Bundesliga and the rest: Domestic and European competition discussion

OK, let me rephrase that.

Kohfeldt has been thrown into the deep end with absolutely no preparation.

 

The bad: Wolfsburg are in last place with one match remaining in the group

The not necessarily so bad: The group is still pretty open ended and they could still move up to at least the Europa spot depending if they can win the final match vs Lille and get a favourable result in the other match

Tough to say what will happen, but things could be worse

 

Wolfsburg need to beat Lille and they will qualify for next stages right? Anything besides a win they crash out last in the group

 

Yea I believe winning is a must for any chances at all

 

If Wolfsburg win at home by 2 goals v Lille they are guaranteed to qualify for the CL last 16. Any win would be enough if the game between Salzburg and Sevilla is not a draw.

 

Wolfsburg do play the final match at home. Although it is Wolfsburg so they're not going to have a huge boost from the fans anyways, compared to how a Bayern, Dortmund, Gladbach or even Schalke in the past would've had.

On paper, it's a 50:50 kind of match up. Lille aren't doing too great in their domestic league but they are first in the CL group at the moment.

The added pressure on Wolfsburg may skew it in favor of Lille though, so probably a 45:55 odds right now for Wolfsburg to get a big win out of it. But it definitely is an anything can happen situation overall.

 

Nmecha is out due to yellow card next match…so big bummer for Wolfsburg

 

Waldschmidt is supposed to be fit again, and has been on the bench for their past couple games. Hopefully he can make an impact by the time they face Lille.

Frankly, I think Maxi Philipp has been disappointing this season though. Especially since they made the permanent transfer for him after the loan was over.

 

Werner came on second half and scored a late goal last night... Havertz only on bench...

 

Havertz was not on bench…he is out due to hamstring problem

 

Big Game tonight - MAN CITY vs PSG , hope Kehrer gets to play in it.

 

Actually just a correction on that. I believe the way the head to head will work it would mean that if Lille, Salzburg and Wolfsburg all finished with 8 points it would be Salzburg topping the group with Wolfsburg second, based on the 3 way head to head mini league system they would use.

It is actually not possible for Wolfsburg to finish 1st or 3rd. They will either be CL last 16 or out of Europe altogether.

 

Meanwhile Dortmund play away to Sporting tonight, where a win will guarantee qualification. A draw would also be acceptable as it would mean a home win v Besiktas in the last match would be enough. Not having Hummels won’t help, but at least some of the other injured players are back and in Kobel they now have a keeper less likely to make a major ******** up in a big match. Basically don’t lose.

Leipzig are in Bruges where a win is crucial to have any hope of making the EL. I don’t see them doing it tbh, their away form under Marsch has been pretty poor.

 

Marsch and Gulasci have also tested positive for covid and won't be there for the match

 

This bold is true, its win or bust. Maybe a flukey penalty or something will help. Though they will get pasted in the second round since they are almost certain to face an EPL opposition, Madrid or PSG. Same for Dortmund if they qualify.

 

Frankly, the best chance for Wolfsburg to rack up more coefficient points for the Buli is if they finish 3rd and fall in the EL. They won't be contenders to take the whole tournament of course, but could probably scrap their way through another round or two.

 

I'm afraid that should Wolfsburg continue in the EL they will be knocked out due to lack of interest. Hope I'm wrong, though.

 

True, but that is now impossible. Whatever happens they cannot mathematically finish 3rd. If they win v Lille they will finish 2nd, draw or loss = 4th.

 

Looks like Kimmich will be out for Bayern vs Dortmund on December 4th as well

Breaking: Bild is now reporting that Joshua Kimmich has become the latest Bayern player to test positive for Corona. Earlier in the day it was confirmed by the club that Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting had tested positive.

— Derek Rae (@RaeComm) November 24, 2021

 

Quite possibly the most tragic Bundesliga campaign for a newly promoted club in recent history.

After already being plagued with different injuries and Covid cases, Greuther Fuerth will now be without Itten, Seguin, Willems, Dudziak and Christiansen for various sickness or injury reasons.

https://www.ligainsider.de/spvgg-gr...onalsorgen-in-fuerth-nehmen-wieder-zu-312263/

 

Their medical dept must be even worse then Dortmund’s!

Although they will almost certainly be relegated, the hope for Furth will be that they can at least win their first ever home Bundesliga match during the season. Their only other BL season 12-13 ended with 0 home wins from 17 matches + another 5 so far this season.

 

Oof, that's rough. Yeah, it'll be nice if they get at least one or a few home wins at some point this season. To give something to the fans, even if it's just for one day. Especially for a small market club where there traditionally hasn't been much to celebrate.

The mixture of medical staff handling of players and just bad luck have been their downfall. I don't think Leitl is necessarily a bad coach as he's gotten them results in 2BL last season. And at the beginning of the season, I don't think they should be any worse than Bochum in terms of the team they have on paper.

 

Dortmund vs Sporting:

Kobel – Meunier, Akanji, Pongračić, Guerreiro – Bellingham, Witsel, Brandt – Reus, Malen, Reinier

(Bench: Ostrzinski, Hitz, Schulz, Zagadou, Passlack, Can, Dahoud, Knauff, Tigges)


Leipzig vs Brugge:

Martínez – Mukiele, Klostermann, Gvardiol, Angeliño – Nkunku, Laimer, Kampl, Forsberg – Brobbey, Silva

(Bank: Eutinger, Henrichs, Bonnah, Moriba, Wosz, Novoa)

 

Some signs of life from Leipzig as Nkunku gives them an early 1-0 lead, to at least momentarily leap ahead of Brugge in the table as well

 

2-0 after a Forsberg penalty