for any who love the club and saw more than the Leicester game-what are your expectations for the year? All I saw was the last one. Was disappointed all of the newcomers didn't get to play. Some recruits shone brightly, others did "Okay"...still others failed to impress. About what one would expect I'd guess. What stood out to me: The formation used didn't-and doesn't-do Stindl any favors. This team is crying out for a real CF who can run and allow Lars to slot in behind. Right now; I don't see where enough goals are to come from. The same problems on defense continue to rear their ugly heads no matter who is added to the back. Slow to react, poor in shape against speed, and other than the Viking-tantamount to useless in the air. When I think of Hecking......I can't help but think of Dzecko and Dost. He's had time to think about how he wants to play absent those luxuries......can't say as yet that he's found it. First half, 3 players who I think hold this team back started and confirmed it. Please tell me they're not in the XI......... Sorry to see Strobl get hurt like that. Hope he recovers well and quickly, but I don't understand why he wasn't sold prior to the game. Lastly; the announcers confirmed it verbally: Rafael looks every bit his age, and no longer appears capable of 90 minutes at age 32. If Hazard can't carpe' diem...who will ?
I am with you on your concerns. I think this is going to be a pretty blah year. Mid table Mediocrity feels most likely to me. Hoping we can push ahead a little bit at the Europa league spots but I'm not really optimistic about that.
you can ask! I‘ve seen it all! awful results! same major problem like the last months: a lack of attacking determination i.e. harmlessness in the opponent's danger zone sometimes combined with some kind of tameness (a lack of shrewdness of players whose overriding objective is to win) or how Hecking adressed it several times: a lack of shot efficiency/cool-headedness and 'Gier': greed/bite/punch ... but it's only pre-season... we once won every pre-season duel and got relegated afterwards... but expectations? where we end up in the table? sorry, can‘t help! too many variables… not only regarding Borussia, you have to adress all opponents in depth too (did their central midfield, their..., their..., their... etc. improve or not?) … it's like forecasting the weather of end of August in detail! and on top of that all the protagonists are blowing in the same horn: „This season the field is extra tight!“ [by the way: KICKER is pretty sure that Borussia will qualify for Europe, but what do they know?] if everything is going strongly in our favour we may finish 4th, but 6-9th is much more likely I guess... and we may end up at 13th if injuries, psychology etc are totally against us... or just luck! (let‘s not fool ourselves: soccer in huge parts is still a game of fortune/coincidence... they say luck and misfortune cancel each other out over the season! no! not necessarily!) that‘s why I go with the great Mr. Twain: „It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future!“ just three remarks: + there should be more firepower from midrange at least: Grifo, Zakaria, Cuisance and an improved Hazard (considering how he smashed in his two goals so far) + Ginter & Zakaria (and maybe Raffa) are the ones too watch: Ginter will plain and simple do his job without much of a setting-in period I believe: reliable (without any dazzle effect)... Kramer and Zakaria are the chosen rhythm section (Benes or Cuisance are definitely more than decorative attachments.. they will get their minutes but most likely not as starters... for the moment)... Zakaria seems to be more mature than the young Xhaka... he seems to have a tendency to march long distances with the ball which has a nostalgic and (once in while) surprising element (for the opponent) to it... I hope this is not his A-option... not that promising... still: I decided to be optimistic about him ;-) + regarding the team it will all be about the major problem above and about BALANCE! our passing game and combination play was superior to Leicester‘s… it would be presumptuous to get ecstatic about that because that‘s clearly not the battlefield our opponent chose …they play direct football without frills… we could use a dash of that, too… still this was our best game so far… at least if you take into account the first hour only (CMs No.1&2, Zakaria & Kramer, were out… maybe if Strobl had stayed alongside Benes...… but Benes, green behind the ears, PLUS Hofmann? that was the last option! … it scared me to death when Hecking recently mentioned „defensive midfield“ and „Hofmann“ in one sentence) Zakaria, Ginter, Grifo … in this order I guess;-)... Grifo (discreet so far) now I'm slightly getting into objection-mood... be strong ;-))) wouldn't it be boring if we all agree in opinion! the team is not crying out! the supporters are! ;-) if the last seasons showed anything at all then that Stindl doesn't need a CF to play around he is one of the smartest and will be fine in any formation (which means 4-4-1-1 -if that's what you are thinking about- would work just fine too I guess) but if they sign a CF they will not because of Stindl... and what about Raffa? benching him? objection!!! not gonna happen! ;-) I didn‘t see this individual weakness to an alarming extent (maybe I have to pay more attention) what I saw last season was lacking balance/compactness when Schubert played his overenthusiastic harakiri-high-standing 1on1-back three... but later on when he (and Hecking) played a back four too (to a lesser extent at least... f.e. when Dahoud once again had one of his youth-player-days... sometimes creating massive space in his backyard) ... all this leaving the defense totally exposed very often… and then they look bad!... but sometimes you have to trace it back... for my liking this normally is not a ‚defence‘-problem it‘s a ‚team‘-problem "as yet"? season only starts NEXT week! they are! Strobl is the only 'proper' holding midfielder we have (we might need one once in while) Strobl is the Kramer-backup (no, Benes or Cuisance are definitely no Kramer-backups!!!) Strobl is an option for the centre-role in a back three defense Strobl is an experienced CB, too [squad planners usually don't sell players like him, they love them!: 3 postitions for just one (very affordable) wage!] Strobl is a player whose voice is heard in the team Strobl is a 'balance'-player Strobl plays men-soccer (some do not) Strobl was one of the best in pre-season (says Hecking) is he a great player? definitely NOT! or even a first XI-regular? NO! is he an important jigsaw piece in building a squad (considering a limited number & the financial limits)? DEFINITELY YES! H‘heim signed Nordtveit (4M+ wage at West Ham) as a potential starter in their back three (maybe except for shooting Nordveit for my liking isn‘t a superior player... always liked him but he was more often struggling to get in our first XI than not) what do English announcers know about Raffa? I cannot remember a pre-season where Raffael didn‘t look like a 35-old… but yes, astonishingly often I heard supporters mentioning that Raffa might not gonna reach his top level anymore… I'm not that pessimistic: he was world class when we played against Barcelona 10 months ago (I doubt we would have lost if Raffa could have stayed on the field)… I personally don‘t think you loose that much quality that fast… and if he‘s 90% of that he is still good enough for Borussia... but yes, if I'm wrong we're in trouble...