining rapidly. Hate to say it, but Kagawa did more in his short time on the pitch that Mario. This season is do or die for Gotze. If he continues to deliver such sub-par performances than it should be a no-brainer to offload him come summer Think it was the right decision not to start Pulisic. Injury woes and such. Better be careful and take it slow, than aggravate something further. Lucky goal for him, expect to see him start in the next game. Sancho was bad. Odd game for him. Still young though, such fluctuations are rather common for players in his age group. He is still pivotal for the rotation this season and will have more than enough chances to prove his worth.
The end result was perfect if insanely lucky, the performance however... Pizszcek and Schmelzer are way past it yet I don't see Favre doing anything to phase them out. Marius Wolf is a dead spot in attack. Anyone know when Alcácer will be back? We need him healthy and fit for the entire season. We may have won but played like total garbage.
I have to agree wholeheartedly with these two points. I can't stress just how bad Schmelzer and LP are. They kill the team. Even when they didn't give the ball away, they gave Diallo and Akanji multiple hospital passes, which the two centres back did very well to keep possession with. Full back is a vital position and we need to play at least average ones. As for Sancho, I agree he was poor. I hope it was just the pressure of playing his first CL match. If he plays it should probably be on the right wing, so Reus can play on the left and he can be more direct. Though it has to be said our wide men would be more threatening if the full backs were not terrible.
Watching the CL highlights and watching Bayern vs Benfica, we need to temper our expectations I think. Or at the least I do. We just don't have the quality to compare with the top 8 or so teams in Europe. Barca, Madrid, PSG, Liverpool, City, Juventus, Bayern and Atletico all have players far more superior to ours. Even the likes of Inter, Monaco, Valencia, Benfica, Napoli and Roma are at worst on our level. Favre is going to have to find the right team and pick it consistently very quickly. The last 16 would be an amazing achievement.
Can Wolf play right back? He is the new Grosskreutz, ran 13 km yesterday. Wolf can be offloaded for a profit eventually, but basically the only striker we have is Alcacer and without him we are awful.
I do not feel confident that we will get out of group play so long as our starting XI is tied are like the ones Favre picks. We tend to labor in games of late and then we win by whatever sub comes on late in the match. We wont be able to do that against Monaco or Madrid. We will actually need some goals and be able to put pressure on them to score. Not sure we can do that. I hope I am wrong though. Im not sure where this team breaks down. Its hard to put my finger on it, but overall we are not put together well.
I think it's quite easy to see where the team goes wrong to be honest ... Wolf is not capable of providing the attacking threat needed, and was a surplus purchase given the number of wingers the club have ... although I do think he was brought in as a stop gap in the event of a Reus injury (seeing as he is sadly made of glass). The Delaney signing, while being useful I think was over priced ... to pay 28 mil euros for a 4th choice DM seems a little excessive. Were the club under the impression that Weigl would b leaving to City or PSG ... it's quite possible ? Reus is being played as a striker, which negates his strengths of cutting in from the wing, although he has lost a step or two, so it's hard to say if this is the wrong move as he needs to adapt his game. And there is no creator in the team, Gotze is not up to par ... I don't know what happened to him, is it a confidence issue ? And Kagawa has been sidelined despite him being our best creative playmaker ... I believe he might be one of the most underrated players at the club and its frustrating to see coaches not realise his true contributions. Although keep in mind, Favre has only been on the job a few months now ... I am happy to reserve judgement as he seems to be willing to try new things, and I am really happy to see JB Laarsen being given a chance, despite his poor last showing, I think he can go far ... Oh, and LP and Schmelzer getting maligned, u know, while they are not the players they used to be, keep in mind they are 30+ now. U can't expect either of them to play a full season and then criticise when they do not perform. It has to be on the club for not properly phasing them out gradually and overplaying them at their age, they are bound to break down ... people expect too much these days.