SchalkeUK Posted July 28, 2019 Posted July 28, 2019 Oh dear! I was just about to congratulate old friend Kyriakos on his back to fitness and a good solid first half performance against Darmstadt and within almost seconds of the restart it has gone slightly pear-shaped. Welcome to the new season! Wait another 50plus minutes and with 96 on the clock Aaron Hunt converts a VAR penalty for a 1-1 draw - great start to BL2 but a bit sad for Darnstadt - and almost 2 minutes to watch the replays whilst the home crowd have to sit and wait - sort of drama, but the decision seemed to be correct so....
binder Posted July 28, 2019 Posted July 28, 2019 It seems too early for football to be starting, is it not a heat wave in Europe this week? But, was just on the kicker site and sure enough it has started. HSV get a 98 min pk to make it 1-1 vs D'stadt
Subscriber Dan+ Posted July 28, 2019 Subscriber Posted July 28, 2019 Bochum lose their first game. Shock.
Michael Posted August 9, 2019 Posted August 9, 2019 Who do you guys have as the favorites to win the 2. Bundesliga for this season? VFB Stuttgart, HSV Hamburg, Hannover 96 and Nurnberg have to be the 4 favorites, they all look like they have strong squads for this league. Personally, I think that VFB Stuttgart have the strongest squad of all. Their Argentine quartet all look very good. Donis, Didavi and Mangala should also flourish in this league. Kaminski, Badstuber and Kempf are all solid defenders and they should also do very well. Then you have Gomez and Castro whose experience could be handy this season. Moreover, the new young strikers Kalajdzic and Coulibaly have a lot of potential and maybe they could show what they are made of this season. Kobel as well proved last season at Augsburg that he is a very talented young goalkeeper. Borna Sosa is another talented youngster who could come to the fore. All in all, their squad looks stong and it has depth, which will be very important for any team that has serious ambitions of getting promoted. If I had to guess, I would pick the following in order as the strongest teams in this division. 1-VFB Stuttgart 2-HSV Hamburg 3-Nurnberg 4-Hannover 96 I think Stuttgart and Hamburg(surely they can't blow their chances again this season) should get the top 2 spots in the league.
Rucksackfranzose Posted August 9, 2019 Posted August 9, 2019 Not this sure, I'd even say Heidenheim has chances as good as those of HSV to get promoted. Something non German posters tend to forget is 2. Buli bis one of the most leveled leagues in Europe, and therefore really hard to predict. About 12 to 13 teams have a chance to win promotion and to see a few of them involved in a relegation dogfight wouldn't be too big a surprise neither.
Chadwell Posted August 9, 2019 Posted August 9, 2019 Stuttgart's squad is just stacked. I look at them and feel just as I did about Koln last season, just simply insurmountable in the long run. Will hurt to watch Mangala play for them, as I thoroughly enjoyed him with us last season. What a fabulous young player he is. HSV has had sweeping changes, and I like the look of many of our additions, but we're a few injuries away from disaster. Players such as Kittel and Fein are critical to creative forward play, and if we lose either of them I think we'll really struggle. So for now we look good and in line for promotion, but it's a little fragile IMO. The rest all suck, nur der HSV.
nudge Posted August 9, 2019 Posted August 9, 2019 I think Stuttgart have the best squad on paper; whether they'll manage to sort themselves out and get promoted is a different thing altogether. I see them as one of the chaos clubs that tend to underperform due to internal issues and struggle under pressure due to lack of stability rather than lack of quality in the squad; wouldn't be surprised if they do a HSV and fail to get promoted but nevertheless they're naturally one of the favourites for the title. HSV are surely a promotion candidate as well; I actually like their new signings as most of them have previous experience in 2. Liga already. Leibold, Kinsombi, Kittel, Hinterseer, etc. are all class signings that should provide a big boost for HSV's chances of getting back to the top division. I don't expect much from Hannover and Nürnberg; Hannover have a very solid squad but similar to Stuttgart, they have other issues that they should take care of first. Nürnberg just seem to have a very weakened squad and a new coach with no experience in Germany so I am rather skeptical about their chances this season. As for the rest - hard to say; @Rucksackfranzose mentioned Heidenheim, I personally like Bielefeld's and Darmstadt's squads and their development curve and think both could have a chance to fight for promotion too. KSC would be my current choice for the "dark horse" that could surprise a lot of people this season.
Michael Posted August 9, 2019 Posted August 9, 2019 @Rucksackfranzose that's true this is generally speaking a very levelled league. But every now and again you get a stand out team in the league in terms of quality. Last season it was Koln and this season it looks like being Stuttgart. @Chadwell have a good team, but as you suggested, they don't have the depth a team like Stuttgart have. Still if HSV play their cards right, they should be serious contenders. @nudge, nothing is a guarantee, who would of thought that Stuttgart would be relegated in the first place. But their squad is overflowing with quality at this level in my opinion. It's a different challenge to what Stuttgart are used to and there is a lot of pressure on them to make those top 2 places. Nevertheless, they look like the team to beat. Hamburg have a second go at getting promoted this season after completely messing their chances of promotion up at the tail end of last season. Prior to that they were in the top 2 spots for months during the course of last season. Maybe they will have learned their lesson, we shall see. On paper Hannover also have a squad that should do well in this division. Their defence looks quite solid and with Zieler in goal they look quite tight at the back. Jonathas, Duksch and Haraguchi should also be a real menace in this division for opposing defenders. If they get some harmony in the team, they also have a decent chance given the players that they have. Nurnberg's new manager is a novice in this league, he's never managed a team in Germany, that is true. But I don't think Nurnberg's squad has been damaged too much by sales. Losing Lowen to Hertha was a blow, but they have brought in the Portuguese midfielder Medeiros who looks very talented. Ex Seville and Schalke midfielder Geis can work his socks off in midfield as well. Sorg from Hannover and Sorensen from Salzburg look like good additions to their defence. While in attack, Dovedan could do well in competition with Zrelak and Ishak. We will see how well they cope in this division, but they do appear to have some good players. I understand why many people fancy Heidenheim of doing well again this season, they have a great collective work ethic and they are a very tough team to play against. They have lost Dovedan and Glatzel, but they should still do well without them. I agree on Darmstadt and Karlsruhe though, I think they could both be dark horses this season.
Michael Posted August 12, 2019 Posted August 12, 2019 Hannover have apparently sold Wallace for 6 million Euros to Udinese. I think this was a bad move and it could weaken their ambitions of promotion. Walace has played several times for the Brazil national team and he could of really helped their cause this season,.He is worth 20 million Euros at least and I am sure his value will increase a lot at Udinese. We could see him sold on in the future for much more than Hannover have sold him for.
Rucksackfranzose Posted August 12, 2019 Posted August 12, 2019 Taking into account his performances in Hannover only 6 Million Euro are much more than Walace was worth, though.
Chadwell Posted August 12, 2019 Posted August 12, 2019 4 hours ago, Michael said: Hannover have apparently sold Wallace for 6 million Euros to Udinese. I think this was a bad move and it could weaken their ambitions of promotion. Walace has played several times for the Brazil national team and he could of really helped their cause this season,.He is worth 20 million Euros at least and I am sure his value will increase a lot at Udinese. We could see him sold on in the future for much more than Hannover have sold him for. Have to also keep in mind that they might not have had a choice. He wanted out from us as well after we were relegated.
londonerlilie Posted August 23, 2019 Posted August 23, 2019 So, I don't know what to say about the current state of Darmstadt. After what was a hopeful and euphoria inducing end of the season the summer did us no favour by magnifying our expectations. I honestly don't understand where all the will and our ability to play football that we saw towards the end of last season suddenly went. 28% of possession in the first half at home against Dresden is frustrating, disheartening and simply shocking.
Michael Posted August 23, 2019 Posted August 23, 2019 18 minutes ago, londonerlilie said: So, I don't know what to say about the current state of Darmstadt. After what was a hopeful and euphoria inducing end of the season the summer did us no favour by magnifying our expectations. I honestly don't understand where all the will and our ability to play football that we saw towards the end of last season suddenly went. 28% of possession in the first half at home against Dresden is frustrating, disheartening and simply shocking. I guess that team momentum was put to a holt by the long summer break. To be fair, Dresden have bought in some decent players over the summer, so Dresden look stronger than they were last season. I expect them to have a much better season this season. As for Darmstadt, there wasn't a whole lot of good players brought in over the summer. Hosnak and Pffeifer coming in were decent buys, but in general it looks like Darmstadt will finish in mid-table again this season, given the competition offered by the other clubs in this league. Palsson and Egbo always usually impress me when I watch Darmstadt. But as I said, I think it will be another mid-table finish for Darmstadt.
londonerlilie Posted August 23, 2019 Posted August 23, 2019 Fair enough, I see your point. It might just be the fan in me but I was expecting a lot more from this team. With all due respect to Dresden, only having 30% possession at home is simply not good enough! I honestly would take a mid-table finish at this point with the way we have been playing.
Michael Posted August 23, 2019 Posted August 23, 2019 Losing a goalkeeper of the calibre of Fernandes, is also a blow for Darmstadt, but you are right, there is no real excuse for only having 30% possesion. The manager has to sort the team out properly and get them playing to a higher standard. It would be good to see Darmstadt in the Bundesliga again. But I can't see that happening anytime soon.
nudge Posted August 26, 2019 Posted August 26, 2019 Robin Dutt has been sacked by Bochum after a run of poor results and losing the dressing room. The last nail apparently was the match against Wehen where Bochum were 0-3 down in HT and the team led by the captain (Losilla) and the goalkeeper (Riemann) took matters into their own hands, changed the tactics and the formation without informing Dutt and managed to salvage a 3-3 in the last minute of the match.
Michael Posted August 26, 2019 Posted August 26, 2019 1 minute ago, nudge said: Robin Dutt has been sacked by Bochum after a run of poor results and losing the dressing room. The last nail apparently was the match against Wehen where Bochum were 0-3 down in HT and the team led by the captain (Losilla) and the goalkeeper (Riemann) took matters into their own hands, changed the tactics and the formation without informing Dutt and managed to salvage a 3-3 in the last minute of the match. I think Dutt should just retire and call it a day. He has been a disaster for the most part of his management career. He had some success at Freiburg for a season, but apart from that he has been very poor overall.
SchalkeUK Posted September 1, 2019 Author Posted September 1, 2019 Normally Hamburg and Hannover should be producing a good derby game - not brilliant at the moment with 1-0 to the home side - Slomka seems to have inspired his players with his usual negative enthusiasm and they look as if they are in for a hard season!
Administrator Stan Posted September 2, 2019 Administrator Posted September 2, 2019 Loving this Stuttgart vs Bochum game. End to end stuff and there's been 2 very good goals so far. 1-1.
Michael Posted September 3, 2019 Posted September 3, 2019 I am happy that Stuttgart didn't sell the Argentines, Ascacibar and Nicolas Gonzalez, despite their relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. The fact that they kept them shows their ambition and if they get promoted, it will be easier to keep hold of them in the long term. I am sure that Stuttgart will get promoted this season, their squad just seems too strong not to.
nudge Posted September 14, 2019 Posted September 14, 2019 Hannover have just lost 0-2 against Bielefeld and are currently 14th in the league with only 5 points in 6 matches. I wonder how long Slomka still has... Bielefeld are up to 3rd in the meantime; the season sure started good for them.
nudge Posted September 15, 2019 Posted September 15, 2019 Holstein Kiel have sacked Andre Schubert after yet another loss; 0-3 against Heidenheim yesterday. I remember watching him in the Trainer documentary years ago; looked like he knew what he's doing but I think it's fair to say now that his coaching career hasn't gone the way many people expected... Bochum are currently 0-2 down against Dresden; 14 goals they conceded this season already.
nudge Posted September 15, 2019 Posted September 15, 2019 Crazy game in Darmstadt against Nürnberg... Darmstadt score two goals within 10 minutes to make it 3-2 but then concede another 3 minutes later 3-3 FT. So many chances created by both teams. Bochum came back from 0-2 and even had a chance to win...
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