No time for a write-up. Information is from the BVB website, but not official. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Grosskreutz (Piszczek), Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Gündogan, Bender - Blaszczykowski, Götze, Reus (Sahin) - Lewandowski S: Langerak - Owomoyela, Piszczek, Kirch, Santana, Sahin, Bittencourt, Leitner, Schieber Fraglich: Reus (muskuläre Probleme) Es fehlt: Kehl (Sehnenzerrung im Fuß) 1. FSV Mainz 05: Wetklo - Pospech, Svensson (Bell), Noveski, Junior Diaz - Baumgartlinger - Zimling, Soto (Malli) - Ivanschitz (Parker) - N. Müller, Szalai Auf der Bank: Karius - Caligiuri, Risse, Saller, Rukavytsya Fraglich: Svensson (Rückenblockade), Caligiuri (Nacken), Ivanschitz (Oberschenkel), Soto (Rücken) Es fehlen: Kirchhoff (Muskelfaserriss), Choupo-Moting (Meniskus-OP), Bungert, Klasnic, Zabavnik (alle Trainingsrückstand), Ede (Kapselriss), H. Müller (muskuläre Probleme) Schiedsrichter: Florian Meyer (Burgdorf) Gelbsperre droht: Götze, Subotic - Svensson (alle 4 Gelbe Karten)
After winning only one of the first eight Bundesliga meetings with Mainz, BVB has won four of the last five matches between the two clubs. This includes a season sweep of Mainz last season and BVB's victory at Mainz in the first meeting between the clubs in the current season.
Would be great if there was a way to get Schmelzer some rest. He's played 900 minutes & covered more distance than ANYONE ELSE of the four remaining Champions League teams. Additionally, he seemed to be losing his head just a bit in the return leg against Málaga & was partly culpable for their 25' goal. Would rather see Großkreutz in Schmelzer's place & Piszczek or Kirch on the right, pending Piszczek's level of fitness. Also, to get Reus a little rest, I liked the idea of moving Gündogan up front with Sahin paired with Kehl/Bender as in the Greuther match.
Schmelzer's a machine though. He can run for days on end up and down a football field. He'll be fine.
Reus missed an absolute must-score chance for a player of his quality in the 64th min. I hope if he gets a chance like that against Real Madrid, he will score. Great chances to score against Madrid will be few and the lads need to take them.
We can't afford to throw matches yet. That is pretty much what you are suggesting when you bring up playing Kirch. LOL! I think Schmelzer will get rest once we have clinched second place. Left back is the position where we have no reliable depth. The club will fix this in the summer transfer window.
I would have liked to see Reus and Lewy get some more rest, at the least Klopp should have taken one or both off 15-20 minutes from the end. Big games coming up.
Guys, I'm sorry, but whether you like it or not, Bundesliga position is still most important to BVB. The CL run is great, but they are not going to take big chances on throwing away Bundesliga points to worry about the CL. Rotating against Augsburg is one thing. Doing it against Mainz is quite another. We did all right against Real in the group phase after having played in the Bundesliga. What's the f#ckin' problem now??? And BTW, this victory clinched CL participation for us next season.
Rotation isn't tantamount to "throwing away points", first of all. I remember a time when Großkreutz was a regular starter and BVB won the league. Even assuming it is in fact throwing away points, BVB would still be five points ahead of Leverkusen. There is far greater margin for error for BVB in the Bundesliga than there is in the Champions' League, which also yields a lot of money. The problem now is Real has seen a dramatic improvement since the group stages, and BVB needs to be prepared and rested. To be frank, BVB ought to be able to rest a couple of players and still beat Mainz, the bench is good enough for that.
Yea rotation is important. Klopp clearly doesn't believe that his B-team can solidify second place I guess or he just wants to maintain confidence and momentum but rest is also important especially with our hard pressing game. Today's match though we played a little smarter. We played at slower paces occasionally and some of the link ups and attempts around and inside the box were sublime. Completely contrary to the direct one touch football we saw from these guys two years ago so I'm very confident that this team is slowly maturing, not only individually but as a team. The build up to Lewa's goal with Leitner's movement and touch was excellent.
kicker Ratings From The Mainz Match Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller (3) - Piszczek (3), Subotic (4), Hummels (2,5), Schmelzer (3) - Gündogan (3,5), Sahin (3,5) - Blaszczykowski (4), M. Götze (4), Reus (2) - Lewandowski (3) 1. FSV Mainz 05: Wetklo (4,5) - Bell (4), Svensson (4) , Noveski (4,5), Pospech (4) -Baumgartlinger (4) - Risse (5), Zimling (4), Malli (3,5) , Rukavytsya (5) - S. Parker (4,5) Mainz Sub: Szalai Referee - Florian Meyer (4) Man of the Match: Marco Reus
Agree. Also, don't forget these guys are professionals. They aren't all old, decrepit guys who have a hard time playing a match FOUR DAYS after their last one. I believe rotation will become more prevelant for us next season. Right now, we don't have the depth to rotate a la FC Bayern. We just don't. People can continue to moan about it, but this is reality. I haven't watched yet. From what I gather from those who were there or watched live, we gave what more than one of them called "a very professional performance." One guy said, "Had we given our best effort, we probably would have won 5-0." I'm thinking this was in preparation for Real. Can't wait to see it....... Will probably watch tonight.