I know he isn’t everyone’s favourite, but how would people feel about Jorginho being part of any deal to sell Haaland to Chelsea?
I would love for Jorginho to be included in any potential Haaland deal. He ticks all the boxes and would be a perfect signing for us. He would take the whole team up another level, but it's just no realistic. Chelsea won't be selling him. They won the CL on the strength of their midfield and they will keep it together for one more year. So realistically I would want someone just like Jorginho. It's no coincidence he has just won the CL and the European Championship, even though his attacking players were underperforming.
We end up with only 1 healthy CB, Akanji.. What is the problem to buy 2 CBs, one better more experienced player and 1 young talent CB? Just dont get that, we are so deficit on that positions.. Zaga is injury prone like Umtiti (very unlikely that he will ever play football on some contant base), Hummels who aint getting any younger and its natural that you are mpre injury prone with years to come.. You cant be a serious team without a minimum 3 quality CBs and 2 backups..
Well Coulibaly seems to be likely to get first team chances so that’s 4 CB’s, plus it’s reported that Halstenberg, (who can play CB)will also be signed once Schulz is sold. On top of that Collins is highly rated and will be slowly integrated during the course of the year and Papadopoulos is getting praise from Rose too. Obviously Meunier and Can are also capable of filling in, although personally I’m not a fan of Can as a CB.
- Re creativity and Reus and Reyna. Think of a typical BL game where the opposition is sitting deep. I think it was rarely the likes of Reus and Reyna who broke these defense. It was often clever interplay between Sancho and Hakimi, or Sancho and Guerreiro that unlocked that. Or, alternatively an action that starts with Sancho dribbling past his man, or something clever by Brandt. Even Alcacer was contributing in this. I'm talking about that trickery that unbalances the defense. That first move where we've tricked the defense and they are now playing catch up after being behind the ball for a while. I don't know.. that's just my memory of how things went. Reus and Reyna are better at making the last pass, making some good runs, or scoring. - Re the CBs, if one of these 2 youngsters are ready to start next season, then I'm good with no CBs. I can't remember Collins' age, but Koulibali is way too young. - Re Moukoko. So if you want him to be the main striker next season, then he'll be doing that at age 18. Messi was 18 in 2005. He started 7 league games in 04-05 and 17 in 05-06. And that's Messi, as a winger. I'm happy for Moukoko to match/exceed these numbers, but I think it's way too much pressure to expect him to do so by having him be the main striker at the beginning of the season. It's the best way to mess things up with him.
We will have to agree to disagree on this. Reus and Reyna have often beaten the man or supplied the key pass to break teams down. They are both very good at it, but I agree we need more. Sadly we have gone for Malen. I think our season is going to depend hugely on Brandt if we don't bring anyone else in. As things stand my expectations are for Rose to finish 2nd, get to Cl last 16 and beat everyone in the cup except Bayern (home or away) and Leipzig away. Coulibaly is 17. Collins unfortunately has a bad injury, but these youngsters are not going to be worse and are much cheaper than average players. Football players develop at different ages. Why are you talking about Messi? Let's just look at our own club. Weigl, Dembele, Sancho, Gotze and Haaland were all performing at CL level despite being similar ages. There's no reason why Moukoko shouldn't. He is a special talent and seems ready. I have faith in Moukoko, more than I have in the likes of Malen. Not to mention Owen, Rooney, Fowler, Raul, Etoo, Del Piero etc have all done so.
First half of pre-season friendly vs Athletic Bilbao ended scoreless. Good job absorbing the pressure of Bilbao's attack during the first 20 minutes, but damn unlucky not to score a clear chance.
A 2-0 loss in the end. Dahoud the bright spot with Papadopoulos a close second, but it's hard to make an assessment since we essentially played an academy team.
I agree with your assessment of the match, but not the assessment of the lineup. We had Haaland, Reus, Brandt, Dahoud, Kobel, Schulz and Passlack playing. Knauff is might already end up as our best winger before the season is over. However, Dahoud was the only bright spot in a very WORRYING match. 1. We had no shot on goal. 2. Our full backs are terrible, at least at left back we have Raphael, at RB it's just Meunier who is bad too. 3. Need to stop with the 4-1-4-1, it leaves us exposed and we don't pass through the lines well. 4. Dahoud did well, but he is better as an 8 and we badly need a 6. 5. We NEED a Sancho replacement and Malen is definitely not it. We are going to find ourselves frustrated and struggling to score. 6. Stop playing Brandt so deep. If we go into the season with this team plus Malen we will finish 2nd/3rd, not win the cup and definitely not go further than the last 16 of the CL. This squad has serious problems and weaknesses that need to be addressed. And if they are not addressed, then I am not going to blame Rose for a poor season it's the board.
What is the best possible line up with the current squad plus Malen? I’m struggling to work out where Malen will be used. He is not really a winger and if it’s in a front 2 then the midfield balance looks off.
No idea. It seems like we are being played by Raiola. He is not a player we really need unless we are selling Haaland. The way I think things are going. I wouod not be surprised if we end playing something like this. ----------Kobel------ -Meunier---Akanji----Hummels---Raphael ----------------------------Witsel----------------- ---------------Bellingham--------Dahoud---- ----------------------------------Reus--------------- --‐------------Haaland----------------Malen--- If so they team is worrying, lacks creativity and lacks the ability to control of break teams down. It has no width and our full backs will be badly exposed.
Witsel should only be used when playing mid to lower tier teams. He's nothing but a flat-track bully.
You know my thoughts on Witsel. I would put him out on loan to get his wages off the club. That's definitely not the team I would play, but the team I think we sadly might end up playing.
That looks like such a Favre lineup! I REALLY hope Marco Rose is different. I think for us to be ready for the season we minimally need a winger and a right back. At least one of them needs to be creative, but hopefully both. I don't mind Brandt as an 8, although he was trying too hard in that Bilbao game. But I'm happy because he could have looked much more rusty than he did.
And yes I agree that 4-1-4-1 looks so shaky.. the #6 is always chasing back on counter attacks against us. Today it was Dahoud, but it reminded me of the time when it was Weigl who couldn't handle it in that formation.
I don't want to see Moukoko at the beginning of next season as the main striker. That's way too much pressure on him. Even Messi wasn't put in this position. And I'm comparing him to Messi because both had huge potential visible at this young age, and it was clear that their teams were planning to build around them. So that's why I like the Malen signing. We need to have someone else at striker. 17 years old is too young for CB. Again, I wouldn't get in the way of playing these players if they excel, but I wouldn't plan for them to be the starters at CB. While Haaland (who was 19 or 20 when he came!) may be the exception from your list, all these BVB players were brought in gradually into the system, and not expected to start at age 18, without backup players in the squad. And yes, let's agree to disagree about Reus and Reyna. (I'm willing to change my mind if Reyna does more of that setup he did for Tigges against Bochum.) But I will still say 1 thing: remember the games under Favre with no Dahoud, and out of form Brandt and Sancho last season. They were unwatchable and we lost so many points.
I am not against bringing in another striker to help Moukoko with the burden, but I have faith in the boy. You keep mentioning Messi, but I have given you countless other examples like Owen, Fowler, Rooney, Mbappe, Gotze, Etoo, Del Piero, Raul and of course the greatest of all players Pele. Players don't all mature at the same time. Some players are ready young. Haaland was 19 and ready and Moukoko seems to be following the same path. A team needs lots of components and even if other parts are excellent, it will fail if it's missing key areas. I agree we need a skilful maverick of a player. We badly need to spend big on a Raphinha or Wirtz. A player like that beats a man and creates space for eveyone else, which Reus then exploits. I am glad you are starting to notice the big problems with the midfield. Even play a 4-3-3, the problem was that Dahoud was playing as 6 and Brandt as the most defensive 8. We need a 6 so they can both progress further. Watching the last three friendlies, the weak spots of our team are very evident. 1. We've been poor at organising the defence from set pieces, but when Hummels and Akanji are back it should be fine. 2. Our full backs have been terrible, but at least Raphael should fix the left back spot, however RB is a problem. 3. We need a proper 6, because we are struggling to control the midfield. We need this badly since not only do we struggle to control the ball, we are far too easy to pass through. 4. We need a creative winger to break teams down. So in short we need a RB, CDM and RW. Last year when we went on our great run we finally found a RB (our club legend LP) Sancho came back from injury. Last year by the end of the season the squad only had one hole in the first 11. This year we have 3 and they are glaring ones. Our entire right and side is dead. Rose is being set up to fail.
I didn't agree that we need a #6 BTW We do well with a more flat/compact 4-3-3 rather than 4-1-4-1, and also with Can as the #6. Plus, we've gotten a prospect in Kamara for that position, for the long term. But anyways, let's agree to disagree on this one too.
Mo has some "news" for BVB fans coming up. 💌 Mo #Dahoud: „Ich möchte Euch eine Nachricht mitteilen.“ Mo hat eine Überraschung für Euch! Ihr erfahrt sie ab 13 Uhr im #BVB-Podcast. pic.twitter.com/IdedxSK01G— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) July 29, 2021
Great that Dahoud has signed an extension, but worrying that it is only for a year. I guess quite rightfully considering the way he has been treated he is keeping his options open.
I wish this makes the club understand that it's time to show some real ambition. Enough of merely settling down for a CL spot and just advancing from the group stage. Aim higher. Of course I don't think they will take the hint.
First half of our final pre-season friendly vs Bologna has ended with neat goals from Reyna and Håland.
Game live on YouTube, although some technical issues due to rain storm at end of first half. 3-0 ht. Tigges got the 3rd.