If they have any pride they will also remeber the thrashing they received at home to that Stuttgart side a couple of months ago and pay back the favor.
I am more or less pleased with today's effort. - Can: really lost confidence after his mistake. I think it's because he feels responsibility and that's good. He should have tried to forget it and get on with the game. - Morey: I'm convinced he can do better. It just looked like he lacked a lot of confidence :/ Needs to be first choice RB till the end of the season. - Knauff: I thought he was positive, which is enough for me. So I say great game he's had! - Reus: Finally scored! It was just a matter of time. - Dahoud: He must start every game! That pass to Haland... would have been the best assist of the season. It was important for us to control the midfield. - Haland: I agree.. he's been too distracted. Needs to calm down. Great assist though. - Jude: Great game. We needed his energy. - Terzic: I wasn't sure about the defensive subs, but it almost worked.. except for... - Meunier: he could have done better.. but like many, I'm not completely blaming him for the 2nd goal. He's not used to seeing this kind of quality pass every day in the BL. But still, when I saw him come in, I had a bad feeling! - The ref: that was a mistake to not let the Jude play continue and then go to VAR. But then it's probably just a reflex. I think we're in a good position. I still think City is better than Bayern --at least talent-wise. But with this result, they will remember their quarter final complex (and maybe the English-German complex,) and we will have a chance. I will re-iterate what @eaglespark said: We can compete at this level. We are that good. Just get rid of the Bayern complex, and get a top coach! (Not sure I can say that without Haland and Sancho though.)
As I said, Can is a warrior and fought. He is one of the three players that looked out of his depth for us: Can Morey Knauff. I will speak about the others later, but I watched the full 90 again. Can was very poor on the ball, but excellent defensively. I will give my thoughts about what we need to go forward, but buying the 6 is a priority. He tried hard, but watching the game again he was really bad. Poor on the ball, beaten time and time again, but he tried hard. Our worst player by a mile, but he needs more experience. He wasn't good enough yet on the ball, but what do you expect. He looks very promising and would love for him to start on Saturday. He was quality and our best attacking player. Great on the ball, great passing, created chances, worked hard defensively and scored the winner. Agree with a lot of this. When it comes to the best team in the world, this competition is going to find that out. For me we saw 6/10 outfield players play and easily cope at the highest level. 3 struggled in Knauff, Can and Morey. Also Reyna was not working or pressing with enough intensity, he should have been marking Gundogan or Foden for the goal and was poor. He has potential, but deserves a long spell on the bench. Terzic was spot on with his decisions for me and I am give him credt. I think in the return leg, I would play the exact same team for the first half and depending on the score even the first hour, but if we need a goal I would switch to a 4-2-3-1. For regular Bundesliga matces, we need a bit more creativity and control in the middle. I think it's vital we play this formation on the weekend. Can--Akanji--Hummels--Raphael ----------Bellingham--Dahoud------ -Knauff--------Brandt------------Reus --------------Haaland----------- That's the team I will switch to if we need to chase the game against City. The team we played against City is also a bit too defensive for regular Bundesliga matches where we need control. So I really hope we see that line up.
I agree that this team should be capable of winning against pretty much any other BL team apart from Bayern, exploit the attacking quality rather then worrying about the opposition. Just need Brandt to step up.
Proud of the team and the performance. Reus was fantastic throughout the game. Akanji made some of the best forward passes which helped keep man city under pressure. Dahoud and Guerreiro were good too. Bellingham had some bright moments, but lost the ball way too many times killing our attacks. Can is error prone, but he brings fighting mentality on the pitch and contributes well in taking the ball forward. Morey is a decent RB, but we need an upgrade in this position. Did anyone observe over past few weeks, Hummels has been struggling to make forward passes, which was once his strength. Never seen him giving the ball away so frequently in his career.
Yes he had a poor passing game, but was fantastic defensively. This is a minor blip. With Morey, I think we have to be realistic. Let's give him until the end of the season and see how he does, but we don't have the funds to replace everyone. I definitely agree with you about Reus. A true captains performance. For the summer we need to try and keep Sancho/Haaland, but replace them if they leave. Sign a good 6 either Guendouzi or Bissouma or a similar player. Sign a great keeper. Only then should we look at getting a right, but only in the unlikely event we can off load Meunier. We need to hope Delaney and Meunier have great Euros and we can sell them. It's interesting that when mentioning the players with great quality at Dortmund, Guardiola mentioned these five: Haaland Sancho Reus Hummels Dahoud. It's absolutely madness how we under his talent. Too often accepting average performances. Brandt is another player we need to put trust in and we will see his quality.
Yes, Hummels has been passing badly! But I agree he and Akanji played solid yesterday. I wouldn't play 4-2-3-1 with Dahoud and Bellingham as pivots. Jude tends to go forward a lot, and I don't want that to prevent Dahoud from doing so. That's why a 3-man midfield is key. I think Can can be our #6. I don't think we need a new one. If we can play a creative like Dahoud or Brandt in front of him, and a fighter like Jude on a regular basis I think we'll do fine. But that means that we need to have enough healthy CBs so that Can doesn't have to play there. I think our priority transfer will be a creative winger - a la Sancho. We're likely loosing him this summer, and if not then definitely next one. A CB would be good too --possibly Nnamdi or the new French guy if they're ready. I think Dahoud will get a good offer this summer and our lack of trust in him will make him take it. And it'll be a better club than us too. Re Morey: He's the type of player you know has the technique and potential. It just needs to get out. And it's not because of lack of confidence. That's why I think he should play more often. He got into a rhythm recently but then got injured. He can get there again. I'm against selling Delaney. He's a great backup especially when we need to close shop. I would sell Witsel instead. He's so overrated and clubs will come for him.
I also think it's time to start playing Burki. I have no idea why he's been benched for so long. He's definitely better than Hitz for when you're looking for that 1 or 2 extra saves in a game that make a difference.
Burki is not really good enough either. I guess he is being benched to force him out or an argument he has had. Yes he is better than Hitz and would play him too, but he is not the answer. Can just does not have the technique to play there at the highest level. He stood out clearly for his lack of technique and we were punished. He gave the ball away a lot. For regular Bundesliga matches Bellingham can be more defensive. His skill is not his great attacking play. He needs to learn more discipline and stay deeper. Bayern get away with playing Kimmich and Goretzka, because they have quality. We could easily do the same. Well if Sancho goes then we will have sufficient funds to replace him. However, I don't think we need a CB. It's our midfield which holds us back. It's precisely why we don't dominate games. We need a player who can protect the defence, but also is great on the ball and can keep passing. Guendouzi and Bissouma are too such players. Bissouma especially will be a revelation This is possible, but we need to sort his contract out. Pep seems to be lurking and after his performance yesterday more teams will be after him. I would keep him, but only because we don't have the funds to go and get better than need to rely on him getting better. Delaney has a great attitude, but he is an average player. We need better. We sell Delaney and we buy a quality 6, who would take our team to another level. Then we can rotate Can in the team and he can come on. I would sell Witsel too, but it's never going to happen. He has one more year on his contract, has always chosen moves for the money. He is coming off a bad injury too. He will see out the last year of his contract and move for free. Yesterday was a good result, but it also made it clear which positions were not good enough. Winger RB CM It also shows that we lacked a bit of creativity. You replace Can with Bissouma. Get Brandt playing and have him playing the majority instead of Bellingham and you have a team that could compete compete anyone. I actually am not even that bothered about Haaland. We can get Isak back and Moukoko, unfortunately is injured, but is progressing incredibly.
Also I am going to add the club have never treated Brandt properly since he has been here. He has never been given a sustained role in attacking midfield to get his rhythm. We are too obsessed at the club with players that get stuck in and show a bit of passion. Yes that is needed, but so is technique and quality. When you are playing City and Bayern then Brandt might have to take a seat on the bench for Belling. However even Mourinho found a spot for Ozil, because he understood how important that creativity was.
I just watched some Bissouma highlights and he does have a good mix of defensive and creative skills!
Same story that happened with Dahoud is happening with Brandt. I think we had a coach that was obsessed with extra-cautious players, and Terzic was too indoctrinated to change that quickly enough.
We need to fix that quickly or we are going to lose a real talent. Nearly all the top teams apart from the ones that play 3 at the back playing with at least two technical creative players. Bayern=Kimmich-Goretzka-Muller Madrid=Casmeiro-Kroos-Modric PSG=Gueye-Veratti-Neymar City=Rodri-Gundogan-De Bruyne United=Fred-Pogba-Fernandes The other top teams play wing backs so a different system. If we want to be dominating matched then we need to do similar. Next season we should have competition like this I hope. DM(6) Can, New CM, Bellingham CM(8) Dahoud, Bellingham CM(10) Brandt, Reiner
Help me keep track - are we still selling Bellingham this summer? Hopefully Brandt can figure things out, if not this season then certainly over the summer under Rose. If he can become a consistent two-way player the way Dahoud has emerged this season, the midfield could actually be really good next year.
Yes I would still sell Bellingham in the summer. I would definitely do it. Just as I would sell Witsel too. However, despite my wishes I need to be realistic. Witsel will run his contract down and we won't sell Bellingham. It would be a dream for us to go into next season with Bissouma-Dahoud-Brandt. Or even a Guendouzi-Dahoud-Brandt.
Bellingham’s value will surely increase post Covid so would make little sense for the board to sell him this summer.
I actually think Bellingham's value is unlikely to ever be much higher than it is now. They hype and the love around him in England is at its peak. He would go for 50-60 million pounds now and all the fans of every big club in England would celebrate. It's a bit like Dembele, Gotze, Pulisic (especially with a year and half left), they reached their peak value way before they reached the peak of their abilities. Gotze went for 32 million due to his minimum release fee whilst one of the best 10s in the world went for 42 million. Even if Bellingham was to he incredible for us next season we still wouldn't sell him for much more than 80. We could possibly get 60 now and buy quality midfielders. We are also at a fortunate time where there are 3 midfielders now at reasonable prices that could really improve us: Guendouzi Bissouma Odegaad These are players I personally have seen a lot of and rate highly. Thats without mention the likes of Aouar Kessie Who to be honest I haven't seen, but the scouts surely have and might be right for us.
To get £60m you would need to sell to an EPL club obviously, but even then I can’t see many being likely to pay that this summer, either because they have other priorities or have been financially hit by Covid. You would need to spark a bidding war which I just can’t see happening. I think transfer fees will be affected across the board, there will not be too many major money transfers this summer, apart from one or two exceptions (Sancho/Kane/maybe Haaland/Mbappe).
Also it's terrible for the culture and club brand to flip a player after a single season unless the situation is totally untenable, like Dembélé going on strike or Diallo lacking a clear path to a starting role. Bellingham clearly has a passion for winning games with BVB, the club is very happy with him, and the Yellow Wall would go crazy watching him throw himself about. His skillset also complements the likes of Dahoud and Brandt really well. He will probably move on in a couple of years, but let him create some memories in Dortmund.
All players will get a clean plate with the new coaching staff next season so a Brandt can become an undisputed starter again. We will nit have funds to sign 5 new positions so the emphasis should be on a new goalkeeper and DM. Morey has the talent and ability to be a very nice player but, until this season, ha hasn't been given chances to play and that is what he needs. We need to make him the undisputed starter for the restof the season and let him develop. Meunier is already on hefty wages so it makes no sense signing an impact new RB who will also be on high wages unless we are able to offload Meunier and that will be very difficult to do. We have signed the 17-year old CB from PSG, have DAZ (who I believe can become a great CB), and Collins from the academy. Akanji would be the bridge player until they're ready. Guerreiro is signed long term so were set at LB but his back up needs to be upgraded, however, he is on one of the worst contracts in football and will be almost impossible to off-load. Can is signed long-term as well and can play at multiple positions so he is great depth. We definitely need a skilled DM to play next to Dahoud and Bellingham/Brandt. Witsel, after coming off of a major injury, will run out his contract next season as no one will sign him close to what he is making with Dortmund. Reyna and Hazard will need to step up plain and simple. Hazard has dealt with injuries this season and Reyna is young but those exuses can only be used to a certain extent. I still believe that the club will make a statement by re-signing Sancho to a new deal as I really do not see any potential clubs that would be interested in signing him at the price we would demand. But if there is then we cerainly need to sign an impact replacement. Same applies to Haaland.
I really hope you're right. But I think it's quite possible that we made him a promise that we'll sell him this season if he extends. So he may be mentally ready to move on. If that happened a Liverpool may be able to take him at around 80 million or so.
One of Sancho or Haaland will be sold this summer imo. however I think the board will be keen not to sell both. If the money is used wisely to strengthen other areas then it might be a good time to sell Sancho. To get Jadon to extend the club would need to make him the highest paid player, and even then I doubt he sees his long term future at the club. The question is will either player going to be happy to stay without CL football. Unhappy players will be no good for the team.
You underestimate the stupidity of Premier League clubs. If it was leaked that Dortmund would sell him for 60 million then I think most of the English clubs would be in for him. I think that is pretty much guaranteed. Yes those are the key positions and we should try and raise money realistically by selling Delaney and Meunier. Hard to see how we raise any other funds without selling Sancho. If we do sell Sancho, then that money can help go into a DM. I think we need to box smart and sign Guendouzi. He would be the cheapest option with potential. I am not sure Morey does have that quality. He is the best we have, but he is beaten easily and his crossing is not top tier. Hopefully he can continue to improve. Yeh I think we are stuck with Schuzl. I hope we resign Sancho, but I think it's unlikely. If we get top 4 and a CL semi final then that will help. However, priority for me is sell Burki, sell Delaney, sell Meunier and maybe even sell Thorgan (at least if we resign Sancho as unlikely as that is). Sign a GK, sign the Sancho replacement and sign Bissouma/Guendouzi.