Since the last season ended, and the fixture list has been released for next season I thought it would be appropriate to open this thread to discuss the upcoming season. 2014-15 Fixture list announced. 1. Round 22/08/2014 H Bayer Leverkusen 2. Round 29/08/2014 A FC Augsburg 3. Round 12/09/2014 H SC Freiburg 4. Round 19/09/2014 A 1. FSV Mainz 05 5. Round 23/09/2014 H VfB Stuttgart 6. Round 26/09/2014 A FC Schalke 04 7. Round 03/10/2014 H Hamburger SV 8. Round 17/10/2014 A 1. FC Köln 9. Round 24/10/2014 H Hannover 96 10. Round 31/10/2014 A Bayern München 11. Round 07/11/2014 H Bor. Mönchengladbach 12. Round 21/11/2014 A SC Paderborn 07 13. Round 28/11/2014 A Eintracht Frankfurt 14. Round 05/12/2014 H 1899 Hoffenheim 15. Round 12/12/2014 A Hertha BSC 16. Round 15/12/2014 H VfL Wolfsburg 17. Round 19/12/2014 A Werder Bremen 18. Round 30/01/2015 A Bayer Leverkusen 19. Round 02/02/2015 H FC Augsburg 20. Round 06/02/2015 A SC Freiburg 21. Round 13/02/2015 H 1. FSV Mainz 05 22. Round 20/02/2015 A VfB Stuttgart 23. Round 27/02/2015 H FC Schalke 04 24. Round 06/03/2015 A Hamburger SV 25. Round 13/03/2015 H 1. FC Köln 26. Round 20/03/2015 A Hannover 96 27. Round 03/04/2015 H Bayern München 28. Round 10/04/2015 A Bor. Mönchengladbach 29. Round 17/04/2015 H SC Paderborn 07 30. Round 24/04/2015 H Eintracht Frankfurt 31. Round 01/05/2015 A 1899 Hoffenheim 32. Round 08/05/2015 H Hertha BSC 33. Round 16/05/2015 A VfL Wolfsburg 34. Round 23/05/2015 H Werder Bremen Sorry, might have not copy+pasted as well as I hoped. Interesting fixtures I thought we should note. We open against Leverkusen, definitely not an easy match, last time we faced them it ended in a 2-2 draw, but earlier in last season we lost 1-0. Next few fixtures are relatively easy and should be winnable with opponents Augsburg, Frieburg, Mainz, and Stuttgart. Matchday six we travel away to FC Scheisse for the first Ruhr derby. After that, home to Hamburg who recently seem to have our number. Matchdays eight and nine Koln and Hannover should be winnable. Matchday ten we face Bayern Munich in the Allianz. Well we managed a 3-0 win there last time lets try to repeat it . Home to monchengladbach after that, should be easier now that Ter Stegen is gone. Two road trips to newly promoted Paderborn, and after to Frankfurt. In our last four games, Hoffenheim, Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen in that order. Hoffenheim I believe Footy labeled as our bogey team, hopefully we don't stumble. Hertha should be a win, even if it is away. Wolfsburg will be a more difficult challenge imho, and then finishing with what should be an easy game against Werder Bremen. Winter break, and then we face the same teams in the same order after the winter break, with the home team becoming away and vice-versa. So far we don't know who we play in the Champions League or in the cup, but none of it looks we have a brutal stretch of games like last year. (last year we had Monchengladbach, Hannover, Schalke, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Munich, Mainz, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim and Hertha in that order. We managed 13 points in those 10 matches )
Think we saw the weaknesses of Immobile today: - Can't play with his back to the goal - Doesn't link play well (If at all) - Doesn't create anything - Doesn't use his head - Needs space to make his runs - Will struggle getting past defenders, in possession, with take-ons in open field - Below average athlete - Usually he is good against defensive lines but if he has a bad game, like he did today, and he isn't getting support it is like you are only playing with 10 men * I think he is very similar to Chicharito and even after he had a good season at United (20 total goals) he was put on the bench and used as a super sub, which his skill set favored more than as a starter.
Yeah none of the Italy forwards/attackers including Balotelli, Cerci, Cassano or Candreva have impressed. Let's see how he goes. The pressure will of course be immense, but unlike Miki, I htink Ciro seems a little more bullish and may perform better under pressure.
I didn't see the Italy game but my Italian friends told me how Ciro "shit his pants every time he had a chance". However I did see the Colombia game and was pretty impressed by Ramos. He didn't score but had great link up play and dangerous passes/assists to his teammates. He also likd to drift to the wings or into the corners to bring his teammates into play just Lewy does so I think he can definitely replace Lewy's linkup play. Only problem was at least with Colombia he seemed to favor passing the ball to his teammates than taking the shot himself when in a good position but maybe that's down to having some good finishing teammates in Martinez and Rodriguez. He also worked well with Martinez in a duo so maybe we could use him and Ciro together with Ciro the finisher and Ramos the link man. Certainly another new option since playing Lewy with Schieber was never a valid option. If we do go with 1 striker to start the season I actually think after today that Ramos will be the one. Also as a side note, Colombia look great and I think they look to be the best, most complete South American team. Their bench seems way better than Brazil's. Think they will make the semis at least knocking out Brazil in the quarters.
^^^^^^^ agreed, colmbia look like the best SA team. Imagine if they had Falcao! Although sometimes missing a player like that can bring the best out of a team.
Who said Brazil was getting to the quarters?....on current form with a rested Vidal, I see Chile knocking them out
All based on just 1 game? I'm very excited about next season. I see us challenging for top spot and a deep run into the CL. A Bayern collapse would be amazing.
I'm pretty pumped. But I'm not confident of challenging Bayern. I'm actually a little worried, I think Wolfsburg are going to be tough and if S04 pull off one or two really good signings then they could be troublesome too. I don't get why they stick with Keller, they have a very good team and really strong youth players. I think Dortmund need to bring in one more player, yes Slash, a number 10! If money is an issue see if we can sell Auba, apparently he wants to go back to Italy. Plenty of talk but no one as yet has made an offer.
Just a reminder if it hasn't been mentioned already. After our last two CL campaigns we are guaranteed at least a pot 2 seeding. Depending on the qualifications, we can potentially be in pot 1, but Schalke are still ahead of us on co-efficient (meaning they get bumped to pot 1 before us). We're ranked 15th in club co-efficient. 6th rank United did not make CL for the 2014-15 season 8th rank Valencia did not make CL for the 2014-15 season 9th rank Arsenal are in a seeded CL qualifying spot for the CL. 10th rank Porta are in a seeded CL qualifying spot for the CL 11th, 12th and 13th ranks AC Milan, Lyon and Inter Milan respectively have not qualified for the CL. That means we are 10th of the teams still in contention for the CL. Realistically Porto and Arsenal should qualify so we should be in pot 2 barring any upsets. That means our group stage rivals for next season look like this: Real Madrid Barcelona Athletico Madrid Chelsea Benfica Bayern Munich (cannot draw as we play in the same country) Porto* Arsenal* *Note: these two teams haven't qualified, if only one doesn't qualify they are replaced by Schalke, which we can't draw due to playing in the same country. If somehow Arsenal and Porto are knocked out, we are bumped to pot one. Pot two looks like this Juventus PSG Shakhtar Donetsk Basel Manchester City And then depending on qualification any of these clubs Zenit Ajax Olympiacos CSKA Moscow Bayer Leverkusen (note we can't draw them)
No..that is just his game...He only averages 1 dribble a game and in 33 matches he had 3 assists, with 1 key pass per game, even though he did complete 71% of his passes...Not a physical player and looks uncomfortable with his back to the goal....Another worrying think about him is that only 48% of his shots were on target this season He really is a high energy poacher who will press and while he fits the style of play, as I have said many times before, the growth of Dortmund could/will come down to the ability for Klopp to evolve the style of play, while still being built around tactical discipline, an aggressive press, and energy. Dortmund must get much more comfortable and better with possession of the ball and breaking down deep and organized defenses in tight areas. Immobile isn't the CF to help with that cause.
How the f*ck are Schalke ahead of us!? Aren't the rankings over the past five years? They have done stuff all except for one decent CL run. Seems unfair
I agree with Nick observations regarding Ciro, I made the same observation when I first saw him vs England I dont think he can play as a lone striker. I hope I'm wrong
their 2010/11 run to the semifinals of the Champions League gave then 30+ points and they had a quarterfinal run in Europa league the next season, and getting to the knockout stages the next 2 years of the Champions League
Let's not immediately write off Immobile just because he wasn't convincing in the World Cup. Dude scored 22 goals in the Serie A with Torino, he is very clinical. Dortmund had problems with finishing last season and I'm confident that Immobile will bang in the goals with Dortmund behind him.
The problem was Italy's entire set up and system during the game against Uruguay. Their strategy was to passively play for the draw and try to advance that way. Immobile was left isolated without much buildup play to work with in order to make cohesive offensive attacks. Ciro will be a work in progress, but judgement should be reserved until its seen how he fits into the Dortmund system.
There is a new deal with evonik ,i dont know details but its very good for us . Also they bought 9 procent for 26 mil euro. Thats good news people we are getting the financial power to can afford paying better sallaries
http://www.transfermarkt.de/neue-bv...kauft-sich-mit-9-prozent-ein/view/news/164133 9% of the team sold to Evonik for 26.7m Euros. Also renewed the sponsorship deal till 2025, which will bring in 220 million during that span. 220 million over a 10 year span, which means 22 million per year. Depends I don't think this is just a shirt sponsorship, but they're our main sponsors I believe. Comparatively there are seven clubs in the world, that have better shirt sponsorship than that. (Barca, Bayern, Man City, United, Liverpool, Sunderland, Real Madrid). Also it's a ten year deal, that's a long f*cking deal meaning we don't have the power to re-negotiate, depending on the market, in 5 years, that 20 million could be a petty sum.
It depends...did they say if there is a buyout clause in the contract? or an option to renegotiate after a certain number of years?
yes 10 years i a long time but 22 mln is with 10 mln more than we get this year for the t-shirt sponsorship