German football season 2023/24

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Why argue you about something like this. France are of course the favorites next summer. And it's not even close. Who's close? England maybe. But after that you run into teams that have some major question marks..Spain, Portugal, Holland etc. I don't think Germany looks out of place in that group if it can get its act together.

 

[JoVel]

I think today will be a decent indication on whether this is the season someone finally dethrones Bayern.

 

[Jack Straw]

Harry Kane doing Harry Kane things.

 

[gary69]

Kane forgotten free at the backpost from a corner. Xhaka was supposed to mark him, but Kane drifted away from him for a free header into net.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

First time like in most of man kind history?
It's funny that joke that people keep on doing without any knowledge of history

I’ll be there first to admit my knowledge on European history is limited. Most of it centres WW2 tbh.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Ain't nothing wrong with a national team having a big burly guy that they can ricochet the ball off into the net. Given the tactical meh-ness of international play, it's generally a sensible way to go.

To compare Fullkrug to Giroud is to miss the fact that Giroud's role for France is to bring Mbappe and Griez into play and that all his goals are gravy on top. But that doesn't change the fact that having Fullkrug up top is not necessarily the issue with Germany.

The issue with Germany, as I can see, is a combo of bad coaching, a bad vibe/mentality within the camp, no #1 CB (Rudi and Sule are both decent guys to be in a pairing with a better CB, as Rudi showed when he was borderline WC next to Thiago Silva), and an over-abundance of players best described as mercurial. I know @cgf loves NT Kai, but his Germany stats are IMO deceiving - I've never seen him play that well for the DFB, even in games where statistically he looks strong.

Timo rocks BTW, I'll take no Timo slander.

First time like in most of man kind history?
It's funny that joke that people keep on doing without any knowledge of history

Even before unification it was the Prussians who did most of the heavy-lifting stopping Napoleon

 

[cgf]

The caveat in all this is that Germany doesn’t have the soldiers france does (first time anyone can say this)

France is an all star team. One player who isn’t a star can’t be compared to a team that has some nice pieces but are asking some 30yr old to be a focal point in the attack is hardly the same or similar to what france have done.

You are the only person who thinks he should be the focal point of our offense. We just need him to be a role player like modern Giroud and help the guys behind him shine.

We don’t have France’s back 5...that's why nobody expects this team to win the euros like people expect of France…but our quartet behind the striker (Musiala, Wirtz, Sane, Havertz, Gundogan, Kimmich, etc.) is plenty stacked.

 

[gary69]

You don't see that type of free kick goals that often what Grimaldo just scored. Straight dipping shot over the wall dropping under the bar.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I’ll be there first to admit my knowledge on European history is limited. Most of it centres WW2 tbh.

They say you're only as good as your last performance. But, he is correct for good swaths of post-Roman Europe. And they never really got a square shot during WW2 either, a lot of strategic errors led to that collapse.

 

[bluesfan94]

They say you're only as good as your last performance. But, he is correct for good swaths of post-Roman Europe. And they never really got a square shot during WW2 either, a lot of strategic errors led to that collapse.

Kinda hard to compare because modern-day Germany was so fractured

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Ain't nothing wrong with a national team having a big burly guy that they can ricochet the ball off into the net. Given the tactical meh-ness of international play, it's generally a sensible way to go.

To compare Fullkrug to Giroud is to miss the fact that Giroud's role for France is to bring Mbappe and Griez into play and that all his goals are gravy on top. But that doesn't change the fact that having Fullkrug up top is not necessarily the issue with Germany.

The issue with Germany, as I can see, is a combo of bad coaching, a bad vibe/mentality within the camp, no #1 CB (Rudi and Sule are both decent guys to be in a pairing with a better CB, as Rudi showed when he was borderline WC next to Thiago Silva), and an over-abundance of players best described as mercurial. I know @cgf loves NT Kai, but his Germany stats are IMO deceiving - I've never seen him play that well for the DFB, even in games where statistically he looks strong.

Timo rocks BTW, I'll take no Timo slander.


Even before unification it was the Prussians who did most of the heavy-lifting stopping Napoleon

You're not the only one there.

I think the tire-pumping on the midfield is more dubious than questions over Fullkrüg--as you say, his job is to hold up and lay off the ball, stretch the defensive line to give the attacking mids space to make runs, and get after opportunities in the box and score when possible. There's even less talented/reputable strikers in the BL I think could fill the same role adequately enough, it's just not a skill set any of their "elite" offensive players have.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

It's probably expecting too much from Leverkusen, but Bayern might really regret not being able to finish one there before the half.

 

[cgf]

Boniface lol.

That was so brazen.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Oh wow, so close from Wirtz.

 

[gary69]

Good chance for Wirtz to put Leverkusen ahead, but he hit the post.

That looked like a foul by Tapsoba and a PK for Bayern? Need to see a replay.

 

[SimpleJack]

Good chance for Wirtz to put Leverkusen ahead, but he hit the post.

That looked like a foul by Tapsoba and a PK for Bayern? Need to see a replay.

A young talented German that has all the skill in the world throughout the midfield but lacks the finishing touch to score goals at a consistent level? What a shock.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Oh, way too easy. Heck of a play by Tel...and complete lack of marking from the Leverkusen defenders.

 

[cgf]

Knew that was coming as soon as they brought ECMC on.

 

[gary69]

Big impact from sub Tel, setting up LeGo for the lead goal. Then Bonifeces squanders another chance.

 

[cgf]

A young talented German that has all the skill in the world throughout the midfield but lacks the finishing touch to score goals at a consistent level? What a shock.

Glad to see you're ok. Was worried when we didn't hear from you after Germany's last match. *hug*

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Big impact from sub Tel, setting up LeGo for the lead goal. Then Bonifeces squanders another chance.

Squandering chances to score, apparently it's not just for Germans in this match.

 

[cgf]

Squandering chances to score, apparently it's not just for Germans in this match.

We should sue for copyright infringement.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Ruh roh, VAR check. What a silly penalty to concede, though I really don't like those where there is nothing remotely resembling a scoring play.

I like this Leverkusen squad. Hope Xabi doesn't wind up in Madrid next summer.

Fun match.

 

[cgf]

Ruh roh, VAR check. What a silly penalty to concede, though I really don't like those where there is nothing remotely resembling a scoring play.

Don't foul in the box and you won't give up pens

 

[gary69]

Yeah, I don't like those penalties either, it wasn't even close to a scoring chance or creating a one.

So it was a cheap penalty, but for the bigger picture it bodes well for keeping the tile race well alive at this early stage.