BVB 2010-2011 General Discussion Thread [R]

With the schedule for the new season being released today, I thought this would be a good time to start a new General Discussion Thread and poll for the new season.

Below is our general schedule for the season.

Of course, Bundesliga dates are not set yet.


The draw for our round of the Europa League Playoffs will be on 6 August.

Read on!!

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14 August 2010 - German Cup - Wacker Burghausen v BVB (3:30 PM CET)


Week of 19 August 2010 - Europa League Playoff First Leg


Weekend of 21 August 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 1 - BVB v Bayer Leverkusen


Week of 26 August 2010 - Europa League Playoff Second Leg


Weekend of 28 Aug 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 2 - VfB Stuttgart v BVB



Weekend of 11 September 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 3 - BVB v VfL Wolfsburg



Weekend of 18 September 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 4 - Schalke 04 v BVB



Mid-Week of 21 September 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 5 - BVB v 1. FC Kaiserslautern


If we make the Europa League (EL) Group Stage, our first EL match will be the Thursday night before the Schalke match. We would have to play that Thursday night match, the Schalke match would probably be on Sunday and the match against Kaiserslautern on Wednesday 22 September. I don't know if we have the roster to handle this.


Weekend of 25 September 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 6 - FC St. Pauli v BVB


Weekend of 2 October 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 7 - BVB v Bayern München


The second EL group stage matchday will be the Thursday night before the Bayern match.


Weekend of 16 October 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 8 - 1. FC Köln v BVB


Weekend of 23 October 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 9 - BVB v TSG Hoffenheim


The third EL group stage matchday will be the Thursday night before the Hoffenheim match.



26-27 October 2010 (Tue/Wed) - German Cup Second Round Matches



Weekend of 30 October 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 10 - 1. FSV Mainz 05 v BVB



Weekend of 6 November 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 11 - Hannover 96 v BVB


The fourth EL group stage matchday will be the Thursday night before the Hannover match.


Weekend of 13 November 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 12 - BVB v Hamburger SV


Weekend of 20 November 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 13 - SC Freiburg v BVB


Weekend of 27 November 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 14 - BVB v Bor. M´gladbach


Weekend of 4 December 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 15 - 1. FC Nürnberg v BVB


The fifth EL match day will be the Wednesday or Thursday night before the Nürnberg match.


Weekend of 11 December 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 16 - BVB v Werder Bremen


Weekend of 18 December 2010 - Bundesliga Match Day 17 - Eintracht Frankfurt v BVB


The sixth and final EL group stage matchday will be played either on the Wednesday or Thursday night before the Bremen match or on the Wednesday or Thursday night before the Frankfurt match.



21-22 December 2010 (Tue/Wed) - German Cup Third Round Matches



BUNDESLIGA WINTER BREAK



Weekend of 15 January 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 18 - Bayer Leverkusen v BVB


Weekend of 22 January 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 19 - BVB - VfB Stuttgart


25-26 January 2011 (Tue/Wed) - German Cup Quarterfinals


Weekend of 29 January 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 20 - VfL Wolfsburg - BVB


Weekend of 5 February 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 21 - BVB - FC Schalke 04


Weekend of 12 February 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 22 - 1. FC Kaiserslautern - BVB


The EL round of 32 knockout stage first leg matches will be played on 17 February 2011.


Weekend of 19 February 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 23 - BVB - FC St. Pauli


The EL round of 32 knockout stage second leg matches will be played on 24 February 2011.


Weekend of 26 February 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 24 - Bayern München - BVB


1 & 2 March 2011 - German Cup Semi-Finals


Weekend of 5 March 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 25 - BVB - 1. FC Köln


Thursday, 10 March 2011 - Europa League Round of 16 First Leg Matches


Weekend of 12 March 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 26 - TSG Hoffenheim - BVB



Thursday, 17 March 2011 - Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg Matches



Weekend of 19 March 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 27 - BVB - 1. FSV Mainz 05


Weekend of 2 April 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 28 - BVB - Hannover 96



Thursday, 7 April 2011 - Europa League Quarter-Finals first leg


Weekend of 9 April 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 29 - Hamburger SV - BVB


Thursday, 14 April 2011 - Europa League Quarter-Finals second leg


Weekend of 16 April 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 30 - BVB - SC Freiburg


Weekend of 23 April 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 31 - Bor. M´gladbach - BVB

(^^^The match weekend above will be Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Easter Weekend)



Thursday, 28 April 2011 - Europa League Semi-Finals First Leg


Weekend of 30 April 2011 - Bundesliga Match Day 32 - BVB v 1. FC Nürnberg


Thursday 5 May 2011 - Europa League Semi-Finals Second Leg


Saturday, 7 May 2011 3:30 PM CET - Bundesliga Match Day 33 - Werder Bremen v BVB



Saturday, 14 May 2011 3:30 PM CET - Bundesliga Match Day 34 - BVB v Eintracht Frankfurt


Wednesday, 18 May 2011 - Europa League Final at Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland


Saturday, 21 May 2011, German Cup Final at the Berlin Olympiastadion

 

There are rumors going around about this.

They seem to be true, but I'm sure the club and the Egyptian FA will work to get Zidan out of it.

 

I think we both could ask for easier opponents to open the season! LOL!!

Seriously, I just think it is "cool" that we get each other out of the way early.

Even though it is the second time in three seasons we open against each other.

For those who don't remember, BVB opened the 2008/2009 season and the Jürgen Klopp era in the Bundesliga with a 3-2 victory in Leverkusen.

 

I certainly hope so!!

 

Bild.de has a short interview with Mohamed Zidan over his Egyptian military problem.

Below is a "translation". Sometimes I'll add or leave out things to make better sense to English speakers.

Click here for the original story in German at the "Bild" website.


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Zidan: "If I Run Off, I'll Go To Prison"







Mohamed Zidan (28) has a military problem. Since Zidan has never performed his compulsory military service for Egypt, he is currently not allowed to leave his homeland.




Bild: What would happen if you just fly back to Germany?

Zidan: "I would never just run off. I would go to prison or never be able to return to my homeland."





Bild: Can you not buy your way out of this?

Zidan: "That is impossible! Nor do I want to. I am aware of my obligations and am willing to live up to them. However, I believe a fair solution for both sides can be found."





Bild: How would this work?

Zidan: "We are not that far along yet. However, there have been intense discussion with my country's Minister of Defense, who is personally handling my situation. I have the feeling that he does not wish to block my football career with an Army obligation."





Bild: When will you get a decision?

Zidan: "It will surely not be until mid-August or the end of August. Afterwards, I will fly directly to Dortmund."





Bild: And until then?

Zidan: "I will continue preparing for my comeback at the Cairo International Hospital's rehabilitation center. The medical support here is superb. Three months after tearing my ACL, there are almost no problems with the knee."




Bild: Why haven't you fulfilled your military obligation before?

Zidan: "Because I was exempt as my family's breadwinner. However, my brother has completed his apprenticeship now."





Bild: How long can you be recalled?

Zidan: "For two more years. Until I am 30."

 

BVB Uniform Numbers For The 2010-2011 Season



1 Roman Weidenfeller

2 Lasse Sobiech

4 Neven Subotic

5 Sebastian Kehl

6 Florian Kringe

7 Robert Lewandowski

8 Nuri Sahin

9 Nelson Valdez

10 Mohamed Zidan

11 Dimitar Rangelov

13 Damien Le Tallec

14 Markus Feulner

15 Mats Hummels

16 Jakub "Kuba" Blaszczykowski

17 Dede

18 Lucas Barrios

19 Kevin Großkreutz

20 Mitchell Langerak

22 Sven Bender

23 Shinji Kagawa

25 Patrick Owomoyela

26 Lukasz Piszczek

27 Felipe Santana

28 Daniel Ginczek

29 Marcel Schmelzer

30 Tamas Hajnal

31 Mario Götze

36 Yasin Öztekin

39 Marco Stiepermann

41 Johannes Focher

44 Marc Hornschuh

 

I'm just as intrigued with seeing Kagawa play.

I'll see the team on July 24th against 1860 in Munich.

 

That's exactly what I'm hoping too. I also hope he can adjust to Klopp's style of play.

I plan to catch a few BVB Bundesliga matches at Westfalenstadion before I leave in April.


I also hope to catch BVB at 1. FC Nürnberg the first weekend of December if I don't go to BVB's home match against Mönchengladbach the weekend before.

 

I think we'll start the season in a 4-4-2 with midfield diamond.

If it doesn't work, I think we'll go to a 4-2-2-2.

I disagree that Piszczek will be "more effective" than Kuba in midfield. If he were, we wouldn't have been able to get him.

Kuba has been disappointing, but he hasn't been so bad that Piszczek is going to come in and take his job. Especially when the main thing Piszczek was signed for is to provide competition for Owomoyela, not Kuba.

Knowing BVB, that right midfield job is already Kuba's to lose. And he won't lose it.

Unless it is to Bender or Feulner, but I don't see that happening either.

You might wonder about Bender, but he did play some right midfield for 1860 in the 2nd Bundesliga.

It is the right place. Things like this are exactly why I wanted to get this thread started early.

I won't use the lineup feature because you can't show exactly where your players will be on the field.


Here's what I think the 4-4-2 with midfield diamond will look like:





=========================Weidenfeller================================



Owomoyela==========Subotic=============Hummels===============Schmelzer



=========================Kehl/Sahin/Bender===========================




==========Kuba/Bender/Feulner====================Grosskreutz/Sahin/Kagawa




==========================Sahin/Kagawa/Hajnal======================





===============Lewandowski========================Barrios============




This is what the 4-2-2-2 would look like:



=========================Weidenfeller================================



Owomoyela==========Subotic=============Hummels===============Schmelzer



=================Bender==================Kehl/Sahin==================




=====================================Grosskreutz/Kuba================




==========================Sahin/Kagawa/Hajnal========================



==============Lewandowski===========================Barrios==========




You might notice Zidan's absence in both lineups. I didn't add him because he won't be available at the start of the season. When he returns, he'll be the first striker off the bench.

One thing I hate about these lineups is if Kehl is healthy, Sahin or Bender won't start. But I'm hoping if Kehl is healthy, Klopp will take the opportunity to put Sahin back in central midfield.

I could be wrong with both these formations. However, I'm pretty sure we're going to play a formation calling for two strikers next season.

 

Too many people are writing off Feulner because of the mess of a season he had last season. Most of it was due to his not being match-fit for most of the season.

The guy can play the game. He's no star, but he can play and he knows what Klopp wants done out there.

I think we'll see more of Feulner this season. Maybe not as a starter, but I think we'll see more of him.

Well, Kuba has been like Valdez. They just keep playing them hoping they will finally find something and start giving consistently good performances. It took them four years to finally realize that Valdez will just never put it all together. At least not in Dortmund. Kuba is going into his third year. I think they'll give him three.

But the other thing is, we don't have anyone who can step in for Kuba on the roster. With Valdez, even if we didn't get Lewandowski, we still had Zidan when he's fit and Rangelov.

It does, but they'll need time to learn to play any new system we might go with. Any way it is written up, it will still be a variation of Klopp's "pressing" system.

If Kehl is fit, he starts. No question about it. If he isn't, you just insert Bender or Sahin and keep going.

Nah. If Kehl is fit, he plays. If he gets injured again, we go with Bender. If, like much of last season, Kehl and Bender are injured, Sahin goes back there.

Those are just my thoughts. Klopp might be doing something else totally.

 

Offensive midfielder.

 

This is a cool shirt Kagawa has on.........







This is a link to the "Bild" article the photo comes from. They say he was swarmed for autographs during our 9-0 test victory over sixth division team SV Hohenlimburg.

 

This link is to a "Ruhr Nachrichten" report on 32 year-old former Mainz, Stuttgart and KSC midfielder Antonio da Silva training with BVB.






However, in the article, Klopp makes it clear that we are not "testing" da Silva and da Silva is only training with us to keep fit after his release from KSC.

I think da Silva should be trying to catch on with someone like Kaiserslautern, St. Pauli or FCN.

Or maybe even one of the local 2nd Bundesliga clubs.

 

For those interested, we conceded first. Kehl gave up a penalty in the first half in a scramble.


Weidefeller got his hands on the shot, but the ball bounced in anyhow.


Lewandowski's goal was a nice bicycle kick.


It seemed like every time I left the room in the second half, we scored.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++


BVB 1st Half Team: Weidenfeller - Owomoyela, Santana, Hummels, Dede -
Kehl, Sahin - Stiepermann, Hajnal, Kagawa - Ginczek


BVB 2nd Half Team: Langerak - Owomoyela, Hornschuh, Hummels (66th/Öztekin),
Schmelzer - Bender, Feulner - Großkreutz, Lewandowski, Kagawa (66th/da
Silva) - Rangelov



Goals: 1-0 Wingerter (36th, Penalty Conversion), 1-1 Lewandowski (48th), 1-2
Rangelov (50th), 1-3 Rangelov (65th), 1-4 Rangelov (76th)

 

Let's move this discussion over to the Transfer thread.......