Even though it is still very early and there are still some crucial transfers to come, I decided to use the boring time without football and start discussing about how the different teams will do next season. Here are my thoughts on next season: Bayern München: Cleary the favourite (once again). Basically the same offence as last year and the first defence is as least as good as in 2004/05. It might be a problem though, that Bayern doesn't have the depth in defence they used to have. So the only thing that could jeopardize their amitions are injuries in their defence or tired defenders due to too many games. My Prediction: Place 1-3 FC Schalke 04: I'm not sure yet what to think about that team. Their new players are all really good, so technically they shouldn't do any worse than last year. But we all know that football doesn't work that way. I think their midfield could become their biggest problem even though thats where they have the most competition. But to form a functioning midfield out of those players will be hard. But then again Rangnick seems to have a talent to do exactly that. They need to reach the Champions League again because of their financial trouble. My Prediction: Place 2-5 Werder Bremen: They seem to have profited from their transfer activities so far even though they lost Ismael. But for me Bremen looks right now to be the biggest rival for Bayern next season. One of the strongest attacks in the league and still a solid defence. And Frings will be a great replacement for Ernst. Definately a very strong team. My prediction: Place 1-5 Hertha BSC Berlin: Here a lot will depend on a new striker they are still looking for. In my eyes Berlin has a solid defence but apart from that they rely too much on Marcelinho. He's not only the engine in midfield but also scores most of the goals. Last year it worked out perfectly but it doesn't always have to be like that. One injury could endanger the whole season. My prediction: Place 3-7 VfB Stuttgart: Also an unknown quantity at this point as they still need a replacement for Hleb in midfield. But apart from that, the team seems to be on the right track. Tomasson, Magnin and Hitzelsperger are great reinforcements for the team and Trapatoni could help the young players to develop further. And Trapatoni's tactical skills are well known all over Europe. My Prediction: Place 2-5 Bayer Leverkusen: Also hard to predict, Leverkusen manage to sign at least one new South American face every year, and usually they even manage to settle in. So this year it's Athirson. I have no idea how good he is but chances are he will be a regular next season. Up until now the only big name they lost is Placente. Franca also seems to be very unhappy and is likely to leave. But still I think Leverkusen will be a contender for Champions league next season. Although UEFA-Cup seems to be a more realistic goal. My Prediction: Place 3-6 Borussia Dortmund: This team drives me nuts. Last year they seemed pretty strong before the season started but then had a horrible first half of the season. After the winter break it looked very bad and suddently they had a fantastic second half. So this year they seem even stronger than last season with new players like Degen and Buckley and suddently they play really bad in the Intertoto-Cup against some third rate Czech team. So I guess we could see something like last season, with a poor start and a strong finish. My Prediction: Place 5-11 Hamburger SV: The team that made the greatest leap quality wise this summer. The new signings are great, especially van der Vaart. But in the last decade, Hamburg was always sort of an under achiever. My Prediction: Place 3-8 VfL Wolfsburg: They are in a similar situation as last year. A lot depends on D'Alessandro. In contrast to Dortmund, they had a strong start last year and an extremely poor finish. Anyways, I don't see them much stronger as last year. My Prediction: Place 7-12 Hannover 96: Solid signings here (Hashemian, Brdaric, Delura, Balitsch).However, I don't think that the UEFA-Cup is realistic. Still, Hannover might be able to upset some bigger teams. My Prediction: Place 7-12 FSV Mainz 05: They had a great first Bundesliga season. Yet their goal this year should still be to avoid relegation. It all depend on how they start into the new season. If they can build enough momentum from the start, they souldn't be in trouble. My Prediction: Place 10-16 1. FC Kaiserslautern: Their goal should also be to avoid relegation. Kaiserslautern has a solid team that should be able to do so, but with this team you never know. My Prediction: Place 10-16 Arminia Bielefeld: I think Bielefeld will have a lot of trouble next season. With Buckley, Skela and Owomoyela gone it will be very hard to stay in the Bundesliga. My Prediction: Place 14-18 1. FC Nürnberg: Another team that should focus on not getting relegated. Last year they had to thank Mintal for remaining in the Bundesliga. However I doubt that he can repeat his great season. But the new signings look pretty solid, so they should be able to make it. My Prediction: Place 11-16 Borussia Mönchengladbach: They already signed a lot of good players last winter, but they didn't seem to make the impact M'gladbach was hoping for. Their signings so far are also solid ones. If they are able to form a functioning team and if Elber finally gets back on track, they should remain in the Bundesliga. And if it all works out well, they can even be a surprise team. My Prediction: Place 10-16 1. FC Köln: Again they were the dominating team of the second league. Their signings seem to be quite good and with Podolski up front they should score enough goals to remain in the Bundesliga. My Prediction: Place 11-17 MSV Duisburg: Duisburg had a very good season in the second league. Yet I don't think it's enough to avoid relegation again. But then again, who would have thought that Mainz is still in the Bundesliga? My Prediction: Place 14-18 Eintracht Frankfurt: Also one of the teams that will have problems. Although with a better shot to remain in the Bundesliga than Duisburg. But still with some question marks: Can Jermaine Jones finally live up to his talent? Can Marko Rehmer really strengthen the team? And will they be able to get Ioannis Amanatidis? My Prediction: Place 13-18 Now, since those predictions are still very vague, here's a table based on the predictions above: 1. Bayern München 2. Werder Bremen 3. VfB Stuttgart 4. FC Schalke 05 5. Hamburger SV 6. Bayer Leverkusen 7. Hertha BSC Berlin 8. Borussia Dortmund 9. Hannover 96 10. VfL Wolfsburg 11. Borussia Mönchengladbach 12. 1. FC Nürnberg 13. FSV Mainz 05 14. 1. FC Köln 15. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 16. Eintracht Frankfurt 17. MSV Duisburg 18. Arminia Bielefeld Of course, at this point of pre-season, this is still far from being accurate, but it's a starting point for a discussion.
My Croatian friend just called me, the final table will look like this: 1. Bayern München 2. FC Schalke 04 3. Werder Bremen 4. VfB Stuttgart 5. Bayer Leverkusen 6. Borussia Dortmund 7. Hertha BSC Berlin 8. Hamburger SV 9. MSV Duisburg 10. VfL Wolfsburg 11. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 12. Arminia Bielefeld 13. Borussia Mönchengladbach 14. 1. FC Köln 15. 1. FC Nürnberg 16. Hannover 96 17. FSV Mainz 05 18. Eintracht Frankfurt Place your bets now!
1. Bayern München (may not win, but hard to bet against.) 2. Werder Bremen 3. FC Schalke 05 4. VfB Stuttgart 5. Hertha BSC Berlin 6. Bayer Leverkusen 7. Hamburger SV 8. Borussia Dortmund 9. Hannover 96 10. VfL Wolfsburg 11. Borussia Mönchengladbach 12. 1. FC Köln 13. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 14. 1. FC Nürnberg 15. Arminia Bielefeld 16. Eintracht Frankfurt 17. FSV Mainz 05 18. MSV Duisburg
Nearly impossible to do this, but what the hell! 1)Bayern 2)Werder 3)Hamburg 4)Schalke 5)Dortmund 6)Leverkusen 7)Stuttgart 8)Hertha 9)Wolfsburg 10)Hannover 11)Gladbach 12)Koln 13)Mainz 14)Nurnberg 15)Frankfurt 16)Kaiserslautern 17)Bielefeld 18)Duisburg
Hard to quibble with Benz's predictions. I think maybe he has Schalke too low and Hannover a bit too high. But other than that . . . . I'm leery of Bremen this year, but can't say there's anyone below them who is clearly better. I'm high on Hamburg this season. I think they could sneak into the CL qualifier spot if Bremen struggles adapting. Stuttgart's a bit of a mystery to me, and for now, I like Leverkusen's experience. Too many inconsistent players on Hertha to like them a lot, but they are the one team that could move up multiple spots if things go right for them. At the bottom of the table, Bielefeld is going to be a shadow of the 2004-05 team and Duisburg just does't have enough to avoid the drop. The last relegation spot could fall to a number of teams (anybody from 10 down on my list below), but I think Frankfurt and Mainz will be the teams most in jeopardy. 1. Bayern 2. Schalke 3. Bremen 4. Hamburg 5. Leverkusen 6. Stuttgart 7. Hertha 8. Dortmund 9. Wolfsburg 10. Gladbach 11. Hannover 12. Nuremberg 13. Cologne 14. Kaiserslautern 15. Mainz 16. Frankfurt 17. Duisburg 18. Bielefeld
Cool thread, heres what I think: 1. Bayern München 2. Shalke 04 3. Werder Bremen 4. Hertha BSC Berlin 5. HSV 6. Leverkusen 7. Borussia Dortmund 8. Stuttgart VfB 9. 1. FC Koeln 10. Hannover96 11. Wolfsburg 12. Kaiserslautern 13. Mainz 05 14. Gladbach 15. 1. FC Nürnberg 16. Bielefeld 17. Duisburg 18. Eintracht Frankfurt
Sigh here is my blatantly biased table hehe jk 1. Bayern Munchen 2. Hertha BSC Berlin (I'm still convinced they are going to get a new striker, despite management's ahem best efforts) 3. Stuttgart 4. Werder Bremen 5. Borussia Dortmund 6. Schalke 04 7. Hamburger SV (vdv won't make that much of a difference) 8. Bayer Leverkusen (fall from grace) 9. Hannover 96 10. Borussia Monchengladbach 11. VfL Wolfsburg 12. Kaiserslautern 13. Mainz 05 14. FC Nurnburg 15. MSV Duisburg (this will be a close relegation season) 16. Arminia Bielefeld 17. FC Koln (bye, bye Podolski, see you in Munich next year) 18. Eintracht Frankfurt (who I think maybe worse than Freiburg last year.)
1.Bayern 2.Schalke 3.Hamburg 4.'Kusen 5.Hertha 6.BVB 7.96 8.Bremen 10.Mainz 11.Gladbach 12.Nürnberg 13.Köln 14.Wolfsburg 15.Bielefeld 16.Duisburg 17.Kaiserslautern 18.Frankfurt funny how alex does not put is into 18th place
---------------------------------points 1. werder------------------------69 2. Bayern------------------------64 3. Hamburg----------------------60 4. Schalke-----------------------58 5. Stuttgart----------------------57 6. Dortmund----------------------54 7. Hertha BSC--------------------53 8. wolfsburg ----------------------49 9.Leverkusen (if nobody leaves)----46 10. Gladbach----------------------46 11. Hannover 96-------------------46 12. koeln--------------------------42 13. Nuernberg----------------------42 14. Mainz--------------------------40 15. Duisburg-----------------------36 -------------------- 16. K'Lautern-----------------------36 17. Frankfurt-----------------------34 18. Bielefeld------------------------15
My predicition, even if the first post is a very good one ! 1.FC Bayern München (Outstanding team, simple) 2.FC Schalke 04 (Good signings) 3.SV Werder Bremen (they'll have a good year again, good signins also) 4.VfB Stuttgart (Trap, Tomasson, they just need a good replacement for Hleb) 5.Hamburger SV (Atouba and VdV rock, they could even get a big higher) 6.Hertha BSC Berlin (they need a new attacker or they won't be as successful again) 7.Hannover 96 (Only if they won't lose first team players due to injuries) 8.Borussia Dortmund (good first eleven, but reserves are young and unexperienced) 9.Bayer Leverkusen (solid team, not more, not less) 10.Borussia Mönchengladbach (good signings...not sure) 11.1.FC Nürnberg (good signins aswell, could keep mintal) 12.1.FC Köln (If Podolski will be injured, they go straight down again...) 13.1.FC Kaiserslautern (with some luck, they have a pretty poor lineup imo) 14.Eintracht Frankfurt (solid team, they can make it...) 15.Arminia Bielefeld (hard time staying up....) 16.VfL Wolfsburg (bad coach, if petrov leaves they will have a hard season) 17.FSV Mainz 05 (UEFA Cup and League, too much) 18.MSV Duisburg (high hopes, but a too old team of players that never really proofed their quality.bye bye.)
1. Bayern München 2. Werder Bremen 3. FC Schalke 05 4. VfB Stuttgart 5. Hamburger SV 6. Borussia Dortmund 7. Hertha BSC Berlin 8. Bayer Leverkusen 9. Hannover 96 10. VfL Wolfsburg 11. 1. FC Kaiserslautern 12. Borussia Mönchengladbach 13. 1. FC Köln 14. FSV Mainz 15. 1. FC Nürnberg 16. Arminia Bielefeld 17. Eintracht Frankfurt 18. MSV Duisburg
Hey, I just gave you the information. The decisions were made elsewhere . Well, didn't Bayern want to reduce the number of teams in the league anyway? Don't forget: sooner or later they always get what they want...
Unlike Old Lady...Im pretty scared for this season for Hertha...I think all the other clubs at our level got better, except us. Plus our current health isnt that great and wont help. WE STILL NEED A STRIKER! 1. B. München 2. Vfb Stuttgart 3. Schalke 4. Bremen 5. HSV 6. Hertha BSC 7. Leverkusen 8. Hannover 9. Dortmund 10. Kaiserslautern 11. Wolfsburg 12. Mainz 13. Nürnberg 14. Köln 15. Gladbach 16. Bielefeld 17. Duisberg 18. Frankfurt
I really wonder what would make you say that?! 1. Bayern 2. Schalke 3. Bremen 4. Hamburg 5. Leverkusen 6. Hertha 7. Dortmund 8. Stuttgart 9. Wolfsburg 10. Hannover 11. Gladbach 12. Nürnberg 13. Frankfurt 14. Cologne 15. Mainz 16. Kaiserslautern 17. Bielefeld 18. Duisburg
i don't think they will do worse, but still there is quite some chance they get relegated.there won't be again a year with the 3 promoted teams staying up this season in my opinion.
Don't really see a lot of quality in Frankfurt IMO. I can't really name you anyone on that team that stands out. Hopefully for you guys Cha Doo Ri or Jermaine Jones can live up to their potential.
i can tell you a couple of guys that stood out last season according to kicker rankings: pröll, ochs, meier each got first place in that category for their positions... now of course that was second division but it still sais something and they are also very young and will develop this season... yet the strenght of this team isnt its outstanding players, but that it is actually a unity, that is always willing to fight even if there is no more chance left (proven last season) im, pretty sure there are 3 teams that are worse than it, but of course it will be a hard season... but oh well, this isnt the right threat to discuss that, so i'll just remind you at the end of the season...
1. Bayern 2. Stuttgart 3. Werder 4. Dortmund 5. Schalke 6. Hertha 7. Leverkusen 8. Wolfsburg 9. Hamburg 10. Nuernberg 11. Kaiserslautern 12. Hannover 13. Mainz 14. Gladbach 15. Cologne 16. Duisburg 17. Frankfurt 18. Bielefeld