German Football 20/21

do.ob

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Terzic trying to humiliate Leverkusen.
 

do.ob

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Uth missing against his boyhood club for "personal reasons" is a nice story. As far as I can tell both Stuttgart and Gladbach have fielded serious teams without making any concessions to loyal substitute players (e.g. Oscar Wendt, who is leaving and could move up a position in Gladbach's players with the most matches ranking).

I still have a feeling Cologne are going to bottle this. Being in a must-win situation is not something they are used to and I think Schalke being as bad as they have been this season will further weigh on them.

edit: actually I have just seen the tweet:

What the heck? "to protect both club and player"

To complement the retiring Bender twins and Piszczek, Sky have also put a retiring commentator on that game and the referee is Manuel Gräfe, who is also retiring.
 
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Rektsanwalt

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Uth missing against his boyhood club for "personal reasons" is a nice story. As far as I can tell both Stuttgart and Gladbach have fielded serious teams without making any concessions to loyal substitute players (e.g. Oscar Wendt, who is leaving and could move up a position in Gladbach's players with the most matches ranking).

I still have a feeling Cologne are going to bottle this. Being in a must-win situation is not something they are used to and I think Schalke being as bad as they have been this season will further weigh on them.

edit: actually I have just seen the tweet:

What the heck? "to protect both club and player"

To complement the retiring Bender twins and Piszczek, Sky have also put a retiring commentator on that game and the referee is Manuel Gräfe, who is also retiring.
Might have to do with him being hunted after relegation was sealed, I guess. And for him, this game against his home club that could go down as well, it's just too much potential for trouble. Makes sense to be honest. No need for him to play there.
 

GhastlyHun

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Gikiewicz on a personal mission to protect Müller's joint record :D
Meanwhile, Bayern, apart from Lewandowski, score on a nice 10 minute cadence. 4-0.
Only 2 more to reach 100 season goals again.
 

do.ob

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Might have to do with him being hunted after relegation was sealed, I guess. And for him, this game against his home club that could go down as well, it's just too much potential for trouble. Makes sense to be honest. No need for him to play there.
I agree, it makes a lot of sense. But what doesn't make sense is to post a tweet about it that describes it as a measure to protect club and player. It's typical Schalke fashion: instead of just communicating this discreetly, by either saying he has a minor injury or that it is for personal reasons, they write they that they can't field a player, because they need to protect him and the club, from whom? Their own fans?
 

Rektsanwalt

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I agree, it makes a lot of sense. But what doesn't make sense is to post a tweet about it that describes it as a measure to protect club and player. It's typical Schalke fashion: instead of just communicating this discreetly, by either saying he has a minor injury or that it is for personal reasons, they write they that they can't field a player, because they need to protect him and the club, from whom? Their own fans?
Yeah I think so, honestly. It's a slight dig since the current leadership was also rather pissed and outspoken about everything that happened after the relegation. Wasn't it Knebel who openly communicated that he will let the players decide themselves whether they want to play or not? The club is in shambles anyways. Still looking forward to the next season...great clubs in the 2nd division. Hopefully Schalke will change some things inside the club to the better and stop presenting such a shitshow year after year. The lack of professionalism is absolutely insane. I've never witnessed anything comparable bar maybe Hertha and HSV when it comes to amateurs/incompetent people running such a huge business.
 

do.ob

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Yeah I think so, honestly. It's a slight dig since the current leadership was also rather pissed and outspoken about everything that happened after the relegation. Wasn't it Knebel who openly communicated that he will let the players decide themselves whether they want to play or not? The club is in shambles anyways. Still looking forward to the next season...great clubs in the 2nd division. Hopefully Schalke will change some things inside the club to the better and stop presenting such a shitshow year after year. The lack of professionalism is absolutely insane. I've never witnessed anything comparable bar maybe Hertha and HSV when it comes to amateurs/incompetent people running such a huge business.
But the last thing you want to do as a club is antagonize your own fan base or give the media reason to (further) paint them as hooligans. Schalke's officals constantly keep stepping in these little fat saucers, as the great Christian Falk would put it, giving the press another opportunity to write a negative article every time they do.
 

FatTails

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Erling Haaland becomes the first player under 21 to reach the 40-goal mark in a season with a club in the top 5 European leagues since Ronaldo with Barcelona in 1996/97.
 

Rektsanwalt

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But the last thing you want to do as a club is antagonize your own fan base or give the media reason to (further) paint them as hooligans. Schalke's officals constantly keep stepping in these little saucers of fat, as the great Christian Falk would put it, giving the press another opportunity to write a negative article every time they do.
Yes, everybody knows that bar said officials. It's their standard behavior. They are that incompetent and do not fecking get it. And corona has made it impossible to verbalize this criticism appropriately. I'm 100% certain that Schalke would not have gone down if corona didn't occur.
 

do.ob

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Yes, everybody knows that bar said officials. It's their standard behavior. They are that incompetent and do not fecking get it. And corona has made it impossible to verbalize this criticism appropriately. I'm 100% certain that Schalke would not have gone down if corona didn't occur.
Corona of course made things a lot harder, especially since Schalke were already under a lot of pressure financially to begin with. But this relegation has been coming from miles away and you got the first taste of it in Tedesco's second season. If it wouldn't have happened this year it would've happened the following season, or the one after that. Just like Hamburg or Stuttgart went down eventually, just like it seems to be Bremen's turn now.
 

Rektsanwalt

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Corona of course made things a lot harder, especially since Schalke were already under a lot of pressure financially to begin with. But this relegation has been coming from miles away and you got the first taste of it in Tedesco's second season. If it wouldn't have happened this year it would've happened the following season, or the one after that. Just like Hamburg or Stuttgart went down eventually, just like it seems to be Bremen's turn now.
Yea, I'm not so sure whether it was inevitable or not, but the high possibility that even if Schalke prevailed this season they'd go down in 1-3 years is obviously there. But going down now and in such a fashion is pretty devastating. It's even worse going down right now considering corona is still a thing and the fans' and members' opinions won't be heard as loud as they could be heard if the pandemic was over. I would be much more optimistic regarding neccessary changes to actually happen if meetings, decisions etc. could happen in real life and not digital or postal service. The handicap corona brought to Schalke is huge and much worse than for most other clubs, I'd say. Club's a shambles.
 

do.ob

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Yea, I'm not so sure whether it was inevitable or not, but the high possibility that even if Schalke prevailed this season they'd go down in 1-3 years is obviously there. But going down now and in such a fashion is pretty devastating. It's even worse going down right now considering corona is still a thing and the fans' and members' opinions won't be heard as loud as they could be heard if the pandemic was over. I would be much more optimistic regarding neccessary changes to actually happen if meetings, decisions etc. could happen in real life and not digital or postal service. The handicap corona brought to Schalke is huge and much worse than for most other clubs, I'd say. Club's a shambles.
The same set of fans who kept Tönnies in power over all these years? Despite Assauer telling them what would happen some 15 years ago? I'm all for 50+1, but the fans aren't going to turn this around. If anything they will fall for charlatans who make them big promises, while they put too much pressure on the people who try to methodically rebuild the club.
 

do.ob

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Are Cologne going to get VAR'd out of Bundesliga yet again? :D

With Bremen falling apart and Bielefeld getting their second we can at least fully focus on the one match now. Maybe Bremen will score on, too, so fecking Kai Dittmann can stop telling us about what would happen if they lose 0-8.
 

hellhunter

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Are Cologne going to get VAR'd out of Bundesliga yet again? :D

With Bremen falling apart and Bielefeld getting their second we can at least fully focus on the one match now. Maybe Bremen will score on, too, so fecking Kai Dittmann can stop telling us about what would happen if they lose 0-8.
What an idiot that guy is.
 

Rektsanwalt

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The same set of fans who kept Tönnies in power over all these years? Despite Assauer telling them what would happen some 15 years ago? I'm all for 50+1, but the fans aren't going to turn this around. If anything they will fall for charlatans who make them big promises, while they put too much pressure on the people who try to methodically rebuild the club.
The pressure that those fans would have put upon officials and the team would have been quite significant. Yes, in the longterm, Schalke always puts too much pressure on officials and the team but in this very season it was a very important factor for the relegation. I agree that Schalke is doomed due to the huge expectations. The club's structure is just too oldschool, football business does not work that way anymore. Rangnick would have been the absolute best thing that could have happened in the current situation, but all those dinosaurs are against progress. Maybe, not even in the longterm future, there won't be any tradition or culture to keep alive if the situation is not handled properly. The risk of staying in the 2nd division next year and slowly fading into meaninglessness is not as small as some might think. Creating professional structures is the key stone to longterm success for Schalke and it would start - to me at least - with creating a GmbH rightaway. Another huge factor is giving power and positions inside the club to known faces and old friends just for the sake of it. Football has become too commercialized and professionalized to keep hanging onto nostalgia. These people live in the past.
 

do.ob

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Cologne get their goal!! Kölle Alaaf! Et hätt noch immer jot jejange!
 

Rektsanwalt

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Please do, rather see Köln than Bremen relegated.
Yes, also I'd fancy Bremen to be able to succeed in the relegation games. I want them in the 2nd division as well, since it's going to be so stacked with awesome clubs. I mean, has there ever been a season with so many interesting clubs?
 

hellhunter

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Yes, also I'd fancy Bremen to be able to succeed in the relegation games. I want them in the 2nd division as well, since it's going to be so stacked with awesome clubs. I mean, has there ever been a season with so many interesting clubs?
Well Karlsruhe is there most seasons, so yes :p
 

do.ob

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The pressure that those fans would have put upon officials and the team would have been quite significant. Yes, in the longterm, Schalke always puts too much pressure on officials and the team but in this very season it was a very important factor for the relegation. I agree that Schalke is doomed due to the huge expectations. The club's structure is just too oldschool, football business does not work that way anymore. Rangnick would have been the absolute best thing that could have happened in the current situation, but all those dinosaurs are against progress. Maybe, not even in the longterm future, there won't be any tradition or culture to keep alive if the situation is not handled properly. The risk of staying in the 2nd division next year and slowly fading into meaninglessness is not as small as some might think. Creating professional structures is the key stone to longterm success for Schalke and it would start - to me at least - with creating a GmbH rightaway. Another huge factor is giving power and positions inside the club to known faces and old friends just for the sake of it. Football has become too commercialized and professionalized to keep hanging onto nostalgia. These people live in the past.
But that's the thing already: People treat Rangnick as a saint and Buchta as the great villain, despite it being doubtful that Rangnick ever was that genuinely interested in the job. And the way "the group" went about their business was pretty scandalous and damaging to the club as well. Yet from what I've read fans seem to be completely blind to that, because they dangled Rangnick in front of their noses.

I'd also say it's not just nepotism, but also this glorification of the "eurofighters" in general that, among other things, weighed the club down by deluding people into thinking playing terrible football could somehow be their club dna.

I think outside of the fan base most people don't expect Schalke to return to Bundesliga anytime soon. The 2nd division is a rough place, with Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Bremen, etc Schalke won't even be the big fish in the small pond either. A mix of Regionalliga kids and over 30
 
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Lyricist

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So Schalke, Bremen, Hamburg, Hannover, Nürnberg, and potentially Köln are down in 2. Bundesliga next season.