Just came on in the 74' to replace Aubemenyang with BVB trailing 2-1. Exciting game, hopefully he can contribute. First team debut, let's go!
dumbfounded that it happened, but very eager to read reports of how he does. plenty of crow to eat in the meantime.
Joe with what I believe is his first touch in the 82', just a quick dribble + layoff. He moves so aggressively and with conviction. Hopefully it also has purpose as they search for an equalizer.
Man, Dortmund are absolutely awful in the back. No speed, no awareness..going to be a long season if they don't get Hummels back to fitness.
84' Joe picks the ball up about 35 yards from goal on the right, burns by his man and plays it outside for a cross that comes to nothing. Looked good though.
BVB equalizes! Immobile scores to make it 2-2 in the 86'. Joe not involved (except for grabbing the ball out of the back of the net ), it was a defensive lapse of sorts from Stuttgart, but it all counts. If they can fight back from 2-0 down to get all 3 points it would be fantastic. 5 minutes to go plus stoppage, still some time with BVB pressing.
88' Gyau picks up an overhit cross in the 18 near the endline, lays it back for Schmelzer who fires a shot low which is saved by the keeper. Rebound comes out to a BVB player who ends up committing a foul after failing to beat his man. Good awareness by Joe, but he could have been more selfish and taken the shot himself and nobody would have been mad at him I think, even if it was a poor angle. Into stoppage time now, 4 more minutes.
Joe looks to have been fouled in midfield but there was no call despite jeers from the fans. Commentators liked it from Gyau and mentioned his good work, but he was still stripped of the ball. And a minute later Gyau dummies an aerial cross which leads to a shot from a teammate that is saved off the line. The rebound comes out and Joe tries and acrobatic scissor kick but scuffs it a little. It would have been an unbelievable goal, but very very few players could execute it with the speed and height of the rebound, so there's no fault in mishitting it. Joe getting more involved as time goes by, doesn't look off the pace at all.
Gyau was good whenever he had the ball except I think he was dispossessed at one point that led to a counterattack(? My stream is a lil grainy pretty sure it was him though). Awesome finally got his BVB debut
FT: 2-2 Exciting and dramatic end. BVB really should be winning games like these, but it's a nice salvage job. As for Joe: Took him a few minutes to get a touch but once he did he looked comfortable on the ball and up to the pace of the game. I believe he completed all of his passes, though he was stripped once in midfield (after some good work, may have been a foul). Nothing noteworthy from him, but nothing bad, and some encouraging moments getting involved in attack. He can only build on it from here, and I think he'll get more looks as the season goes on. Klopp should be a little worried though with results like these, because his defense looked really poor, and these are games they should definitely be winning, as I stated before. Camera pans to Klopp giving Subotic an earful after he and his CB partners' lackluster performance.
When he was around 16-17 there were definitely flashes of world class where you thought, "if he develops well, he could be special." Though, after being loaned out from a lesser club, I would agree there's no way I would have seen this coming, at least not so quickly. He better hope Klopp stays on because this is a huge opportunity for him that I don't think other managers would be giving at a club like this. He has talent, no doubt, but this is still BVB, and they were just in the UCL final like 2 years ago. Anyway, this is very good news from a national team perspective. I'm a huge MLS fan and enjoy seeing our guys playing at home, but with some of the dwindling lately in YAs, there needs to be the emergence of some new blood. Joe is leading the charge now, I suppose.
The current PT is mostly due to injuries, but this can at the least improve his resume and get him more opportunities.
Agreed on eating crow, thought he was horrible during some of his Nat appearances and extremely overhyped. But this is the show, and a big one at that. Good on ya young man. I'll happily jump on the train.
BVB gets strip-mined by Bayern, just like every other team in the BL. So unless you are Bayern, staying on top is difficult/impossible.
While that's true, you can also look at historical finishes over the prior 10-20 years to create a hierarchy of clubs in the BL. Here are BVB's finishes since '95, plus German cup finish (next to the league finish), and European competitions with performance in those: Obviously, Bayern will be top dog for the forseeable future, but a club like Dortmund, especially with the size of its fanbase and recent UCL performances, has a legitimate claim as number 2. They're right in that "any given year" tier with Bayer and Schalke, and to a lesser extent Bremen and Stuttgart..who have obviously dropped off lately. Fact is, Dortmund is a massive club. The revenue they get from consistently selling out an 80,000+ seat stadium alone is enough to make them constantly competitive in the CL spots.
dortmund is a great choice for any player. their stadium, atmosphere, and coach are all something every club in the world can look up to. the photos of their stands during games are mesmerizing. i can only imagine what it must be like to be a player on that field, much less have all 80,000 singing your name...