Great battle. Magath vs. his old side. Should be interesting. Play coach for a day and pick your favorite lineup!!! Lineup possibilities: ........................................Kahn Sagnol/Kuffour....Lucio/Demichaelis.....Linke/Kovac.....Salihamidzic ..................................Ballack/Jeremies Hargreaves/Schweinsteiger................Ze Roberto/Schweinsteiger ....................................Frings/Scholl .............Pizarro/Guerraro....................Makaay/Hashemian
Yes--this will be a good one. eissman, this may sound funny, but I don't think it would be too horrible if they FCB lost--I know, blasphemy! But I do think it is obvious that this team can not at the present time compete 100% on all three fronts. May be one less thing to worry about? Bayern is dead--Long live Bayern
Bayern can easily play on 3 fronts. 1) Only 18 teams in BL 2) Only one game per round in the cup, no replays, no return legs 3) Deepest squad in BL I think the solution has been found for the Ballack problem. He is now the starting DM with Frings playing behind the 2 forwards. He (Frings) can do that , he started his career as a striker, and it takes away the pressure on Ballack to create chances. He is better at starting up attacks from deep. They will also occasionally change positions during
I would like to think so but the deepest squad doesn't really mean much when your team has an injury list as long as Bayern's. I think I was optimistic about Frings and Ballack together on the same field at the beginning of the season--but again I am convinced --yet. Thanks for the comments
Sir Manchester's lineup then is: ...........................KAHN KUFFOUR....KOVAC...DEMICHAELIS...SALIHAMIDZIC .........................BALLACK HARGREAVES........................SCHWEINSTEIGER ..........................FRINGS .............PIZARRO.............MAKAAY By the way, did any see how Demichaelis played at center back, his natural position? How about Kovac?
Isn't this contradictory? I think you have a point, but pride would dictate me to disagree with you. I am a greedy bastard, you see, and I would like win some hardware! Long live the not dead Bayern!!
I say Bayern's lineup should look like this: --------------Kahn Kuffour---Lucio---Demichellis---Brazzo -----------Hargreaves -------------Ballack ---------Frings---Schweinsteiger --------Makaay---Pizzaro Hargreaves as a DM, Ballack as a CM that is free to roam arround, and Schweini + Frings as OMs.
You hit the nail on the head. You must have been reading some of the past posts. We have been screaming this for the past week or two. I agree that up until this point, Frings has been like a caged animal... unable to let loose and do what he does best. Ballack is deadly at playing balls from deep and making timely runs through the midfield. I will stop now, as I have said this so many times it sounds almost automatic.
Looks like Linke, Lucio, Deisler are now back in the mix for the lineup. Sagnol I am not sure about... cannot read German to well. www.fcbayern.de With that being said, I pick: ...........................Kahn Kuffour....Demichaelis/Kovac...Lucio....Salihamidzic .........................Ballack Hargreaves.........................Schweinsteiger .........................Frings .............Pizarro..............Makaay Subs: Guerraro(for Pizarro) and Scholl(for Schweiny) on in the second half sometime (preferrably the last 20 minutes)
I just looked at the same place and it does look those you named will be back. I think everybody here is pretty much in agreement about the forwards and midfield. Magath has a variety of options for the back line. Anybody--Is Sagnol still out--and for how long?
The article made it sound as if the muscle problem that Sagnol had has gone away and that he would be in the match day squad.
I'm not shure it is the best for Ballack to play before the Defense. Yes, Bayern won 3:0 against Hannover, but beated Ajax (much better than Hannover) 4:0 when Ballack played behind the strikers.
I think Magath will play with a good line-up but not the best. Because the Bundesliga is more important than the german cup and to win the Bundesliga this year is very difficult. If Bayern lose against Stuttgart it is not so fatal because the games of the DFB-Pokal often are nearly at the same time than the CL-games. So it would be better for the CL. After all i want Bayern wins sovereign.
Yes, and both results really are meaningless for Ballack since he (a) did not score in either contest, and (b) did not create the assist for any of the goals either (although, I cannot say for certain this is the case... at least from my source he did not). I just am tired of people defending this guy when he has not performed nearly to his capabilities. He is not effective at playing behind the strikers. Plain and simple. Anyone who has watched him play in the last two weeks will tell you this. Playing him in a defensive midfield role is Magath's current experiment. If he cannot perform there and put his stamp on the game, as he has been unable to do elsewhere on the field as of late, then it is time he sat the pine and watched the players who can do it, do it. Okay... I am off my soapbox now.
In the match against Hannover, a lot of Bayern's chances came after Ballack made an accurate pass from deep to Frings or one of the two strikers. I think playing him as a DM is working out better for the team, because it has allowed Frings to become Bayern's go-to player.
As much as I like Ballack, that was all Makaay against Ajax....It's better for Ballack to play DM, thats his natural position. As for how Demichelles did alongside Kovac against Hannover, well....simply put..they were superb. Kovac has done extremely well since he's started again.
Excellent! I was hoping for such a scenario. Demichaelis is in his natural position there. Linke looks to be out of the loop (plus age is creeping up on him), so Kovac and Demichaelis look to be the other options there. Hey, if Lucio can't keep up with these two, then let the young men start. All the power to them. The nice thing is that a year ago we were thin in this position... now it looks to be the spot that we least need to worry about (knock on wood!!). Kahn... that's another story... perhaps he should just worry about his form and not Lehman's.
Fully agree. When I was in attendance at the game vs. ManU in Chicago, the one thing I noticed about Ballack was the accuracy of his passes, particularly those passes of 30-40-50 meters away. It was quite impressive. I also noticed he RARELY got forward ever to support the forwards. He is naturally a tall, strong defensive presence, tackles well and distributes extremely well. He is content with hanging in the center and developing things. All these qualities are perfect for a defensive midfielder. Better yet, it gives him a great vantage point to "direct" traffic and lead as a captain. Lets hope Ballack takes this to heart and owns this position in the remaining fixtures until the break. I would LOVE nothing more than for him to make be eat my own words about transferring him.
Lucio won't be replaced in any case, either Kovac or Demichelis will be his partner on the CD. Kovac were not really consistent, he's just up and down. Lucio is younger than him 4 years, indeed only 26 while kovac 30. Kovac may leave at the end of the season , so give the youngsters more chances. In the Kufour case, i hope we can keep him another 1 or 2 years as his physical strength is what we lack at the back.
Yup! ZDF I believe. Edited: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/programmuebersicht/0,2060,,00.html I knew I was right.