DFB Cup - Stage 1 - SV Sandhausen

The season finally starts!

Traditionally the season starts with the DeutscherFußballBund Pokal (yes, it really sounds that lame).

All teams of 1. and 2. Bundesliga are seeded and will play against cup qualifiers like SV Sandhausen, or Amatuer clubs, if I'm not mistaken any team could qualify even some 8th tier side.. (if there is an 8th tier?!?)

Anyway, Dortmund's younger history isn't really bright, we got kicked out of the cup twice in stage 2 by 3rd. league sides (Osnabrück, Offenbach). And MAYBE we learned from it. 

Let's get this over with

Alright, I'd love to tell you more about Sandhausen and their team, but actually I don't know anything and

I don't really care either. All I know is that they are on a 14-games unbeaten streak (very impressive) and that Sandhausen is in a area where the German (if you want to call it that) dialect makes me want to barf.

Both coaches said pretty much the same what they always say before these matches.. 

Sandhausen's coach: "Bla Bla Bla, we are the underdogs but we have a tiny little chance that we want to take."

Klopp: "Bla Bla Bla, we have to be careful and aware and take them serious and everything..."

So I just want to go there, win and don't care any further about Sandhausen. Now someone will say "Hey, show some respect!", but I won't. Haha. I expect Dortmund to cruise along even with all the cautioning words before..

It's Dortmund's duty to take this Sandhausen side seriously enough to get a win, (without extra time, of course), not mine.

Maybe this year it's gonna be different

The DFB Pokal is of course the shortest way to win a title,

and so everyone is hoping that this will be "THE YEAR"!

So of course, I'm stupid enough to believe that Dortmund might make it far this year (third stage would be a success). 

But what I really hope for is finally a DFB-Pokal HOME MATCH! 

I can't even remember when it was the last time when Dortmund had a home match in the DFB Cup..

I mean, we have this great stadium and with our Südtribüne and our atmosphere we would have a huge advantage, so please make this happen!

Personal problems

Marcel Schmelzer probably won't make it, so he will be replaced by Chris Löwe.

Kehl, Gündogan and Perisic aren't 100% sure, they picked up a knock.

But we should still have enough quality to beat a 3rd tier side.

K. THX. BYE.. see you at the post match report.

Supercup - Positive disappointment

Practice penalties! (FFS!)
We lost, "luckily" in a penalty-shootout, not during regular time.
We scored 0/5 penalties in the last season and I can't remember when Dortmund won their last penalty-shootout. It were good tactics for Schalke to sit back, wait for the opportunity to counter and to prioritize 'holding on for a draw', since Ralf Fährmann saved 2 penalties for Frankfurt against Dortmund last season, so no surprises there. So, congrats to Schalke to their only title in the next 10 years or so.

Anyhow, the defeat might be bitter, but it's quickly forgotten when I think about the game itself.

Line Up:
Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Santana, Hummels, Löwe, Kehl, Gündogan, Großkreutz, Kagawa, Götze, Lewandowski / Subs: Bender, Perisic, Leitner



We can build on a good foundation

As Jürgen Klopp said after the match "I rather lose a match where we played good football, than winning the cup with a shitty performance!". And he is absolutely right about that. Over many parts of the game it looked pretty much like last season and even better when Götze (with two swollen toes) and Kagawa linked up and showed some mind-blowing combinations. But let's start with the important part, the movement without the ball!
Pressing, positioning and aggression were all already pretty much on spot, even though we lost more tackles than we usually do, but I guess Sebastian Kehl can't replace Sven Bender and Chris Löwe, who was besides one, two shaky moments pretty solid and vitalizing on the move forward, won't replace Marcel Schmelzer in a bit.

We still managed to keep Schalke away from goal, who had most of their chances through standards and two per individual skill. Especially the second half looked better, we dominated the game, or should I say Schalke left us the ball. It was certainly Rangnick's tactic to sit deep and wait for good counter opportunities and play fore-checking in phases, but not constantly. It pretty much worked out, besides that it didn't. Our switch from offense to defense was great! I really enjoyed it and it will make me sleep good at night, but our switch from defense to offense wasn't always as fluent as it usually is (I blame it on the preseason).

 It was the last pass that didn't worked out for us, even though we had almost always a man in a good position we weren't capable of finding him, OR it was Lewandowski who has a good first touch and a bad last touch (Yes, I'm really disappointed with his effort today! He lost nearly every ball, and his golden chance alone in front of Fährmann was a lame effort.)
It was always one flick too much or one missing pass to score. And all our efforts on goal were really poor! A point we definitely have to improve.
Kevin Großkreutz took a few shots on target, but my prediction is: he will never score against Schalke! NEVER. He just can't, I don't know why but even his penalty was sooooooo poor.

Mario Götze had again a terrific game, as always, but he is still not as dangerous as he could be. He usually has some sort of an assist-fetish, but announced before the season that he will be more selfish.
Well. The problem today was, he wasn't selfish when he should have been and he was when he shouldn't have been, but that wasn't only the case for Götze today but for everyone really and it's the reason why we couldn't score today.

But that's exactly why I am positive.. this is the kind of situation we can easily improve, since Jürgen Klopp will analyze it and the boys will probably learn from it (good to know that we have mostly intelligent players). You remember Leverkusen? First Game? 2-0 defeat? And how we came back? It's probably the same here, since there is only fine-tuning required.
The defense structure stands pretty much and with Bender, Schmelzer and Subotic coming back it will be even easier for the rest to work backwards, so not much to criticize here.




Taking Chances


But in the end I'm still very frustrated that we are still struggling to use our great opportunities we have properly and waste one chance after another. Ilkay Gündogan said after the match "We wasted so many opportunities! I never experienced such thing before!" Well, mate, get used to it.

I think the chance/conversion is a very dramatic issue regarding Uefa Champions League, where you don't have many chances per match and you have to be efficient to make it far in the competition. In fact, it was exactly the same problem that got us ruled out of the Euro League last season. We absolutely dominated PSG and Sevilla but we couldn't pull of a win, even though we had plenty of excellent chances.

But there is hope! Kagawa and Götze will become more clinical with time (regaining form in Shinji's case) and from my latest impressions Perisic won't be such a lousy chance-waster as Lewandowski is, which will pretty much mean that Lewandowski won't get as many play time as he did last season.

But hey! A bad chance/conversion rate and crappy penalties were our trademark last season and we still won the title.. it is one of our few weaknesses and when we improve that.. yeah well, then the rest of BL is pretty much effed! HARHAR goodnight! :)
Heja BVB!

Supercup - Derbytime!!!

Schalke - Dortmund [23.07. 20.30h (cet)]

You can look up in italics written terms in the dictionary. ->

"The next game is always the most important."

Our season starts with the Supercup, where last seasons' Cup winner and Champion meet.
The mother of all derbies starts 2 weeks before the Bundesliga kicks off and is a good occasion
to see where the teams stand in their preparations.



But it's not only the Supercup, it's also THE derby against our biggest rivals and I wanna frickin win it. Badly.
Not only because I couldn't stand seeing Scheiße 04 winning a cup,
but also because a derby win has a long-term value for our campaign.

As Jürgen Klopp once said the 3-1 derby win in the Turnhalle was one of the reasons why Dortmund won the title after all. (because of the great reception at the Dortmund Stadium when the BVB-Bus returned from the match.) He said that it made it even more clearly "why we do what we do" and how much this means to the fans, which formed an even greater spirit in the team and gave extra motivation for several months. It also strengthened the bond between the fans and the team and showed newcomers like Shinji Kagawa what Dortmund is all about.
I hope we can re-do this for our newcomers and set the first highlight of the season,
winning a cup at the rival's home is just what we need to get a good flow for the further stages of our campaign. Also Schalke is a club with a great tradition and we want to keep the tradition up, since they lost last years' Supercup against Bayern Munich.

'derby reception 19.09.2010' - Großkreutz with a Megaphone                                            
So, it's an extra important match and I'm already nervous as hell.
I won't make any predictions who will play for S04, because I clearly lost track of their transfer activities (Yes, that's how much I care). The one thing I know is that there is no Manuel Neuer who will save their asses this time.

And Jürgen Klopp has also a hard time figuring out a starting XI. The defensive core should be the usual though.
 (Weidenfeller, Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, Piszczek).
 Also Lucas Barrios will definitely not take part since he is on international duty with Paraguay at the Copa America.



The Comeback

A certain player will definitely play since he is already leaving incredibly good impressions in training.
No, I'm not talking about Mario Götze, even though he'll probably play and is also leaving good impressions.
I'm talking about last seasons derby hero Shinji Kagawa.
The young Japanese will finally fully return from his injury and is already highly motivated to play a good season (and more importantly: full season). Observers say that his actions on the pitch look like he was never
missing, which of course is music in my ears and a tinnitus for all Schalker. :)

There is not much left to say than: I'm really really really really excited to see him combining with Mario Götze and scoring goals.

Here is a little reminder of what he is capable of.
KAAAGAWAAAAA SHINJIIIIIIIIII, SCHALALAAA SCHALALALALAAA!

5 3/4 new signings minus Nuri Sahin

Before the new season starts we first have to talk about Dortmund's new players and how they will deal with the loss of Nuri Sahin. Jürgen Klopp said "Our squad is stronger than last years." A statement.
Dortmund had several reasons to sign new players:

a) Nuri Sahin transferred to Real Madrid
b) More depth for Champions League Season
c) Dede's departure
d) Keep the pressure and tension high within the squad

So here are the new boys:

Ivan Perisic

Ivan Perisic is Dortmund's top transfer. The midfielder came for 5,5 million € and has many
attributes. He will be a constant goal threat, since he scored 22 goals in Belgium for Club Brügge.
Ivan is left and right footed, has a strong header, is quick but also strong and a very clinical finisher. Jürgen Klopp loves variable players and here comes one of the main reasons why he was hired: He can play on every position in offensive midfield, but also on Nuri Sahin's position (8) and of course he can play as a striker because his behavior in the box is just as a striker behaves. His position has still to be figured out but Kevin Großkreutz should be wide awake, since Perisic played as LOM last season at Brügge.
Tactical tools for Klopp: Ivan is not only quick and a good dribbler but also makes a physical appearance. So if he plays alongside with Kagawa and Götze his job will certainly be holding the ball (as Lucas Barrios often does), make runs into the area to head the ball in and last but not least to help in defense/support Marcel Schmelzer/Lucas Pisczeck as LOM/ROM or even Sven Bender as DM. Since it's still uncertain who will be in charge of free kicks, he is definitely one of the candidates!
I personally hope that he is a bit more clinical than Robert Lewandowski and our chance/conversion rate will improve with him.

Ilkay Gündogan

22 Years old, comes from 1. FC Nürnberg, defensive/offensive midfielder, first candidate to "replace" Nuri Sahin. His stronger foot is the right foot. His qualities are winning the ball, opening the game, overview, control of the ball and is also capable of scoring goals. Playing on position 8. (the more offensive defensive midfielder of the double-six) will be a heavy burden for him since he has to fill a gap that Nuri Sahin left. (Which of course isn't what we expect of him since we all know that Nuri Sahin is a footballer of world class format). Ilkay has to grow in his role and he has the potential to do so. I'm looking forward to him and since it's not too hard to integrate into our team I predict he will have a great first year in Dortmund... and hopefully many more!

Moritz Leitner

18 years old - Investment for the future. Dortmund actually bought him in winter from 1860 München for 1 million €, was on loan for the rest of the season at promoted Augsburg. Now he will be in the Dortmund squad. He is a really gifted player, talented, but still raw. His position in München was the creative/offensive part in defenive midfield (Sahin role), because he has got great vision and overview, is of course right and left footed and of course he can score goals! He has a solid shot from distance.
He can also play in the offensive midfield... but not that we would need another offensive midfielder (Kagawa, Götze, Großkreutz, Kuba, Perisic), however the kid has still much to learn, even though he was one of the characters in Augsburg until he broke his arm, he is, of course, still lacking experience and needs to gain some muscles since he is falling a bit too easily. Never the less Dortmund can look forward, because watching Moritz play is always joyful and entertaining. Also he is in best hands for his further development.


Julian Koch

Julian Koch is a player I'm really looking forward to,  even though he is injured and will come back in the 2nd half of the season. He was on loan at 2. Bundeliga club MSV Duisburg for one year, where he really blossomed.
His usual position is right back, but he also successfully played central midfielder and play maker in Duisburg, who reached the DFB Cup final, where Julian Koch scored important goals and was mostly responsible for the success in the cup. He was vice captain which is only one indicator that he has a strong character. Besides the mental strength his tackling ability, also his agility and speed, his good understanding of the game, positioning and opening of the game are a skill set that could make Julian Koch to one of the future stars in German football. Ops, I forgot that he is also great in setting up chances or scoring himself (mostly by head). He will definitely vitalize our game and will make his appearances in the next season and leave impressions, I promise.

Chris Löwe

22 years old, was signed as a left-back backup from 3rd tier side Chemnitz FC. The ambitious left foot, who is Dede's replacement, is also capable of playing offensive, so just as Marcel Schmelzer, will run up and down the left side when Marcel is injured/suspended.








Marvin Bakalorz

Marvin Bakerlorz (21) is coming from Dortmund's u23 and is a central midfielder. I really can't say much about him, since I've never seen him play before. But his promotion for the first team should be proof enough that he is capable of playing football.

Welcome to my Blog

I will keep a sort of fan diary for Borussia Dortmund's season 2011/2012.
I will post before and after the matches with my hopes and concerns, expect many biased rants and insults
towards other Bundesliga clubs. (Just FYI)