[Wally]

he asked for 5 Mio € per year to prolongue his contract..

lol

is anyone, outside of Bayern maybe, paid that ammount?

waiting for Hoffenheim haven't seen them yet, but their Nigerian who scored that goal yesterday and that Brazilian they bought last year who cost so much should be interesting to see.

 

[Rothose]

midtable-teams IV

Teams like Cottbus, Hoffenheim and Bochum will follow later

Borussia Dortmund

With Jürgen Klopp, the BVB fans are enjoying their 4th coach within the last 3 years.
At the moment, there is again a big euphoria in and around Dortmund, mostly because of Jürgen Klopp who is for sure the biggest media darling in german football, even ahead of our NT players.

But Klopp proved in Mainz that he is not just full of hot air but also a decent coach. The question is if the Dortmund squad is decent enough to fulfill the big hopes the BVB fans (again) have for the new season and if Klopp can handle the media in Dortmund which is much more agressive than in Mainz.

Dortmund overhauled their central defense by signing 2 new CD's, 19 year old Neven Subotic who must be regarded as one of the biggest central defender talents in the Bundesliga and who already played under Klopp in Mainz and brazilian Felipe Santana who completely failed to fulfill the expectations in the pre-season, he needs more time to adapt. Oldie Wörns was given the boot as were WB Philip Degen and CD's Amedick and Brzenska.
Ever injured ex german international wingback Patrik Owomoyela was signed from Werder, playmaker Tamas Hajnal came from Karlsruhe but the biggest surprise was the recent swap of BVB top scorer Mladen Petric against Hamburgs Mohamed Zidan + aprox. 4-4,5 Mio €...

After a horrible 07/08 season in which the BVB still qualified for the UEFA-Cup due to the german cup final participation, aim for the new season is 'to do a lot better than last year and play attractive football' - the BVB officials are shunning the word 'UEFA-Cup' for a reason.

players to watch out for
Neven Subotic/Mats Hummels - both players are just 19 years old and thus are forming the youngest CD pair in the league. Both are extremely talented and it will be interesting if they can establish themselves as starting CD for an entire season or if oldie Robert Kovac must jump in sooner or later. Hummels still belongs to Bayern and will return after this season, probably a new Philip Lahm story.

Mohamed Zidan - can he finally find back into track after joining the club of his beloved former Mainz 05 coach Jürgen Klopp - the only coach under which he was able to perform in the Bundesliga...?

season prediction

Bundesliga : pos. 6-8
UEFA-Cup : round of last 32/16

I think that the BVB will do a lot better under Klopp than they did under Doll last season. It won't be enough for direct UEFA-Cup qualification though.
Despite his annoying media appearance, Klopp is a modern coach with great tactical knowledge and a very good motivator whose teams play attractive and fast football. The question is if the inexperienced central defense can perform over a complete season. At a first glimpse, HSV does benefit more from the Petric-Zidan swap but Zidan can be an excellent attacker as he proved under Klopp in Mainz, nevertheless Dortmund is a different team, he won't be the only star there and must learn to work for the team.

 

[Wally]

Be interesting to see how Sahin does after his year long loan spell at Feyenoord. So far it looks like he's down in the pecking order.

Teams like Cottbus, Hoffenheim and Bochum will follow later

what :fero: Hoffenhim for the title :stuckup:

 

[Rothose]

Relegation cancidates I

Karlsruher SC

Last year Karlsruhe was one of the big surprises, they had a season without any relegation trouble and even spent a lot of time in the UEFA-Cup ranks despite having a squad with no big names and almost no money to reinforce the team after promotion.

There was not much activity on the transfer market this season, with playmaker Hajnal (to Dortmund) and defender Eggiman (to Hannover) 2 of the most important players left the team. They were replaced by Antonio da Silva from Stuttgart and Tim Sebastian from Rostock.

Ede Beckers men have a reputation for playing good and fast counter attacking football. It must be questioned if these counter attacks will still work out this year without playmaker Hajnal, da Silva doesn't have the same quality in my opinion. Aim for the season is to avoid relegation.

players to watch out for

Christian Eichner - last season one of the best left backs in the Bundesliga. Good overall footballer who is good in going forward and can kick dangerous crosses into the box area. Can he develop into a NT candidate ? He started good into the season by hitting the game winning goal against Bochum.

Season prediction

Bundesliga : Pos 12-16

I don't think that Karlsruhe can repeat the success of the last season when they didn't had any relegation trouble and stayed in the upper half of the table over almost the entire season. Without Hajnal and Eggiman, things won't be easy this year. I suppose that Karlsruhe will have to battle against relegation until the end of the season but considering their good coaching and team spirit, odds are good that they can avoid relegation again.

 

[Rothose]

Relegation Candidates II

Vfl Bochum

Bochum had a very good 07/08 season. Like Karlsruhe, Marcel Kollers boys never were in serious relegation trouble, though they didn't occupy one of the upper spots in the table but they always had a good cushion of points to the relegation zone.

Koller (like most coaches of smaller teams) tried to play fast counterattacking football as well. Striker Stanislav Sestak emerged as the top player with 13 goals and 9 assists.

Bochum was pretty active on the transfer market this season, with right wing Freier and striker Hashemian they added to players to their roster which played at Bochum before but overall, no big names were either bought or sold.

Their biggest problem is the goalie position. Last season, Lastuvka completely failed to convince and was sold to Donezk after just one season. But also his replacement, portugese keeper Fernandes who came from PAOK in Greece must prove now that he has the quality to succeed in the Bundesliga. I have some doubts but i may be wrong.

Bochums biggest loss is probably the departure of general sports manager Stefan Kuntz ( former german NT player...) to Kaiserslautern where he became president. Kuntz did a really good job in Bochum by undigging players like Sestak or Gekas ( the season before...).

The aim for the season is to stay out of the relegation zone.

players to watch out for

Stanislav Sestak : can he repeat his success of the last season and score again in double digits ? If yes, the bigger clubs will hunt him in the next summer.

Daniel Márcio Fernandes : Can he solve Bochums problems on the goalkeeper position ?

season predicition

Bundesliga : Pos. 12-16

My prediction is pretty much the same as for Karlsruhe. This season, Bochum will have to battle harder against relegation than last year. Nevertheless, i still see good chances for them to stay in. Marcel Koller is a very good tactican for me and they have some experienced players who are used to relegation battles and can get the job done under pressure...

 

[Rothose]

relegation candidates III

Arminia Bielefeld

Bielefeld is heading into its 5th consecutive season in the 1st Bundesliga, their longest spell in topflight football since the 80's. Last season they had to battle against relegation until the last day of the season.
In Bielefeld, it's quite usual to have trouble in the club between the coach, the president and the sports manager, so last season they first fired their coach Ernst Middendorp ( a true legend ...) who was replaced by former Aachen coach Michael Frontzeck and a couple of weeks later they also fired sports director Saftig - i have doubts that this helped to secure the league, but they are still in...

Most noticable concerning the transfer market activity is that they lost their former longtime no. 1 keeper Matthias Hain to St. Pauli, attacker Sibusiso Zuma went back to South Afrika ( to Sundowns FC) while former Schalke and german international left midfielder/winger Jörg Böhme ended his career. They signed a couple of more or less unknown players ( at least unknown to me...), attacker Chris Katongo from Broendby is probably the most noticable one of them...

Aim for the season is to avoid relegation.

players to watch out for
Artur Wichniarek - he had a good start into the season scoring 3 times in 2 matches. The former polish international striker is probably the best Bielefeld player.

season prediction

Bundesliga : Pos. 15-18

In my opinion, it will be really hard if not impossible to avoid relegation for Arminia this time. They still have some experienced players who know how to handle relegation battles, but the squad is totally missing top players who can really make the difference. And i don't rate coach Frontzeck very high. He relegated with Aachen 2007 and imho this will happen to Bielefeld this season, too, only a miracle can prevent this.

 

[Rothose]

relegation candidates IV

Energie Cottbus

Cottbus is a team which is used to battle relegation in the Bundesliga. Last season, they secured their place in the topflight already on matchday 33 with a win against Hamburg.
But the situation didn't change this year - until a new Abramovic comes in and floods the club with his money, they will always be one of the strugglers. Nevetheless on their homeground backed by their fanatic fans, Cottbus is a very nasty team to play against.
During the season, they exchanged the coach, Petrik Sander was replaced by slowenian coach Bojan Prasnikar already on matchday 6.

There was some activity on the transfer market but no big names came in or left.

Aim for the season is to avoid relegation.

players to watch out for
Vragel da Silva - will Bundesligas biggest thug, esp infamous for his intended ellbow hits, continue to bully his opponents ? How many matchdays will he be suspended this time ?

season prediction
Bundesliga : Pos. 15-18

Cottbus will have to battle against relegation until the last matchday of the season. When compared to Bielefeld, i still would give them the edge because of their intimidating home support and because of their coach who seems to be a very clever guy. Nevertheless the question is if there are enough teams who are worse than Cottbus so that they can stay in.

 

[Rothose]

promoted teams I

1899 Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim was in the Regionalliga 2 years ago, after 2 consecutive promotions they have now entered the Bundesliga.

Hoffenheim are labeled as 'german Chelsea' because their owner like Abramovic is a billionaire, german software company SAP co-founder and former CEO Dietmar Hopp.

But Chelsea and Hoffenheim cannot be compared.
Hoffenheim was Hopp's childhood sports club where he did athletics. Hopps idea is not to buy superstars, he wants to create a longterm perspective, therefore he is also heavily investing in the youth divisions and infrastructure of the club. A new stadium is being built, Hopp hired some of Germanies finest football coaches also for the youth divisions ( which paid off, Hoppenheims under 17 youth teams became german champions...) but despite the broad investments into all parts and divisions of the club, the main focus is clearly on the senior football team.

But also here Hopp is rather buying young top level talents instead of experienced players. I would like to mention strikers Demba Ba, Chinedu Obasi , the brazilian division with striker Wellington and midfielders Carlos Eduardo, Luis Gustavo and defender Andreas Beck here, all younger than 23 years and all blessed with a lot of talent.
The team is coached by Ralf Rangnick, an excellent german coach who almost won the Bundesliga with Schalke 3 years ago, his only weakness is that he cannot handle the media but in small town like Hoffenheim, this is not a problem at all.

players to watch out for

Carlos Eduardo - he was regarded as one of brazilians best talents in 2007 and one of the best players in the U20 world cup with a perspective to join the senior NT sooner or later. He is a really fine playmaker with typical south american strengths ( dribbling, vision, passing..).

Chinedu Obasi - a fine striker who really shined for Hoffenheim last season in Bundesliga 2 ( alongside his striker mate Demba Ba). At least in Bundesliga 2 it seemed that he has all the talent to join a top team sooner or later, he needs time to mature though..

Season prediction

Bundesliga : Pos 8-12

Hoffenheim is currently leading the league with 2 wins from 2 games. I'm pretty sure that they won't have any relegation trouble. They have so much talent in their squad and in Rangnick the right coach who can handle this talent and the young players. It is quite obvious that there is a new football giant in the making. The young squad only needs to build experience, the talent for a top spot in the league is already there and the funding to keep these talented players and add further reinforcements is available, too. In 2 years this team will compete for the UEFA-Cup or even the CL for sure...

 

[Wally]

Just Borussia Mönchengladbach and Köln to go :hopeful:

I reckon both should be able to stay up. Should be interesting to see the first, especially with all their former eredivisie players.

Patrick Paauwe roud:

 

[Rothose]

HSV
...
...
season prediction

Bundesliga : Pos 3-5 ( with vdV), Pos. 5-8 ( without vdV or a proper replacement )
UEFA-Cup : round of last 16 - quarter finals.

Since the transfer period did not end yet and it is still not sure if vdV will stay or other players will be sold or bought, it is very hard to make a prediction. With vdV, HSV is still among the top teams. Schalke and Werder have better squads but if everything runs perfect and vdV stays, a CL spot is possible. Without vdV ( or a proper replacement...), HSV must watch out not to end up somewhere in the Bundesliga midfield.

Too bad but my prediction came true. It seems that we now lost it all, even if there is still a slight chance to go into the new Euro-League because Moenchengladbach must at least secure a point against BVB to be sure to stay in the Bundesliga ( provided that we win in Frankfurt which is very unlikely considering our last performances....).

We sold our best players but didn't replace 'em at all.
vdV gone, Neves in, Neves flopped, Neves sold again.
De Jong sold with no real replacement.
Kompany wasn't one of our key players last season but he was still better than the injury prone Alex Silva who missed half of the season due to torn muscles...
Overall it was a miracle that we made it so far but in the Cup competitions, we were kicked out immediately by the first real opponent.

What a bad transfer policy :frustrat: .

 

[Maturin]

Hamburg have done well this season but just overstretched themselves. The UEFA Cup run was probably something that they could have done without in regards to the Bundesliga. Thought that all the games would catch up with them eventually and so it proved. Werder are very beatable but Guerrero was badly missed in the second leg.

Lol a Shakhtar avatar. Werder really fvcked your season over didn't they.

 

[Tigerheart]

I completely disagree. Your squad is much stronger than last season...

You got right of basically your top star and brought in lots of players that contributed.

 

[Maturin]

Yeah I think Rothose is being too down on the team but it's understandable after what they have been through with Werder in the last few weeks. When the dust settles he should see that they have had a good season. Might need a new forward next season though to replace Olic.

 

[Rothose]

I completely disagree. Your squad is much stronger than last season...

You got right of basically your top star and brought in lots of players that contributed.

You are wrong, mate.
Look at our stats : We conceded much more goals than last season, this is a direct result of the sale of de Jong (who could only play 7 matches anyway because he was injured in the first half of the season). De Jong was a key player in our system and he helped so much that the central defenders didn't come under pressure. I'm 100 % sure that Diego would never have been able to shine in the 2nd UEFA-Cup semi like he did if De Jong was on the pitch.

And vdV - though he could not be considered to be a playmaker - was the player who scored and created most of our goals. Petric replaced his goals but neither his creativity in the midfield nor his ability as a set piece taker.

Of course Jansen, Petric and Aogo were good transfers but it was by far not enough because esp. in the midfield and central defense, we didn't get back the quality we lost. Jol already said in August that he needs a decent replacement for vdV to be successful, he didn't get one at all.

 

[Tigerheart]

Well, on the other hand Trochowski was 3 times the player he used to be when you had vdV this season for example. You cannot purely compare the players left with those that came. And the money for de Jong is still there to be used.

 

[Rothose]

Well, on the other hand Trochowski was 3 times the player he used to be when you had vdV this season for example. You cannot purely compare the players left with those that came. And the money for de Jong is still there to be used.

Well, not really. Trochowski's stats in his HSV career :

2005/2006 Hamburger SV 32 matches, 5 goals, 5 assists
2006/2007 Hamburger SV 26 matches, 2 goals, 5 assists
2007/2008 Hamburger SV 32 matches, 1 goal, 7 assists
2008/2009 Hamburger SV 32 matches, 5 goals, 8 assists

So overall, he just has 3 more assists than in the 05/06 season so far. Considering that he is now the PK taker and the no. 1 set piece taker (this business was done by vdV before), his stats aren't really improved at all.