I too like Dahoud and Weigl. But I also see why LF doesn't not count them amongst the starting 11. They are defensively susceptible. Allowing a goal is a lot worse than creating a few chances up front. Weigl in CM was played off the park by Bayern....multiple times. Not just under LF but also TT.
Delaney and Witsel were played off the park too, hence the 5-0 and being down 2-0 in the first match. Allowing a goal is not always worse than dominating the ball. With Witsel and Delaney, we lose control of the match and are forced to defend deeper and deeper. The two of them are better defensively, but they force the team to defend a lot more, which leads to goals. Both Weigl and Dahoud are still very young and improving. There's a reason other top teams are looking at Weigl. Keita had a tough time at Liverpool, but Klopp will keep faith and use him, because he knows his talent. The same with Robertson. Young inexperienced players are always going to make mistakes, but it's worth the risk.
I read an interview where Watzke said that more signings are possible, including a striker, with Mandzukic mentioned, however that is not guaranteed as they don't want to overcrowd the striker position with Alcacer and Gotze already options. This doesn't make sense to me as Gotze is NOT a good striker, he is far more effective deeper as a 10. Why is there this constant idea to play him out of position? It doesn't work and it never will, he is not suited to the role. Use him where he can be at his most effective. Mandzukic or Haller would be key additions imo, having only Paco is clearly not enough, Hazard is not a 9 either.
Lmao for the nth time, see it from Gladbach or Leverkusen's perspective. Take off the yellow tinted glasses, is Champions League qualification not worth more than 30, 40 million? Bayer would not finish 4th if they sold Brandt in January. Again for the nth time, Witsel is a defensive mf with one of the best Champions league pass completions. Does anybody pick on Busquets or Casemiro for how fast they pass? His role is not a creative mf, look at how Sarri has been wasting Kante.
I am shocked by some of the things you say. I am not even sure if even sure if you are serious. Busquets is in decline, but his stand out quality was how quick he passed the ball from the back. It's what made him special. Casmeiro played in a 3 man midfield with Kroos and Modric. It was a very different system and those two dropped deep to control play. Casmeiro made up for this by being far better than Witsl defensively and more mobile. As for Kante once again you show you are clueless, because Kante actually releases the ball quickly. He is not creative, but he is a million miles ahead of Witsel. Also he has still been good this year. As for speed of passing I dont need to bring up Loew saying how he drills his plays to pass quicker. I dont need to bring up Klopp or Guardiola talking about how the speed of passing moves the teams around etc. I just need to actually watch football. Not bring up useless stats taken out of context, which I dont understand. As for the January window, Thorgan was probably impossible but Brandt was in bad form and Leverkusen probably would have considered the move. Also the extra 30 million acts as a sweetener. So the team can go down the league and pay for a replacement.
I just have to believe that we get something more than our current CAM and ST positions. We need help for Reus and Alcacer.
@eaglespark What's there to be shocked about. No one is saying Witsel is better than Busquets or Kante, the point is that he is a defensive midfielder like them, his job is to receive from defence, carry the ball past the first or second line of pressure and release it to the creative players. Just because a first touch pass is skilful does not mean it is the right thing to do in every situation. A quick passer needs someone to drop deep to receive. Witsel doesnt need to be a king of one touch passes if he can carry the ball further upfield past a few opponents using his physical qualities, then pass. It allows his teammates get into more advanced positions. It's not like Witsel is shit at quick passes, he made great passes to Sancho in the Augsburg comeback and to Alcacer in the Bayern comeback.
We still need another left back, in addition to the back up striker. Right now, if Shultz and Hakim are starting full-backs, we have LP who can be backup RB, but on the left we only have players that can play there out of position like Hakimi and Diallo. We shouldn't rely on Schmeltzer, and even LP may not reproduce his level from this season. So we need another LB and possibly another RB too. As for the Witsel/Delaney debate, I agree that we shouldn't judge them on their creative ability. Favre's plan was to have creativity come from Reus, the wings and even the FB's. It's OK in that case to have purely defensive players. The problem is that so many of our creative players got injured during our slump in the 2nd half of the season, that I believe he should have adjusted to that. Instead, he became even more conservative probably believing that he can't gamble with Dahoud if the results aren't going his way with his first choice conservative midfield pairing.
We got Barca's Morey as an RB prospect who is expected to be ready for the first team the following season. LP and Hakimi are supposed to be gone by then so there is a need for more options either way. Balerdi is expected to be part of the first team now as another CB option. With more than enough CBs, Akanji looked quite decent as an LB under Stöger. In other news, in 2017/18 we payed 40 million Euros to player advisors. That sum had to be in addition to the reported transfer fees which sounds insane for the players we bought. Akanji, Philipp and Dahoud are the players I can think of who cost in the 20+ million range. I know we have money in the bank but that and taxes for players sold is one part of the answer where the money for Auba and the likes went.
You should spend sometime watching a few BVB games...you know the club you support. Weigl is a defensive liability. That Bayern game was Dahouds only good game of the season. Also Witsel was one of our more consistent players of the season. Never played in a big league, 30 years old, no creator next to him and yet he kept ticking. LF would be crazy to bench him in favour of Weigl or Dahoud. Of course young players need time and patience to develop. But we were in a title race all season. LF couldnt risk dropping points. We were awful defensively so he picked the MF who could help out the most. I don't like Delaney being in the first 11 but I understand. Until we get that coveted Gundogan replacement, this is what we have to placate ourselves with. I hope we don't get Mandzukic. He's almost 50. I hope we get Haller. Would be the best striker we can get. Also we are interested in Ismael Benaccer, a no. 10 who played as a deep lying no. 8. He's like Kovacic and would be perfect next to Witsel or Weigl.
Dude you come around here looking for a fight more than any one single poster I have read. More than Eagle or anyone else. Its always the standoffish appraoch with you. Theres nothing good about Dortmund blah blah blah.. just go support someone else..... It gets old man
If you enjoy mediocrity go support Schalke. They love fans like you. All 10 of their American fans have annual meetups in the deep south. You'll love it. Kthxbye
If you think runner up to Bayern with the team we fielded is mediocrity then have at it buddy. You are dilusional and I pity you. You like being angry for some reason. Do I wish we could afford to spend on young fledgling superstars like Felix or some other hot player ...we yeah. But do I think we are up there with the EPL or Bayern in terms of what we can spend.. well no...
Let me flip this around so you understand. Do I wish we spent our money more intelligently year after year....well yeah. Do I think you have a clue about football.....well no.
It's shocking because you referenced Busquets the king of the quick pass from a defensive midfielder. It showed you had no idea what you are talking about. Whether you were right or wrong, using the best quick DM passer off the ball in the last 20 years shows you are clueless. It's like saying a striker does not need to be fast and then using Mbappe as an example of a striker who is not quick. It's something someone would do as a joke. As for Kante he is very good at quick passing. Once more it shows you don't know what you are talking about. If you actually watched Chelsea ever you would have seen this yesterday. The worst bit is you are so confident when you Express opinions, which are ridiculous. You don't even grasp the value of passing quickly. It's not about looking skillful, but moving the other team around and getting your players into space. Also picking once in a blue examples is pointless. It's not about doing a quick pass once in a while, it's about being able to consistently pass at a quick tempo. Nobody is asking for Witsel to be creative just pass quicker and move into space quicker. There are many times that Reus, Sancho etc are in excellent pockets of space and Witsel delays the pass and the attack is killed. He is a solid 6/10 player but in a key position we need more. If Dahoud is not going to play then he must be replaced. Witsel and Delaney is an average midfield. They also drop too deep putting pressure on the defence.
Since summer 2016, over a 3 year period, the club has spent €426.65m on transfer fees alone, with more likely to be added to that in the next couple of months. Of those 26 signings only 6 are no longer contracted to the club, with only two of those leaving for a profit, including Bartra which was only a very small profit. If nearly half a billion of expenditure can not give you reaistic hopes of regularly challenging for titles, then you have to question how intelligently the management have spent the money.. I understand that a large amount has been generated in sales, however the fact remains that a huge amount has been wasted on mediocre players many of whom have been hard to get rid of.,
What you forget to mention Alex, is that they have generated 486mil Euros in that same 3 year period ... Its easy to only show only one side of the equation and consequently call it out. And you are completely right to do so ... but let's not forget that these three years have been a transition, the club were bound to have difficulties after 7/8 years of Klopp at the helm ... I mean just look at Man U or Arsenal after the Ferguson, Wenger departures. The one thing u could certainly fault Watzke for is the choice of managers after Tuchel in Bosz and Stogger and even then you would have to question if there were any alternatives available ... maybe Naggelsman > Favre ?? Think of it this way ... if any of you had been given the choice to finish 2 points off Bayern at the begining of the year, how many of you would have said no ?? The problem people have is entitlement and expectations ... you don't go to the gym for a week, after spending 3 years eatting pizza and watching Kim Kardashian on TV, and then sign up for Mr. Olympia !! It doesn't work that way my friend ... Give it time ...
Jurgen Klopps last season was worse than the one with Bosz and Stoger. His departure had nothing to do with our struggles afterwards. In fact the season after, we broke a record with Thomas Tuchel. If it weren't for Pep, we'd have won the league. Transfer activity is not the end game here. It's the means to an end which involves winning trophies. For every successful incoming transfer, there are two or three flops.... expensive flops. People herald Zorc as a transfer god. The same guy who bought Schürrle, Rode, Toprak, Toljan. Players who are a massive hit on our wage bill. These players are paid a combined 20M a season. It's a salary with which we can easily afford Haller, Benaccer and Zyiech (assuming he has that release clause). But instead have to wait until those dead weight are sold.
Speaking of dead weight - if we are able to get rid of Schurrle (just sell him to an EPL club), Rode (back to Frankfurt), Kagawa, Toljan, Toprak and Passlack I think we could easily muster funds for a striker, Haller for example. What we would save in wages alone will be a big bonus as well. Would definitely be better to head into the new season with Paco and Haller, that just Paco and maybe Isak. Speaking of the latter, he will most likely be given a chance after his good form in the Eredivisie.
I'll give you the numbers and you can decide for yourself: Schürrle: 7M Toprak: 7M Toljan: 3M Passlack: 2M Rode: 4M Kagawa: 4M (not 100% sure, could be what he is earning in Turkey) Surprising high earners in our squad are Gotze at 10M, Wolf at 7M. Weigl and Dahoud make 4 and 5M each. A lot of money for players the coach does not trust. Speaking of LF, his contract is going to be extended by an year i.e. until 2021. I was hoping next year would be his last. He is going to bomb the year after anyway. Reus at 10M, Witsel and Paco at 8M each are well-deserved. If Hummels had not left he would have earned 10M as well and frankly I would rather pay him that much than Toprak 7M. Sancho when he signed was on 3M and there was talk of tripling that. Dont know if the bosses followed through. Speaking of bosses, Watzke makes about 2.5M while Treß and Cramer make around 700k...all including bonuses.
Haller would be a key signing, Isak could still have a part to play as his understudy. I don't think Paco, Haller and Isak is overkill for a team playing CL football. The important thing is having options up front, and not having to use Gotze or Phillipp out of position anymore.
There is an immense amount of discussion around purchasing a central defender. Akanji and Diallo are deemed insufficient. We conceded more goals than Leipzig, Bayern and BMG. Hell if we had conceded as much as BMG, we might have won the title. I think selling Akanji + Toprak + Schurrle + Rode + Kagawa + Toljan and getting deLigt might be a great idea. Under no circumstance do I want Boateng here.
de Ligt will probably go to Barca. His price + wages would be huge. Better to keep Akanji imo and use the money gained from selling Rode, Kagawa, Schurrle, Toljan and Toprak to sign someone more affordable? Boateng will probably go to MLS I think. Maybe someone like Kempf, Tah or Stark might be a possibility?
Rumor is we are pursuing the American Striker from Hannover as well. Sebastian Soto. He has had a pretty good Under 20 WC. A few goals and an assist. He played very well against a good young French team filled with League 1 players. One reason I talk about this is the fact he carved up Dan Axel a lot and that young man was exposed. Im in agreement that we need better defenders or we are looking at Euro and CL qualifying and thats pretty much it with no real shot at winning the BL or a cup of any kind.