I am not sure if the schedule is better for Frankfurt. They played great against top teams (since March they have beaten Bayern, Dortmund, Wolfsburg, drawn against Leipzig), but they have the occasional stupid loss in them against small teams. That doesn't happen to Wolfsburg, who just lack the edge against the best teams. So it could well be that in fact both are getting very similiar results.
Yeah fair enough! It's true all of that was just assuming Dortmund could go on a winning streak which is just unlikely to happen, but it could end up a close race if they win today and Wolfsburg loses to Bayern next.
Would be typical for Dortmund this season to lose today. That would bring Stuttgart back in the fight for EL/ECL - and that is now Dortmund's position to lose. So they are not even safely qualified for any international cup next year. One would love to see them completely missing everything.
Stuttgart leads 1:0...
Yes looks lost especially without Lewandowski. Not sure what excuse PSG can use if they don't reach the semi finals?
If it only was Lewandowski but there are so many starters injured or at a lot less than 100%. Still, losing the first leg is inexcusable and totally on them.
Humm. If they don't reach the semi finals, they would say:
Lewandowski the difference maker though. With the amount of chances created If he had played mid week it could easily have been 5-3 1st leg win instead of a 3-2 defeat.
I think Nagelsmann did it with worse material. The attack and midfield of Frankfurt this season is quality.
Tedesco
I think they have a bit different qualities. Nagelsmann is getting great results with a good squad, Hütter is getting similar results with a squad of good and great players, who basically failed elsewhere (Kostic, Jovic, Silva, Durm, Rode are the most prominent ones I can think of). In the end both coaches perform on a similar level, but I think Nagelsmann is better at developing and evolving a team, while Hütter seems to be better with difficult characters (who Leipzip generally don't have in their squad - Frankfurts management did not fear to sign those, and Hütter seems great at getting the best out of them). On the other hand Frankfurt did win the DFB Pokal with Kovac as a coach and a comparable squad to Hütters now - Hütter surely is the right man in the right place for them, but much of this is the work of Bobic who signed all these players and the coach.
Tedesco is apparently doing very well in Russia. And no, he's not going to Leverkusen.Tedesco
Is he going to Leverkusen or why do you include him?
Difference to someone like Werner is that Hütter has been confirming his quality repeatedly and on a higher and higher level.
And Bosz is a proven failure as much as he is a proven good coach.
So honestly both Ten Haag and Hütter are the odd ones out on that list.
Is he the Kevin Kuranyi of German managers?
Hütter is proven though. How much more proven than Hütter can you get, just below CL level?Of course they're not proven, that's the very definition of 'promising'
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I don't see what his name has to do with anything. Everyone calls him "Adi" anyway. It's much more likely that he doesn't create a huge hype, because he's Austrian and only joined the German system 2.5 years ago, he's "only" coaching Frankfurt, he's over 50, so not someone who is sold as a revolutionary, his football is "good", but it's not so radical tactically that the media would do features on it and after that EL semi he finished 7th in the league, then 9th and for half of the current season things were looking like a midtable finish as well.
will this historic humiliation cause Herrlich to finally be sacked?I'd say that's just within RedCafe's requirements of making him the hipster choice and definitely overrated once he loses his first game in the Champions League.
If you look at Frankfurt's xG over the last three seasons, it evens out more than just a little bit though. In fact, 2018/19 and 2019/20 are almost identical (both offensively and defensively) despite losing his entire strike force after the first season. This season has been Frankfurt's best by that metric, still overachieving their points tally. Definitely more than solid what he's done at Frankfurt but whether he is qualified for much bigger jobs, I doubt.
I'm reserving my judgement on him. I find Wolfsburg fairly uninspiring in attack. This season they profit from being able to press 24/7, because they don't play in Europe, while teams like Dortmund, Gladbach and Leverkusen got eaten up by their tight schedule and internal issues. We will see what happens when they have to ratio their energy and get treated like a top team.
To be fair to them, they don't really have quality attacking players. Their strikers are all target men, their attacking players are limited on the ball but very athletic and disciplined, and their most creative player in Brekalo is inconsistent. Their best players are in the midfield and defence. I want to see how this team performs if they get someone like Erik Thommy or one of the good attacking players from Stuttgart (off the top of my head).
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It's Horst Heldt. He already laid Stuttgart and Schalke to waste and got Hannover relegated. It's what he does: hire some coach who has no idea what to do with the ball, ignore all the warning signs and absolutely dire football for as long as results remotely allow it. Then find yourself in a hopeless situation when reality catches up with you. And always sign whatever client of ROGON is available on the market, of course.
.That is of course true, but sustaining a balance with proper attacking football is perhaps the hardest part of coaching right now, so I wouldn't take it for granted that he will automatically deliver with better players.
That explains everything. I had no idea that Horst Heldt was leading the way at Köln.
That's true, but with the players at this disposal, Gisdol's football has been quite proactive (some would say surprisingly so). This season, Wolfsburg have scored more goals than they did last season, and so far, they've scored more than Leverkusen and Mönchengladbach despite not having as talented a set of attacking players.
There is supposedly an option for a third year attached, but as far as I know it's only Bild reporting it.
Fair enough. I brought this up and worded it brutishly à la "who is better, a or b" which is admittedly obnoxious. I also wasn't aware that news about his future and a potential move to Gladbach were that imminent.
Losing Hütter really would be a blow for them. But I don't think they are staring at an abyss. They are basically done with the squad planning for next season, will not lose any core players (except Jovic if you count him as such) but bring in some talent, and if they really qualify for CL they will have some options in the summer to act - and they are promoting their chief scout / squad planner Ben Manga, so that he basically can then sign the players himself instead of just suggesting them. There are no signs or rumours of their squad breaking apart so far, and even if some players want to move on, Frankfurt are in a strong position and not forced to do anything stupid just because they need money. At least that gives them time to sort out the higher management levels, but having to find a new coach who fits the more or less assembled squad could be a bit of a problem. Generally there is likely a lot of changing coaches incoming in the Bundesliga, all those transfers might be more interesting in the summer than which players are moving.
This. Things didn't look too bright for Frankfurt last season and IMO they have a few gems in their squad, especially in attack. Gladbach on the other hand seems to me like a accumulation of utility players. I struggle to identify a single one who could be destined for greatness. Most of them seem to have found their level at a club that plays CL every now and then. I believe Rose has had Gladbach punching higher above their weight than Hütter has had Frankfurt.
What are you basing this on? I'd wager that Andre Silva is pretty desperate to translate his current terrific form into a fat contract at a big(ger) club. Kostic or Hinteregger, being 28 years old, will have to force things this summer as well, if they ever want to make the next step.
They sold all of Jovic, Rebic, and Haller at once so
The claim that Frankfurt have a better squad than Gladbach is more than debatable. It's infused in hindsight by how the teams have performed. Noone, not even the chief proponent of the theory @Zehner, would have claimed that ahead of the season.
