Bundesliga and the rest: Domestic and European competition discussion

Köln's management team are looking like idiots right now. They bought frickin Jhon Cordoba for like 17 Mio hoping he'd be a worthy replacement for Modeste. Mainz robbed them blind on that deal. Mark Uth was actually linked to them in the summer but it didn't end up happening. And now they're looking at Pizarro as solution. They should have made an attempt at signing Pascal Gross from Ingolstadt too instead of him going to Brighton.

 

Bayern, Dortmund, and Leipzig are the only clubs who can openly spend that kind of money on a new player. Leverkusen, Schalke, and Wolfsburg are able to spend in a range close to that, but they likely need to make similar player sales first. Just like Wolfsburg buying Draxler after selling De Bruyne, and Schalke buying Embolo after Sane.

But even with the big clubs, there's still a sense of being stingy, shrewd, and self-reliant. I can relate to it in certain ways. I see myself as more of a traditionalism supporter and like to be resourceful. But in today's changing football business world, that is becoming increasingly difficult to compete that way. I believe there's a financial diagram out there that shows even the shittiest EPL club has the same or more TV revenue money as Bayern.

The positive about young players in Germany is that for the most part they are sensible at the end and have resisted leaving too soon. Fiete Arp is staying at HSV despite heavy outside interest. And the other various rumors about Leverkusen and Leipzig talents moving abroad have not materialized. I think Leroy Sane is the main notable youngster who has left early. But at least he went for a big money and is doing reasonably well at Man City. Things have also worked out for Rüdiger and Emre Can, although they left a bit older.

 

My post already partially covered those concepts. The current 50+1 club structure, the traditionalist view of ownership and fan culture, and the desire to be shrewd, resourceful and financially sustainable. Behind the shiny facade, clubs in England, Italy and Spain incure massive debts. And often are bailed out by sugar daddy foreign owners. But German clubs want to be self reliant and fiscally responsible. Fans want to maintain a sense of traditionalism and involvement to the way that a club is ran. That's why people hate RB Leipzig because it's a plastic entity that is a glorified marketing campaign to sell energy drinks. That is why Hannover 96 ultra are boycotting games because of Martin Kind bypassing what they want in terms of ownership. The current general perspective will not allow for heavy foreign ownership. Like how Asian companies are buying Serie A and English clubs left and right. As it is perceive as a way of selling their soul.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/m...all-landscape-qpr-glazer-family-a7523761.html

Top 10 clubs by debt
1. Manchester United - €536m

2. Benfica - €336m

3. Inter - €306m

4. Valencia - €285m

5. QPR - €279m

6. AC Milan - €249m

7. CSKA Moscow - €224m

8. Galatasaray - €222m

9. Juventus - €209m

10. Roma - €208m

 

Latest reports are saying that Klopp wants to bring Naby Keita to Liverpool in January. Which is earlier than the expected time of the original transfer agreement terms that stated summer 2018. If Leipzig want to make a stronger push for Top 4 again then they're gonna need to hold onto Keita until summer.

Rumors also mention that Barcelona are scouting Dayot Upamecano. Still too early but considering it's Barcelona, they shouldn't acknowledge anything less than 50 Mio.

 

From losing against Östersund, to drawing 2-2 vs Bayern Munich while putting up a thorough fight. Decent chances too and came back from being down 0-2. Guess that was somewhat of a wake up for Hertha.

 

Bayern continue to drop points, as Dortmund extend their lead to a 5 point gap above them. Ribery also left the match with what looked like a serious ACL tear.

 

That's true, remove Werner and Keita and Leipzig look like an above average side comparable to Schalke or Leverkusen. They're both once in a generation type talent that Leipzig will have to replace. Which is not going to happen right away.

Forsberg has disappointed this season. While Sabitzer and Poulsen look like good role players that contribute to a functional system but not enough to be great.

 

They're above average. Talent is there but they've been selling too many players on a yearly basis to compete as a league contender anymore. It's a shame because a few years ago under Roger Schmidt they were a solid top 3-4 in the BL and made it to at least the CL KO rounds.

But now for a second consecutive season, it looks like they'll be battling from an outside chance to get into a basic Europa League spot. And might risk missing out again. So I think their general club direction has gone downhill in recent years, just like Wolfsburg.

 

http://www.espnfc.com/bayern-munich...est-team-in-germany-interim-boss-willy-sagnol

Bayern Munich 'no longer the strongest team in Germany' - Sagnol

BERLIN -- Bayern Munich interim coach Willy Sagnol said the Bavarians are no longer Germany's strongest team after giving away a two-goal lead at Hertha Berlin on Sunday.

After seven matchdays, Borussia Dortmund lead the league by five points, while Bayern, who are without keeper Manuel Neuer until the New Year, have already conceded seven goals.

Coming out of a turbulent week which saw Bayern first draw 2-2 with Wolfsburg, then suffer a 3-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain and finallysack coach Carlo Ancelotti, the Bavarians were in control in their away match at Hertha.

 

One of Serie A's new foreign sugar daddy clubs, AC Milan continues to struggle in their campaign start. Lost against Roma at home today, and second consecutive loss after also dropping last week's decision against Sampdoria. They're now 9 points off of table leaders Napoli.

Despite spending over 200 Mio in summer signings including former Bundesliga players Calhanoglu and Ricardo Rodriguez, looks like they still haven't found a way to put it all together.

 

- Winless in the last 3 competitive games.
- Worst season start in 7 years.
- Blew two 2-0 leads in a row for the first time ever pic.twitter.com/B53LY6WEGS

— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) October 1, 2017

 

Arjen Robben quoted by kicker "there's better training at my son's youth team" than under Carlo Ancelotti.

— Mark Lovell (ex-blue tick ) (@LovellLowdown) October 1, 2017

 

Another report on dysfunctional Bayern:

Bayern players organized secret training sessions without Ancelotti

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...profis-trainierten-geheim-ohne-ancelotti.html

 

Leverkusen's Leon Bailey is a player on the rise this season

http://m.bild.de/sport/fussball/bayer-leverkusen/leon-bailey-53399682.bildMobile.html