BVB - Nürnberg, wide awake.

Matchday 3
It's match day and the excitement of the Bundesliga is starting to rise.
Borussia Dortmund take on Nürnberg at home, while there are some other crackers going on in this weekend. This matchday will be an indicator for the next few months (at least I think so).
The first one actually already finished, when Gladbach outclassed Wolfsburg 4-1,
but there is still a classic going on:
 Bayern - Hamburg, sadly it won't be as classic as it usually is, since Hamburg is..hmm how do I say it?... crap, their defensive effort in the last two games was not Bundesliga worthy. Maybe they can defend against Bayern though, since it's one of the easiest tasks at the moment. Once the Bayern attack has been encrypted, the Bayern "system" lacks creativity and surprise.
The next game I'm looking forward to is Stuttgart - Leverkusen! Stuttgart is a side I think will be in the top 5 this season and I see them ahead of Leverkusen at the moment. Both sides definitely got good players, but Stuttgart got the mental edge, which Leverkusen never has... though they won luckily against Bremen last week, I don't think they have enough confidence to beat Stuttgart in their "new" stadium. The atmosphere makes a big difference in Stuttgart's game, I guess and since they finally have a bit of consistency, they might live up to their potential for once. This game will actually be a cracker because I think both teams have enormous firepower, but have their funny moment's when it comes to defending. So if they don't play too careful, I expect a 3-2 or something like that.
Also I hope Mainz can gain another three points this weekend, as they face Schalke, who had a bit of a bad day in Finland. Tuchel is certainly the guy who can snuff out the defensive flaws Schalke has.. just a nice win for Mainz is what Schalke needs to get the bad flow going, with all the distortion with Raul. :-)

Well, to Dortmund now.

The loss in Hoffenheim is well analysed and in the past. One of the big factors of last week's defeat was tiredness, a factor that certainly won't appear today. Götze wasn't scoring against Brazil and Kagawa wasn't in Japan. It's not 100% sure, but it looks like Marcel Schmelzer and Neven Subotic are fully fit again and will start. This means that Dortmund's last season's title winning back four is reunited and Klopp's "Starting XI" is about to shape up. Only Barrios is missing, but since Lewandowski is stepping up (he improved his skill of holding the ball quite good in off season) we will be almost at full strength again. I'm wondering whether Leitner will make his Bundesliga debut, since he is a kid who can bring in the unpredictable chaos. He linked up very well with Götze and Kagawa during the preseason matches and his kind of cheekiness will maybe be the key to an 0:0 after 60 minutes.
Maybe it will be an advantage, that Gündogan might know his old side very good and knows where the gaps and holes are where he has to put the ball to create chances, who knows.
I'm wondering how much focus Dortmund will lay on width this game, it certainly lacked against Hoffenheim, since we attacked too seldom over the wings and it was certainly analysed and will be improved, though it won't be as important as it was against Hoffenheim. Nürnberg is more vulnerable at flat, quick, combining through the middle than high crosses into the area. Also this is a game for Sven Bender, since he will face tough opponent's in midfield and the tackles won't be soft in this one, so keep an eye on him.



We like Nürnberg

If Hoffenheim is our bogey-team, we are certainly Nürnbergs. The last two seasons they were certain 6 points and I don't see a reason why they should be in this, maybe a reason why they only bring 3,5k supporters with them. Last season they brought 6,5k supporters. So the might Westfalenstadion won't be sold out! Boooo!

With Schieber, Gündogan, Ekici, and Wolf they lost a lot of quality, though their activities on the transfer market weren't too bad either. With Feulner they've got a quality Bundesliga player. who certainly has his extra motivation since Klopp hasn't as much use for him at Dortmund as he had in Mainz. His free kicks and long-range shots are always a threat, and he also knows, just as Gündogan, his old team very good, since he used to play against them every day. With Thomas Pekhart they've got a good striker from Belarus, who looked very calm in front of goal and scored their only 2 goals in the campaign so far.
All in all Nürnberg has a very young side with lot's of potential to develop and have a bright future. They have very talented defenders with for example Wollscheid (one of the upcoming gem's in German football.. he might play alongside Mats Hummels in 2014).
I have seen the two Nürnberg games and I have to say that they are very organised, and can make a game look very boring and awful, which is a compliment in this case, though I'm not sure how they will react after they conceded. But a 18 year old will try everything to prevent that: Patrick Rakovsky. Since Nürnberg's captain and goalkeeper Raphael Schäfer is out injured for at least 10 weeks, the young goalkeeper will debut in Bundesliga, and I have the bad feeling that this is just the occasion to have the "game of his life". (as we all know, goalkeepers always gain top marks against Dortmund, since we always aim at them.. ugh) It's not an easy task though, since the experienced Schäfer gave many commands during the game, which now have to come from Rakovsky, who will hopefully be too impressed by the Yellow Wall.
I think this game can be close, but Nürnberg is certainly good for one or two individual and tactical errors, which we have to punish. We also should make sure we score two goals, since Feulner will certainly try to squeeze one in.

Heja BVB!