Michael

Ebimbe ran with the ball into the area and smashed the ball home into the far post to give Frankfurt the lead again! Frankfurt 2-1 Viktoria Plzen

Welsh international Brennan Johnson scores to give 10 man Spurs the lead against Qarabag! Johnson was put through by Solanke and Johnson made no mistake, as he slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. Tottenham 1-0 Qarabag

Tottenham have had their Romanian defender Dragusin sent off in the 9th minute, in what is a terrible start for Spurs.

Artem Dovbyk has scored to give Roma the lead over Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. Dovbyk was the first to get on the end of a cross and his header was low and accurate sending the ball into the corner of the net. AS Roma 1-0 Athletic Bilbao Meanwhile Frankfurt have also taken the lead with a goal that was coming. Hugo Ekitike played a one two with Kristiansen and when Ekitike got the ball back, he slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. But just 3 mintues later, Plzen equalised through their Czech international midfielder Pavel Sulc. Sulc blasted a rocket of a shot from outside the area and into the bottom corner of the net! Eintracht Frankfurt 1-1 Viktoria Plzen

Rangers did well to beat Malmo 2-0 away from home in one of the earlier kick-offs in the Europa League. The Scottish side deserved the win. I am currently watching the Frankfurt match at home to Viktoria Plzen and Frankfurt have started very well. Frankfurt are without Gotze today through illness, while Robin Kock, Kevin Trapp and Oscar Hojlund are out injured. Regular starters Hugo Larsson and Chaibi start on the bench today. There are rare starts for Dahoud and Matanovic in midfield in attack today, so it will be interesting to see how they perform this evening. So far Frankfurt have played well. The Tottenham match against Azeri champions Qarabag has been delayed half an hour because Qarabag arrived late to the stadium.

I didn't actually say that Lasme was better than Schnellbacher, I specifically named Karaman and Syalla as being better than Schnellbacher at the end, or at least that's what I suggested. I said Lasme and Hojlund are better than Gerezgiher, so please read what I wrote carefully. Also in terms of goals scored, Lasme has played as a winger for a long part of his career so far, as well as a striker, unlike Schnellbacher, who has always played as an out and out striker. So strikers are always going to be in a position to score more goals than wingers. So you didn't give a good example there and you failed to explain that Lasme has also played as a winger for large parts of his career. Hojlund is still a kid, he was at Denmark's best club Copenhagen who snap up all the best talent in the country. He is a highly rated prospect, but obviously competition is always going to be tough at Denmark's best club. However Hojlund is highly rated as a future prospect, he has played for the Danish international youth teams at various levels. The fact that he was good enough to be in Copenhagen's first team squad as a kid in itself says something. By the way he did play in cup competitions more frequently for Copenhagen than he did in the league. This is something that many top clubs do in trying to slowly integrate the younger players into the 1st team. Again, I didn't say that he is currently better than Schnellbacher, but he certainly has the potential to be. Hojlund is a teenager, his best is yet to come, but nonetheless, he is highly rated in Denmark as a future prospect. The Kiessling and Klose example is a bad example. Klose was still a youngster when he joined Kaiserslautern. The examples of players having played at top flight level for a long enough time, underlines the fact that they were good enough to play at that level. The top clubs in the top division clearly felt they were good enough at that level. Schalke have many players like that with top flight experience, compared to Elversberg. The best league that most of the Elversberg players have played in is the 2 Bundesliga. Some of them have played years in the lower leagues and only now in their mid to late 20s started playing in the 2 Bundesliga. In todays game, if there is a good enough talent, the top clubs in the Bundesliga will snap them up. Schalke have many of those such players in their team, while Elversberg don't have that many at all. Moreover, Schalke have players who have played Champions League football and players who have played for their respective national teams many times, they've played at respective international competitions like the Euros. Elversberg don't have any players who've reached that level.

Bottom of the table Ulm just defeated Elversberg convincingly 3-1 on Elversberg's home ground yesterday! Yes, Ulm, who were rock bottom of the table before they played Elversberg and Ulm are a team that are arguably the weakest team in the league this season. Ulm also hit the cross-bar against Elversberg and Ulm also had a strong penalty appeal turned down in that match. At least Schalke destroyed another lower half table team Braunschweig 5-1. Maybe you want to revise Schalke's and Elversberg's results. Schalke's results so far: Schalke 5-1 Braunschweig Nurnberg 3-1 Schalke (the sending of a Schalke player turned the tide in that match, as Schalke were leading before they had a player sent-off) Magdeburg 2-2 Schalke Schalke 1-3 Koln Karlsruhe 2-0 Schalke Schalke 3-5 Darmstadt (Schalke were leading 3-0 in the 1st half and were by far the better team at that point, then it just seemed that they just completely mentally collapsed, but I give credit to Darmstadt and their star forward Lidberg in particular, as he was excellent on the day with his hattrick). In analysing these matches, Schalke should have definitely beaten Nurnberg and Darmstadt, or at the very least have drawn. Because in the Nurnberg match, Schalke were leading and in control before they had a player sent-off. The sending-off changed the course of the game in Nurnberg's favour. While against Darmstadt, Schalke were leading 3-0 and then ended up capitulating and losing. I don't need to say more, to lose a match after being dominant in the first half and leading 3-0, says a lot about a mental collapse that they had. But I'd say the other results of Schalke were fair. Koln and Karlsruhe are better teams, that are playing better than Schalke right now. They deserved their wins against Schake, but we also have to remember, that Koln and Karlsruhe are both very strong contenders for getting promoted this season. So Schalke losing to both of them is not really a disgrace, while Schalke drawing 2-2 away to Magdeburg, isn't a terrible result either. Furthermore, Schalke destroying Braunschweig 5-1 was impressive, as any big margin win like that deserves credit, even if the opposition is one of the weaker sides in the division. Schalke have essentially so far lost to some of the better teams in the league in Karlsruhe, Koln and Darmstadt, while the Nurnberg loss was due in great part to Schalke having a player sent-off, as Schalke were leading in that match prior to the sending-off. Nurnberg by the way, are a team who I would say have a very good chance of potentially finishing in the top half of the table this season. They have some very good players in their team from what I've seen. Elversberg's results so far: Magdeburg 0-0 Elversberg Elversberg 2-2 Koln Karlsrhuhe 3-2 Elversberg Elversberg 4-0 Darmstadt Greuther Furth 0-0 Elversberg Elversberg 1-3 Ulm Elversberg drawing 0-0 away to Magdeburg isn't a bad result. Elversberg drawing 2-2 at home to Koln was a good result for them, while Elversberg losing 3-2 to Karlsruhe isn't a disgrace, as Elversberg were kind of expected to lose against them. Elversberg's 4-0 win over Darmstadt at home was impressive and that was the kind of win that Schalke were heading for against Darmstadt, as they lead 3-0 in the 1st half, but then like we said, they capitulated in the 2nd half. Moreover, Elversberg's 0-0 draw against Greuther Furth was an ok result. Although, unlike you, I think Greuther Furth are a bottom half of the table team and the bookmakers agree with me on that. Greuther Furth's 2-0 loss to Braunschweig I think demonstrated just how bad they can be. Finally Elversberg's 3-1 loss to Ulm, while playing in their own stadium was a rather embarrassing result for Elverberg. Ulm are arguably the weakest team in the league and to lose to Ulm while Elversberg were playing at home, is humiliating. In conclusion, in terms of results, in my opinion both teams have so far played 3 top half of the table teams and 3 bottom half of the table teams. Their points tally so far in the very early stage of the season is pretty close, but I think that Elversberg's 3-1 loss to a side like Ulm is telling. Schalke didn't lose to such weak opposition and I don't think they are ever likely to. Moreover, Schalke decided to sack their manager, because Schalke's results clearly hasn't met the expectations of the board. In particular, I think that Schalke's 5-3 loss to Darmstadt, after Schalke were cruising in the 1st half and leading 3-0, was the final straw, as it was a match that Schalke should have won. For Elversberg, I don't think that their manager will be sacked soon, despite them having a similar points tally to Schalke. Even Elversberg's loss, when they lost to bottom of the table Ulm, is unlikely to get the Elversberg manager the sack, because the Elversberg board's expectations aren't as high as the Schalke boards expectations. A lot more is going to be expected from a squad like Schalke's, which has higher potential than a squad like Elversberg's. I say that with all due respect to Elversberg. That's interesting that you mention Heekeren, because I was just thinking the other day, that he seems to be a weak link in the Schalke team. I will tell you now that I think that Kristof is better than Heekeren, but I also think that Ron-Thorben Hoffmann is better than both of them and I don't know why he isn't starting for Schalke. However, like I said, Schalke still have many more better players in their team than Elversberg, that doesn't mean of course that every Schalke player is better than every Elversberg player. But we can go through both teams and breakdown how that player for player, Schalke have more better players. Schalke v Elversberg Goalkeepers: Schalke Ron-Thorben Hoffman is Schalke's best goalkeeper, so I don't understand why he hasn't started ahead of Heekeren this season. I think that the new Schalke manager will immediately install Hoffman as their number 1 goalkeeper again. Hoffman is a better keeper than both Heekeren and Kristof in my opinion. Hoffman was a part of the youth teams of elite clubs like Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. While Hoffman also had a good season on loan at Sunderland a couple of years ago, as well as some impressive displays when he was a keeper for Braunschweig. Elversberg Nicholas Kristof is a good keeper for this division, that can't be denied. I would rate him as a better keeper than Heekeren. But I still believe that Hoffman is overall a more competent goalie than Kristof. Defenders: Right-backs Schalke Adrian Gantenbein: The young Swiss right-back is a Switzerland under-21 international and a highly rated young player. He has been pretty good for Schalke so far this season. Mehmet Can-Aydin: Aydin is another young Schalke right-back who is also competent and well rated. Aydin has represented the German national team at various youth levels and Aydin also helped big Turkish side Trabzonspor finish in 3rd place last season in the Turkish league. Elversberg Elias Baum: The young right-back on loan from Frankfurt has been one of Elversberg's better performers this season. He has played for Germany at some youth levels. I would say that Baum is probably at a similar standard to Gantenbein and Aydin right now. So I will for arguments sake say that for the right back position, all these 3 players are at a similar level, so Schalke and Elversberg are probably at a similar strength in the right-back position with these players. Left-backs: Schalke Derry Murkin: The English left-back has been one of the best left-backs in the 2 Bundesliga since he joined Schalke in August 2023. He is a dynamic left-back whose crossing is a real threat when he goes forward and attacks. Elversberg Maurice Neubauer: The Elversberg left-back is a decent left-back in this division but he is nowhere near Murkin's level. So Schalke are definitely stronger than Elversberg in the left-back position. Central Defenders: Schalke Tomas Kalas: Kalas is an experienced Czech defender who has played 31 international matches for the Czech Republic and he has also scored 2 international goals for them. Furthermore, Kalas has played for Chelsea and Fulham. Kalas was a regular starter for Fulham as well and a key player in defence for them. Kalas has also played for Middlesbrough and Bristol City during his career as well as Koln. He has played for very good clubs in the past and he is an experienced international for the Czech national team. Kalas was also a part of the Czech Republic national team that played at Euro 2020. Marcin Kaminski: Kaminski is another experienced defender for Schalke. The Polish defender has played for the Polish national team on a number of occasions and he was also a member of the Polish squad that played at Euro 2012 as a youngster. Kaminski has also played regularly for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga in the past, he amassed 60 games for Stuttgart and he has plenty of top level Bundesliga experience. The 2 Bundesliga is a step down in the level of football that he has played for most of his career in the Bundesliga. Felipe Sanchez: The young 20 year old Argentine is a highly rated defender who was wanted by some Serie A and La Liga clubs before he joined Schalke. So Schalke buying the young Argentine is a bit of a coup for them. Sanchez is definitely one of the better young defenders in the 2 Bundesliga. Martin Wasinski: Wasinski is another young Schalke defender who is highly rated. The 20 year old Belgian defender has played for Belgium at various youth levels. Like Sanchez, he looks to have a very promising future. Ibrahima Cisse: The Mali defender is yet another youngster who is very well regarded. Cisse already has a goal to his name in the 2 Bundesliga for Schalke this season. Elversberg Florian Le Joncour: The experienced French central defender has played most of his career in the French 2nd tier as well as in Belgium. He is a decent defender, but nothing to write home about. Maximilian Rohr: Rohr has played most of his career in the 2 Bundesliga and he has never played in a top league despite his long career. Again he is a decent defender, but he doesn't compare to most of Schalke's defenders. Lukas Pinckert: The youngest of Elversberg's central defenders at 24 years of age. Prior to joining Elversberg 2 years ago, Pinckert only ever played in the lower German divisions. So the 2 Bundesliga is the highest level league that he has ever played in. I think that all in all, we can clearly see that Schalke have the better central defenders. Not only do they have Kalas and Kaminski, both of whom have played many times for their respective national teams and both of whom have been to the European Championships. Moreover, both of them have played in the top tier leagues, either the Premier League or the Bundesliga. While the other 3 young Schalke defenders Sanchez, Wasinski and Cisse are all highly rated young defenders. I am sorry, but overall, Le Joncour, Rohr and Pinckert are definitely not as good as the Schalke defenders. Central Midfielders: Schalke Ron Schallenberg: He is a central midfielder who has been one of the best in his position in this division in recent years, both at Schalke and when he was at Paderborn. Schallenberg also has top tier Bundesliga experience for when he was at Paderborn, when they were in the Bundesliga. Paul Seguin: Seguin is an experienced midfielder who is another who has top tier experience, having played in the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and Union Berlin in the past. Amin Younes: Younes has plenty of elite level experience, having played for top clubs like Napoli and Ajax. He has played in the Champions League and he has also been capped 8 times for the full German national team where he scored 2 international goals for them. Younes played for Germany at the 2017 Confederations Cup. Mauro Zalazar: The Uruguayan teenager is a highly rated young midfielder, who is expected to have a very bright future. Elversberg Robin Fellhauer: Fellhauer is Elversberg's captain and an important player in their team. He is a good midfielder in this league, but again, at 26, he has never played in a top tier league. Carlo Sickinger: Sickinger joined Elversberg from Sandhausen. He has played in 2 Bundesliga and other lower divisions throughout his career and at 27, similar to Fellhauer, he has never played in a top tier league, such as the Bundesliga. Semih Sahin: He is the other central midfielder in Elverberg's team. He is a decent player, but again, prior to joining Elversberg last season, he was playing in the the 3rd Bundesliga and the regional leagues. The 2 Bundesliga is the highest level that he has ever played at. Again, I don't think that Elversberg's central midfielders are on the same level as Schalke's central midfielders. Younes, Schallenberg and Seguin all have Bundesliga experience, while Younes also played in the Champions League and for the German national team. Wingers/Wide midfielders: Schalke Ilyes Hamache: The 21 year old is a highly rated young winger, who has represented the France Under 20 national team. Christopher Antwi-Adjei: The Ghanian international has played regularly in the Bundesliga when he was at Bochum and Paderborn, as well as playing for the Ghanian national team. He is a winger who has plenty of experience playing in a top tier league. Tobias Mohr: Mohr is an experienced player, who played for Heidenheim before he joined Elverberg. He has never played in the Bundesliga, but is an experienced 2 Bundesliga player. Elversberg Lukas Petkov: The Bulgarian is a young player who is arguably Elversberg's best player in my opinion. Petkov is a regular in the Bulgarian national team and he has Bundesliga experience with Augsburg. Petkov is a very good player in the 2 Bundesliga. Muhammed Damar: Damar is another very decent young player. He has some Bundesliga experience with Hoffenheim and now on loan at Elversberg, he is playing very well in the 2 Bundesliga. Manuel Feil: Feil has a lot of experience, but in all honesty, is an average player. Looking at the wide positions, there's probably not much difference in quality between the 2 sides. I would even say that there is a chance that Elversberg's wide players are slightly better, namely Petkov and Damar. But it's very close, because Hamache and Adjei are at a similar level to the Elversberg wide men. Forwards Schalke Moussa Sylla: Sylla had represented France at various youth levels before he decided to play for the Mali national team. Sylla who can play as a winger or a striker, played several years at top French side AS Monaco. He has also played for top flight Dutch side Utrecht as well as French 2nd division clubs Caen and Pau. He is a highly rated young forward who has already scored 4 goals so far this season for Schalke. Kenan Karaman: The Schalke captain is an experienced forward, who has played for the Turkish national team 31 times and scored 6 goals for them. Karaman also played for Turkey at Euro 2020 in all their matches. There is no doubt that Karaman is a top forward in this division. Similar to Sylla, Karaman has already scored 4 goals in the Bundesliga for Schalke this season. Bryan Lasme: The French forward/winger has played in the Bundesliga with Bielefeld, so he has top flight experience, despite still being 25. Lasme started his career out at Sochaux and he is a good forward player in this league, the 2 Bundesliga. Lasme has also played for the France Under 20 national team and represented them at the 2018 Toulon Tournament. Emil Hojlund: The teenager is the highly rated younger brother of Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund. He has played for top Danish club Copenhagen as well as the Danish under 19 and under 18 national teams. Elversberg Luca Schnellbacher: Schnellbacher has been quite a prolific scorer for Elversberg since he joined them in 2020. But prior to that, his scoring rate at the lower league clubs he played before that, wasn't exactly great. At 30, he is an experienced forward, who is a good striker for Elversberg, but he has never played in a top league. Fisnik Asllani: The young forward is a very promising player. He has played for Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, although he has never scored for them. However, he is a very good forward for this division and has already scored 4 goals this season. Filimon Gerezgiher: He is a 24 year old forward in his first at Elversberg. Prior to being with Elversberg, he only played in the lowe leagues. This is the highest level that he has ever played at, as this is this is the 1st season he has ever played in the 2 Bundesliga. He is an average footballer in this league at best. To conclude, I would say that Karaman and Sylla are probably slightly better than Asllani and Schnellbacher. Karaman has proven himself at a competent level in a top tier league and he has played very well for his national team Turkey over the years. As for Sylla, is a highly rated 24 year old who was good enough to be a regular for top French side Monaco, where he scored a few goals for them as well in the past. Sylla also played at a number of French youth national team levels as well, even the French B national team before he decided to play for the Mali national team. Karaman and Sylla have already proven themselves to be a real threat this season, with the pair of them already bagging 4 goals each in the Bundesliga. While Schnellbacher and Asllani are also very good players for this division, they've not really proven themselves in a top league. Schnellbacher has never played in a top league, while Asllani only had a few appearances for Hoffenheim early in his career and never scored for them. As for Lasme and Hojlund, I think that they are both definitely better than Gerezgiher. Lasme was good enough to play in the Bundesliga, while Hojlund was good enough to play at Denmark's best club Copenhagen. As for Gerezgiher, this is his first season playing at the 2 Bundesliga level, as prior to that, he only ever played in the lower leagues. All in all, I think that it's quite obvious that Schalke are stronger in most positions when comparing them to Elversberg and they definitely have more depth than Elversberg do.

He has actually proven himself to be an excellent manager. Just look at his stats since he became Dusseldorf manager. He took charge of Dusseldorf midway through the season at the start of February 2022, when Dusseldorf were in 16th position in the league. Thioune then went undefeated in his first 12 consecutive matches as manager of Dusseldorf. Fortuna Dusseldorf would finish that season in 10th position, well away from the relegation zone. In the 2022/23 season, which was Thioune's first full season as manager of Dusseldorf, Thioune managed to get Dusseldorf to finish in 4th place in the 2 Bundesliga at the end of the season. Then the following season(last season), Thioune managed to steer Dusseldorf into finishing the 2 Bundesliga in 3rd position in the league table. This season so far, Dusseldorf are top of the league in 1st position. It's obviously early days yet, but it just seems like he is improving this Dusseldorf side season upon season. In today's match, Thioune's decision to bring on Niemiec as a substitute when Dusseldorf were trailing to Koln, proved crucial, as Niemiec would score the equaliser that earned Dusseldorf an important point and the 2-2 draw. It's been an excellent start to the season for Dusseldorf, where they have won 4 matches and drawn their other 2 league games. With Thioune at the helm, one can't help but feel very confident about Dusseldorf's chances of getting promoted this season.

What a fight that was, Dubois came out like a bull with his punching and KO'd Joshua in the 5th round. I don't think that Joshua recovered from his 1st round knock down, he was on shaky legs after that. I think that when Joshua caught Dubois with a clean big punch in the 5th round, he knew that trying to KO Dubois then and there was his only realistic chance of winning, giving his weak legs. So that's why I think Joshua went in for the kill after he caught Dubois, but Dubois of course was too quick and connected his KO punch before Joshua could. Dubois is an improving fighter, but I still don't think he will beat the likes of Usyk or even Fury, I think they would be too quick for him. Dubois always has that power in his punch which can be lethal as we saw today, but I don't think that he is good enough yet to beat the big 2. I hope I am wrong though, it would be nice to see a younger fighter like Dubois prove how good he is.

I am leaning towards Joshua winning this fight against Dubois, despite many like Tyson Fury backing Dubois to win. I think that Joshua should be able to outbox Dubois. But Dubois is a great puncher, so there is a big danger of him producing a knockout if Joshua is not careful. However, I think that Joshua has become a much more sensible and disciplined boxer, I think he will probably win on points. Although, obviously these are both top heavyweights fighting, where each respective boxer is more than capable of knocking out the other. I just feel that Joshua should fight an intelligent fight tonight and that he will probably win.

Spouting their bullshit indeed. Social media has undeniably given people the platform to express thoughts they would never dare to voice in public or in face to face interactions. The anonymity it offers seems to have brought out the worst in many. Additionally, I concur with @Gunnersaurus that social media can transform typically non-confrontational individuals into more argumentative personalities. Often, they get entangled in disputes or take offense at an insult or inappropriate comment, leading to further arguments. Social media can undoubtedly foster a toxic environment, depending on the individuals present on a particular platform or group. The list of social media websites that @nudge posted, just demonstrates how many online platforms there are that allow people to say some of the most controversial things that they want to say. Moreover, the actual algorithms that drive social media platforms regularly prioritize sensational and controversial content, which can exacerbate these issues. This can allow for echo chambers where extreme views are amplified, while the moderate voices are drowned out. In addition, the lack of accountability and the ease of spreading misinformation further contributes to the toxicity. I've been on some of these platforms in the past and tried to reason with people about some of their extreme views, but they just don't want to know, instead they continue to feed the echo chamber. Social media has also created spaces, where certain people can manipulate others in a way which was much harder to do before social media came about. The echo chambers that spout BS are the worst, because they just reinforce the same BS opinions/beliefs through repetition. It makes those in the echo chamber more confident and emboldened about these beliefs, even if these beliefs are completely inaccurate. One of the worst things that can result from an echo chamber, is when the misinformation translates to the real world and people act on these ill informed beliefs. This can ultimately quite often lead to tragic outcomes.

Why don't you want to analyse the players in the squads and put your case forward? It's better than doing a runner. Saying that you firmly disagree proves nothing. I do not base my opinions on feelings and emotions. If Schalke had some less better players in their squad compared to Elversberg, I'd happily say so.

Yes, I said player for player, Schalke are stronger. We are not talking about the ilk or the stature or the successful history of each respective club. Of course Schalke would win easily on all fronts if we were talking about that. I am specifically talking about the quality of players that each team has in their respective squads. For me, it's quite obvious that Schalke have more better players in their squad this season than Elversberg do.

Well that's not too surprising. When a club like Schalke, with high expectations in this division, loses and squanders a 3-0 lead, that's never going to go down well with the Schalke board.

Mate, lol, why are you going over the breakdown of Schalke's results and performances when I've already explained it? Yes, Braunschweing are so abysmal, that's why they convincingly beat Greauther Furth 2-0 today. My whole argument, was that Schalke, player for player have a better squad than the clubs I mentioned in my opinion. It's still very early in the season, so you getting so excited about Elversberg's mediocre results is way too premature and yes, as I said, Schalke haven't been great in some matches as well. Moreover, as we know, football is more than just having the better players, a lot of other factors come into things, especially the tactics and the management of the team. Elversberg drew 0-0 with Greuther Furth last week, while Braunschweig handily defeated Greuther Furth 2-0 today and Schalke of course crushed Braunschweig 5-1! You see, we can analyse results and make various cases as to who is playing better and who is the better team. But like I said, my argument is that Schalke with the players they have, should at least finish the season in the top half of the table. I also maintain that it's way too early to read too much into the table standings right now. However, we can discuss my argument in detail if you like, we can determine which squad, player for player is stronger, Schalke or Elversberg(since you made a case for Elversberg being better).

Player for player, Schalke's squad is better than Paderborn's and even Hannover's in my opinion. Koln, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Hertha BSC have some of the strongest squads in this division, so Schalke's squad is probably not as good as theirs. Paderborn have have had some easy fixtures at the start of the season, but they couldn't even beat the likes of Ulm and Preussen Munster. They probably punched above their weight in some of the other matches they've won this season, but like I said, player for player, I think Schalke have a stronger squad than them. However, I'd say that Schalke's squad is also better than Lautern's, Fürth's, Nürnberg's, or Elversberg's, although I don't think Nürnberg's squad is as average as you suggest it is, they've got several good players in their squad for this level. Even Kaiserslautern have some decent players in their squad. But yeah, I still think Schalke has a stronger squad than these teams that you mentioned, especially Fürth and most definitely Elversberg. If we look at Schalke's results so far this season, they destroyed Eintracht Braunschweig and beat them 5-1 in their opening match of the season. In their 2nd match, Schalke kind of got unlucky away to Nürnberg, as Schalke had the lead in the 1st half through a Cisse goal, but Schalke had Schallenberg sent-off soon after their goal. As a result, in the 2nd half, the home side Nürnberg exploited their 1 man advantage to score 2 goals, that gave them the lead. I think Schallenberg's sending off was a big factor in helping a decent Nürnberg side defeat Schalke that day. In matches after that, Schalke would then draw 2-2 away to Magdeburg, then Schalke would lose to 2 of the better teams in this division, against both Koln and Karlsruhe. So we can't really say that these 2 results were a disgrace for Schalke or something. Schalke though should have definitely won yesterday's match against Darmstadt though. If you take a 3-0 lead in this division, you should definitely not end up losing the match. However, having said that, despite some poor play by Schalke in the 2nd half, I saw Darmstadt play some of their best football this season in that 2nd half. Lidberg in particular was excellent and he was lethal in front of goal. So all in all, it's still early days in the season and Schalke still have time to sort themselves out and go on a successful run. They've been quite erratic with their results so far this season, but a sending off against Nürnberg and a mental capitulation in the 2nd half against Darmstadt, has not really helped their cause. But they've also had some tough fixtures so far have Schalke, yet they have time and opportunity to improve their position in the league. I think Schalke will work things out and be in the top half of the table in the near future.

Schalke are just one of the most erratic teams in the 2 Bundesliga. They have actually got a very decent squad this season for this division, but their results and performances have not been consistent at all. For Schalke to lose todays match against Darmstadt, when Schalke were leading 3-0, will really haunt them. Darmstadt for their part were excellent in the 2nd half and their Swedish striker Isac Lidberg was superb as he scored a hattrick to inspire the victory for Darmstadt. Lidberg took all his goals superbly, as he was clinical with his efforts. It was also nice to see Scottish forward Fraser Hornby score a goal for Darmstadt, considering the injury plagued year he had last season. However, true to form, Hornby also got injured in today's match, having to leave the pitch due to injury in the 68th minute of the 2nd half. Schalke 3-5 Darmstadt

You're entitled to your opinion about them, but I quite like Augsburg. Augsburg had one of the best forwards in the league last season in Demirovic. But as he inevitably had to leave for a bigger club in Stuttgart, Thorup was mad to think that Essende would be an adequate replacement for the superb Bosnian forward. Essende who is 26, has never scored more than 9 league goals a season during his entire career and he has mostly played in the French 2nd Division and the French 3rd Division during his club career. I just think that it's insane that Essende is first choice up-front for Augsburg, when there are other players like Beljo and Cardona who would almost certainly do a better job up-front for Augsburg. Cardona is now playing regularly on loan at Espanyol in the tough La Liga and Beljo is proving to be a key player on loan at Rapid Vienna.

Mainz still find themselves in the lead, despite having a Amiri sent off in the 1st half against Augsburg. Burkhardt and Sieb had given Mainz the visitors a 2-0 lead after only 15 minutes of the match having been played. Augsburg equalised in the 25th minute through Keven Schlotterbeck and then 10 minutes later, in the 35th minute, Mainz's Amiri was sent-off. Mainz would hold on to their 2-1 lead until half-time. However, in the 2nd half, Burkhardt would score his 2nd goal of the game and Mainz's 3rd goal to extend Mainz's lead over Augsburg in the 49th minute of the 2nd half. Augsburg would pull a goal back through Essende in the 57th minute, but Essende would then get himself sent-off in the 70th minute and consequently cancel out Augsburg's 1 man advantage. With 15 minutes left to play of normal time, the score is still Augsburg 2-3 Mainz. I have to say that I am surprised that Augsburg loaned out their forwards Beljo(to Rapid Vienna) and Cardona(to Espanyol). Because I really do not rate Essende, he is 26 and he has never really been prolific in his career and he has mostly played in 2nd tier divisions/leagues during his career. Beljo has a lot of potential, he's still very young, but he has proven he can score goals at a good level. He has already been capped twice by Croatia and he already looks a dangerous forward. While Cardona provides a dangerous attacking threat. Cardona has been excellent for Brest and St.Etienne over the past 5 years and he was highly rated when he started out his career at Monaco. I think that Augsburg really shouldn't have loaned out Beljo or Cardona this season, because quite frankly, Essende doesn't impress me at all. Augsburg 2-3 Mainz

Lee Carsley has done relatively well in his first 2 matches as England manager. He has the privilege of managing one of the most talented England teams ever and one would hope that he could lead this England team to win a major international competition. Carsley as a relatively young manager, potentially has a very long career as England manager ahead of him, if he can find the required success at England's helm. It is also interesting that today is the 20th anniversary of the death of the great Brian Clough, a man who many people thought should have been given the chance of managing the England national team. Clough was undoubtedly one of the best English football managers to grace the game.

Augsburg 2-2 Mainz Heidenheim 2-2 Freiburg Bremen 1-4 Bayern Union 2-1 Hoffenheim Bochum 2-1 Kiel Frankfurt 3-2 Gladbach Leverkusen 3-1 Wolfsburg Stuttgart 2-2 Dortmund St Pauli 1-3 Leipzig

Paderborn 2-2 Hannover Schalke 3-1 Darmstadt Düsseldorf 1-1 Köln Nürnberg 2-2 Hertha BSC Braunschweig 0-1 Fürth Lautern 1-2 Hamburg Elversberg 2-1 Ulm Magdeburg 1-2 Karlsruhe Regensburg 1-1 Münster

Yes, Schillaci won both the Golden Boot award(top scorer of the World Cup) and the Golden Ball award(best player of the World Cup) in 1990. He won those awards ahead of the great Lothar Matthaus. However, Matthaus would go on to win the Ballon d'Or in 1990, as the best player in the world for that year, among many other awards that he won that year. But it's sad to hear this news of Schillaci passing away so early. To think that both Schillaci and Vialli, two iconic Italian forwards of the 1990's have both passed away early, is a very sobering thought.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens came on as a sub for Dortmund in the 68th minute against Brugge and the Englishman went on to score 2 goals for them. Guirassy scored a 3rd goal for Dortmund from a penalty in injury time at the end of the match, but it was really Jamie Bynoe-Gittens who really helped Dortmund win that match. The 20 year old winger is really improving as a player and he looks to have a very bright future ahead of him. Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund

In today's early kick-offs, Bologna drew 0-0 with Shakhtar Donetsk in Bologna. Bologna's Polish keeper saved an early penalty from Shakhtar's Sudakov, as early as the 3rd minute of the match. While Sparta Prague thrashed RB Salzburg 3-0 in the other early match. Bologna 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk Sparta Prague 3-0 RB Salzburg