did anyone else see the bayer-stuttgart match for 3rd place and a champions league berth? bayer were up 1-0 with 5 minutes left and were awarded a penalty - the keeper hans jorg butt comes up to take ... and he hits the post! the ball almst starts to come back the other way but bernd schneider found it and scored the 2-0 - WTF were they thinking?!? that could have easily turned into a disaster if stuttgart had gotten loose with HJB down in the attack end - a move like that could have cost them millions
They were probably very relaxed towards the end. Besides, it wasn't like Stuttgart were known as an offensive powerhouse.
actually berbatov scored as many penalties as butt this season... one butt takes the kick when they go up 3-4 to nil - this situation clearly called for a field player to take... i almost wish it would have cost them the tying goal
I think it's a joke having Butt take the penalties. He should keep his ass in the goal, where it belongs. That goal by Schalke (although it shouldn't have counted) served him right. Having your keeper take penalties is arrogant, foolish and unnecessary.
Actually he is quite good. 23 out of 26 isn't such a bad quota. Here is an article about it, btw (in German): http://www.faz.net/s/RubFB1F9CD5313...84BA2098B24003A4CD~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
What? This isn't a Donovan thread? I actually wasn't surprised when he came up to take the kick. I've seen him place a couple perfectly in the past. However, for someone who wound up with a shutout in a big match against a good opponent, he sure looked like a basketcase in goal both before and after the miss. I was nervous for him on every touch - it's wierd when body language can tell you a goalie isn't all there that day. That was as good a reason as any, to me, for someone else to take the penalty.
I thought Butt has 28 career goals, can't imagine him scoring any other way. He took penalties at his previous club as well. I was also skeptical of him taking it with so much on the line in a 1-0 game. Berbatov should have stepped up and iced the game himself. Even old man Franca would have been fine, or Bernd Schneider.
You are right, 23/26 isn't enough to risk him going up in a 1-0 game with Champions League money on the line. In other news...reports say Ilja Kaenzig is leaving Bayer Leverkusen as GM and moving to Hannover.
Calmund really seems to be too long in office, he doesn't have the club under control anymore. - he wants Kaenzig to be his successor, but lets him work without contract for a whole year - what a wonder that he feels to be in the wrong place. - he established Holzhäuser as finance expert, but Holzhäuser prefers to work for an association and returns to DFL. - he enforced his opinion to get Kohler last year, although nobody - even internally - understood what his job was supposed to be. They paid Kohler for one season without having real work for him. Now also Kohler leaves and Calmund remains home alone. - within the week he said that selling Lucio to Bayern would be the worst solution as he can't stand to lose such a player and see him play in Bundesliga week after week. Today the Lucio transfer to Bayern was completed (12 M) - obviously Calmund still doesn't understand that you may not sell your top players to a direct rival if you got a different opportunity. The worst thing is: Calmund is getting more and more odd, but he lost every possible successor at the end of this season.
I thought you already knew. He'll be Hannover's GM from July 1 on. Hannover wants him immediately, but Calmund insists that he stays until June 30. Quite an exchange from Hannover to Leverkusen - as it seems, Hannover signs Brdaric on a permanent base and Leverkusen gets Julian de Guzman in return.
Hadn't heard the final details on the deal. Poor guy has to work for an extra month...and still no contract to work on. I don't know Guzman...what is his story?
right now leverkusen fans in germany are pissed because of reiner calmund letting lucio leave not only because he goes to bayern, also because of such a low transfer fee of 12 million euro, even if its the highest fee inside the bundesliga. http://www.rsbl.de/images/aktuell/12mio.jpg lucio will receive 12 million euro for 3 years (4 mio per year) and leverkusen will get some sponsorship activities with bayern.
Young Canadian midfielder who started his European career in France with the youth system of Marseilles. Decided to pursue options in Saarbruecken. Played with their reserves for a season, then with the Bundesliga 2 team. Was pursued by a few clubs over the summer of 2002 when Saarbruecken were relegated to RL-South and went to Hannover. Really came into his own this season with Hannover. Bayer Leverkusen reportedly have had their eye on him all season. Question for you guys. What is the role this Kaenzig is taking on at Hannover. The sporting director is Kind, the coach is Lienen. Who does Kaenzig replace??