German Football 20/21

Hansi Fick

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3-3-2-2 as a starting formation for Leipzig? 0-3 win with 10-1 shots on target and 63 percent possession against Shalke..What is happening with the team from Gelzenkirchen?
I assume the players haven't been paid in months
 

do.ob

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Pretty mad draw. The four teams with a shot of winning the cup are drawn against each other and the four teams who are their designated victims get two teams guaranteed in the semi. Also Rose with Gladbach drawn against Dortmund as the question mark behind his future is beginning to seriously irritate fans.
 

strongwalker

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Hitz :lol:. Amazing to have two walking disasters as your goalkeepers.

Watch them get Gulasci via his clause and then @UNITED ACADEMY & co. will be out in full force to protest
Hitz is a capable keeper. Maybe too intelligent to function in a currently disfunctional team. I don't rate him world class or anything like this, but BVB played very well with a decidedly mediocre Weidenfeller. Hitz would easily be good enough to compete for a safe CL spot if the team worked. Someone else is to blame for the fact BVB isn't.
 

Sean_RedDevil

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Pretty mad draw. The four teams with a shot of winning the cup are drawn against each other and the four teams who are their designated victims get two teams guaranteed in the semi. Also Rose with Gladbach drawn against Dortmund as the question mark behind his future is beginning to seriously irritate fans.
Essen vs Regensburg should be the final.
 

do.ob

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Imagine getting overtaken by your "small time" neighbors, while telling the world you want to build the "big city club" into a major brand.
 

SilentStrike

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Imagine getting overtaken by your "small time" neighbors, while telling the world you want to build the "big city club" into a major brand.
I don't understand this hate on Hertha. Isn't it nice to see they have some ambition? Even if they haven't succeeded yet.
 

stefan92

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I don't understand this hate on Hertha. Isn't it nice to see they have some ambition? Even if they haven't succeeded yet.
It just does not fit the general perception of the club in Germany. Hertha is also called the "Alte Dame" (=old lady), as it is one of the oldest clubs, but this also is a bit like the rest of Germany sees them - nice, nothing exciting, midtable material forever. No one expects anything special coming from them.

In a broader picture, this applies to the whole of Berlin as a city - Germany is far less centralized than other countries, so the capital is not the center of the world, but outside of Berlin, the city is often viewed as some kind of money-wasting, expensive and dirty area, where no one is really proud of - the economical powerhouses are cities like Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt or Stuttgart, so Berlin is just not viewed as the city that should have the biggest and greatest club, yet this is the amibition that they show - just to bottle massively whenever they try to impress.

So it is not so much about hate, it is just amusing to us, what they are trying to do and how their ambitions are neither fitting for the city they represent, nor are they successful.

On the other hand, Union Berlin is still maintaining a bit of a "working class club" both on and off pitch, which fits the general view of Berlin as a city better, so they are (for their potential) quite successful on the field, and also are representing better what Berlin is about, than the never-will-be-Big City Club. So when it is about those two clubs, most of Germans tend to like Union more than Hertha.
 
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GhastlyHun

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I don't understand this hate on Hertha. Isn't it nice to see they have some ambition? Even if they haven't succeeded yet.
Nothing wrong with ambition, but the feeling you always get with Hertha is more one of delusions of grandeur. This talk of being a 'big city club' for example: Maybe try remaining a Bundesliga club next season first.
 

do.ob

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I don't understand this hate on Hertha. Isn't it nice to see they have some ambition? Even if they haven't succeeded yet.
It's not because they have ambitions to evolve, nor about their money. Most clubs have either sold shares or amended their legal status to make it possible in the future.

Hertha has always been a bit of a meme, because being from the capital, an absolutely huge city at that, with no other serious clubs around them and being able to rent a huge stadium from the city it kind of feels like they got the foundations of being a top club for free.
Yet the club itself has been utterly forgettable, for the most part no charismatic personalities, no success, a bad atmosphere at a stadium they could never dream of selling out. Like imagine having West Brom as London's only serious football club.

After getting relegated and promoted twice in the early 2010s they seemed to have gotten their house in order, established themselves as a relatively safe midtable club under Dardai, maybe with the chance of slowly growing into more due to a couple of quite good value for money transfers. Then they sold their shares to Windhorst and immediately talked about being like clubs from Paris, Madrid or London.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them and they are just burn through the money like a rich brat who got his first credit card from daddy. They sold their soul for this opportunity and they entrusted the money they got for it to the same management that couldn't develop the club past the level of Mainz. They even made this worse by bringing on Klinsmann, who himself is a bit of a meme, as a board member. And they keep making these insane transfers, like Piatek or Tousart.
And now, after spending all that money, they went (beyond) full circle, relegation worries and Dardai as their coach.
 

Kasper

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I don't understand this hate on Hertha. Isn't it nice to see they have some ambition? Even if they haven't succeeded yet.
The only reason Union have overtaken Hertha in membership (if correct, there`s a debate if these numbers are accurate, apparently Hertha is already past 38k) is because they have a way smaller stadium. There`s literally no incentive to become a Hertha member for fans right now while for Union fans its a way to get tickets.

While Union is definitely more likeable and plenty of Hertha`s communication in recent times has been a bit HSVesque there are definitely a lot of misconceptions about the club coming from arrogant stances of (as mostly unsurprisingly on this forum) Dortmund and Bayern fans. Hertha had at no point favorable foundations for being a strong club.
The city is forcing them to rent a massive football-unfriendly stadium and does not allow them to plan to build one (which they want) because they need the rent income. Unlike other clubs, the city and region never had economic strength like the Western regions had at the early years of the Bundesliga or like the South has in the last 50 years. Berlin is still suffering from the economic consequences of the cold war when barely any big company wanted to settle in West Berlin given it was cut off from any suitable economic connections and infrastructure. And with the German unification they just got the (frankly) even more economically useless Eastern part. So the whole environment for Hertha as a club has never been favorable. Don`t get me wrong, the city is brilliant but you don`t get much money from all these non-profitable political organizations. For all the talk about how Bayern has always done so greatly as a club, Hertha never ever had the opportunities to build these ties with Audi, Adidas or Allianz.

People need to realize what an economical exception Berlin as a capital is compared to all the other major European cities is. It`s the only capital that has a GDP lower than the countries average. Still, awesome city.
 

Hansi Fick

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The only reason Union have overtaken Hertha in membership (if correct, there`s a debate if these numbers are accurate, apparently Hertha is already past 38k) is because they have a way smaller stadium. There`s literally no incentive to become a Hertha member for fans right now while for Union fans its a way to get tickets.

While Union is definitely more likeable and plenty of Hertha`s communication in recent times has been a bit HSVesque there are definitely a lot of misconceptions about the club coming from arrogant stances of (as mostly unsurprisingly on this forum) Dortmund and Bayern fans. Hertha had at no point favorable foundations for being a strong club.
The city is forcing them to rent a massive football-unfriendly stadium and does not allow them to plan to build one (which they want) because they need the rent income. Unlike other clubs, the city and region never had economic strength like the Western regions had at the early years of the Bundesliga or like the South has in the last 50 years. Berlin is still suffering from the economic consequences of the cold war when barely any big company wanted to settle in West Berlin given it was cut off from any suitable economic connections and infrastructure. And with the German unification they just got the (frankly) even more economically useless Eastern part. So the whole environment for Hertha as a club has never been favorable. Don`t get me wrong, the city is brilliant but you don`t get much money from all these non-profitable political organizations. For all the talk about how Bayern has always done so greatly as a club, Hertha never ever had the opportunities to build these ties with Audi, Adidas or Allianz.

People need to realize what an economical exception Berlin as a capital is compared to all the other major European cities is. It`s the only capital that has a GDP lower than the countries average. Still, awesome city.
Great post, and describes the situation aptly. Berlin is just simply a poor city, compared to the West German big cities, especially München and Hamburg.

To add to all the structural, fundamentally historic reasons for it, which the post describes, a large shot of defrauding of public money came splashed on top with the real estate scandal of the late 90s, which added massive debt to the city's already precarious financial situation (the then city government made deals with real estate investors to guarantee enormous profits on fonds based on the renovation and renting of East Berlin's 'Plattenbauten' tenement blocks, profits that never materialized which led to the city, i.e. the people of Berlin, being indebted to those investors to the tune of double-digit billions).
I remember massive cutbacks to the universities' budgets, for example, which we protested back then, and closing of public swimming pools, cut backs in the city administration leading to legendary waiting times at the city offices, etc.

Then during the 2000s, former mayor Wowi and the city's PR department even turned it into a slogan, to be put on billboards and commercials - "Arm, aber sexy" ("poor, but sexy"), which to be fair sounds like a great condition to be in if you're planning on working in prostitution.
All those poor but sexy people of the 00s (I'm just going to include myself here..), are now 15 years older, still rather poor but sexy no longer.

Bayern are in their hegemonial financial position in Germany because the namesake state and the city they're from are incomparably richer, and because our board has over decades managed to develop a quasi-monopolist position on commercial/sponsoring relations with the biggest German firms and companies, many of whom are situated in Bavaria (and the biggest of which are also shareholders, Allianz, Adidas, Audi). And also a similar position within the media environment.
You guys wonder why Rummenigge, Hoeneß etc talk freely and uninhibitedly about any stuff that comes to their mind, in front of microphones and cameras, it's because it's their world, their habitat, it's where they are safe and privileged. They are cozy with the Bavarian government, German corporations, TV stations and media outlets and those are cozy with Bayern.
Now make no mistake, BVB and HSV have had potential to be in a very similar position, but they didn't have the consistency in club management (and maybe not the same safety net of a powerful local economic environment). BVB after all was the first German club to become listed at the stock market, and broke German wage and transfer records in the early 2000s.

In that time, Hertha was aspiring to be a CL club too, what with the big money transfers of Marcelino and Alex Alves. They messed it up, but they didn't have much room to fail - the economic environment parameters are just so much worse, along with the bad karma and cold vastness of the Olympiastadion.
It's a curious and tragicomic mix, like when I read of a sugardaddy investor trying to establish a 'big city club', yet then I walk past the 'TEDi' dime store in a run-down, half-deserted mini strip mall, under a railway bridge, next to an cheap Asia takeaway, a 'KiK' trash clothing discounter and a closed-down supermarket, right in the middle of the city but still in the no man's land of the former separation belt, and I remember that this dime store chain is Hertha's shirt sponsor.
 
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Kasper

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Gotta agree with Rolex Kalle here, I`ve looked up to him as a role model for a while on how to travel responsible in Covid times and especially on how to properly wear a mask.
 

Hoof the ball

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What, do you think, could be the occasion of Rummenigge talking about Salah? Anything come to mind?
I don't suppose the occasion matters much. The following statement would make any manager livid when someone else is talking about their player.

"At the moment we don't plan on signing Salah, but certainly it would be an honour to have him."
 

Hansi Fick

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I don't suppose the occasion matters much. The following statement would make any manager livid when someone else is talking about their player.

"At the moment we don't plan on signing Salah, but certainly it would be an honour to have him."
Oh please, shove that faux outrage up yours, along with that trash WUM article you're linking to.

Of course they don't care for context, in fact they're diligently omitting it in order to carry out the pathetic business model of turning any random, everyday, trivial thing into wannabe sensationalist content, but you can't be as obtuse as not to realize that Bayern is at the CWC right now, and played Egypt's biggest club on Monday; and they do press and promotional events there as is their fecking job, and you know very well how that goes.
So the context and occasion is that Rummenigge is asked by an Egyptian reporter how good he thinks Salah is and whether he could envisage him at a club like Bayern, and the most normal, stereotypical, un-newsworthy and unoffensive thing is to answer that Salah is amazing, and of course it would be an honour to have him, but no we're not after signing him right now.
That's it. It's a polite answer that has surely been given countless times before in similar context to similar questions.

Rummenigge says lots of cringeworthy or offensive stuff, but only with a whole lot of bad faith twisting can you construe this instance as something incendiary, and only a complete lunatic would actually be offended, or 'livid', by what he said.
And I think it's a pity that you pretend to be dumber than you can possibly be.
 
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mu4c_20le

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Boateng has left the Bayern camp after his ex-girlfriend was found dead from apparent suicide. They had just broken up recently.
 

Hansi Fick

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Boateng has left the Bayern camp after his ex-girlfriend was found dead from apparent suicide. They had just broken up recently.
Sad, horrible news.

The breakup was favourite tabloid topic of recent weeks and the role of, for example, BILD in this will have to be discussed.
 

do.ob

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Yeah. Saw a picture on Twitter about 8 or so exploitative articles over a week or so. Most/all of the behind their premium pay wall. Bild are scum, but the fact that apparently this is what generates revenue is also a statement about our society.
 

charlenefan

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I'm sure someone must have posted this already but...
 

Cheimoon

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We tried it a few times, that game. Didn't really come off, although Karlsruhe is extremely dangerous from corners.
As I said in the corners thread, I don't get why they are running in that direction. If they start from the other side of the box, they can see the ball and attack it without having to turn around. Did they try that as well? (Which teams are these btw?)
 

do.ob

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People should learn german only for this video :lol:

Schalke is just pure gold.
This was the appointment of their communications chief and they failed to inform the press about it. Once this appointment was revealed by a journalist (instead of the club) it took mere seconds for people to find a picture of her on social media with her giving the thumbs up in front of Dortmund's stadium and a litany of fan posts about Bochum - Schalke's two closest regional rivals. Not to say that every employee has to be a die hard fan of the club, but you'd think a communication expert would either turn their profiles private beforehand or release some random "Schalke is a special club, too" post.

Furthermore on February 3rd journalists were reporting that Schalke's coach had told them that this time there would definitely no way back from Bentaleb's seemingly mandatory annual banishment and on February 9th the club released that infact their coach had decided to bring Bentaleb back into the first team.
 

JuliaScalaR

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The corner routine above is from Karlsruhe vs. Jahn Regensburg from 2nd Bundesliga last weekend.
Also if they started running from the other side, the opponents' defense could only watch either the attackers or the ball.
 
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Pagh Wraith

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The only reason Union have overtaken Hertha in membership (if correct, there`s a debate if these numbers are accurate, apparently Hertha is already past 38k) is because they have a way smaller stadium. There`s literally no incentive to become a Hertha member for fans right now while for Union fans its a way to get tickets.

While Union is definitely more likeable and plenty of Hertha`s communication in recent times has been a bit HSVesque there are definitely a lot of misconceptions about the club coming from arrogant stances of (as mostly unsurprisingly on this forum) Dortmund and Bayern fans. Hertha had at no point favorable foundations for being a strong club.
The city is forcing them to rent a massive football-unfriendly stadium and does not allow them to plan to build one (which they want) because they need the rent income. Unlike other clubs, the city and region never had economic strength like the Western regions had at the early years of the Bundesliga or like the South has in the last 50 years. Berlin is still suffering from the economic consequences of the cold war when barely any big company wanted to settle in West Berlin given it was cut off from any suitable economic connections and infrastructure. And with the German unification they just got the (frankly) even more economically useless Eastern part. So the whole environment for Hertha as a club has never been favorable. Don`t get me wrong, the city is brilliant but you don`t get much money from all these non-profitable political organizations. For all the talk about how Bayern has always done so greatly as a club, Hertha never ever had the opportunities to build these ties with Audi, Adidas or Allianz.

People need to realize what an economical exception Berlin as a capital is compared to all the other major European cities is. It`s the only capital that has a GDP lower than the countries average. Still, awesome city.
Just read this. Really good post that describes the situation well.

Have to disagree (and shamefully admit this is the main reason for quoting you) about Berlin being an awesome city though. I think it's an awful ugly dump of a city that is completely run down and I really hate everything about it. If you're into art and techno (and drugs), then Berlin is your place but other than that it makes you kind of embarrassed that this is our capital when you compare to places like Prague or Budapest. Foreigners do seem to like it though!
 

Acrobat7

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Just read this. Really good post that describes the situation well.

Have to disagree (and shamefully admit this is the main reason for quoting you) about Berlin being an awesome city though. I think it's an awful ugly dump of a city that is completely run down and I really hate everything about it. If you're into art and techno (and drugs), then Berlin is your place but other than that it makes you kind of embarrassed that this is our capital when you compare to places like Prague or Budapest. Foreigners do seem to like it though!
It is just different opinions. I moved here 6 years ago and like it a lot.