Sanneh and Nuernberg are in 13th place. Cherundolo and Casey with Hanover are in 14th. Berhalter and Cottbus now are in 16th. It's safe to say that there's a good chance at least one of these teams will be going down this year - who will it be? The best hope of course would be in seeing Kaiserslautern, Moenchengladbach and either Bielefeld, Rostock or Bochum going down. I just can't see Leverkusen dropping from Champion's League Final one year to second division the next - but stranger things have happened. Of course, realistically, at least one of the teams from our Yanks Abroad is most likely going down, so I'm guessing it will be an unhappy Sanneh with Nuernberg. This of course is the least problematic as there's a very good chance that Sanneh won't be with the club after this season, anyway. Any other predictions?
YOu're probaby right - Sanneh. He probably has a relegation clause, no? I think Cottbus stays up, probably moves out of the zone for good in the next two or three games.
The good thing about Cottbus going down is that Berlhatler will get some playing time. Casey will see action in Div 2 next year but only after Hannover squeak by and satys in the top flight. Casey needs some playing time. The real question is what will Corey Gibbs do when St. Pauli get relegated?
Cottbus still has a long way to go. They had easy starting tasks and the tough games are yet to come. As somebody else said in another thread, it will be crucial how they react to the first and second loss. Hannover has the best quality roster of the three YA clubs. Their problem is that they are still to ineffective and waste too much energy for their wins. The home game next weekend against Leverkusen might show their direction - a win and I predict that they got nothing to do with relegation anymore. Nürnberg is very endangered, they are not constant enough. Their advantage is that they collect points when nobody thinks they do, but they also lose points in easy games. Recently it came to the public that the team is no unit and the players don't really like another. But in general it's way too early to predict as there'll be some turnarounds in this season. At the moment it doesn't look good for Mönchengladbach, Leverkusen and Nürnberg. Personally I think that Kaiserslautern and Cottbus will be deep down until the end and also Bielefeld will join this group. And finally Kaiserslautern licence is still very endangered even if they manage to stay in (40 M debts, 15 M are still missing in their present situation).
I think Hannover (who can't seem to stop the other team from scoring), Cottbus (fighting spirit can only take you so far) and Nuremberg (just not much talent) all go down (with Bielefeld as the alternate). Leverkusen is too good, notwithstanding all of their injuries; I have a blind spot for Gladbach (plus, Forssell is going to start scoring and van Lent might become useful with a few more games under his belt, addressing Gladbach's biggest problem); Rostock is great at avoiding the drop (and little else); Bielefeld seems to be doing just enough; and Kaiserslautern will win enough games tainted by questionable referee decisions to finish out of the bottom 3 (but salvation for another team may lie in K-Town's financial problems).
I know, I know. No offense to Bielefeld, but I'd dearly like to see them go down instead of one of the YA teams, and Kaiserslautern's financial situation, if as bad as it seems, should not go unpunished. But when you look at it objectively, I think Nuremberg and Cottbus are THE prime candidates for the drop, and Hannover strikes me as a team that shouldn't be relegated but just can't seem to stand prosperity. I believe Berhalter is out of contract, so if Cottbus goes down, he can find another team relatively easily; Sanneh's playing out the string; and Casey might benefit from a pared-down 2.Bund. Hannover roster (already, Hannover is talking about Wolfsburg's Maric for next year if they stay up), but it would hurt to see Cherundolo playing a division down.