https://draw.inker.one/#/cl/gs Hopefully we get past the first knockouts this season. I hope Hazard makes the left AM spot his own and does better than Heung Min Son. Our defence should be better with Mats and Nico. Less pressure on Akanji. Fingers crossed that Hakimi stays injury free in the key parts of the season.
Seems a little early to be making declarations until we get closer. Draws and injuries and roster issues can always take a role in the advancement. Lets pretend that Reus or Sancho goes out with a serious knock. Should we be advancing automatically then?
Why wouldn't we advance without Reus and Sancho? We still have Gurreiro, Hazard, Paco, Brandt and Götze.
Wasn’t the last World Cup Reuß first tournament that he wasn’t injured for? How can you even consider planning with him when it matters?
The club has always tried to plan without him. Kevin Kampl, Max Phillip, Emre Mor are all players bought to deputize for Reus with no success. This season there's no need to deputize for him. We have enough talent in the squad to not have to rely on him or a player like him. We have Hazard, Gurreiro and JBL on the left, Sancho, Brandt and Wolf on the right. In the middle Gotze would play his favourite position. Unfortunately, the club is repeating that mistake in defence by relying on Hummels. But at least he isn't injury prone. But all this title talk is overblown. Reus and Hummels alone didn't take us to the CL final. We have yet to replace Gundogan and Paco has a lot to do to make up for Aubameyang and Lewandowski. Lastly, it all depends on Burki. Nobody is going to win us more games than him. Not even Sancho.
I think you all have the right tools to build on last year. It was competitive all the way to the end. As far as CL goes, Im not sure both of our teams haven’t improved enough to compete for a semifinal in the CL.. Here we are...content with a semifinal.... match, the BL has regressed
Bundesliga already below Serie A... I'm not hoping much from RB and B04. Thus, Bayern and BVB need to step up their game
I don't know. I watched a handful of Serie A games last year (about 10, I'd guess), came free with ESPN+ which I had for other reasons, and the soccer was not very interesting. Lazio and Napoli were okay to watch. I didn't watch any Juventus. I watched some bottom of the table matches. Bad, boring soccer. I watched most of the Bundelsiga matches last season and the matches were, on average, more interesting. My point is, I watch soccer to be entertained and also I hope my team wins. I don't think any Bundesliga fan should have any jealousy for Serie A fans, just pity for the crap soccer you have to watch if you follow that league right now. Only mitigated by some tiny marginal success at Champions League. Just my opinion, obviously, but based on actual watching of games.
Serie A is boring. Juventus demolish every other club playing a defensive brand of football. Unless you're watching Atlanta or Napoli it's not worth the time and effort.
Where does all this pessimism come from? Last year we were very unlucky to face Tottenham in the middle of an injury crisis. Reus, who was actually very reliable, happened to miss just 6 weeks or so and our season fell apart. Now we have made monumental improvements to the first team. Hummels in ability and leadership is vastly ahead of Diallo or the young Zagadou. Schulz is leagus above any of our left backs. Brandt is infinity better than Larsson or Raphael, with the ability to improve further. Hazard can provide good cover out wide, and I feel be the striker we need. The worry is the midfield. I hear Weigl is available to leave, but he and Dahoud turn 24 this season. It's time for these two to step up. They are the missing pieces in the team. If even one of them steps up, then I wouldn't fear any team in the world. Bayern are still incomplete, because the the they need 4 key signings. 3 of them are virtually guaranteed whether this season or at some point: Werner, Sane and Havertz. They still need a midfielder, who can control the game.
As far as Champions League is concerned, I don't expect us to make it past the last 16, remember Favre has NEVER advanced from a knockout round. Leverkusen will be the usual embarrassment they are in Europe.
Tough group for us: Barcelona Inter Milan Slavia Praha Leverkusen in a group with Atletico and Juventus. City got a very easy group. Leipzig, despite being in pot 4, also got a way easier group than us.
Looks like we will be going out early. Anto Conte and Lionel Messi amongst the opposition is going to make life hell for us.
I dont have issue with it if we do... I care about one thing this year and thats winning the BUNDI... screw every other damn thing out there
No reason not to win the group, Barca are beatable and Inter are nothing special. Why the inferiority complex?
Tough group, much worse than I hoped, but we will see just how good we are. We have a chance to set the Dortmund record straight. There is no hiding at this level and we will see early which of our players are ready for the top level.
Inter was like 21 points behind Juve last year. I just hope our players don't think the way you guys do.
Have you seen Lukaku or Alexis play for Man United? Both have been mediocre for quite a while. Neither would start for BVB imo.
We need to show no fear. We should be aiming to go and top this group.We have topped group's with a better Madrid side. The aim this summer should be the double. I would love for Reus to come out and say we expect to get through the group.
Exactly. Enough with this loser underdog mentality. Go out expecting to win the group. These teams are not unbeatable, go out and attack them.