Michael
-
Posts
9,089 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Michael
-
-
Dortmund were the better side in the 1st half and with a bit more luck, they could have been at least 1 goal up at half-time. In the 2nd half though, Real Madrid's performance improved, even though Dortmund were still a danger themselves. Dortmund deserve respect for the impressive and gutsy performance they gave, but ultimately Real Madrid showed their quality by taking and scoring from the some of the chances that came their way.
It was a great header by Carvajal from a beautiful corner cross by Kroos, that gave Real the lead. But the 2nd goal was really a gift by Dortmund, with Maatsen producing that poor pass that gave possession away to Bellingham, who put Vinicius Jnr through on goal to score Real's 2nd goal. Dortmund were a bit unlucky in the final, it would have been nice to see them win, but ultimately we have to congratulate Real Madrid on the win. Their record in the Champions League over the past 10 years has been very impressive.
-
-
1 minute ago, Rucksackfranzose said:
That's because most of them get promoted before being in the 2.Liga for so long, if we're honest. Let's not pretend HSV wouldn't be the club that's been for the longest time continously, now.
How many relegated clubs from the Bundesliga have we seen fall by the wayside and end up in very low positions in the 2 Bundesliga? There are many examples of this, come on now.
-
47 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:
Disgree with the bolded parts. HSV always set expressly the goal of being promoted. They never succeeded, that's not doing well, that's failing. Since I'm expecting them to fail again also disagree with the second part- they're going to do exactly as "well" as in the previous seasons.
The point I was making, is that in the upcoming seasons, I think they will probably do worse than they have done over the last 6 seasons. Yeah, I know Hamburg's aim was promotion and they came so close to achieving that on so many occasions. So when I used the words "do as well", I am talking relative to how I think they will do in the future.
Hamburg have done relatively well over the last 6 years to consistently finish in the top 4. It's been either 3rd place or 4th place during those years and no lower. Not many relegated clubs from the Bundesliga, manage to finish so high in the 2 Bundesliga table as consistently as that and over that many seasons.
-
St. Pauli and Holstein Kiel were impressive last season on their way to promotion. But it was extremely tough luck that Dusseldorf didn't quite make it, as they lost in the play-offs to VFL Bochum in dramatic fashion. However, the 2 northern clubs should be a tough match for most teams in the Bundesliga next season, as St. Pauli and Holstein Kiel seem very well organised and have some very competent players.
Nevertheless, I think we should all spare a thought for another northern club and that is Hamburger SV. Ever since they got relegated from the Bundesliga in the 2017/18 season and into the 2 Bundesliga, they have come so close to regaining promotion.
Hamburg's record reads as follows since they got relegated in 2018:
2018/19 season, Hamburg finished 4th in the 2 Bundesliga table.
2019/20 season, Hamburg finished 4th in the 2 Bundesliga table.
2020/21 season, Hamburg finished 4th in the 2 Bundesliga table.
2021/22 season, Hamburg finished 3rd in the 2 Bundesliga table.
2022/23 season, Hamburg finished 3rd in the 2 Bundesliga table.
2023/24 season, Hamburg finished 4th in the 2 Bundesliga table.
This season, once again, Hamburg came so close to getting that much coveted promotion to the Bundesliga, but they fell narrowly short of their target. It would have been good to see a club that is historically as big and as illustrious as Hamburg back in the Bundesliga. However, it was sadly not to be.
I also have a strong feeling that next season they probably won't do as well in the 2 Bundesliga, compared to how well they did over the past 6 seasons.
I don't think that Hamburg will be able to hold on to their star players. Glatzel, Hamburg's top striker, was the leading scorer in the Bundesliga and his overall scoring record for Hamburg since he joined them has been superb. But Heidenheim are strongly linked to Glatzel and it looks very likely that he will join them in the Bundesliga.
Moreover, Laszlo Benes, who despite missing 8 league matches through injury, was not only among the top scorers in the 2 Bundesliga, but the midfielder was the player with the 2nd most assists in the whole league. Benes was excellent for Hamburg this season and like Glatzel, it looks like Benes will be leaving Hamburg over the summer, with Hoffenheim the club that have been strongly linked to buying him.
There could be more players that leave Hamburg at the end of the season as well and I think it will be hard for Hamburg to replace star players like Glatzel and Benes. So there certainly looks like there will be challenging times ahead for Hamburg and we might not see them back in the Bundesliga for a fair few seasons yet. But they have been so unlucky over the past 6 seasons in the 2 Bundesliga, that's for certain.
-
1 hour ago, 6666 said:
El Kaabi making a name for himself at 30. Has been scoring for fun in the competition. Shame this didn't happen for him at a younger age.
He has scored loads of goals for every club he has played for during his career. His goals to appearance ratio for the clubs he has been is phenomenal. The only issue is that he has mainly played for Chinese, Turkish and Arab clubs during his career, prior to joining Olympiacos. He played at the 2018 World Cup for Morocco, but he wasn't selected for the 2022 World Cup.
Given that he is a seasoned Moroccan international and that he has had a very impressive scoring record at club level, it is quite surprising that the better European clubs hadn't signed him earlier. His triumph with Olympiacos in this competition is well deserved though.
-
2 hours ago, Danny said:
I think it’s implied a lot of it will be down to Osimhen leaving
Well apparently the asking price for Osimhen is around £110 million(which I do think is insane). So yeah, I also think it's implied that it's to do with the money they will get from his sale.
-
It's also good to see Stevan Jovetic win this trophy, with the long career he has had. Jovetic has played for clubs in all the so called top 5 European leagues in his career. For Jovetic, it's also the 1st European trophy that he has won.
-
Olympiacos win their first ever European trophy and make history! To be honest the match itself wasn't greatest final, with the scores at 0-0 until the final minutes of extra time. But the significance of this win for Olympiacos is huge. Congratulations to them.
Olympiacos 1-0 Fiorentina
-
El Kaabi scores with a diving header right near the end of the 2nd half of extra time, as Olympiacos take the lead against Fiorentina!
Olympiacos 1-0 Fiorentina
-
It seems like Dortmund are looking at Greenwood as an alternative option to Sancho. I still think that Sancho is Dortmund's preferred choice, but United are apparently asking for a £55 million transfer fee for him. Dortmund will look to bring that transfer asking price down, if they end up bidding for Sancho.
Greenwood is a real talent, despite his disreputable and shameful actions off of the pitch. I've seen him play some very good games for Getafe this season. However, I read that Man United will still be asking a hefty transfer fee for him, with reports saying anything from £30 million to £50 million. Which I find a little surprising, given that Greenwood only has one year left on his contract with Man Utd and the fact that United want to get rid of him, after they practically announced that he wouldn't play for them again.
With Sancho, I think a lot depends on whether ten Hag stays at the club next season or if he leaves. If ten Hag leaves, then I think that there will be more incentive for Sancho to stay at United. However, if the manager stays at Old Trafford, then I think that Sancho will want to make the move to Dortmund permanent or at least have another loan spell at the club.
As it stands though, it seems like Greenwood will be a cheaper option. But do Dortmund really want to tarnish their reputation by signing him, despite the obvious talent that the 22 year old has?
-
Liverpool should try their best to keep him, he is one of the best keepers in the world. He has still got plenty of years left in him where he can play at the highest level.
-
I think Conte should do a very good job at Napoli next season. I've always rated Conte highly as a manager and I believe that the tactics as well as the style of football that he likes his teams to play, should suit Napoli. Conte has won the Premier League title as manager of Chelsea, as well as winning the Serie A title 3 times with Juventus and the Serie A title once as manager of Inter Milan. He should have a very good chance of helping Napoli win the Serie A title next season, just like how Napoli won Serie A two seasons ago.
Napoli have still kept the bulk of their important players from their 2022/23 Serie A winning season. Key players of that Serie A title winning season like Osimhen, Raspadori, Zielinski, Lobotka, Di Lorenzo, Kvaratskhelia and their goalkeeper Alex Meret are all still at Napoli. It was only really Kim Min-jae, Elif Elmas and Lozano who were important players that left the club after Napoli had just won the league in 2023. But if Napoli can still hold on to the key players of that title winning season and add a few more quality players this summer, they should have a very successful upcoming campaign under Conte.
-
According to reports, it looks like Bayer Leverkusen will beat Barcelona to the signing of Girona and Spanish international midfielder Aleix Garcia. It is reported that Garcia has agreed personal terms with Leverkusen and that the transfer fee will be a bargain £12 million. The cut price transfer fee is because Garcia has an exit clause of £12 million in his contract. Garcia has been excellent for Girona and he was also selected for The La Liga team of the Season for 2023/24. Moreover, Garcia has been selected for Spain's squad that will play at Euro 2024 in Germany. All in all, it seems like this will be an excellent signing for Leverkusen.
-
Paciencia, Bero, Asano, Stoger, Schlotterbeck and Wittek all scored from their penalties for Bochum, while Masovic missed his penalty as it was saved. However for Dusseldorf, Johannesson, Engelhrdt, Oberdorf, Tzolis and Niemiec scored their penalties, but Andre Hoffmann had his penalty saved and Uchina absolutely balooned his penalty effort over the bar!
So that means that Bochum win and have incredibly turned this tie around. I don't know how Dusseldorf will recover from this, they had such a big advantage from the 1st leg, but congrats to Bochum for playing excellently today.
Commiserations to @Tommy, Dusseldorf had an impressive season and it's sad that it came down to this.
-
1
-
-
Luthe saves from Andre Hofman!
-
Paciencia steps up to take the 1st penalty. Paciencia scores and sends Kastenmaier diving the wrong way.
-
This will be intense
-
2 goal hero Hoffman is brought off before the kick-off for the 30 minutes of extra-time, but Bochum have the luxury of replacing him with the experienced Portuguese international Goncalo Paciencia.
-
If the sub Asano connected to that cross, that would likely have been the 4th goal. Hoffman, Stoger, Bero and Ordets have been excellent and stood out today, but all the Bochum team have done very well.
-
8 minutes ago, Rucksackfranzose said:
Now, it has the potential to become heated Düsseldorf 0-3Bochum. Bochum have now equalised the 1st leg deficite.
Unbelievable how they've scored 3, but to be fair Bochum have played very well today. Hoffman has scored 2, with Stoger scoring the 3rd from a penalty. This is an incredibly dramatic play-off, @Tommy must be very nervous right now.
-
Bochum took the lead in the 1st half thanks to a goal by Hofmann. This 2nd half should be interesting.
-
Congratulation to Southampton for getting promoted back to the Premier League so soon. They played very well today, but they will need to invest in 2 or 3 new players if they want to be competitive and remain in the Premier League next season. Leeds have a lot of depth in their team, hopefully they will be able to hang on to their key players over the summer. If they can do that, then I think it is very likely they will have another very strong push for promotion next season.
-
33
22
Germany National Team Discussion
in International Competitions
Posted · Edited by Michael
Germany drew 0-0 with Ukraine in Nurnberg today. Neither side gave much away, but it was Germany and Beier in particular who had more chances. Beier hit the crossbar with a shot from a tight angle in the 2nd half. Moments later, a Beier attempt at goal, saw Trubin make another very good save. Fuhrich also forced a great save from Trubin later on in the 2nd half. For Ukraine, they had several efforts on target themselves. Yaremchuk forced Neuer into a great save and then later on, Neuer made another impressive save from Yarmolenko.
For Germany, Beier, Musiala, Gross, Andrich, Mittelstadt and Neuer had very good games in my opinion, while for Ukraine, Yaremchuk, Tsygankov, Zinchenko, Zabarnyi, Matviyenko and Trubin impressed.
Germany 0-0 Ukraine