SchalkeUK

Hope you have a great New Year party Thomas but keep a friend handy or nearby - you just might need a guider to get you back home..... Sorry we missed each other last week - still there will be a chance4 on Round 4 if we get a home draw. Happy 018 guys and gal.

Hey Faithcore. Someone at IBM in Austin has just pressed the implode button!

Add Schurlle!

Leon seems to have had a good session with the guy from Barca so his future may be a little clearer. Either there or Arsenal if he has to go and let's hope the d eal will be money and/or a swap. It would be great to get either Mesut or Ivan back home as part of any deal!

Accept your comment, but it is still possible to be loyal to more than one team/woman/mate! and Kevin's goal this afternoon was a blinder!

People like you two are invaluable to this game - they just don't seem to believe it. I have been supporting 04 for nearly 70 years but I love to watch Man City at the moment play the way they do. I enjoy every Barca game and last night gave me pleasure - not because BVB lost - I don't enjoy that - but my young friend Andy B had a great game even at his age. Today I will watch many games including the two Cities in the UK and tomorrow I will be at Veltins behind the camera (there in person for the Pokal in December), but I will still look to see what Robert L is doing in Munich and keep an eye open for old mates (young ones really) Ivan in Barca and Julien in Paris and my nearest Club (Huddersfield) with their super young German boss. It's what keeps an old fool alive and should keep young ones focussed on enjoying the rivalry in a way which engenders RESPECT. I used to get my kids to write down the word at the top of the paper and then underneath write all the word which mean the same or are part of it. Then write another list under the word LOVE (ignoring the physical sexy bits) Strange how they nearly always became the same list twice........ At the end of my career touching youngsters was not allowed - at the beginning banging heads together (GENTLY or METAPHORICALLY) solved a lot of problems! Perhaps this forum needs a little of that!

I know that tsubasa is perfectly capable of defending himself, but we've been here and before that on TFF for a long time - a few meetings, a few drinks and BVB against 04 without a single disrespective word between us - despite both teams having really rough periods! (mine far more than his....) It would be fair not to confuse respect with passion! Respect causes us to think- thought goes out of the window when passion takes over and footie is just about the worst thing to get involved with if you can't control both! If in doubt talk to Peter Manuel about Italian food and Italian football

OK

If Thomas is serious I need to do two things - let my people know I need another ticket and then top up my Knappencard to keep the Veltins flowing. Mail or Skype me soonest!

Now that DFB r3 has been settled I have booked to fly in to Dusseldorf on Monday 18th and return Wednesday 20th. Great if anyone is around for a glass or a bite sometime. My match tickets are not yet ready so if anyone else is going we could fix a spot in the Arena for a plastic glass or two! It would be a pity not to make the visit even better than just the game!

Looks from this thread that you are looking to settle for some guy named Jesus as your next coach!

Very, very true! If the coach is rubbish and is succeeded by another bad choice then the fault is in the4 choosers. You and I have to continue living with that

There is still many non-Bremen people who retain an interest and sort of affection for the club - we gave you our best young player and you put him with the great Diego who turned him from a good player to a great one - something which he still recognises and looks at the weekly results to see how things are going. When he sat with Manuel and Benny in the classroomthey had something special which only needed a transfusion of confidence to make them what they have become - despite Slomka's lack of belief. There are some young guys at Bremen who only need that sort of leadership and they could be great players - someone needs to spend time not changing the team but trying to find the right leader who can stay for more than a few games and stop swapping the system every three months. In the UK we are still sacking managers after four or five games which is madness. If the management make a decision then they must believe and trust their judgement and with more than half the season still to come, give the guy a chance to settle the team and the problems will slowly disappear!

I have a great deal of sympathy with Bremen fans at the moment. Last night showed what a lack of confidence in players can do to their performances - something which recent 04 coaches have been really good at. The ability is there and at times at the beginning of the second half it seemed as if one or two were beginning to believe in their own abilities, but they needed help up front and the main strikers were sat on the bench. Such poor decisions lead to this example: two great youngsters who have grown up with the team and been messed about so much. despite great performances for National sides, the club leader has sapped their confidence with the result that the Club will now pay for the poor leadership. Leon has refused to leave in January so no huge transfer fee. Max has already hinted the same and both contracts run out in June - two of the best players will leave and not a single Euro will be received by the club so no money for replacements. Beware Werder fans. This approach will send your best players away and you will get little or nothing for them. What is happening is not only sad for the supporters, but the BL will be weaker losing such young players to Spain and England. There are a lot of games left and time to sort it! As I posted to Inga - just keep the faith and cross whatever you feel comfortable with

Looks as though the 'coach' has had a reality check and young Max is back in the frame. Hereby re-instate his pic as the German Captain in Brazil!

Beware of the response to Friday's game. A win against a poor Mainz team will get the blood rushing to heads in Gelsenkirchen that we have a decent team again, particularly if we are still persisting with Di Santo up front and the fragile defence at the back. I would love to be wrong, but this season is playing out just like last year and the year before that - too many old wasters keeping out the kids and taking our finances for a ride and a coach who is out of his depth! Now sometime later and the game over we had Di Santo who touched the ball 3 times - twice lost it and the third time as a good striker made a header in his own penalty area to give away a corner! Nice one and sadly he was substituted early in the second half only to be replaced by Konoplyanke who proceeded to tray and kill the fans at the back of the stand with his pointless efforts to find the net - or even the posts or even the corner flag. Leon was his usual good self and Max got 90 minutes - trouble is he is one of the best 'dead ball' players with remarkable accuracy from free kicks and corners and he took none! All corners went directly to the first defender and free kicks were not much better. Sad the lady ref seems never to have played the game and Naldo's card was pathetic as was the flurry of yellow towards the end of the game when she totally lost the plot. My only error was to forecast a 3-0 victory - should have realised that with Leon and Burgstaller getting their usual goals there was no one else to get the third! My Fantasy team is not doing too badly, but I lose a player each week - BVB seem not to want to put Shinji and Nuri on the park at the same time and that's not fair! Probably going to get badly bitten by the Wolves next week!

I am becoming more and more convinced that after losing Philip Lahm to the International scene, the German future is going to be safe with young Joshua!

There is more than one interpretation of a 'Victory Lap"

Last time I was in the Parliament Building in Dusseldorf I offered to swap our PM for Angela and was voted down! Despite last Sunday's result and our PM's speech in Florence I am still willing (no I am even more) willing to swap and I'll throw in some Veltins as well - just to keep in line with this thread. Just back from Portugal after a nice break without watching BVB and the Munchkins latest Euro exploits - I should not have bothered really, but I am now even more convinced that failure in the CL will be great for BVB as they can then concentrate on the BL title with the Munchkins not doing very well this time. As they say - every cloud has a silver lining

Hi Herr Klopp - nice to hear from you again - not much has changed - BVB are still threatening to win the league, 04 are lost and headless and the Munchkins are threatening to buy everyone with two feet. Liverbird has wanderlust and Nudge is in deepest Asia. Tsubs has suddenly become fascinated again with Dusseldorf (Heimatland) and what has happened to Jesse is anyone's guess. All we need now is Max to emerge from deepest Vancouver and decide to visit us again and 2018 could be areal year to look forward to. (sorry about ending a sentence with a preposition but I've long since given up teaching....) Take care, stay fit and as always Be nice!

It would be nice if, after the result on Tuesday, we could say that we were back to square one. Sadly, we are well below that again. The 04 website is full of complacency and an unwillingness to accept that bad decision were again made before the game with team selection. Goretzka ran his heart out for nothing and Bentaleb was back in the team and taking over from Choupo-Moting in the idle lack of effort stakes which we had hoped had gone. He was awful and walked about without any purpose. Burgstellar spent more time in the defence and lost his idea that he was a striker - and when he decided to go up front he was so far up front that there were no Munchkins between him and the keeper and he seems unable to look in a straight line across the field. In the strike department we were not only lacking, but only Leon was providing any support to whoever was in the penalty area and most of the time that was no one. Di Santo was again totally inept when he came on and was only slightly worse that Konoplyanka - who cannot even pass a ball with any accuracy. If Embolo is fit why is our potentially best striker sat on the side? Why is the International youngster with the best support game in the team being ignored? I know it was only a friendly, but in his last full game, Meyer scored 4 goals..... Senior players have cost recent coaches their jobs and this is happening again! If there is a plan they should implement it rather than just walking about aimlessly. Take off Harit who started the season with brilliance and has gone backwards with lack of confidence being displayed in him from the sidelines. Anyway, as always, the cowards sub the kids - it's easier than argue with the old folks! We were awful against Bremen, but they were even worse so we won, but that after losing to a newly promoted side from BL2. Another defeat at Hoffenheim this week and perhaps someone will start asking these questions! Any bets on Leon and Max leaving this year for nothing - meanwhile Leroy is scoring in every game, Sinead is the best Arsenal defender and with PSG talking about letting Julien go, there are PL teams lining up to buy- Oh and Benny is sitting in the sun in Italy - even Aogo is having a good time in Stuttgart!. Would be interesting to see if there were any bids for Bentaleb, Konoplyanka or Di Santo! Perhaps I'm getting too old for this or maybe we needs some more experience at the Veltins - not on the pitch but someone with a proven record on the side. Once the season determines no Europe for next year we will have another change! Criticise my comments, but anyone else keeping track of out record of coaches and managers over the past few seasons - careful, if you do you will probably be smiling for a month!

Hi guys - particularly Thomas! Had a skype call from liverbird (thea) last night after almost a year out of contact. She and hubby Danny have been travelling around and are still not back home, but both are well and she sends her best wishes (and luv if you want it) to all old friends from TFF. I am trying to get her to join here (another 04 person would be nice) cos' I need some support and the one I've been wearing is getting old! Bring on Bayern next week but give me a few days to find a good hiding place. The way we are playing we will all get a good hiding anyway

Transfer window closed - Max is still at Gelsenkirchen and gets a start in the friendly with no move away for now - scores 4 goals and says it all with a superb performance. Hope the miseries were watching (probably from the bar!)

Thanks tsubs for your reply. Unfortunately I have never ever used anything other than this and e-mails for contacts and certainly never facecrap or twatter! if you have contact with her give her my 'luv' and best wishes and hope she and hubby are very happy! As for the celebrations next year. After my 'scare' this year I have a meeting with the boss man on 1 February and will by then be able to make plans for my 90th. I will certainly be in the Ruhr sometime when thee weather gets nice so thewill be on me!

Hi tsubs. My Skype still registers liverboid as being there, but I have lost any contact with her for ages now. Do you know if she is still in Essen or has she gone back home? Sorry we missed another get together this year - next is my 80th and will be worth celebrating - any thoughtsor three. PS Mesut has posted a sad message after Sunday. Any chance you guys can cheer him up this week at the international game. Bet Mustafa is just as sick!