The German Football Thread

Yeah I think he'll do well to stamp his mark on the team. Seemed like at the start they played siimilar to how they did under heynckes, but when they were 2-0 up they started playing high pressure possession football. I was watching the PSG match on another stream so didn't see what happened after being 3-1 up but I saw lahm in CM and he looked alright there.

One thing I don't get is that alaba likes the CM role, if there was anyone I want to see there it would be him, not lahm but I'm not the manager

I think he's trying to avoid having a straight up DM tbh. I reckon martinez will be there for CL matches in DM though but he's trying out schweinsteigger as a DLP(alonso type) so he can fit all his midfielders into the system.

Also wondering whats happening with gotze. I see robben cementing that spot after his performance yesterday and the second half of last season and ribery's obviously got the other spot.

I can see where he'd fit thiago, but I don't see where gotze will fit personally(rotating with muller maybe or false 9?). Shaqiri will probably be the needs must player like tymoschuk/DVB/contento are now.

Either way, bayern seem interesting this season. Dortmund will struggle, not enough depth still, although more than previous seasons but there are still positions(The whole defence) that aren't adequately covered atm despite the first team being near bayerns level in that position. I think they'll struggle to get above 75 points, and I see bayern easily getting 80+ points this season.

Anybody watching bayern today? I've been looking at it peripherally and they're controlling the game like you'd expect but not really dominating like they were under heynckes. I guess as the season goes on they'll grow in confidence and adapt to guardiola's style though tbh. Think it'll take a season before you see their true potential under guardiola though.

Yeah, I watched the game and I do agree with you. Bayern are dominating the game, but they aren't especially convincing as they were last season. But as you said, it will probably take a while before we see the ''true'' Bayern. It just takes a while to get used to another manager's ideas and such.

There is one other thing, though... Why on earth is he leaving Martinez out of the squad? For the second consecutive week now!

What do you guys think about Hamburg's and Shalke's situation? After three match days, both teams remains at one point each and have a goal difference of -5. I can see that Fink will get sacked by the end this week and potentially replaced by Magath? Keller will also probably be sacked, but I can't see that happen before the return game in the CL qualifier against PAOK.

Hertha have been a nice surprise to watch? Are they this season's Eintracht?

/Nickr

He did the same to mascherano at barca and played him as a CB, that's probably what he's aiming to do. Me and Cable talked about it earlier on, about how it helps their passing game under guardiola if they have ball playing midfielders who pass the ball forwards under pressure like kroos/schweinsteigger as DM's than martinez, although I feel that martinez was the final piece of the jigsaw last season, him and schweinny pressing the opposition and allowing no space for the opposition in the middle then passing it down to the wings to the robbery duo/muller and they're free in space after shredding the fullback.

I am pretty interested in bayern though and what they'd do over the season. I think that gotze will struggle initially tbh but thiago seems to be doing decent so far and I'm liking kroos playing in schweinsteiggers old role, I always thought that kroos would take schweinsteiggers role.

HSV are a weird team, I feel that they've spent a lot of money and should be in europe with the squads that they have bought. I'm pretty surprised with schalke too. What do you think about leverkusen? Do you think they can make 2nd place? Top 3 is pretty obvious but Bayer could get 2nd depending on if dortmund do poor this season. Doubt it tbh but I'd like for that to happen. Don't think Bayer will get above 70 points but I see bayern getting 80+ and dortmund around 75.

Bayer will be up there with Bayern and BvB, but I'm not quite sure if Bayern will win the title this season, though! To be honest, I think Dortmund will grab the title this year followed by Bayern and Bayer. But remember, Bayer came second in the 2010/2011 season with Dortmund as the winners and Bayern in third place and were also the only team last year to win a match against Bayern, so a second place finish isn't impossible.

Bayer is also a team that I think will go far in the Champions Leauge and Völler made a great choice with Min Son as a replacement for Schürrle.

Trying to guess the fourth place and below is for sure a harder than guessing the top three! 'Gladbach or potentially Wolfsburg at fourth place? Who knows?

/Nickr

Woah calm down. Lever aren't going to challenge Bayern or Dortmund. No chance. 3rd place isn't that secure for them either.

Who do you think would challenge them for third place? They've bought well replacing schurlle with son-heung-min and if they perform like they did last season they'd make third comfortably. They did come 2nd 3 seasons ago too, albeit both bayern and dortmund weren't as strong as they are now and they were 1 point behind dortmund last season.

I don't think they'll do it, but there's every reason to suggest that they can. Race for 4th will be like last seasons edgy and scrappy until the last day I feel gladbach, schalke, wolfsburg and probably some random team like the german league does each year in the mix.

They're looking good no doubt but, Schalke will soon find out how to win games again so I expect them and Bremen who are looking solid defensively to push them hard for the 3rd place. But hard to start making predictions now and seriously, using results from 3 seasons ago? that's clutching on straws.

As impressive as Lever have been, they could've early drew with Freiburg if they had scored their penalty.

I want to see Leverkusen sign Riise and Kuyt. Could be a great bit of business for all concerned especially with their old pal Hyypia as coach, could be an inspired move.

Can someone explain why Low seems to hate KeiBling?

Really don't get it. You'd hypothesis it might be something to do with him not been mobile enough but, he picked Gomez. He can't ignore him for his next squad. No way.

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Congrats to Bayern.

Remember we were talking about Martinez.

After re-watching some of his games from last season, I really think Pep should be starting Martinez. He's got the potential to be a really awesome midfielder.

I'd like to see this midfield:

Martinez-----Schweinsteiger/Kroos

-------Kroos/Thiago/Muller

No more of this "Lahm as CM" rubbish. Yes Lahm can play the role fine. But why not play Lahm in his best position and allow a good player like Martinez to develop his game and become a world class midfielder?