Tag Archives: Thomas Tuchel

Bundesliga MD30 2015/16

Posted on April 23, 2016 | Leave a comment

After their disappointment in the Europa League it was back to the Bundesliga for Dortmund and the task of hosting HSV. In the reverse of the fixture they lost 3-1 and even though the title race is all but over they would have been keen to avenge their earlier loss, not to mention maintain their record as the best second placed Bundesliga team of all time. But before that was the rest of the weekend, first up on Friday night 2.Bundesliga bound H96 playing host to Gladbach. The latter are a team which have struggled on their travels, almost making them easy pickings for a somewhat revitalized H96. Despite picking up more points in their last two games than in the previous eleven relegation still seems a foregone conclusion, it would be nothing short of incredible where that not to be the case. Elsewhere in the relegation battle Bremen took full advantage of Wolfsburg’s terrible away record and picked up what could prove to a very valuable three points in a thrilling 3-2 win, not to mention putting a dent in the latter’s hopes of playing in Europe next season. Schalke, Mainz and Gladbach all have a six point gap over them in the fight for Europa League places. The two Champions League spots are beyond them with Hertha and Leverkusen having ten and eleven points more than them.

On the subject of things being out of reach survival is slipping away from Eintracht Frankfurt after losing 3-0 to Leverkusen who with that victory displace Hertha from third place. With four games left to play they’re six points from safety and with Bremen and Stuttgart above them it doesn’t look good for them. Mainly because whilst Bremen are inconsistent they are still capable of getting a result and Stuttgart have an infuriating tendency to turn things around right at the last minute. Despite them being winless in five games I can see them scraping through yet again. Frankfurt on the other hand have won just twice in the last twelve, the first of those back on MD18 when they beat Wolfsburg 3-2. They’ve won just once under new coach Niko Kovac and it’s most likely not a good sign that the win in question came against H96 on MD27. They’re not playing particularly badly, they just seem to be unlucky.

Luck is something HSV certainly did not have any of on Sunday afternoon, despite being the better team in the opening minutes of the game they went into half-time 2-0 down. After keeping Dortmund plenty busy for the majority of the first half they then conceded two goals in quick succession. In the 38th minute seventeen year old Christian Pulisic scored his first ever Bundesliga goal which gave Dortmund a little bit of confidence and before you knew it Adrian Ramos made it two just before the end of the first half, HSV’s luck did not get any better in the second. Just seven minutes after the restart their keeper Adler found himself on the receiving end of a red card for what the referee judged to be an ill-timed tackle against Shinji Kagawa. The only saving grace for HSV was the fact it happened just outside the box, meaning it was only a free-kick and not a penalty. It made no difference however because Dortmund made it 3-o anyway just four minutes before the end of the game with Adrian Ramos getting his second. Bayern also beat Schalke 3-0 in a game which was not nearly as entertaining as Dortmund’s was. Watching Bayern break down what is essentially a ten man defence was never going to be a lot of fun. The only saving grace of the afternoon was the Jogi video I got from the match, no half-time interview but then you can’t have everything.

The title race could be decided this very weekend if Bayern win against Hertha but everything else other than second place is still up for grabs. The battle for survival is proving to be every bit as tight as it was last season and could go down to the very last day again. At least this time I can watch from a distance and not have to worry about Freiburg, instead of fighting against relegation they are fighting for promotion from the 2.B. I say fighting but really the battle is over, with their 3-0 win over Duisburg yesterday evening they’ve secured their promotion status.

Highlights:

Bremen v Wolfsburg

Darmstadt v Ingolstadt

Leverkusen v Eintracht Frankfurt

Bayern v Schalke

Dortmund v HSV

Mainz v Köln

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Posted in Fußball, Germany, Matthias Ginter

Tagged Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Matthias Ginter, Thomas Tuchel

The Day of Ginter Part 3

Posted on April 10, 2016 | 1 comment

It’s not surprise that when I don’t get enough sleep a lot of things get misplaced, both in a literal and a figurative sense. It’s not at all surprising that I’m having trouble keeping track of my belongings when right now it feels like I can’t even keep track of myself. Everything feels rather strange at the moment and has a feeling of unreality about it. Any sense of reality or of time passing just isn’t there. I would say that today doesn’t feel like a Sunday but truth is it doesn’t feel like any day, nothing feels like anything just this minute. That made sense in my head but doesn’t make much sense seeing it written down.

One thing which certainly has not gotten lost despite how confusing things are is my ability to feel happy. It is a strange yet happy end to a very strange week. As the title suggests Matze Ginter is a contributor to this happiness. He scored Dortmund’s second goal today against Schalke, the first being scored by Shinji Kagawa. It’s not the only reason though, the main reason is Freiburg beating St Pauli 4-3. To make things even stranger Matze Ginter scored the last time Dortmund played Schalke, in fact Shinji Kagawa did too. Even funnier is the fact Dortmund’s game has a few things in common with Freiburg’s. Both featured a penalty (though thankfully St Pauli’s was meaningless in regards to the final result) and both saw a very curious goal. In Dortmund’s it was a deflection which resulted in Ginter scoring his goal and in Freiburg’s an own goal by Nils Petersen. Yes really, Freiburg’s top scorer (not to mention league top scorer) ended up putting the ball into his own net, no doubt he’s never going to hear the end of that. At least Vincenzo’s Grifo’s goal was very sweet indeed. Yesterday I thought I saw what was my favourite goal of the weekend, Daniel Didavi’s consolation goal against Bayern. But then along came tricky little Grifo and changed everything:

Thankfully there are a few things which are different, one being the fact Freiburg won today. Back then they played Duisburg that weekend and drew 1-1, it sent them to the top of the table but they didn’t really deserve to be there. Today however they do and they’ll stay there for the rest of the week. To make things even sweeter not only do I not have to worry about Leipzig’s game tomorrow night but today 1.FCN lost to Duisburg of all teams, meaning there’s a three point gap between them and Freiburg.

Some things however never change, being unable to get a decent night’s sleep seems to be one of them. As does preventing myself from obsessing over social stuff. In the past 48 hours I’ve gotten a grand total of eight hours and about 44 minutes of sleep. I can be so precise about the latter because I knew exactly when I feel asleep and woke up yesterday, right at the start of the second half of Wolfsburg’s game and I woke up in the 89th minute.

The day Dortmund played Schalke last year I wrote a post which was partly about any possible connection between a lack of sleep and acting more autistic than usual. Up until now I’d forgotten all about it, that I’d written that. It could very well be the answer I’m looking for here. The explanation to why I’ve been acting the way I have these past few weeks. I can’t seem to snap out of it, to get everything straight again. But then that’s probably true of the past few months in general. One particularly troublesome aspect of all this is how obsessive and repetitive I am at the moment. It looks strange writing it down, truth is I’m not really sure how to explain it. I’m normally a very repetitive person anyway, I like repeating words and phrases to myself, and parts of songs and TV theme tunes, not to mention playing back any small moments from matches or films in my head which amuse me. But at the moment it seems like it’s all I’m doing, like there’s little room in my head for anything else. I’m very confused about all this but not particularly unhappy right now. Other than some more sleep the only thing which could make this weekend more perfect would have been a Jogi video and it’s the one thing I didn’t get. All I have is footage of Schneider at Gladbach’s game against Ingolstadt and Sami Khedira at VfB Stuttgart v Bayern. The latter in particular is a real catch, it resulted in me getting this picture of a very dapper looking Sami Khedira:

Three points for Freiburg, a Matze Ginter goal, a new and very amusing Thomas Tuchel GIF. I really can’t complain. In fact the only negative of today was seeing Matze Ginter get hit in the face and bleeding as a result. I have a huge crush on Matze and greatly enjoy collecting pictures of him. One picture missing from my collection is a decent one of him shirtless. I have some but they all have flaws. The ones I obtained today are also flawed, because if he hadn’t gotten hit in the face he wouldn’t have needed to change his shirt to begin with. But at least they’re mine and they don’t have any stupid writing or watermarks on them.

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Posted in Autism, Fußball, Matthias Ginter, The Daily Prompt

Tagged Autism/Asperger's Syndrome, Borussia Dortmund, Matthias Ginter, Nils Petersen, Sami Khedira, SC Freiburg, Schalke 04, Shinji Kagawa, Sleeping patterns, Thomas Tuchel, Vincenzo Grifo

Bundesliga MD23 2015/16: Battle of the former Freiburg Keepers

Posted on April 9, 2016 | Leave a comment

The Bundesliga rarely disappoints and despite several teams suffering from a post Europe hang-over this weekend was no exception. This weekend was a little different with no game of the week on Saturday, instead being an aptly named “Super Sunday.” Despite there being no official game of the week Wolfsburg v Bayern was obviously the top game everyone had their eyes on. There was unfortunately no repeat of the Lewandowksi show this time around. He just got the one goal. Wolfsburg battled hard against Bayern, no doubt very motivated to avoid the humiliation they endured earlier in the season.

The real action however was on Sunday with Dortmund playing host to Hoffenheim and as the title suggests two former Freiburg keepers battling it out. Roman Bürki for Dortmund and his predecessor in the Freiburg goal Oliver Baumann.The latter also going up against his former team-mate Matthias Ginter who remained on the bench. As it turns out they came a little closer to going head to head than two keepers usually would. On the subject of former players facing each other the game has another connection of that nature, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsman have a connection too. Tuchel having worked with him whilst he was the youth coach at Augsburg.

Visiting a high flying Dortmund would be nerve wracking enough for a team battling against relegation, let alone one that’s adjusting to life under new coach Julian Nagelsman. He certainly had a difficult job on his hands yet he didn’t disappoint. It’s ironic that a hard earned 1-1 draw with Dortmund was one of Hoffenheim’s few successes before sliding into the relegation battle. A lot has changed since then with the team on their third coach of the season. Naglesman was meant to take over in the summer but had to take over ahead of schedule after Huub Stevens was forced to step down because of health problems. Since taking over his presence has certainly made a difference and it most definitely showed against Dortmund. Going 1-0 up against Dortmund is incredible enough but holding onto that lead until the 80th minute is all the more so. It looked like Hoffenheim could do the impossible and hold onto what would be a vital three points, that is until Sebastian Rudy was sent off. What a day for him, his birthday, a potentially match winning goal and then a red card.

Mkhitaryan’s equaliser in the 80th minute promised an exciting end to an already pretty exciting game, and it did not disappoint. Those final nine minutes plus extra time provided plenty of drama. A late winner from Adrian Ramos who only came on the pitch ten minutes earlier and then Hoffenheim decided to throw everything at it. Even Baumann got in on the act coming up into the box in the final minutes before having to rush back. That wasn’t the end of the drama, after having a fairly uneventful and quiet game Aubameyang finally got his goal in extra time, making it 3-1. It is a result Dortmund didn’t really deserve but one that’s important for them in terms of keeping in touch with Bayern at the top of the table. It’s even more important considering they were to face Bayern the weekend after.

Highlights:

Dortmund v Hoffenheim

Wolfsburg v Bayern

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Posted in Fußball, Germany

Tagged Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Julian Weigl, Oliver Baumann, Roman Bürki, Sebastian Rudy, Sven Bender, Thomas Tuchel, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, VfL Wolfsburg

Bundesliga MD28 2015/16

Posted on April 8, 2016 | Leave a comment

The Bundesliga certainly wasted no time getting back into the swing of things after the international break.The weekend kicked off with Leverkusen v Wolfsburg in an encounter amusingly dubbed “El Plastico.” That’s even funnier when you consider Wolfsburg’s next opponents were Real Madrid who the same weekend beat Barcelona 2-1 in the real “El Classico.” Strange indeed, Real Madrid beat Barcelona 2-1 yet a few days later lose 2-0 to Wolfsburg, and the latter find themselves outclassed by a team that got knocked out of the Europa League.

The real excitement was on Saturday though with Dortmund hosting Bremen. They have a pretty good record against Dortmund, though admittedly not at Signal Iduna Park. Regardless one thing was for sure, this was a fixture which guaranteed goals. The best attack in the league up against the worst defence in the league, you wouldn’t expect anything else. Say what you like about Bremen, more often than not they are good value for money as regards entertainment. Even when they lose they manage to be watchable and exciting. It was a big game for both teams but for very different reasons, Dortmund looking to keep up the pressure on Bayern and Bremen doing their best to distance themselves a little bit further from the relegation struggle.

It was as promised a very entertaining game, even though all the drama came in the last 25 minutes. Given their respective strengths it’s a surprise that Bremen started slightly better. Even with their obvious defensive emphasis (not taking any chances they lined up with five at the back) they managed to get a few chances early on. Dortmund were a team frustrated. After a slow start they managed to get going and pretty soon it was raining down on Felix Wiedwald’s goal but he denied them, several times. He’s been unable to keep a clean sheet all season, in fact he’s the only keeper in the league not to have done so but he was world class on several occasions in this game. Even Zieler with already condemned H96 has managed to keep at least one clean sheet, ironically enough against Bremen was the first time he did so. Here’s one of those saves from the first half:

It’s thanks to such efforts that Bremen went into the break with the scores at 0-0. Considering it’s Dortmund they were up against that’s an achievement in itself. Though obviously it couldn’t last forever. Sure enough just seven minutes after the restart Aubameyang made it 1-0 to Dortmund. He had little trouble outrunning the last two defenders, for Vestergaard it was a case of almost but not quite. He just got there but too late to do anything and Aubameyang put the ball over a helpless Felix Wiedwald. The drama was not done however and the game far from over. The next goal did not as you might expect come from Dortmund, though I suppose in a sense it did seeing as how the next goal was an own goal scored by Gonzalo Castro. A stroke of luck for Bremen but they wouldn’t have cared, the celebrations would suggest so. It enlivened them and gave them the confidence to look for an equaliser. Dortmund were once again frustrated and more than a little rattled. Which may have had something to do with Bremen taking the lead in the 73rd minute. Not to take anything away from Zlatko Junuzovic, it was an excellent goal. Unluckily for them however Dortmund had not one ace up their sleeve but two in the form of Shinji Kagawa and Adrian Ramos. The latter rescued them against Augsburg and he did so again here, getting the winning goal. Dortmund left it late to get their result but then it’s not the first time they’ve done so this season. Better late than never and the three points meaning they at least theoretically have a chance of winning the title. It would be incredible were it to happen but I’m not sure it will. I just can’t see Bayern dropping any points between now and the end of the season, maybe against Gladbach but that’s all. Dortmund on the other hand, it’s not unthinkable to think of them doing so.

On the subject of Bayern they had a fairly uneventful game against Eintracht Frankfurt, winning 1-0 with a pretty awesome goal from Franck Ribery. It wasn’t a great game to watch, no doubt Bayern were saving their energy for their impending Champions League clash against Benfica. Niko Kovac said they were going to Munich with the intention of trying to win, brave words indeed but not as foolhardy as they may sound. Eintracht did draw 0-0 with Bayern earlier in the season after all. As it stands they of course lost but only 1-0, that could prove to be important in their fight against relegation. Speaking of relegation H96 continued their inevitable slide down into the 2.Bundesliga with a 3-0 loss to HSV. I don’t think anyone was surprised on Sunday morning when they announced the sacking of Thomas Schaaf. I got the impression his time was up from his post-match interview and his comments after the game. I guess the only question was would he leave of his own accord or be fired. As it turns out H96’s problems are too big for even him to solve. Meanwhile elsewhere on Sunday Hoffenheim made inroads to safety with an important 1-1 draw against Köln. They left it late, very late in fact, Kevin Volland scored the equaliser in the 90th minute. In the other game Gladbach humiliated Champions League hopefuls Hertha BSC 5-0 in a hugely entertaining affair making the battle for the Champions League spots just that little bit more interesting.

Highlights:

Bayern v Eintracht Frankfurt

Dortmund v Bremen

Mainz v Augsburg

H96 v HSV

Darmstadt v VfB Stuttgart

Ingolstadt v Schalke

Picturesfrom Dortmund’s game:

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Posted in Fußball, Germany, Matthias Ginter

Tagged Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Erik Durm, Felix Wiedwald, Matthias Ginter, Roman Bürki, Thomas Tuchel, Werder Bremen

Bundesliga MD9 2015/16

Posted on March 16, 2016 | Leave a comment

Coming into MD9 Dortmund were without a win in three games, their last win being a 3-0 defeat of Leverkusen on MD5. They followed that up with two draws against Hoffenheim and Darmstadt, and then of course the 5-1 humiliation at Bayern. MD9 served up a game almost as special as that one, with it being Thomas Tuchel’s first return to Mainz as an opposition coach. His homecoming of sorts was a success as far as Dortmund were concerned, they got back to winning ways with a 2-0 defeat of Mainz. Nothing showy, just an effective and efficient win and I’m happy to say Roman Bürki played better than he did against Bayern. He had better luck then Weidenfeller did anyway. Last season Dortmund played Mainz on a Friday evening too, eventually the game ended 4-2 in Dortmund’s favour. But not before Dortmund went 1-0 down courtesy of a very humiliating goal which involved Weidenfeller almost falling into one of his own defenders and the ball then being put in the net by a very alert Elkin Soto who made good use of the keeper being way off his line.

Thankfully no such curse befell Bürki and he made a strong start to the game, making a good save against Muto just five minutes in:

He wasn’t particularly busy throughout the first half but then neither was his opposite number Karius. Though it turned out not to matter because you only need to slip up once against Dortmund and they make you pay. Which is exactly what happened in the 17th minute. One misplaced pass intercepted by Mkhitaryan, two moves later and goal, Marco Reus slotting it home past Karius for his third of the season. The first half provided a few chances for both teams but nothing clear cut, the number of attempts on goal was far outweighed by the number of tackles.It was a closely contested affair to say the least, Sokratis in particular being his usual imposing self in defence for Dortmund. Matthias Ginter made a few important decisions too, in particular this clearance. Bürki probably would have got there anyway but why take that chance:

Marco Reus got an opportunity just inside the box to make it 1-o before the end of the first half but he failed to capitalize on the chance, the lay off from Aubameyang was decent but Reus’ initial pass could have been better. As could much of the passing in the final third throughout the first half. Dortmund went into the half time break with a hard earned 1-0 lead, but they didn’t deserve to be 2-0 up. They were handed an opportunity right at the start of the second half to make it 2-0 when Nico Bungert was judged to have brought Aubameyang down. It’s a penalty which should never have been given, not only did Bungert play the ball but the initial contact was outside the box. It’s perhaps karma then that the penalty was saved by Karius, according to the commentator he’s saved his last four penalties, so maybe more than just karma there.

After that the second half continued in a similar vein to the first with there being few real chances for both side. One such chance for Mainz when Muto found space between Park and Hummels was however effectively dealt with by Bürki:

Dortmund got the chance to double their lead in the 61st minute after a well placed pass from Ginter to Kagawa but Karius seemingly did enough to put him off and his effort went wide. They had a few more chances in the following ten minutes but most of them off target. Aubameyang however had a good chance in the 76th minute but was unable to take it, Bungert doing just enough to put him off. They finally made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute, Aubameyang setting up Mkhitaryan. The goal was nice enough but it’s not that I care about, what I care about is the reaction from Thomas Tuchel. Sokratis went over to celebrate with him, hugging him. What’s funny is he was trying to get away and Thomas Tuchel wouldn’t let go. It was such a great moment that pictures alone wouldn’t suffice, so I made a GIF too:

Random Freiburg related fact I have to mention, Florian Niederlechener made a substitute appearance for Mainz in this game, coming on in the 83rd minute for Muto. It’s funny, the future Freiburger (temporary of course – he’s only on loan) against former Freiburger’s Matze Ginter and Roman Bürki.

Elsewhere in the Bundesliga Bayern followed up their demolition of Dortmund with a surprising 1-0 win over Bremen, not surprising they won, just the scoreline. Holding Bayern to just the one goal is an impressive feat, though it makes no difference of course. Whilst beating Bayern would probably be expecting too much Bremen could certainly have done with the points. They could at least be grateful that both Augsburg and Hoffenheim lost.

Pictures from Dortmund’s game:

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Posted in Fußball, Germany, Matthias Ginter

Tagged Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Florian Niederlechner, FSV Mainz 05, Marco Reus, Matthias Ginter, Roman Bürki, Sokratis, Thomas Tuchel

Bundesliga MD25 2015/16: Der Klassiker Round 2

Posted on March 9, 2016 | Leave a comment

Sometimes after midweek games the weekend which follows can be a little slow, lacking in both goals and excitement. That wasn’t the case the weekend just gone, though ironically there were no goals in the biggest game of all. But then it didn’t need any, what it lacked in goals it more than made up for in terms of excitement. In one way it’s a good thing there were no goals because if there had been no matter who the goalscorer was it could not have bettered Pizarro’s goal against H96.

As for the other games on Saturday in total they racked up 26 goals with three high scoring games. Stuttgart’s 5-1 defeat of local rivals Hoffenheim, Bremen beating H96 4-1 and finally Leverkusen drawing 3-3 with Augsburg but only thanks to a last minute penalty. The Stuttgart game is interesting because the last time they scored five goals in a game was also against Hoffenheim, back in 2013 when they beat them 6-2. In charge of Stuttgart at the time was none other than Thomas Schneider. Bremen’s game was special and not just because they totally destroyed H96 which naturally I found most enjoyable. The main reason for it being special is Claudio Pizarro scoring his 100th goal for Bremen, because being the Bundesliga’s oldest scorer of a hat-trick at the age of 37 just wasn’t enough. Not only that but he’s the top scorer of the Rückrunde so far, having scored eleven goals. The only other draw of the weekend was Eintracht Frankfurt’s 1-1 draw with Ingolstadt, a result which turned not to be enough to save Armin Veh’s job. No big surprise there, with seven games without a win and the fans having turned against him weeks ago it seemed all but inevitable.

Ausburg v Leverkusen highlights

Köln v Schalke highlights

Wolfsburg v Gladbach highlights

Bremen v H96 highlights

Stuttgart v Hoffenheim highlights

Eintracht Frankfurt v Ingolstadt highlights

Dortmund v Bayern highlights

Mainz v Darmstadt highlights

HSV v Hertha highlights

Getting back to Dortmund the result of their game was anything but inevitable. I knew only two things for certain going into this game, that it wouldn’t end up quite as one sided as last time and it wasn’t going to disappoint. After the quarter finals of the DFB Pokal I was musing whether or not it would be good to see someone else in the final this year, a nice change from the Dortmund-Bayern match-up. I’ve changed my mind on that, I want them to go head to head once more. It’s tricky because I’d love for Bremen to get there too, but I think seeing a replay of this game especially seeing as it’s Guardiola’s last season at Bayern would be epic.

To be honest I wasn’t so concerned with the result as I was Roman Bürki not embarrassing himself like he did in the reverse of the fixture. He had a much better game this time round though he still had a few shaky moments in the opening minutes of the game, making two mistakes just a minute apart. I’ve seen the game twice and yet all that’s sticking in my head is not just Bürki’s mistakes but also the two great saves he made, one denying Costa the chance to score and secondly Vidal. The second one in particular goes some way to making up for the goal he almost gifted Müller in the first half. There is one non-goalkeeper moment I remember and that’s Erik Durm’s nice little turn and subsequent shot on goal in the 18th minute. Had that been a goal it would have been incredible, he scored midweek against Darmstadt but scoring against Bayern would have been a whole other world:

Obviously there were other important moments in the game but in the excitement the rest is forgotten and to be honest overshadowed somewhat by Freiburg’s victory over RB Leipzig on Monday night. No matter how great Dortmund’s game was nothing compares to that, not even getting the half-time interview with Jogi. What I lack in words I can more than make up for in terms of videos and pictures, getting nine videos from this week’s game:

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Posted in Fußball, Germany, Manuel Neuer

Tagged Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Claudio Pizarro, der Klassiker, Erik Durm, Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Robert Lewandowski, Roman Bürki, Thomas Müller, Thomas Tuchel

DFB Pokal Quarter Finals 2015/16: Tuesday

Posted on February 10, 2016 | Leave a comment

Tuesday night saw Bayer Leverkusen face a struggling Bremen side who just this Friday past got hammered by Gladbach 5-1. But of course league form counts for nothing and to add an extra twist to the story it was Gladbach who Bremen beat to reach the quarter finals. Their victory that night was no fluke and neither was their well earned victory against Leverkusen. They worked hard to come back from behind which isn’t something they’ve exactly done a lot of in recent months. Though they’ve certainly had some standout games, like keeping the scoreline 1-0 against Bayern, beating Schalke 3-1 and recently coming from behind against Hertha to draw 3-3. Holding Bayern to a 1-0 scoreline is even more impressive when you consider they had the worst defence in the league last year and that they beat them I think 6-0 last season, or was it seven, I can’t remember. Point is they hammered them.

Anyhow, Bremen are through to the semi finals and so far I’m two for two in my predictions because as expected Dortmund beat Stuttgart. The clash had an added dimension to it with connections on both sides, Thomas Tuchel having coached the youth side at Stuttgart and two former Dortmund players in the form of Mitchell Langerak (who played in last season’s DFB Pokal final for them) and defender Kevin Groβkreutz now playing for Stuttgart. Unsurprisingly Stuttgart proved to have a little bit of fight in them and not only did they manage to find an equaliser to Marco Reus’ fifth minute goal but they were still in the game right until the end. Dortmund went 2-1 up thanks to another fine goal from Aubayemang but it wasn’t until the 89th minute that they put the game out of a Stuttgart’s reach with a goal from Henrik Mhkitaryan. Given how it was the 89th minute Roman Bürki wasn’t going to allow himself to be left out of the celebrations and so Neuer style he joined his team-mates to celebrate the goal. Though if he’d been a bit more like Neuer, he obviously wouldn’t have had so far to run. The other amusing moment of the night comes once again from Thomas Tuchel, in terms of GIFs he’s proving to be almost as good as Jogi when it comes to providing material for such things:

Highlights of Bremen’s game:

Full match of Stuttgart v Dortmund, including the pre-match and post-match show:

Full match of Leverkusen v Bremen:

Thomas Tuchel interviews:

Marco Reus interviews:

Pictures from Dortmund’s game:

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Posted in Fußball

Tagged Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, DFB Pokal, Marco Reus, Matthias Ginter, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sokratis, Thomas Tuchel, Vfb Stuttgart, Werder Bremen

Thomas Tuchel – pre-match show – Borussia Dortmund v Ingolstadt 2015/16

Posted on February 2, 2016 | Leave a comment

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Posted in Fußball, Germany

Tagged Borussia Dortmund, FSV Mainz 05, Sami Khedira, Thomas Tuchel

Bundesliga MD8 2015/16: der Klassiker

Posted on January 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

MD9 was the last weekend before the international break and it ended with a very big game indeed, none other than Bayern v Dortmund. For all the progress Dortmund have made this season they’re still not up to the task of directly competing with Bayern it would seem. They were humiliated, totally and completely defeated in a 5-1 rout bringing their run of seven matches unbeaten to an end. It wasn’t only first the second places team in the league going to head to head but the top scorers too, Robert Lewandowski having scored his 100th Bundesliga goal the previous weekend faced off against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who had scored in all of Dortmund’s seven league games so far. A run which he would extend to this game, scoring Dortmund’s only goal in the 36th minute, just one minute after Thomas Müller had put Bayern 2-0 up through a penalty. It wasn’t to last, there was no equaliser to follow it. Bayern restored their two goal lead just ten minutes later through Lewandowksi. Further humiliation was added by goals in the second half from Lewandowski who scored less than a minute after the start of the second half and Mario Götze who had the pleasure of scoring against his former club.

It was a bad afternoon all round for Dortmund but particularly for their keeper Roman Bürki. The last time he faced off against Bayern he was still a Freiburg player and they won the game 2-1, with the winning goal being scored by former Bayern player Nils Petersen. That day Roman Bürki was very busy indeed as you might expect, but he played excellently. As he did in reverse of the fixture just before Christmas 2014 when Freiburg lost 2-0 to Bayern at the Allianz Arena and he is the main reason why it was only two goals Freiburg conceded.

This time round he didn’t cover himself in glory. Some of his decision making was questionable to say the least and he was at fault for several of the goals. The first goal scored by Müller he made the decision to come out rushing out of his box and he paid the price for such foolishness. Even worse was the two Dortmund defenders who were there and also failed to stop Müller. It was a state of affairs which was to become very familiar by the end of the afternoon, Bürki making several more such errors. The first goal had a touch of comedy to it but the third one was just painful, Bürki looked like he had no idea where he was going. He may not be a Freiburg player anymore and I’m still kind of mad he left but none of that prevented me from feeling sorry for him in that moment. His opposite number Manuel Neuer on the other hand found himself with very little to do, especially in the second half when Dortmund no longer posed anything resembling a threat.

There was also plenty of excitement elsewhere in the league on Sunday in the first game of the day with Köln pulling off a shock 3-0 win at Schalke. The other important result that weekend was Gladbach beating Wolfsburg 2-0 and continuing their run of winning results under new coach Andre Schubert.

As pleased as I am for Köln it wasn’t the most fun I had all weekend, that came from watching Hoffenheim draw 2-2 with fellow strugglers Stuttgart. It wasn’t only a question of being a local derby but a relegation struggle as well. At the time Stuttgart were languishing in 17th with just three points and Hoffenheim not faring much better with only five points and in 15th. So far this season Hoffenheim have struggled to hold on to a lead after having squandered a lead four times this season. Though it has to be said one of those games was against Bayern and luck was involved for both sides, both in regards to Hoffenheim scoring that very freaky goal in the first minute and with Bayern getting a last minute penalty which was nothing of the sort.

They were to make similar mistakes against Stuttgart, after going 1-0 up in the 33rd minute through a penalty converted by Kevin Volland they held on to their lead until the 64th minute when joker Jan Kliment equalised. Unusually Hoffenheim were able to answer back with Volland getting another goal just 13 minutes later, but once again they were to find themselves in a very unlucky situation. For both sides had they won it would have been only their second win of the season. But it wasn’t to be for Hoffenheim, thanks to a last minute equaliser by Timo Werner. It’s a shame because Volland’s second goal was really something special and he certainly worked hard to get it, putting his pace to good use. Up until that point Stuttgart’s keeper Tyton had been having a pretty good game. Werner’s goal was also special, not because of how it was scored but simply because last minute goals like that are always special.

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