OK, potential for a happy day today. We play at home to Nuernberg and, if we win, we will move into 7th and find ourselves in a European spot at the end of the matchday for the first time since December. We should be able to pull off the three points today. Then again, this is also what we thought about the Kaiserslautern game. No time for a slip up today. On the team: - Boulahrouz could be out of contention for up to a month. Two possible solutions: move Sakai to RB and play Boka/Molinaro at LB, or put in Boka at RB. Personally, I would rather Sakai moved wings and Molinaro was put back into the first team, but we'll see. - Tasci may prove himself fit to play today, but it's looking unlikely he will start at the moment. So Maza will partner Niedermeier again, but hopefully this week he does not make any of the blunders that awarded Hoffenheim their penalty last week. - Okazaki should still be out. - Ibisevic has to serve a one-game suspension for yellow card. Bearing these in mind, I would play with the following team: ------------------------Ulreich Sakai-----Niedermeier---Maza--------Molinaro ------------Kvist-----------Kuzmanovic Harnik----------------Hajnal------------Schieber ------------------------Cacau I mean, how to occupy the LW and strikers positions is the key question. Who gets to start as the striker in Ibisevic's absence? Cacau has had a torried season in the one-striker position, but maybe today he can finally get it right and deliver a top performance. Cacau could also move behind Schieber on the wing. I think both should start today due to the injuries, and both will have to maximise their opportunity. Im curious to see how it works out, and slightly insecure about our prospects (which should, on paper, be high).
That's the lineup I expected too. Looks like Bruno followed our advice except for having Boka at LB instead of Molinaro, which seem bizarre to me. I see Molinaro listed as on the bench. Wondering if there is a "problem" (physical or otherwise) with Molinaro. We've already been lucky not to be down 1 or 2 to nil. Minutes 6-7 saw NB shoot off our crossbar, then a VfB defender had to head-clear a shot or high-deflection over the bar after it went over Ulreich. Yeah, on paper, we should be the clear favorites, but we aren't playing like it so far...
0-0 at halftime. Disappointing match so far, Nuernberg have probably even been the better side this half. You can tell a lot of our key players are missing, Ibisevic's absence seems to be having a particularly bad effect - he just gels better witht he midfielders than Cacau and Schieber are currently doing. On the FCN side though, I do like what I see of both Chandler and Didavi. Hopefully we can find the net somehow in the second half and get the crucial win, but it will not be easy if we carry on performing the way we have been doing so far. Long 45 minutes ahead...
No real offensive flow from us at all. Little-coherent or focused. A chance or 2 from Harnik on through-balls that's pretty much it. I think Nuernberg's clearly been the better team so far. Match stats (ESPN) have them with 9 shots (3 on goal...Schieber's supplied some crucial D, actually). NB also has 8 corners to our 1! And we only have 3 shots (none on target). The new configuration is not gelling at all. Didavi HAS looked good. Hope they get him back. Chandler has been dangerous as well. Why the interest in him? Is VfB looking at him?
Excellent! They picked up the offense in the 2nd half, and it finally paid off. Flashes of the "old" Hajnal & "old" Cacau there...sweet play.
Well, a win's a win. Our play in the first half was pretty lame, but we picked it up enough in the 2nd half. Glad to see us in the Europe spots again! Also, we were REALLY lucky today. Nuernberg could easily have scored 3 on us...saved in order by: our crossbar, Schieber's head, our right post. NB also had 14 corner kicks on us and couldn't convert any. Whew! We only had 4 -- another indicator of (not) pushing the ball at the opponent's goal enough. All-in-all, a bit of a "Karmic offset" to the Kaiserslautern let-down. I'll take it.
As an American it was nice to see fellow "American" Timmy Chandler flying around the field. He looked great. Nice to see luck tip our way for once this damn season. Totally undeserved win, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good....I'll take it!
€3 million would be worth it. Instant replacement for an out-of-contract Boulahrouz, keeps Sakai in his comfort zone on the left side, it's a slam dunk...
I think Chandler would be a good buy as well. Didavi could also yet help us next season, judging by his performance today. I liked what I saw from both. So glad we got this win, and Cacau of all people with the winner. Is this a turning point for him? I find it hard to imagine since he will likely be back on the bench next weekend soon as Ibisevic is available again, but nevertheless it was a crucial crucial goal today. The guy is still a good player, let us not forget it. On the others: - Schieber defended well but offered too little going forward; he was especially bad at getting himself into good scoring opportunities. Needs much more in that regard if he wants to cement a first 11 spot. - Sakai did OK at RB, it's brilliant to see how versatile this kid is. Labbadia went with Boka at LB in the end, I would have preferred Molinaro, but Boka generally did his job and did so pretty well. Fair play. - Niedermeier is hitting some very good form. Looks far more stable at the back than Maza, who I assume will return to the bench next week by which time Tasci should be fit again. Of course, Niedermeier was also lucky: FCN should have gotten a 100% penalty for his foul in the second half, and had they scored it and taken the lead, the result would probably have been very different and Niedermeier would have been the villain. But that's football, and today we got lucky
Player Ratings: Sven Ulreich: Kicker Rating: 2.5 (27 played, 2.78 avg.) My Rating: 3 Gotoku Sakai: KR: 4 (7 played, 3.64 avg.) MR: 3.5 Maza: KR: 4 (22 played, 21 as starter, 3.60 avg.) MR: 4 Georg Niedermeier: KR: 2.5 (11 played, 9 as starter, 3.22 avg.) MR: 3 Arthur Boka: KR: 4.5 (9 played, 6 as starter, 4.06 avg.) MR: 4 William Kvist: KR: 4 (27 played, 3.24 avg.) MR: 4.5 Zdravko Kuzmanovic: KR: 3 (22 played, 18 as starter, 3.42 avg.) MR: 4 Martin Harnik: KR: 3.5 (27 played, 26 as starter, 3.50 avg.) MR: 3.5 Tamas Hajnal: KR: 4 (26 played, 23 as starter, 3.72 avg.) MR: 3.5 Julian Schieber: KR: 4.5 (11 played, 5 as starter, 4.50 avg.) MR: 4 Cacau: KR: 3 (27 played, 19 as starter, 3.98 avg.) MR: 2.5 SUBS: Christian Gentner: KR: No Rating (21 played, 12 as starter, 3.35 avg.) MR: 4 Mamadou Bah: KR: NR (2 played, 0 as starter, no avg.) MR: NR Timo Gebhart: KR: NR (12 played, 2 as starter, 4.50 avg.) MR: NR Unused Subs: - Marc Ziegler - Cristian Molinaro - Ibrahima Traore