Sometimes it's not easy to say from the outside what the gameplan is, what the team wants or can accomplish and what is dictated by the opponent. Leipzig played quite well and they have a lot of quality in their team as well. It's not that Stöger subbed in two CMs or defenders for the offensive players he took out. It also wasn't Stöger's gameplan against Augsburg to get complacent after the 1:0. The first half was good. The trend regarding our offense is positive in comparison to the first games of the year. But then we are passive for almost the first 15 minutes of the second half, which is something we saw in previous games. We turn it on after that, play nice football and almost score the second goal. But after that, for whatever reason, there is nothing from our side. Maybe Reus got tired. The drop in quality for the team when he isn't at 100% or has to be subbed is enormous. I can actually understand that Stöger waited so long with the subs. Philipp needs time after his long injury but when you have to take out Götze and Reus, it's hard to bring in players who get close to that quality. Both subs didn't really show anything.
I missed the game, but a draw away against Leizig is a decent result. The aim for the rest of the year is top 4 and the Europa League. We are not good enough to be expected to beat Atletico, but I hope they have a league to fight for. I see Reus is still being Reus. I said it before, but the club in recent times has had 5 absolutely top tier players: Lewandowski, Hummels, Gundogan, Reus and Auba. Lewandowski, Hummels and Gundogan left and will win a boat load of trophies. Reus even with his injuries could be playing for any club in the world, but he has stayed and his loyalty is remarkable. Good to hear that Dahoud played well too. The boy has real quality. With more games and more time with Weigl, the partnership could flourish. It infuriates me to see only now, near the end of the season are we playing the line up we should have before.
Your hate is unreal...Schurrle lost his confidence after losing the ball which led to goal...he had a legit assist again after it was wrongly called offside...he played well again in the second half... Toprak had a good game too
My hate may be unreal but his status as an overrated flop is real. He's had 1 good season his entire career. And if not for that world Cup assist, he'd not be elsewhere. Podolski has more of a storied career than Schurrle. Even if I exclude his transfer fees, he makes far too much money. Let's not forget that NOBODY wants him. Not even for free.
Schürrle had a rather ineffective/unlucky game but he has been decent this year. With Pulisic's bad form and the other injuries, he currently deserves to be in the first 11. And it won't be easy for the other wingers to just take his spot. But who knows, there is no data yet to judge how well Philipp and Sancho could work in this offense, which would be new for them, playing together with Bats, Reus and Götze.
The players who stood out for me: Good = Mo Bad = Piszczek Piszczek was doing what Weigl has been doing lately: running around, forcing things, being reckless. Weigl was a little better this week, but really not good. In addition to the actual offsides calls, Bats killed a couple attacks by starting offside so he wasn't available for a pass, and worse it seems like he felt he was onside. This wasn't a matter of timing a run, it was a matter of watching when the defenders pull up, he just wasn't feeling the offside line at all.