To be fair, advancing in the Europa League gets you the same number of points as advancing in the Champions League and Italy has 4 teams in the Europa League right now. Lazio could get eliminated today but the other 3 will go through I think. Italy could close the gap a bit this season ( in terms of Uefa coefficient points). They will still need at least 3 years to reach Germany if they start doing well again in European competitions.
This highlights Germany's real European problem this year: The Europa League. Freiburg, Frankfurt, and Stuttgart are all in the relegation fight and were woefully unprepared to take on a European campaign. Those three teams have hurt us more than Leverkusen and Schalke losing in the round of 16.
I'm not sure our problems with big teams come from playing too high, Keller sets us up sitting deep often enough. Our problems have to do with our counter attacking abilities which have nearly vanished under Keller. Soaking up pressure just to build up slowly once you have the ball isn't a good combination if you want to grind out results. A second problem is with our whole defensive set up. Our main defensive strategy is to keep our shape waiting until the opposition loses the ball by mistake. That gets more and more difficult the better the opposition gets because they make fewer mistakes and are better able to tear our shape apart. A high pressing game with speedy counterattacks like Dortmund play looks like a better strategy in these circumstances. Or at least one which looks more probable to create an upset.
The fans need to print up a massive tarp with that history channel meme guy and just have it say jens Keller instead of aliens.
It is possible, but in my experience fans who are douchie enough to go find fans of another team to tell them their team has embarrassed the league without even a thought put into the context of that performance, are typically fans of teams who don't understand that you can't always just buy a better team, and in German football that means Bayern fans. Even if you're silly enough to think Schalke should be doing better against the two best teams in the world, finding Schalke fans to shit on their team is a serious dick move.
First of all I can't make who is more of a douche me for showing concern on the BuLis CL status (albeit taking a stab at Schalke in the process) or you for crying foul and playing the victim here. I never expected Schalke or Leverkusen to pull a miracle against their foes but I also did not expect them to get rocked.that way. Had any non German team suffered the same fate I wouldn't have said a word. I care about the league hence I blast them. And if that is a problem in your book, that's your fvxking problem.
The problem isn't you ignorantly blastig the clubs it's you going into the Schalke fans forum to do so. I'm not even a Schalke fan, although they are one of the first division clubs I find interesting, alongside Gladbach and Streich/Tuchel, but coming here to shit on them is what is douchie. I've taken shots at Leverkusen myself but I didn't go hunt down the 5 Leverkusen fans who exist to do so. Had you made your post in the Bayern section I wouldn't have commented, it's posting that here that's dickish. Or do you think that these guys aren't aware that Keller let them get annihilated? I honestly just can't see a purpose for your post here other than trolling.
Next time I'll have something negative about Schalke I'll go post it at the Guanzhou Evergrande thread.
Or...and bare with me cause I know this is crazy...you could use the other teams thread on your team's forum. I'll give you a minute to process such a wild idea.
Comedians everywhere. Technically according to your own logic since you are not a Schalke fan you should not have been reading their forums at all. Or you meant read but don't post and I missed it?
You're free to post here, just don't be a dick. Fans from other teams post here, even Dortmund fans, without openly insulting the team. If they can do it, you can do it.
Todays draw 5 45 pm from these pots Real Madrid CF Holders2013/1418WinnersWinners x 10 FC BarcelonaRunners-up, Spain2013/1418Quarter-finalsWinners x 4 FC Bayern MünchenChampions, Germany2013/1417Semi-finalsWinners x 5 Chelsea FCThird place, England2013/1412Semi-finalsWinners x 1 SL BenficaChampions, Portugal2013/149UEL, runners-up*Winners x 2 Club Atlético de MadridChampions, Spain2013/144Runners-upRunners-up x 2 Arsenal FCFourth place, England2013/1416Round of 16Runners-up x 1 FC PortoThird place, Portugal2013/1418UEL, quarter-finals*Winners x 2 Pot 2 FC Schalke 04Third place, Germany2013/146Round of 16Semi-finals Borussia DortmundRunners-up, Germany2013/149Quarter-finalsWinners x 1 JuventusChampions, Italy2013/1414UEL, semi-finals*Winners x 2 Paris Saint-Germain FCChampions, France2013/146Quarter-finalsSemi-finals FC Shakhtar DonetskChampions, Ukraine2013/149UEL, Round of 32*Quarter-finals FC Basel 1893Champions, Switzerland2013/145UEL, quarter-finals*Last 16 FC ZenitRunners-up, Russia2013/144Round of 16Round of 16 Manchester City FCChampions, England2013/143Round of 16Round of 16 Pot 3 Bayer 04 LeverkusenFourth place, Germany2013/148Round of 16Runners-up x 1 Olympiacos FCChampions, Greece2013/1415Round of 16Quarter-finals PFC CSKA MoskvaChampions, Russia2013/147Group stageQuarter-finals AFC AjaxChampions, Netherlands2013/1413UEL, round of 32*Winners x 4 Liverpool FCRunners-up, England2009/108N/AWinners x 5 Sporting Clube de PortugalRunners-up, Portugal2008/095N/AQuarter-finals Galatasaray AŞRunners-up, Turkey2013/1412Round of 16Semi-finals Athletic ClubFourth place, Spain1998/991N/AQuarter-finals Pot 4 RSC AnderlechtChampions, Belgium2013/1410Group stageSemi-finals AS RomaRunners-up, Italy2010/117N/ARunners-up x 1 APOEL FCChampions, Cyprus2011/122UEL, group stageQuarter-finals FC BATE BorisovChampions, Belarus2012/133Second qualifying roundGroup stage PFC Ludogorets RazgradChampions, BulgariaN/A0Play-offsN/A NK MariborChampions, Slovenia1999/20001UEL, round of 32Group stage AS Monaco FCRunners-up, France2004/055N/ARunners-up x 1 Malmö FFChampions, SwedenN/A0UEL, third qualifying roundRunners-up x 1
Chelsea, Sporting, Maribor. Not bad. We should probably advance out of this group, but who knows whether Jekyll or Hyde will show up.
Brave New Football World Tickets for a CL match in the Arena cost more than a flight to London or Lisboa
With Sporting faltering, yes. However we have to pull our shit together ASAP. We can't ******** around like we did last season. And, Keller, for the love of Christ can we please bunker+counter against Chelsea? Playing a possession game against Chelsea played right into Mourinho's hands. Let's emulate what Basel did last season.
Maybe it is good to play the first match at Chelski and then play at home. Anyways, good luck for your CL campaign.
Just saw the 2014-09-17 v Chelsea formation with Neu and Ayhan as the CBs and KPG and Aogo at the double pivots??? This should be interesting. Where is Kirchhoff? Is it too late to bring Jones back?
Kirhhoff is still regaining fitness after an injury, right? Funny enough, I'm pretty sure Jones came off injured this weekend. But year, the formation today is completely ********ed.
Draxler really active in this game. What a great chance that was just before the half, taking on several defenders on that run.
Huntelaar levels it 1-1!!! Sharply executed counter, Draxler with another strong run and sweet pass for the assist.