2016 - 17 General Discussion Thread

bvbSlash · Jul 20, 2016

Note: This is not a competition thread so we should create a BL 2016-17 thread specific to the 2016-17 Bundesliga season. This is for everything else. Basically a general football related thread.

I'll start with this really pleasant interview from Jurgen Klopp. Sorry it's in German.

Jürgen #Klopp über den #BVB und den Umbruch. (via @WELT_Sport) pic.twitter.com/IBPqx0ZuTp
— Manu (@manulud2011) July 20, 2016

And looking forward to seeing these 2 together again:

bvbSlash · Jul 20, 2016

Wow. Looks like United did pay 120M for Paul Pogba.

nekkibasara · Jul 20, 2016

bvbSlash said: ↑

Wow. Looks like United did pay 120M for Paul Pogba.
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That's so crazy. I wonder how he will do when he doesn't have the likes of Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal, etc holding his hand.

bvbSlash · Jul 20, 2016

nekkibasara said: ↑

That's so crazy. I wonder how he will do when he doesn't have the likes of Marchisio, Pirlo, Vidal, etc holding his hand.
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Well he didn't have Vidal and Pirlo last year. Marchisio was injured. I think it's also about going back to a club and environment he criticised so publicly, all for the sake of money. I'm sure United will play CL football the year after but his future won't be as stable as it has been at Juventus so far.

nekkibasara · Jul 20, 2016

I've never come away from watching Pogba play thinking he was one of the best CMs in the world. His price tag is just ridiculous for an inconsistent player.

Cris 09 · Jul 20, 2016

Subs...

Raumdeuter · Jul 20, 2016

Is this the Other team thread?

bvbSlash · Jul 20, 2016

I suppose so but we do have another thread for other teams. There's however no thread for discussions on general football related topics for this season. Eg the BL TV deal in China. That doesn't belong in the other teams thread but that deal is important for this season. Hence this thread.

MatthausSammer · Jul 20, 2016

nekkibasara said: ↑

I've never come away from watching Pogba play thinking he was one of the best CMs in the world. His price tag is just ridiculous for an inconsistent player.
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Yeah. Me neither. Granted I don't watch Juventus regularly, but I watched at least 10 full matches of his, and I never thought "wow, this Pogba dude is special".

Liquid1010 · Jul 20, 2016

Great little highlight reel of Dembele. The kid is raw, but the talent is unreal.

755141930535809024 is not a valid tweet id

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

bvbSlash · Jul 21, 2016

You guys need to watch Pogba more frequently. He needs to mature more but he's one hellava skilled b2b midfielder.

BTW Marco will be the FIFA 17 cover player....world wide.

bvbSlash · Jul 21, 2016

Marco Reus’ day:

—Re-united with Mario Götze at Borussia Dortmund ✅
—Lands the @EASPORTSFIFA cover ✅

💯 pic.twitter.com/n6anqLjUE6
— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 21, 2016

lemons · Jul 22, 2016

Just picked up the new home jersey while on vacation in Germany. Such a good shirt.

MatthausSammer · Jul 22, 2016

So this is our likely depth chart:
GK: Bürki/Weidenfeller. I don't think anyone is completely sold on Bürki, but I thought he improved over the course of the season and showed enough to give him breathing space. Weidenfeller is a solid-enough veteran backup, but I think Tuchel should really start Bürki full-time unless an injury happens.
LB: Schmelzer/Guerreiro. Raphael's definitely the sexier pick for the job, but unseating Marcel could be more difficult than expected IMO. Schmelzer's a reliable workhorse and a vocal leader. Either way, I think we're set here.
CB: Sokratis/Bartra/Bender/Merino. How good this unit will be will basically hinge on Bartra. Hummels is a big loss, and expecting Bartra to replace him without a hitch is unrealistic. But Mats wasn't without his flaws; he was no stranger to positional mistakes and going for the sexy over-aggressive tackle a bit often. If Bartra can focus on limiting the major blunders and just being solid, it'll mitigate the losses of Hummels' ball-playing skills and his occasional masterclass performance. Merino is an unknown, while healthy Bender is okay enough as depth.
RB: Piszczek/Durm/Ginter. Piszczek is still pretty good as far as RBs go, but he's getting up there. Durm is what he is: a squad player. Ginter I feel is intriguing; he should get more investigation this season.
6: Weigl/Sahin/Rode/Merino. Weigl solidified a starting role. The Rode acquisition was strange; not good enough to upgrade Weigl, not technical enough to be an 8. Sahin is in limbo too. Squad composition gets a bit weird at this point.
8: Castro/Rode/Sahin/Mangala. No idea what's the plan here. Not impressed with Watzke's effort in this area. Why dafuq we decided to spend 40+ million on freaking Schürrle and Rode instead of, say, Kovacic and Torres will forever be one of the great enduring mysteries of life.
AM: Götze/Kagawa/Mor. Feel very comfortable with this.
RW: Dembele/Schürrle/Kuba. Unfortunately, the 32 mil we spent on acquiring Schürrle were likely spent for the purposes of him starting. He'll likely just impede the real potential star here; Dembele. Ugh...
LW: Reus/Schürrle/Pulisic. Reus will have zero excuses this year; we re-acquired his "brother from another mother" both on and off the field, we're going to limit him and make sure he's fresh for every match, and he and Auba wikll have complete freedom to wreak havoc this year.
CF: Aubameyang/Ramos. Good pairing, no complaints.

Kammizez · Jul 22, 2016

What I believe, and what most people don't seem to see, is that Götze is our Gundogan-replacement. In a 4-1-4-1, both Gundogan and Kagawa essentially played as 8/10-hybrids together. I think, and hope, that we will keep up the 4-1-4-1 in most of the matches, and not start playing silly formations with 3 at the back.

This is how I see the attacking positions:
DM: Weigl, Sahin (Merino)
CM/AM: Götze, Kagawa, Rode, Castro
LM: Schürrle, Dembele (Mor)
RM: Reus, Pulisic

I think we'll see Rode take a spot in the team against tougher oppositions as a more defensive box2box-role, a destroyer, and not as an anchor.
Here we've got 2 players for each position, as I expect both Mor and Merino to get some time to integrate and thus limited playing time. And I expect Kuba to be gone.
At this point I see our attack as pretty complete, and we're in no need of an 8 at the moment. Tuchel now has a bunch of very different players, so he's got the freedom to tailor his tactics as he pleases.
I still think Schürrle is a weird transfer, but atleast we don't have to rely on youngsters on the wings now. Less pressure on them. And he brings good experience. I do hope though that he will only be a rotational player. He's a good impact-sub.
Here's our full line-up, with Merino, Mor and Passlack as further options. I'm counting out Kuba, Subotic, Joo-Ho and Leitner.

fdasilva · Jul 22, 2016

BVB is building a Champions league competing squad. You guys look formidable and will be fun to watch no doubt about it. All the best to Dortmund and the fans.

For me it seems the players are suited for a 4-2-3-1 to fit all your attacking players? Something like:

And still players like Sahin, Merino, Pulisic

bvbSlash · Jul 23, 2016

Götze wasn't bought to play as a no. 8. He is being given the no. 10 shirt for a reason. If so then who is the Miki replacement?

Maybe we will play with 2 no. 6s. But having a no. 8 gives us a lot of tactical flexibility. These guys were raised specifically to control the midfield.

Lastly Schürrle will likely back up PEA as well. I wouldn't be surprised if TT goes with a 4-2-4-0 formation against parked buses that have weaker center backs.

Rosebud · Jul 23, 2016

You're getting too caught up in labels. Mario is going to replace many of ilkay's duties regardless of what you chose to call him.

bvbSlash · Jul 23, 2016

Rosebud said: ↑

You're getting too caught up in labels. Mario is going to replace many of ilkay's duties regardless of what you chose to call him.
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Agreed that he will replace many of his duties, but so will Weigl. However not all. A true 8 on the other hand would. That's why we should have signed Dahoud.

bumbleBeeVB · Jul 23, 2016

Tuchels comments on Schmelzer make it clear that he Is the miki replacement, so Gotze will definitely be taking a lot of gundogans duties. There is no Like for like replacement for any of them so the duties will be shared.

I for one would really like to see weigl take a step forward and contribute more going forward wether that just be switching play with long diagonal balls or whatever, he is a great solidifier in he midfield but I want him to become more like Kroos

bvbSlash · Jul 23, 2016

TT'S exact words were „Ich sehe ihn als Spieler, der im Zentrum seine Stärken hat.“ which means he sees him as a player whose strength is geared towards playing in the center.

So not "middle" but center and in football there is a clear difference between the two. I agree that while we cannot replace like for like, Gotze will have to fill a lot of the void of two players.

It's unbelievable that 3 years ago we were wondering how Miki and Gundogan will replace Gotze. The irony of life.

bvbSlash · Jul 23, 2016

Wow Didi Hamman said that Gotze chose the easiest route. Aki swiped back saying that he chose the toughest route out of Munich. I wonder how he even came up with that. Edit: He's a Liverpool fan. Didn't want Mario to go there. Makes sense.

I used to have a lot of respect for him as a player since I never really watched him at Bayern. But he's become a a bit loose over the last 10 years.

Dave46 · Jul 23, 2016

bumbleBeeVB said: ↑

Tuchels comments on Schmelzer make it clear that he Is the miki replacement, so Gotze will definitely be taking a lot of gundogans duties. There is no Like for like replacement for any of them so the duties will be shared.

I for one would really like to see weigl take a step forward and contribute more going forward wether that just be switching play with long diagonal balls or whatever, he is a great solidifier in he midfield but I want him to become more like Kroos
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You mean Schurrle, right?

bvbSlash · Jul 23, 2016

Schürrle would have to have a ridiculously good year to be an adequate replacement. Hell I'm not even sure Miki could repeat the year he had.

Even if Schürrle replaced Miki I'm fine with that. In my mind we never replaced Gotze until he himself returned.

bumbleBeeVB · Jul 23, 2016

Dave46 said: ↑

You mean Schurrle, right?
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Haha yeah, started typing sch and reflexes kicked jn