Bundesliga 2018-19, Bayern Munich or bust!

I think your forgetting that Freiburg have a far more important cup final to play in very soon, and probably identify that as a far bigger moment in time for a team that's about see various players, and their long time coach, all move to new homes.

After missing so much of the season, Dallmann is clearly being eased back into playing first team football for club and country. So I wouldn't worry about her potential fitness for a potential WC place.

And yes, Oberdorf appeared to be playing as a CB. But this isn't too weird for Essen, as they always have a very thin squad, that's often resulted in their entire back 4 comprised of CM/AM's for various periods of the league season.

LOL, you watch Knaak have one decent performance, and know she's supposedly better than one of the leagues top scorers....

Schüller has even managed to produce THE SAME amount of assists as Knaak, and still scored 13 goals this season. But you want to put Knaak above Schüller, because... reasons..?

I feel your wayyy too reactionary sometimes lol, but even if I think there's better squad options than Knaak for MVT to select, your correct to suggest she's definitely still performing at a standard that should see her be a valid contender to make MVT's final WC roster

 

LOL, I completely disagree with your idea Barca was always going to win this semi final due to their supposedly superior depth of foreign talent.

Not when Bayern's complete tactical ineptitude basically gifted their opponents the first match with some truly awful team selection, and would still see them go on to dominate the second match with only minor changes, witnessing all the same undisciplined nonsense that's seem them (lucky) to recently draw with Essen and Sand...

I mean Essen dominated this same Bayern team... and other than the first UCL semi final match having everything be perfect for Barca to succeed/look good, what did their supposedly superior foreign talents do to appear dominant over Bayern...?

As soon as Leupolz came back into her DM role, and Skorvankova placed in CM, I think all Barca's best players looked rather ordinary for long periods of the second match, no?

 

For all my concerns with MVT's squad rotation, so far her version of Germany still plays a VERY different type of football compared to Bayern, or Wolfsburg (creating more passing triangles). So I wouldn't use Bayern's constantly underwhelming team performances as the ideal platform to analyze Germany's WC hope and plans.

However, of all the players with hopes of making future wnt squads, my biggest concern would be with Maier. This being a player who's returned from injury, and not come close to regaining her first team place for the entire second half of the season...

I expect Magull, Däbritz, Leupolz, to all have very strong WC's, with the form/fate of Schweers, and Hendrich, depending on tactical factors we still don't fully understand right now.

But very little of this thinking is formulated on any of these players form with Bayern, knowing they'll all be tasked with a very different style of football within MVT's system.

 

Yes, besides the one big stupid error, Lewandowski and Skorvankova had very strong performances placed in their best positions. But as a collective, Bayern just appeared like a team who hasn't won their past 4 matches....

And this with me feeling if they could have just converted one of their chances, the positive momentum could have seen then won this match with a comfortably 3-1. Just showing you how frustratingly inconsistent this team has always been under Wörle in this particular competition.

So they'll have a better team next season, but it was indicative of Wörle's time with Bayern, that they exist the competition in such a self defeating manner.

Again, Leupolz looked like a player who's about to assert herself as one of the most important players for the German wnt, and in the process potentially assert herself among the worlds elite players too.

But a lot of the good stuff she's currently producing as a DM, will also need to be matched with far better levels of consistency. This being a factor that's not been there for any of Bayern's players all season, but could be the difference between Germany going home early, or making a legitimate run towards a final.

 

If not for one very senseless error, Lowandowski didn't see Martens do ANYTHING down the left side of the field. Not a shot, not a dangerous cross, not even a threatening run... nothing. But one crazy error, and now the narrative says Marten's was having "field day against her"... Did you forget what happened with Skorvankova randomly playing RB against Martens...?

See, If that's the case, then whoever was meant to be marking Däbritz over the two matches is woefully bad, as Däbritz with weak finishing over both matches, still made Martens overall performances against Bayern look rather ordinary, no?

Even Essen's attack went to Bayern's home stadium, and made their more vaunted opponents defense look worse than Barca ever did in that first UCL semi final match lol.

 

.... when did I ever say something as asinine as that lol. I've ALWAYS said this Bayern team misses Rolser's presence. Even talking about the potential of the new Bayern signing Schüller to try and compensate for the loss of Miedema's goals.

So even if Däbritz's shooting accuracy versus Barca was strangely low for a player of her standards, and Rolfö's all round performances in both matches wildly inconsistent. I've never said Beerensteyn, Damnjanovic, Islacker, good enough players to lead Bayern's attack versus the games better teams.

He doesn't do it to keep first choice players fresh. He's constantly rotated his team (poorly), because he really doesn't seem to know his best formation, or starting 11.

So it should be interesting to see what happens next season, with Dallmann and Gwinn already confirmed to be joining an already bloated squad, that may need some deflating in key areas to get the best out of it's offensive various options.

I mean... Gwinn, and Dallmann, have some of the highest assist rates in the league. But who's going to drop to the bench, so they can start..?

 

Your the first person I've ever seen mention Däbritz and Rolfo headed to PSG, while Bayern's GK situation for next season was already known a long time ago too, with superior GK's Benkarth, and Schlüter, both in place to take over from a very erratic Zinsberger.

And knowing how bloated their squad already looks right now, I would also fully understand why Roord would want to find a new home next season.

 

This financial situation is already a well known fact, and is honestly something I feel just another reality of German football (as a whole) not wanting to play the same money doping games witnessed within other European leagues.

And lets be real here... since the days of Frankfurt, and Potsdam, both ruling over the Bundesliga, and Europe, with predominantly all German starting 11's, I'm not seeing any of the same benefits for German women's football right now, having a significantly more foreign Wolfsburg side using it's bigger budget to rule over the league as Europe's persistent 2nd best club team...

I mean, Wörle's Bundesliga winning Bayern teams have been consistently awful within the UWCL over successive seasons, but it's only NOW people want to talk about the Bundesliga being weaker due to rivals bigger budgets, and their better recruitment of foreign talents...

 

If they didn't meet Lyon early, Wolfsburg would have been in another UCL final this season, and I guarantee Bayern will be a stronger side next season too.

So I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the Bundesliga, thinking an improved version of the current Bayern side could easily still produce a 4th German club wining the UCL, before PSG ever become France's second name on the trophy...

And this not caring if Lyon have a side filled with 10 FIFA POTY nominees, understanding the game doesn't care about the the perceived status of the names on the backs of jerseys.

 

Freiburg produced a very similar performance to the one witnessed by people the last time these two teams faced each other in the league, and once again for all of the positive play, it simply resulted in another close defeat.

But I don't understand why Naomoto wasn't brought into the match instead of Knaak in the 2nd half; as Knaak lacked the dribbling, or passing ability, to play the quicker one touch football necessary to evade Wolfsburg's high intensity pressing.

Oh... with Gwinn having the most assists and goals for Freiburg's team this season, also making it very strange seeing her wasted as a RB for 90 mins Too. In a match her team clearly needed end product if it held any credible hopes of defeating the best team in the nation.

So it was a pretty interesting game for 45 mins. But with Freiburg not being able to adapt, or evade, the higher intensity pressing of Wolfsburg during the 2nd half, just killed the match as a genuine competition.

 

I know they've lost interest... I've been saying this for a long time, but it seems like the exact reasons why this dwindling interest has happened over the years, is where people disagree most.

I think you've been listening to the USwnt whine too much lol... because honestly, this is the most ridiculous rational to have when it comes to gauging the potential public/financial interest of viewers of men's football, crossing over into the world of women's football.

Repeating what I say all the time here... which is that as the men's world cup generates billions of dollars, there is still going to be NO CROSS OVER between the world of men's international football, and the hopes or aspirations of the women's international scene.

Removing the idea just because Germany's men did poorly at the last WC, will somehow equate to some random transference of public interest/money to help the chances of the nations wnt. In a time frame the entire men's WC will generate a global audiences of well over 3 BILLION TV viewers.

 

So will women's football TV/Online presence grow bigger globally, probably... yes. But the best comparison I can think of right now for American's to understand the big issue for the German wnt, is to say their living within a European football scene that's more like them having to compete with something as institutional as the NFL.

And outside of the US, your going to have a very hard time convincing long time spectators of elite European football, that the most elite female product on offer, at the same standard, or higher level, than the countless elite, male matches that they can see every week.

Germany being a football nation that can see it's 3rd division men's teams receiving 15K supporters for match days. Within a continent places with England's crazy passion for football will often see clubs within it's 5th tier division generate upwards of 5k supporters.

Making it hard for me to believe audiences are going to swell at the prospect of witnessing what I've been watching from the wnt for a few years, when the level of football on show has honestly been (disappointedly) regressing, knowing the German wnt's peak popularity coincided with them having the best player in the world, accomplishing the near impossible of consecutive WC victories; not the football on display.

 

Get the best player/players in the world again. Get a WC wining team again. And actually try to play football people want to see... all combined would make a HUGE difference for the popularity and earning potential of the German wnt.

But even with all that, your still hoping the DFB finally provides the wnt with improved coaching/training, and more professional player analysis, that can also bleed into the attitudes of the top domestic league clubs raise players salary.

Non of this related to the hope of a men's national team struggling for more than one tournament, or believing the top Bundesliga clubs failing places attention on what the women are doing lol.

 

And what else do all these large crowds for these women's matches have in common...? there all completely unique one off events, not the standard/norm.

I mean seriously... neither England, or France, are playing in front of 20-35K for EVERY friendly or qualification match (I think it was 10K for France vs Germany), with the other examples your providing here just single moments in time, promoted as being exactly that for their casual match day audiences, who will typically attend as complete neutrals.

So I'm not seeing where "German woso" has fallen off, when the national team has been AWFUL in ways it's going to be hard generating good will again; and this as the league is actually seeing massive improvements from where it used to see only 2 competitive matches a season lol.

 

See... when Germany were the exciting WC champs with recognized house hold names within the team, they could generate the good will of the German public to get huge crowds into stadiums for various matches.

But now... seeing years of Neid's poor football, then Jones worse results, I don't see how the wnt was supposed to convince an educated football public to turn up to games in the same numbers they used to generate as a dominate force.

So should attendances be higher for Bundesliga matches... yes. But seeing the recent struggles with the wnt program, I find it hard to believe you'd get more than the current 4-5k the team attracts right now...

 

And I say this knowing the wnt was getting close to 8-10K late Neid/Jones, but with Jones burning those bridges with the public, the current wnt is trying to rebuild its image on 4-5K per match average attendance.

Meaning there's a clear correlation between the success and quality of football on show from the wnt, and the size of the audiences prepared to watch them. With the league getting better, but continuing to struggle from bad public relations, and generally poor marketing efforts.

 

Yeah... when Potsdam has Elsig holding that entire defense together every match, I find this latest raid on Potsadm one I really don't understand...

 

If Groenen doesn't end up with Wolfsburg, the recruitment team at Wolfsburg should honestly be removed from their positions immediately lol.

But where are Schmitz and Kössler possibly headed...? I mean, Potsdam's #2 GK Fischer looks like she'll be a better player than Schmitz, but this is Kössler's first real season in the league, and as a junior international, I find it strange that she'd be allowed to leave so soon into her career..

How does the national team selection process of France, dictate or confirm the immediate future of Däbritz? Plus wasn't this rumor saying both Rolfo and Däbritz would be leaving a few days ago lol.

Honestly... just like hearing the previously unfounded Dallmann headed to Arsenal theory, the idea of Däbritz playing for PSG next season just doesn't sound really authentic to me...

 

Even when I'm thinking of this in view of a players true earning potential, I honestly believe Däbritz one of the few players currently at Bayern who could force the increase of the yearly budget, to keep her at the club over a long term period.

But... I guess we'll see..