Who do you guys think will be the most important players in determining whether Dortmund has a successful season or struggles again? Please choose no more than three names.
To me this season is on Koller, if he is in form BVB will be in good shape to finish in the top half and challenge for a UEFA CUP spot but on the same note if his age shows and he's half of who he use to be i'm in fear of what this season could be like. I'm not saying we will fail if Koller has a down year but i fear the unknown.
Weidenfeller, Metzelder, Kehl, Koller. If these 4 players perform well and don't get injured, we should see a nice season.
I chose Weidenfeller, Metzelder and Rosicky. I think with Koller, we are just going to get more of the same. A pretty decent striker, but nothing like he is with the Czech shirt on. I actually feel we are finally going to see the Rosicky of 2001-2002 again and I hope we see the CMetz of that same season. I hope Kehl will grow into the captain's armband. No disrespect to CMetz, but near the end of last season, I saw more leadership qualities in Kehl than I've ever seen in CMetz. Just my opinion....... Of all the players mentioned, I think Weidenfeller and Rosicky will be the major players. We need Weidenfeller to give us more of what he gave in the second half of last season and Rosicky to give us more of what he shows in the Czech shirt. Koller too for that matter, but I expect more of it from Rosicky than I do from Koller. Here's hoping!!
Rosicky is big time player and he needs to raise his game to another level. I think Koller is a little bit overrated or he isn't living up to his potential at the club level...hey I could be wrong.
I think Rosicky is finally ready to have a season us BVB fans have been waiting for. He finally has a trainer who has full confidence in him and I think Rosicky is ready to show he's earned that confidence. Koller: I think Koller is very overrated at club level. Koller is awesome for the Czech Republic, but in my opinion, he's very streaky and inconsistent for BVB. What's bad to me is that I feel the only difference in Koller's game in the Czech jersey and the BVB jersey is actually just goal chances utilized. Koller buries a much higher percentage of his chances in the Czech shirt than the does in the BVB shirt. Again, at club level, Koller is very streaky. After the winter break last season is a perfect example. Koller came out on fire. I think he scored in five of the first six matches, cooled off for three matches before notching three more in the next two matches. Two goals against Kaiserslautern in Dortmund and one against Freiburg in Freiburg in a match where he wasted a few other chances in a match BVB had to have. Koller scored over half the goals he scored all season in those eleven matches. Eight out of his fifteen. Here's who Koller scored against all last season. If no goal total is denoted, he scored one goal: Week 2 @ Gladbach - Was also Man of the Match Week 4 @ Bochum Week 6 @ Mainz - Blew a few chances in that match too. Week 7 v. Nuernberg - Scored two. BVB were outplayed and should have lost. Week 10 v. Hertha - Was also Man of the Match Weeks 11-17: No goals. Week 18 @ Wolfsburg Week 19 v. Gladbach - We were outplayed and he blew two other clear chances. Week 20 @ Hannover Week 21 @ Bochum Week 23 v. Mainz Weeks 25-29: No goals Week 30 v. Kaiserslautern (2) Week 31 @ Freiburg - Wasted a few other chances in a match we needed to win against a relegated side. Week 34 v. Rostock - Winning goal in a match where we were outplayed be another relegated side. Only Weidenfeller saved us. Not bad, but not "consistent" in my opinon. He also blows more chances than the Lord allows. Jan Koller should have been first or second in Bundesliga goal-scoring every season over the past three seasons. He's just too wasteful in the BVB uniform. At least in my opinion he is.
Florian Kringe. How many long, high volleys from the left did he bounce off Jan's head and into the net last season? He was a HUGE part of our post-winterpause resurgence.
I think he and Smolarek were the catalysts. However, we do need Rosicky and Koller to step up and help. However, like you, I have to recognize Kringe for giving us what we thought we'd miss with the sale of Frings to BayScum. Boy, didn't we come out on top in that deal??!!! Kringe didn't score as many goals as Frings did, but that will come with time and experience. Like you, I do believe Florian Kringe will definitely be a vital part of this team if BVB are to re-emerge as a threat to BayScum.
Kringe will be most important. 2nd year in Bundesliga, hopefully no sophomore slump. But Rosicky is also very important, he has the skill to set the Bundesliga ablaze.
I think he'll be the best player. He understands his importance and seems to be rising to the challenge. Skill without attitude or guts is nothing. And Rosicky is seriously lacking in attitude and guts. I think you must see Rosicky the most in the Czech shirt. He doesn't give anywhere near that type of effort in the Dortmund shirt. That is, every season besides 2001-2002 he hasn't. We are hoping he finally does this season, but if that first match against Olomouc is any indication, we will be disappointed once again. Please tell me again where is this Rosicky you keep seeing? We've seen nothing of the sort from him at BVB.
Yea in Euro 2004 he was quite good for Czechs, thats where I saw the most of him (albeit at 3 AM in CHINA ). He had a lot of help too, I think Rosicky's attitude makes him more of a complementary player, even though I believe he has the skills of a lead player.
Again, skills don't mean dick if you don't have the attitude to go with it. See Landon Donovan and his misadventures at Bayer Leverkusen. Donovan has the skills to make it in Europe. I have no doubt about that. Donovan just doesn't have the attitude or the heart to do it. Wheras DaMarcus Beasley, Steve Cherundolo and Cory Gibbs, for example, are nowhere near as talented as Donovan, but bust their asses and have the heart to not only make it, but start for their clubs. Just as you say, Rosicky is a complementary player with the skills to lead, but for some reason, he just won't take that next step. And I hate to say it, but I believe BVB is his problem.
I think Weidenfeller musst even develop more and Metzelder needs to get into form... but Bert van Marwijk musst be the one to try to fix the problems because i think no more big players will go to BVB this year. :-|
If you mean Weidenfeller must develop the positioning game to go with his athletic ability, I fully agree with you. But take a look at Weidenfeller and your new boy Wiese. Technically, they are the splitting images of each other. And I think they will be the "Kahn and Lehmann" of the new millenium. I think Hildebrand will be the H-J Butt. Good, but not quite as good as the other two. BVB simply cannot afford any "big players" anymore. You won't see it for a long time. BVB are now going to have to survive with what we have and whatever young players we can find from now on. This is why BvM was hired. He's great at building very good teams with young players and just a few veterans added in. The "veterans" on the team BVB will try to hold on to after this season though their contracts are up are Sebastian Kehl, Lars Ricken, Christian Woerns and Jan Koller. Ricken is the one I'm almost certain will never leave. If BVB don't at least directly qualify for the UEFA Cup, I'm almost certain Woerns will leave. I really don't know what Kehl will do, especially since he can't go to Bayern. I think the only way Koller stays around is if BVB wins the title. In other words, I think Koller is gone. I think Koller is going to sign with the perennial CL participant who offers him the most money.
I voted for Metzelder. BVB had a great second half of the season, and that is when they had a fully healthy Metzelder. When fit, Metzelder is world class, and he anchors that defense, and adds great attacking skills from the back. Kehl is important, too. He's solid all around, and needs to grow into the captain role. Rosicky is Rosicky - flashes of brilliance mixed in with long periods of irrelevence. Koller is just a big target, with some skill - I consider him a slightly better version of Carsten Jancker. BVB are rock solid in goal - no worries there. Beyond Metz, I'd say the continuing development of the youngsters like Kringe and the others is important.
I don't think CMetz' problems were just physical. I think a lot of it was mental. I think he was just about completely physically fit last season. I believe he just didn't trust that achilles 100%. I think he does now. I also believe he needed to play off the "rust" of not having played for a year and a half. I still haven't seen the two Olomouc matches. My friend Olaf says he's going to try to send them to me on DVD. However, he says CMetz looked good to him. Especially when he had to cover Degen's ass. BTW, good to see you post again man!! I think he will. Olaf thinks BVB would have beaten Olomouc with Kehl. I think so too. I keep bringing up what Olaf thinks because he's the one friend I've had a full discussion with about the match. I fully trust his opinion. I think Rosicky just needs to get out of Dortmund. Nothing against him, but he's just not happy there. He hasn't been for a long time. Thank Herr Sammer for that. Koller is bigger and better than Carsten Jancker ever was. There's no comparison between those two. Koller's problem with BVB is that the team depends on him too much on the defensive side of the ball and to win balls in midfield. That Koller still scores as many goals as he does is amazing. On the other hand, that Koller misses the amount of sitters is does is even more amazing. I think we need to sell Koller for his own good and ours. I think when Koller is on the pitch we are too dependent on him. Take into account the team's record in matches Koller missed last season. Koller missed four matches. The team won three and drew one. I think that's because when Koller isn't in the lineup, everyone else in midfield and defense actually do their jobs instead of looking to and giving way to the big man. I think when Koller isn't in the lineup, the entire team plays football the way they should. Exactly! Even if Weidenfeller gets hurt this season, I have full confidence in Dennis Gentenaar to step in and do the job. Too bad we only have him for this season........ And I believe that's why we hired BvM in the first place........
I voted for Van Marrwijk. BvB clearly have all the players needed to produce a successful campaign and it is all about how the coach can make them work together. Koller(besides that little Sigma slip-up) , Weidenfeller, Rosicky, Metzelder, Dede and Buckley are all class players, and if van Marrwijk can make them play as well together as they are capable of, then Dortmund should without a doubt improve on last seasons performance.
Thanks. I've been pretty busy over the last several months, as the my second daughter was just born last month. In that time, I haven't had much time for soccer (watching or posting about it). What little internet posting time I've had has been with programming and Linux (I'm in IT by profession). What I've seen of Kehl suggests that he can to. He's pretty poised on the pitch, and quite competitive. Rosicky would fetch a pretty good fee, which could be spent on BVB's debt problems and/or getting other young talent. Jancker sucks right now. Actually he sucks big time. It's amazing he's even in the BL still. But back in his Bayern days, before they got Pizarro, and he started regularily along side Elber, and had Effe sending in good passes, he was actually pretty good. Back then, Jancker was a real disrupter to opposing defenses, and a good target, and quite often showed a deft touch for a big man. I saw him set up Elber on a number of occasions. He even scored a respectable number of goals. Then Bayern got Pizarro (clearly a more talented player), and Jancker lost his starting postion, then got the injury bug, then apparently lost all of his confidence. Then he was shipped off to Italy, where he bombed in a big way. He hasn't recovered since. Now he's the suckatude monster we all know. A shame really. Jancker has shown moments of decency with KL, but he doesn't look like every returning to his old form. I was comparing Koller to Jancker in his pre-Pizarro Bayern days, when he was pretty good. Koller is slightly better than Jancker was then, and really is the same type of player. Koller would fetch a pretty good fee as well. Weidenfeller could make it to German Nats, if he keeps progressing well. Kahn and Lehmann are past their primes and quite mediocre, and are probably close to retirement, or close to the end of Klinsmann's patience rope. That will spell future opportunity for Weidenfeller. BvM does indeed seem to handle the youngin's quite well, doesn't he? He also seems to be a good motivator and tactician. He's definetely a huge upgrade from suckySammer. Sammer screwed up Stuttgart as well. Too bad, since Sammer was such an amazing player. Anyway, Dortmund are well off in the coaching department right now. No worries there.
Yeah exactly. It takes i think 1 more year. And then we will be even more competitive than Lehmann and Kahn
I think they are there now. And they are the splitting images of each other in their games because they both learned the most from the same teacher. Gerald Ehrmann of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.....