A loan to dusseldorf probably makes more sense from a PT perspectice since our midfield would be tough for him to crack; as Kreilach & Kroos are our two best players, Furstner established himself in the holding role behind them last season, and Gogia coming in. With Hartel coming in from Koln's youth teams, Promel from Karlsruhe, Lammel coming up from our own, and other options like ; there's no big hole for Neuhaus to fill. Even if Keller's football would suit him better than Funkel's. Owning a talent like that would've been simply massive for us; especially if we can take advantage of the weak relegees and crack the top division this coming season. I dunno if Neuhaus will ever be NT caliber, but he should grow into a strong starter for a european caliber BuLi club...and he plays the kind of football I love. Don't actually know much about Ali Abu-Alfa since union's u19 squad is not in the top division the way the u17s are; and the kid just arrived from Cottbus over the winter...and as long as we hold onto Eidtner until he's fully broken out; I'll be thrilled with our academy's products; cause that kid has NT potential. They used to; but in the late 90s/early 2000s age groups 1860 has fallen behind their bavarian competitors.
NEWS: 06.07.2017 Villalba suffers concussion Well i hope this is not a prelude & sign of things to come this season
agree, no heavyweights in 2.Bundesliga this time... this could be your season.... I hope so! and if Union continue to expand their stadium in this tempo they might outdo Olympiastadion pretty soon ;-) AAA is kind of a street-kicker (or better: cage-kicker) from Wedding I heard but indeed doesn't seem to be rated as Union's biggest youth-asset
very good sign! a) he's still alive (stayed in hospital for some time) and his head didn't came off... others would have travelled back to Paraguay but he didn't... what does not kill you makes you tougher! b) the youngsters-competition IS ON! c) Cuisance has the shot of a brewery-hack (acc. to visitors of training he plays like a man not like a little boy) NEWS N.Schulz joins Hoffenheim while Wendt is getting a contract-extension (somewhat contradictory! I always thought: if they sell N.Schulz we might see a back three defense ... but if this is the plan why renew Wendt's contract?) M.Schulz-transfer to Nürnberg IS OFF Cassama-transfer IS OFF Elvedi told Zakaria's style is similar to Xhaka's (while stressing Xhaka's leader qualities... nearly everybody does/did that!)
And villa is wearing the # 10 Jersey...what the fack is going on?????? Is Hazard already turned into a pseudo 10 at Borussia Park?????
Wendt is a must stay regardless of formation and tactics...am sure he is more than capable at other areas on the pitch plus he brings massive leadership to this young team..he must have accepted a reasonable fee from the club as well b/c many times he has publicly announced how he likes to retire here and his family are very happy in Gladbach...which makes him a good catch..plus will add to our depth
Vincenzo Grifo: "Borussia Mönchengladbach move a dream come true" http://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/B...hengladbach-move-a-dream-come-true-454670.jsp
Marvin Schulz is leaving for Switzerland's Luzern Max finally accomplished the whole mission... and it's only 10th of July! a lot of clubs still have to make most of their transfer-efforts last on the to-do-list is to grab some striker on loan from the bargain bin of EPL's upcoming transfer-craziness (alternatively a promising German 'Knippser' wouldn't be bad either, I don't want us to end up like Arsenal: only fielding foreign players) ... but as Max said: there is no hurry now... just laying relaxed on the lookout... or even better: after Tegernsee-camp (Borussia is facing Favre's Nice over there!) it turns out that Villalba has it all... [only question mark is behind Kolo... he didn't look that bad against Wuppertal on Saturday... but if he get's an offer that suits him I guess he's gone]
Yeah Daniel Eidtner is our jewel; although the CB Maloney is also in the fold with the youth NTs of his age group. Those are our two big prospects who haven't made the jump yet; Lammel is right there on the brink of senior team time so I don't count him.
Wendt can play on the left wing with a back 3. Especially if the move to a back three was to accommodate a fluid Hazard-Rafael-Stindl attacking trio.
I surely don't want to get rid of Oscar it's summer break, I have more time, that's why I'm racking my brain for fun just wanting to figure out what the manager is up to and my guess would be that a contract-extension might not be indicating that Hecking is planning to play a back three as basic formation Oscar surely can play in LEFT midfield (4-4-2 or 3-5-2) but exactly that's where there already is a lot of competition and we usually don't keep players of his class in stock as let's say: option no.3 he did this under Schubert for some time which didn't turn out well ;-( (people say: that's because of Schubert not because of Wendt but basically Oscar kind of did this for a long long time way before Schubert took over... our flanks are somewhat 'asymmetrical' for ~ five seasons... with the left back much more offensive thinking than the right back (the wide midfielders often vice versa) which essentially means: back three in possession I'm pretty sure we'll continue to see this 'situational' back three a lot... and Gladbach might even field a starting 3-5-2 formation once in awhile (depending on the opponent) but I have the hunch Hecking is sticking to 4-4-2 as basic formation [and he furthermore doesn't like to move players around the pitch a lot: meaning Ginter will be used as CB, Zakaria in midfield, Wendt as full back...] as always: maybe it turns out quite different !!!;-)))!!! don't forget the great Grifo!!! (sorry, I had to... ;-)
Saw our former player Hrgota last night as Frankfurt came to Columbus for a friendly. Columbus won 1-0. Frankfurt lost two and drew once in their US trip.
ha! I was getting ready to ask about Hrgota ('Don't you forget Hrgota' Favre said only saw a little bit of the Seattle-match, Eintracht even got their asses kicked by San Jose no wonder: they are in training just for a very short time and still are getting to know each other (they had to exchange their players on loan with new ones ... heavy squad-fluctuation because of (no)-money-issues... some 'identification'-doubts from the supporters right now... Borussia is steps ahead... and still lost the Cup-semi... sobering! devastating! shocking! but let's not slide into depression -> here is something which made me laugh out loud: FC Augsburg's squad recently came together to travel to their training camp... 41 (yes, fourtyone!!!!) players lined up... they had to make special arrangements because not all of them fit into their team-bus! after we sold some players I thought we had a decent squad-size but yesterday I figured out we're still overstaffed (non-european season!)... and Kolo, first contender for a leave, is injured! where's the superdoc? apart from Kolo (and Drmic of course) Herrmann is our biggest 'problem child' at the moment: 2015/16: 18% of the possible playing-time 2016/17: 30% of the possible playing-time 6 (six!!!) full-time matches that's when the players overall-aim is to stay healthy (and to start pre-season with the others) will we see the old Herrmann again? I'm a little bit pessimistic... hope I'm wrong, especially his speed is a weapon
Bonhof (by the way: three world champions are ‚active‘ in our club now: Bonhof, Kramer, Ginter… Gladbach isn‘t provincial at all ;-)‘ "For my liking he [Villalba] will establish himself, rather sooner than later." "He has a good nose where the ball goes, and then he is there, and one wonders how he got there. That’s how he scores.” He’s only 18 but "for his age he has a good ability to read the game." there was a Müller-comparison, too… not 100% sure if it came from Bonhof or from the journalist when Villalba came in at the Telekom-Cup on saturday he swiftly looked for the biggest guy and started pushing him around… I liked that! unfortunately he didn‘t take any German-lessons (French or English would have helped, too) in Paraguay which is a wasted opportunity especially as the soccer manager‘s instructions are generally becoming more and more sophisticated… he should make use of every (potentially) leading edge because there really seems to be a chance to exploit the moment right now: according to Eberl Villalba and Simakala (Eberl: „We believe in him“) are fighting for the fourth forward-squad-place at the moment (Yeboah of the 2nd team got a lot of playing time so far but -while hard-working at the very least- seems to lack that certain something) still there might be another striker-signing according to Eberl but the youngsters now have the chance to make this redundant it‘s much too early but me (and in principle all of the people who saw him play in pre season) are absolutely convinced that Cuisance is an excellent catch!
0-0 at half-time against Favre's Nice Hecking is trying back three (Toni-Veste-Oxford)... he wants to extend Borussia's repertoire... looks quite good so far... while offense is not really happening... Nice has a better flow which is no wonder: we are inmidst training camp (Veste and Hazard f.e. are playing their first match after summer break) while Nice is already facing Ajax for CL-qualification next week my friends, I really dig Cuisance!
naaa, there are much more important things going on right now!... headlines f.e.: Johnson: "That's why my locks are off" Traoré: "I live in a world which isn't normal" Grifo: "A well-groomed appearance is important to me" to my knowledge no ongoing (serious) offensive-rumors at all Choupo-M. was spread by BILD (not even taken seriously by schoolboys) Eberl when asked: too old, too expensive (free agent!), too injury-prone!... yeah, no further questions! there was talk while U21 EC about a danish striker... silted... as I said above: something might happen... or not... and it won't be a big transfer Eberl is sitting on lookout but apparently not very hungry when the decison-makers analyzed the forward-situation they came to the following conclusion (according to my listening bug; unfortunately I often notice transmisson issues!): there is nothing wrong with our offensive players! they got plenty scoring chances! yes, effectiveness wasn't that overwhelming this season! but it was the season before with the same players! yes, it's a calamity if two of Stindl-Raffa-Hazard are injured at the same time! but now we have the superdoc! [and Grifo should be able to help out, too] anyway: we can't afford a fourth forward of this class who probably just sits on the bench (if at all) most of the time... not to mention: we already have too much players under contract and the new signing might get pissed so, no need to first of all open the casket to sign a new forward [general nodding, I guess] because our real problem last season was defensive compactness... thanks, Dieter, you got it right pretty fast but there were setbacks (five from H'heim, 3 from BVB at home, 2 from Darmstadt at home) so let's get our act together and spend our pennies to sign Ginter & Zakaria... believe it or not!
is there anything left of club loyalty in modern soccer? even traces? Wendt: "My dream is to play for Gladbach as long as possible." Hazard: "I'll play for Borussia next season. The club told me that I'm needed. And I want to stay, too." „I'm here since 2015. I know how much supporters we have, even in my country Belgium. In the meantime I know everybody in the club. I hope I'll stay healthy and will be able to play a lot of matches. I want to show how important I can be for Borussia. I'm ready to take responsibility.“ [nice shot against Favre's men by the way!] Kramer (as always something special): "I find that the Bundesliga is fantastic – I have everything I need. I would not say that foreign leagues are necessarily attracting me. I first of all want to play in the Bundesliga for Gladbach as far as my legs will carry me and then it's all gone well." [a potential move to China?]: „For me a transfer isn't worth considering at all - no matter how attractive the offer. We already live a life of privilege, effectively it doesn't depend on some money more or less.” believe it or not!!! by the way: did I mention how much I'm impressed by Cuisance? thank god, he has a five year contract!
Iturbe? All the Paraguayans then ! *This can't be a serious piece of info...it says BMG "wants help in paying his salary"
loan sounds reasonable Paraguayan, too... might help Villalba to get settled... theoretically "salary"?... I think it was Stuttgart who asked an Italian club for a loan... without any fee and with the Italians continuing to pay most of the salary; Borussia can try this, too ;-) there seems to be a downturn in his career.... speed looks very good, too (we got a little bit lame in offensive the last months) but he doesn't look like a threat in front of goal... is he suited for combination play at least?... is he deployable more central? we already have wingers... I hope they are looking for a 'wildboar'-type of player (like Tevez)... not a classic nine but someone who is able to break through defence on his own naaa, the rumor isn't that likely I guess
current status of research: despite the team trained 'back three' last week 4-4-2 might remain the first option: ..........................................................SOMMER (Sippel) JANTSCHKE/ELVEDI............GINTER.........VESTERGAARD.............WENDT ...............................(Elvedi, Oxford, Strobl).....(Kolo, Doucouré)..........(Johnson) ...........................KRAMER (Strobl, Hofmann).....ZAKARIA (Benes, Cuisance) TRAORE (Herrmann/Hofmann/Hazard)...........................GRIFO/JOHNSON (Herrmann/Hofmann) .............................................RAFFAEL..............STINDL ......................................(Hazard, Villalba)......(Hazard, Grifo) or a 3-5-2 formation (in possession f.e.)? ....................ELVEDI......GINTER.....VESTERGAARD ......................................KRAMER.... TRAORE........ZAKARIA.................GRIFO......WENDT ............................RAFFAEL....STINDL theoretically more interesting for my liking: 3-4-1-2 (with the front three constantly changing positions) TRAORE....KRAMER....ZAKARIA....JOHNSON .......................GRIFO/HAZARD (Cuisance!) ...............RAFFAEL................STINDL I wrote „theoretically“ because I have a slight problem with this: Grifo, Traoré, Herrmann, Hofmann or (Hazard) are defensively too weak to work their flank ‚alone‘, for my liking only Johnson and Wendt are suited for this… maybe Hecking plans this asymmetrical with a wide midfielder/wing back on the left and a winger on the right side… still…. I‘m a little bit concerned about ‚balance‘…and there is the danger of an overcrowded center (Traoré often acting inverted f.e.) but theoretically I like the formation (aside from the fact we didn‘t sign the proper right midfielder I‘m afraid) leaving aside all that (formations are totally overrated!!! ;-))), the cardinal question seems to be: is central midfield gonna function quite nicely? is Kramer/Zakaria working in a rush? (Xhaka needed nearly two seasons to become really strong!) last but not least: Cuisance is gonna be h-u-g-e! (it's just a matter of time)
Benes & Cuisance deserve enough PT for you to use a midfield trio often...especially when one of Rafael / Stindl / Hazard is out.