We're up against an SC Freiburg who started their Bundesliga campaign with a scoreless draw vs Arminia Bielefeld. All that matters is securing three points and preferably a clean sheet.
I wonder if Hummels and Guerreiro will play tomorrow! They would make our backline much stronger compared to the supercup game if they are fit. Also can't wait to see Brandt be part of this team: Either in place of Reyna or to give Reus a break!
Stuttgart lost 4-0 to RB Leipzig after winning their opening match 5-1. May this serve as a warning that we have to be consistent and settle for nothing less than a win, even if we're having a bad day. We can't afford to slip up.
Kobel Passlack Witsel Akanji Schulz Bellingham Dahoud Reyna Reus Malen Haaland Hummels, Guerreiro, Brandt and Can are at least back on the bench but they'll need some time to make up for the lost training. I hope Malen shows his true colors soon. It was pointed out that he needs time to adjust to the league and different training intensity and that he has still physical deficits. This makes me hopeful that the sluggish performances so far aren't representative of his abilities. With all due respect to Freiburg, one of the things we need to improve on in comparison to the last few seasons is losing so many points to so called minnows. Anything but a win would be a huge disappointment.
Game is a bit too open. They scored with a perfect freekick but our attack is showing positive signs and we get into good situations (Bellingham and Haaland twice). The question is who will be the next to use one of those opportunities.
Dahoud with ZERO awareness of the time and situation with the cleared free kick to not send it immediately back in as the ref blows for half time. I swear we might be a team full of morons at times... because thats just dumb
Malen looks improved but Reus is invisible in offense so far and has to drop deep to get balls. Haaland barely got the ball in the last 20 minutes. So only 1 out of 3 in attack are in the game. Bellingham looks good but what is missing is that the team can profit from what he does. A couple of times, players didn't let go off the ball fast enough. While we could have scored, we are also lucky that Freiburg missed a sitter and wasted several counter attack chances.
2:0... It all started with a completely needless diagonal pass from way back into no man's land and then a ball loss. No idea what's going on.
this is going to end up being one of those typical bad losses that end up being why we dont win the league ... year in and year out....
This here is where we judge the team and Rose... And already on match day 2 we show we are not contenders. Sure there are injuries, but it's the attitude and the demeanor we saw today that is all wrong. These players would have prefer to sleep in and was still down mentally from the SuperCup lost. That is Rose's job and he failed to motivate and put the players who wanted to win, but he just went with the same (tired?!) players for the 3rd time in a 8 days...
Reus and Haaland with an off-game and then not much else gets done or created in attack. It's telling that the only goal came from I think Akanji opening up the game. I only liked Akanji and Bellingham who put so much into this game. When we criticize players for their mentality, surely we cannot criticize Bellingham today for his. Good to see the injured players coming back, it's obvious we need them and rotation. Passlack and Schulz always try their best but it's just not good enough. I'm sure we'll be looking better in defense soon when Can, Hummels and Guerreiro regain their form. Then we need the other parts of the team to step up as well.
We're already in mid-season form I see. Losing to teams we shouldn't be losing to Has been our MO for the past 5+ years. We're far from title contention as too many on the team are mental midgets.
This was a reality to check. Losing matches like these is not a problem with mentality, but a lack of quality in the squad. When Lewandowski and Muller have poor games then still Sane, Gnabry, Coman, Kimmich, Davies or Goretzka can pull something out of the bag. It was an awful performance today, but we lack quality. Haaland looks visibly incredibly frustrated to play with this team. I am just going to enjoy the improved football, accept coming 2nd/3rd and hope we get out of the CL group. We are weaker than we were last year.
When Reus and Haland don't play to the level we've seen them in the last 2 games, we have zero chance, especially with no good RB, and lack of creativity in the team. It's a wake up call. Let's see if Rose can manage this. I don't know if it's just lack of motivation, or if the high pressing game really can take a toll on players. No one was running today. It was as if it was a completely different squad from the last 2 games. The other thing is: Freiburg crowded the middle against a formation which doesn't use the flanks at all. And we didn't adapt.
There has to be a plan b, a lot of mid/lower placed sides will crowd the middle and if that is all it takes to nullify most of the attacking threat then this will be another frustrating season. The RB issue needs to be addressed, and I don’t understand why Knauff isn’t at least given a chance. The team needs some pace out wide.
For me it was a minute if having a very draining game and the lack of wingers. Sadly it is as feared that we are too dependent on Reus/Haaland. I just don't have faith in anyone stepping up if those two have a quiet match. It's very deflating. Next season we could be without both Haaland and Reus as top players. Still for this year at least we will make top 3.