UEFA CL /// Next season's group stage as it stands///

Urgh I am so pissed, I wanted Genk Gent or Copenaghen. I think we are going home,cause Schalke have more experience than us.
Now back on the buli level

 

Yeah. Chiesa and Bernardeschi are the only italian players in the starting team. It was a real mistake to sack Montella and higher Sousa. The reason Montella got sacked was because the club wasn't spending that big and he wasn't happy and was getting quite vocal about it. Montella was doing so well with the club though and they were much more solid defensively. Now since Sousa took over the team is always looking shaky especially on set pieces in defense. To make it clear they were never amazing at defending, but the team had way more confidence and were way more solid when Montella was in charge.

Montella had them playing to press around the midfield, and look for the counters and crosses. When Sousa took over he had them playing very possession based which just destroyed the whole team. Sousa did have a few good results from time to time but the team has always looked shaky and uncomfortable every time I have watched them. Even in the group stage of the Europa League, they had an easy group but honestly they never looked comfortable and always looked extremely shaky and scared. Sousa needs to be sacked.

 

This was the Gladbach we all know and love and the style of play that won us as fans. On to the final!

 

I hoped for Ajax or Genk (a small town just an hour-drive away from Gladbach, excellent youth department which 'produced' de Bruyne amongst others)
but bäh!, we got the wannabees from the 'Pott': you're just not qualifying for European soccer to play against Schalke!

first half of March now looks a little bit boring:
on first of march: HSV - Borussia
on fourth: Borussia -S04
on ninth: S04 - Borussia
on twelfth: HSV - Borussia
on sixteenth: Borussia -S04

 

Wasn't there the year that Hannover won the German cup as a 2nd division team and then drew Bremen in the first leg of the Cup Winners Cup....

 

yep, you have the memory of an elephant ;-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992–93_European_Cup_Winners'_Cup
but I harbour the suspicion there was a similar case some time ago but I (only equipped with an ant's memory) just can't remember

 

Me too. Seriously we have the same matchups over and over again.

PSG vs Chelsea
PSG vs Barcelona
Bayern Munich vs Arsenal
Man City vs Barcelona
Spurs vs Fiorentina
Villarreal vs Italian teams.
Real Madrid vs Italian teams.
Monaco vs EPL teams.
Man City vs Bayern Munich

I mean its really so obvious. Let me tell you I bet in the UCL next round these are the matchups we will see:

Assuming PSG, Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City, Atletico, Sevilla, and Juventus go through.

Bayern Munich vs Man City
Juventus vs Dortmund
Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid
PSG vs Sevilla

Also UEFA likes to put managers vs their old clubs which is why I think PSG vs Sevilla.

 

Not quite... but... I am a (adjunct) member of the Elephant Managers Association

 

I'm just wondering which elephant is more difficult to handle ;-)

 

I could say that there's a reason I have a guide in that one picture. But seriously..... I'm very lucky to have her.

Funny thing was, we weren't the only folks at that Halloween party to think of something like that. Another couple came as Harambe (the gorilla) and his keeper that night.

And one of my buddies put sample paint cards all over him. They were all gray. He was "50 Shades of Gray".

 

Just gotta hope that Raffa stays healthy from here on out, as we all saw what merely having him back on the bench did for Stindl's confidence...

 

I once saw an elephant playing a mouth organ
but I wasn't impressed by the melody ;-)

 

I'm happy for you!

one cross-cultural question: mindful of the fact that the rheinische Karneval/Fastelovend is on it's peak today, are you (in the midst of america) masquerading on Halloween PLUS Carnival or is carnival limited to smaller areas like New Orleans? ah, it just occurs to me that I heard of an ice-carnival in St.Paul...

 

As a former resident of Cologne, I'm familiar with the traditions (just e-mailed about it with my old penpal--she lives in Cologne and was making costumes for her (adult) daughters). However, for the most part, in the USA it is limited to New Orleans (a city I like very much) and many of the smaller towns in the "Cajun" areas of Louisiana. Cajun is nickname for the French-speaking Acadians of Nova Scotia who were evicted by the British and moved to what was then French Louisiana. Many still speak a dialect of French and there are many French loan words used in the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajuns

 

yes, New Orleans would be my first choice for a visit, Louisiana and the Mississippi Delta always were of peculiar interest for me (so, I'm quite familiar with the cajuns... at least as familiar as one can be who never met one in flesh and blood) ... it's other american regions I don't know that much about... rural Idaho, central Kansas or... Cowlumbus!
but if one day the Borussia-jet is leaving for a swampy training camp I might smuggle myself into the country ... well-camouflaged as one of those freekick-exercising-dummies...


by the way: for those who feel the urge to hear Aragorn of Lord of the Rings saying "Mönchengladbach" it's over here

 

F*** Sean Penn. Such a douchey scumbag.