The season is upon us. First match is Saturday vs the Pill Makers.... The game will be shown live in the US on Fox Sports 1 at 12:30 EDT. Should even be late enough for Naz to watch...
Glad_to be_Back 4 - 1 Placebo pill makers You first heard it here Might be lucky enough to watch it in Hamburg at a bar...not sure where to go tho???Seems like the bar in the railway station is pretty traditional and a good place...remember that EVIL ex girl of mine...she used to get pissed when i used to quietly get out of bed in Kelowna( western british columbia) and watch the FOAL's at 6 am in the morning ...i mean wtf right???Its Sunday ffs...why couldnt she just sleep and be happy for me?
Well........there's an old adage in sports that goes like this: "He who will not when he may-shall not when he will".......... That was the story of the day. When I looked at that line-up by Hecking, the first thing that crossed my mind was : "he's trying to play Favre-ball, but that's not his gig". If the Frenchman isn't deemed ready (fine) no other real forward is available to start? In the first half, the players looked as uncomfortable as I felt, and quite frankly should have left for the tunnel buried. If there's an overall plus I take from the opener, it is that the team does seem a bit more focused on tracking back after needless unforced errors and giveaways. There were a lot of those, coupled with bad decision-making when the odd half-chance presented itself. The RB prevented a certain Volland goal on the line, and I saw "forwards" tracking back into passing lanes to break up counters more than I remember a year ago. Bayer was undone by less than stellar finishing and 2 grievous mistakes. The first went unpunished because, of course it did-Hazard. Maybe Thor hoped their keeper was still sleeping up to that point. He looked bored anyway. The second did not, because somebody else was smart enough to take the kick. Once BMG got the lead, it looked like the Bayer staff might have panicked a bit. They went "larger"-throwing on more forward attackers in the hope of getting right back into it. Unfortunately for them, it also made them slower-and allowed the Foals' press to become much more effective in turning them over and creating space in their own defensive end. Just what Dr. Raffael ordered. He finally came into the game, took it over and combined with Jonas and Fab to put it away. Nice save by Sommer late to kill off any possible drama. I'm sure Dieter will be tinkering with the XI week to week until everybody returns. I just hope he's seen enough by this point to know that style isn't going to be something he wants to rely upon long term. I think so anyway...............
Pleased with the result. Also pleased I got to see most of it live, on tv, at home. Seems we have a bit more depth this season.
@LuckyStriker I agree 110% about ...hoping Hecking knows the starting elf today cant be something to invest on The tracking back was something we needed desperately last season...but its only the opener...so lets see if they can bring this style to their game week in and week out.Raffa seems fresh and healthy but sadly he was invisible most of the first half? @Ken Yes we seem to have more depth and perhaps creativity on the pitch.Dont u think the new fresh blood is giving us more options as far as different looks go on the pitch? But then this cant be our starting line up as lukcy mentioned above...we did look uncomfortable for most of the first half..and the players just didnt link up properly. But at the end of the day ....cant complain winning against a team that has always been very very lucky against us...and some consider them as Bundesliga champ's this season Just glad our new young signed players havent been yet been unleashed fully....with those hopefully integrated and Hecking getting his head out of the snow this season and being more creative and coming up with precision tactical new ideas ( can he though??Is he capable of that...and have the skill set?) we might go deep this season....maybe or no????
I prepare myself for a lose next week after such a stellar performance. Also, it just feels wrong to see Favre on the bench of another Buli club.
last season we could have easily finished L'kusen off in the first half... we didn't and they finished us off in second this season fortunately roles have changed... one can analyse in a very sophisticated way what changed from first to second half... some subtle things could be mentioned here... but because i'm not that sophisticated I go with the obvious: we move forward, started winning more and more 1on1s!... and gained confidence... maybe Hecking indeed has managed to squeeze more mentality out of the squad? have you f.e. seen Raffa after the 2-0?... I have never noted a similar outbreak of emotions on him... and Hofmann with his again inexplicable sloppy passes in first half? bang! he was there in second half! ploughing the pitch like a horse (ok, I'm exaggerating a little bit ;-) that's because he has rarely showed this attitude) empirically he is gonna go underground again vs. Augsburg ... but I'm really curious to see what happens now... maybe maybe... the Hofmann-hype is already on the run... yes, it's turbulent and short-winded times we live in... Zak, Kramer, Cuisance on the bench? I pinched myself! is this real? two guys on the field who played their first Bundesliga match... no one can say Hecking is a coward the Bundesjogi was there and a lot of people are already finding the Löw-Neuhaus-connection.... yes, this is gonna happen sooner or later, I'm sure... (not sure if I like this... the national team is so incredibly uncool) and Beyer stating his pre-match coolness: "In the player's tunnel I nearly collapsed"... nice-six-pack-block by the way... I'm relieved... he (18!) certainly isn't able to play a whole intense season on this level but with Lang coming back sooner or later I'm happy we have a reliable back up (and there still is Elvedi who first of all has to manage to get into the CB spot) I expected that we could harm L'kusen... their defensive foundation (Aranguiz, Baumgartlinger and the Benders) were missing... but I certainly didn't expect them leaving without doing any countable damage to our defense... in offense they had their whole brass band on the field (Volland, Bailey, Brandt, Alario... all of them quite fast and -especially in this combination- highly dangerous) but Jantschke and Ginter did very well... there is no wow-factor to Jantschke's style but he is smart, he is anticipating, he never panics and his positional errors are below average it appears to me (I don't bother about his height but it's a pity his basic speed isn't higher) ... it's important for him to leave the last three years full of unnerving injuries behind him and to stay in the groove... and Ginter? built-up-play wasn't exactly his core-skill so far... looks better now ... and he is even starting to play longballs! no reason to get overenthusiastic so early (especially regarding the first 30 min... all of it too slow and tentative again)... but three points are three points are three points... and our finish gives hope... maybe we get into the right flow and start a self-propelled process... you see, I have problems to keep the ball low ;-) then again Augsburg is a totally different story: away match, totally different style of play (most of the time we looked bad against them), even more need to stay with them physically... maybe THAT's the real test
Everythiing is diced and choped and disecceted for this team ( specially after a win against those fake plastic pill makers)...so now comes a team..better yet we go to the home of a weird team that plays even more weird football...so on one hand all the ingredients to cook and prep a great gourmet meal out of them is there and up for grabs...so imo we got a good opponent after a very tough opponent ...specially when we beat them as well...so there is no other way than to get wet and jump in the pool if u wanna learn to swim,lets see how bad these guys wanna learn to swim "olympic style"...i think the upcoming game will give us a lot of insight about the psychi of this team and the wisdom and tactical skill's of its coach...so lets go!!!!
You wont feel very bad and weird...if we hand Favre a nice beating.It will actually feel very nice and therapeutic as far as i am concerned...its about time we beat those fake Borussia bumble bees.Luck can take u only so far...the Favre factor is not something to overlook tho i agree and worry too...but its about time favre gets a taste of his own med's and am sure the boys enjoy nothing more than to make that happen in style
Kicking some major S04 aRss at borussia park will really give me some major satisfaction ....my prediction PUMA 2 - 0 Addidas chumps Still trying to figure out if Hecking has been trying to up grade his tactics...pretty happy about Beyer tho...the guy is going places!
A very fortunate 3 pts. against Schalke today. Not often a keeper gets scored on and overly lauded-but I can't remember a better game Yann has played for BMG than that one. He was the difference today. Pulling for Patrick to make it all the way back.......the winner should be a confidence booster. Plea is fitting in week by week as a facilitator, now just a matter of developing into more of a finisher. He's definitely progressing though. Gladbach had the game by the throat until around minute 35. Then, it lost total control of it until the 70th. Did Hecking go out for a long walk? I hate robotic subs.
Dosent Plea remind of a certain someone..a goal machine of ours in the past...from his technical skills to his body language and how he ignites when he squares his shouders and drops his hed down...Yes Martin Dahlin...too bad he is missing the right compliments around him And yes we had them by the ropes till the first 20-30 min and suddenly the typical Hecking effect....am wondering a coach of his calibre cant be so dumb...can it also be the players??? Hofmann also played his guts out...but he cant do it all alone..he is simply not that kind of a player to punch above his weight for 90 mins
So I'm watching this Hertha game, now at 2-1 in the first half, I don't know how this will ultimately end, but I want to say this irregardless: 1). You can't call yourself a professional club when you can 't defend professionally. 2). BMG has looked like kindergartener's in their own end under their last 2 coaches. 3). It's getting worse-not better. 4). CLEARLY: something is wrong with their system, and it needs to be changed now! 5). Whatever assistant is in charge of marshaling their defensive identity from the sideline needs to fired for utter incompetence and replaced after this game ends. 6). They need to emphasize defending far more in their practices. Emphasize it. Repeat it. Again. Again. Again. 7). ANY player who thereupon refuses to comply with fulfilling the totality of their role in the scheme should be replaced immediately and permanently. *** No group of committed professionals should suck this bad in any aspect of the game unless they're not committed-or not professional. I don't want them near this club either way. No German soccer club should consistently suck this bad when they don't have the ball !
It was a very enjoyable game--for a neutral. This is going to happen away from home. Hopefully. we'll see a better game on Wednesday.
Sadly i have to thank you for making this easy for me...i just finihsedwatching this embarassing game...and all u said was on point.I actually wanted to come here and ask...is there a word in english and football for such a situation?? Getting aRss raped back and forth over and over and over again...and above all look like you dont belong .....even the Dolphins when coached by Dave wannabe and their clownish QB...Mr.Fiedler had something to say back in the day in the NFL...i still cant believe what i just saw??? No Hertha is nowhere near this good...specially against a club that has 2 stars above its diamond....how is this tolerated without any reprecautions in pro football and specially in Germany??? How can u get paid and go home and enjoy the rest of your week when you havent earned a dime of what your getting paid??? Lucky you are right...us fans,fans like u and me are just too proud to walk away from this shithole of a club...they dont deserve fans like us...i mean honestly there are no words to even get close to what these losers delievered tonight....even the stuff that goes down the toilets on a regular basis can be recycled and used again for productive purposes...but not this shit we wittnessed tonight!
Ken u got to teach me how to be so cool...after such a clusterfack...its not our first rodeo ken ( u and me i mean on this site since we joined over 10 years ago but...) but this game tonight...just cant be dealt with like that...even with your even keel my friend...at least i cant
Gladbach has been playing like this in away games for almost 4-5 years even though they played under 3 different coaches under this period...
2 actually. (One for each of your question marks.) Systemic. Failure. Q: Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of what ???????????????????????????? A: Insanity.
So we fall back to the same old question and square 1...why this organization with such a culture and long succcessful history and the likes of Hans Meyer and Reiner Bonhof cant pin point..or at least somehow get close to the root of our problem....my argument is not just the result at the end of the 90th min ( u win some u lose some) after all we Borusse our not so much about titles and trophies..but why as u mentioned they keep doing the same mistakes and expect different results...its like banging your head into a brick wall right??? Nothing positive will come from it! Yes we have been really flat and toothless during away games...but its more about the style you break down and the mechanism of our failure that bothers,how we go about our bsuness and break and fall on our kness...if people like you and me and (with minimal or semi pro background in football as retired players)...can see this and point out this teams weaknesses ..how is it possible that the coaches and managers of this organization have systematically failed to get things back on track???Am feeling like the days we where fighting from 2liga our back into the top flight...ken knows what am talking about..but even then we had better fighting spirit and the lads used to fight with everything they had to keep the chains moving. I put the blame..at least most of it on the mindset of our players...less on Hecking!
Btw did anyone else feel these green away Puma kits are a bit tight ...or slim fit??? almost all players where struggling with them...or as viewers to my eyes it felt like that....maybe now its not even anymore about the game and Puma's reputation at this club..and more about fashion,boy what a joke it is!
That said, Berlin may be a very good team this season. We'll see. I'm happy with wins vs Schalke and Leverkusen so far as they have always been tough for us. BTW, I was as high as 38th overall in the Kicker 3rd BL Classic contest (dropped a bit this week). Also, Raffi is out for Frankfurt *and* Wolfsburg (injury) but Lang may play. That should help.
Yes i agree with the wins against SO4 & Neverkusen..they have always been a huge pain..thts why the loss against Berlin hurts so much..but they totally torched us on the flanks and by the way of air...i think they are a good team this season..but we have had these problems ( defending arial attacks and speedy wingers on the flanks) how is it that season in and season out Max and co have found no solutions?? Or maybe just b/c the euros are coming in more than the clubs management expection..everything is rosey and all sunshine behind the closed doors of our club management and being mediocre is good for now?? Lang is a huge boost..he plays my kinda style of football...against Berlin Veste's absence was felt massively !!