SchalkeUK

I seem to remember a post on here some time ago from Tommy when he - probably quite correctly - redrew the map of Germany omitting the Bavaria/Ruhr regions and replacing them with geographical areas of Aldiland! Ahead of his time!

I think one of the reasons why the 04 total is so high is my own experience. I first went to Germany in 1949 to Castrop-Rauxel which is well away from Gelsenkirchen, but all the boys I met there of my age were 'knappen' and these day most of my friends in Herne are likewise 04 supporters. Even on the outskirts of Dortmund there are many wearing blue rather than the BVB colours - for some reason 04 has more of a 'Ruhr' feeling than some of the others - I meet up with fans in Bochum and even in Tommy's homeland. Some of my local kids here in W Yorkshire are only 5 miles from Leeds but are Citizens and solid Man City fans. I even have two lovers of the Pied Piper story and have become firm Werder supporters as a result. Its kids like me who start at 11 or less who stay with it which build up the list - through thick or thin - nudge is typical of that long-term devoted support which whatever the 'coach of the day' does to us we stay as Olivia NJ used to sing - 'Hopelessly Devoted'! As for the shopping cart I have just been to Tesco and without a £1 coin I was given a little blue plastic chip which worked and are all over for free - now I know why their trollies are all over rather than having to get the £1 back - daft really!

I sometimes have a problem similar to that expressed by nudge! Veltins which I have bought both in the US and drunk from Fass at Lake Garda always tastes differently from that poured fresh in the Arena. It is hard to find in the UK and again it seems not to travel well - fresh it is as good as most I have come across. Perhaps one day I will be able to sit with her near the nordkurv and enjoy the freshly brewed Stadium offer! If that happens we will have to arrange different seating if she wants to wear her green scarf

I have been keeping quiet here rather than comment on how DW is handling things, but now he might have a new challenge! The one bright light in his selections - young Amin Harit - has been playing so well - too well - that FCB are looking to make a bid in the next window in January - so my latest texts from there suggest! With Ivan likely to be leaving perhaps Amin is being considered as the replacement!

Surprised you missed the best bit in Aachen - liverbird and I visited there for the 04 friendly and opposite the ground is a Restaurant with not only superb choices of International Buffet food, but a range of bottles to make even your eyes water - should have tried it! And the roads were all in perfect order!!!

Great pity that last night's game against Argentina was not only 45 minutes. The young members of the team started as if Low's problems were beginning to seem less difficult, but the fading of performance in the latter half was not good. The Kahn, Koch, Sule trio looked good whilst the forwards were keeping possession but taking off the best two was not a good idea and the visitors were able to find lots of holes at the back. More work needed and other players to be included - why?, on his home ground was Reus not used when Havertz and Gnabry were taken off? Low still has work to do - not only on the field but in his own mind!

Good for him - always difficult when a club rejects a young promising player and lets him go out on loan - great to see him and Sancho proving pep wrong for a change! and young Matondo could be joining them after his game last week - Johnny Kenny is proving what idiots Everton are - particularly after his performance with 04 and lest week diabolical Everton defensive performance. More power to the kids for not letting those decisions undermine their confidence. Just hope Zack has an off day on the 11th of next month

The last 2 weeks I posted the fixtures and the TV coverage in UK, De, Nl and Fr - is it worth continuing that and, if so, any other countries I have access to could be included if anyone wishes it

Sorry to be so sad, but Pastor Jeff pursuing the Police lady in Sheldon 3/2 with help from mum Cooper has to be worth a few minutes of anyone's time!

Low is picking the present German Team which is well below what he had to pick for the World Cup in 2014 and the 2018 squad was missing a leader and players in key roles who were not good enough. Still no leader and one or two who are not even performing weekly in the BL so why would Kloppy want the job at present. Josh Kimmich needs more time to be the next Philip Lahm - which he is capable of achieving and then there will be a leader but the rest are still way below the 2014 level and whilst his Liverpool side are challenging for everything in one of the best Leagues in the world, why, on earth, would he want the poisoned chalice that Low is going to leave - or will have taken away from him before long? One thing is for certain - he has proved at BVB and Anfield that he is no fool - that says 'No' to this idea!

2-2 until 81 minutes than total idiotic rubbish defence - including Serdar ju8st stood watching as Viktoria made it 2-4. Little worth saying other than I feel very sad for DW - gawd knows what he's going to do with this lot!

Not sure if I should be watching this nonsense but with less than 20 minutes gone Viktoria K are already 2-0 up - very poor stuff so far and Caliguiri's corner was about the worst one this year! Another ten minutes with the younger players trying and the seniors beginning to realise that they may be being watched - better - and after missing an open goal, Uth finally manages to get one back. Our new young Spaniard must be thinking he has nothing to fear from this soprt of competition for a place! The kids are taking over - young Matondo makes it 2-2 Half-time and other than giving some players a chance to get ;playing time DW will have learned nothing from this so far - other than perhaps Matondo is looking sharp and could be worth a chance on the bench to come on later in the Paderborn game - he's fast, sharp and a pain to the defence with his running. Schopf is back after a long injury period and it shows, but does not excuse his selfish play - almost refusing to pass rather than shoot on sight from anywhere. bad mistake by the young keeper for the second goal, but otherwise OK. Nice to see Carls is fit again.

Time to start this thread up again- sadly we lost the Silva battle and I hope he does well at Eintracht, but we won the Miranda one and he has joined us from Barca. News on Bentaleb is that he has had a knee problem and will be out for a while with time to sort out his attitude - particularly as more younger, better players are making their mark under DW and Konoplyanka has left to try and regain form in the east! With a view to Paderborn visiting in two weeks, DW has arranged a friendly in Koln on Friday to give some of those yet to show in the first team a chance of a game - 7 others are involved in Internationals so it will be an interesting team which takes the park on Friday. Johnny K seems to be cementing a firm spot at Right back - a position which has been weak since Asuto and Benny left and now we need to address the left side - Sane is too slow, Nastasic is injured and not fit for anything on his present form so the 5 spot is up for grabs. Schopf is fit again and he has a chance to regain a place if he can get back to his best so it's all interesting at the moment for 04 fans and if we can take 3 points from Paderborn (or else!) we will be back in the mix again!

It may increase your BP but it's not just Schaaf policy it is paying off for Kloppy at Liverpool - let in 2 and score 5 always works!

The problem is it would be up to the Local Authorities (Councils) to issue the licence and how many people would come home after applying and find they have been given a dog licence - which would only allow them to bark and wee on trees?

Game over and with a very good free kick from Oczpika (surprise) a 3-1 victory. For Rando I am sorry to say (as he lost him this close season) Johnny has been the real class player today for 04 - great defence, excellent distribution which led to the first goal, and looking very fit and sharp - cannot see how DW can leave him out of the team on this showing. As for the rest, there are signs that whatever David is doing, it seems to be getting a much more team performance from players who last season were virtual soloists under Tedesco's terrible regime. I leave on Tuesday and although my tablet will work in the US I'm not sure if I will be able to post so we will have to see. All the best to all for the start of a new season - Pokal and all!!

Another day, another game and as I seem to be somewhat solo here not sure if posting anything re the game is of any use - for what it's worth, Burgstaller has scored a goal laid on a plate and received three other passes - all three offside as usual and he is the only forward walking around whilst the others seem very fit and are pressing the Villareal defence. Kenny looks to be in a different class to the rest and the left side of Oz and Nasty let the Villareal goal in and any attacks are coming down their side - obviously noted as the weak area. Harit looks fit, but has twice gone down without contact and conned the ref into giving two fouls - I hope he stops this as the BL refs are wise to it and he will be in trouble. Nothing new learned today other than the 04 players look fitter and sharper than they have been for over a year. Back to Sport 1 for another 45minutes! 3 minutes after the restart - brilliant run - very fast - from Harit and Boujellab able to keep up and finish for one of 04's best goals for ages!

News this morning that after the tackle towards the end of the game against Bologna, Jonas Carls will be out for some time. DW was unhappy at the challenge, but he should look at his own players - particularly Nastasic who made a bad tackle from behind within the first two minutes and set the tone for tackles later - even adding to them himself before he left the field. Carls has been given a chance at last and has been better at left back where we are weak than Nastasic has been for months - perhaps one could read some sad reasoning into getting the Bologna players fired up! Now DW will have to try and strengthen this weak area before the transfer period closes - Sead seems not to want to return!

Another day - another game and another good starts with an excellent cross from Caliguri and young Reese4 on target. After that - sort of OK, but the lft side defence is again awaful and nastasic is missing more than he gets so that by half time the 1-0 lead is a 2-1 deficit. DW has much to do on that left side - younf Kenny seems to be fitting in well on the right so.... lets see what changes are made for the second period - Oczipka is also off form which doesn't help the left side either. Game over - 2-3 defeat and some very very poor football at times from both sides - no way to assess anything and a farcical finish with Rudy coming on to play our extra time - which was 3 seconds! Nice one! DW's drawing board will be out again tomorrow but at least Kitzbuhel is still looking nice!

Just in case anyone in Germany has not been able to follow the news please be assured that Sead and Mesut are fine after last night's episode. A skype this morning was as normal and if anyone was ever in doubt, the videos prove that one guy you do not mess with is Sead. Mesut does not want it, but his standing with all footy followers must have gone up more than a little after this! Apparently back to training today to get ready for Sunday.

Good first half in Holland this evening, but still some problems to sort out. Up front, the younger players have been constantly pressing the Twente defence but the final kick has not yet hit the target - Ozcipka is playing on his own and has wasted chances when others are in a better position - even his final corner was a gift for the keeper - but then all the other corners went straight to the Twente keeper - that has to be sorted. At the back Nastasic has been giving away silly free kicks and his forward passing has almost always ended up straight into touch - that plus the Dutch attack seems to want to come down his side time and time again tells its own story. Nothing in the way of build up from the back or any imagination from the back line. At 0-0 it has to be a good performance against this side, but it will depend on DWs choices for the second half - hopefully main changes in the middle and at the back and not up front - the kids are so far alright! 1-1 at the end with Firat showing up as the best forward after DW made 3 changes (including Burgstaller - who was again totally useless) The younger forwards kept pressing but the best chances came from right back Firat who showe3d his U23 class more than once and was ready to finish after Twente had taken the lead. Despite going behind it was totally different from last season as the team continued to press for a goal and more - good effort - very hot day - good opposition and the workout summed up- by the huge painted letters on the playing surface - G R E A T - pity the Fox 1 coverage didn't match the play!

1-2- against an ordinary Norwich side out of sorts and missing key players. 04 were awful for 45 minutes and then DW brought the kids on and they started to play - not just football, but together - after a 1-0 half time score to the Canaries, it was obviously that the effort and play of the youngsters would soon level it - and they did making the Norwich defence look like the 04 poor set. Timo was a pain - as to be expected - and he caused the very poor 04 back line problems - not too long before he set up a second for the visitors. The rest was so-so with DW learning that his young front set is OK but he really needs some new input at the back - Nastasic was again awful and I will refrain from a comment on Burgstaller's first half! Another go next week! An added thought to the defensive problem with the news that our great hope (more like elephant) who is at present in Africa playing the cup of nonsense there has managed to win the trophy! Problem is with his inept usual display he stuck a foot out and scored - for the opposition and they won the Cup! - nice one - not much chance of an improvement there then. Not Leroy, but in Sane we trust - insane more like!

Second pre-season game today and after the 20-1 victory against Bottrop which was no indication of anything other than with Burgstaller scoring a few it showed how inept the opposition was and not to read anything into the game. Today a 2-2 draw against Wattenscheid showed that whilst there is hope up front, the defence is still absolutely useless - even the ex Man City guy was totally responsible for the first goal and - as last season - is obviously well past his sell-buy date. The next game against Norwich will test the defence with Timo returning to play against us, but young Reese looked good and JJ Kenny settled in during the second half with a few useful touches so - good opposition will show if progress is being made and judgement is reserved until then! Finally a well done to Tommy's lot - Ipswich are not the greatest side, but things look OK for pre season in Duss!

Still missing young Max and his performance in Switzerland for Palace this evening was a great start to his season - fine assist within 4 minutes for a Benteke goal. Leroy still to decide this week on a possible Munchkin move!

Good start to pre-season for Palace - A 1-1- draw against Luzern in Switzerland with a very early Benteke goal as a result of a superb move and pass for the guy in the picture on the left - great start to his second Palace season. A point for the Draw and an extra point for a 7-6 penalty shoot-out win. Now to Saturday and Young Boys in the second game of this competition - BEIN coverage good! Keeping an eye on my young friend again this season!