Just Mel's nonsense

Manu is our new captain, and he deserves it without any doubt. He’s a great teamplayer and always puts his own needs behind the team. There is never an “I” or “me” when he speaks, there is always an “us” and “we”. He is smart and very diplomatic. However, that doesn’t mean he will not speak up when it’s needed. He just chooses not to do it in front of cameras. His skills and success speak for themselves and don’t need further elaboration.

Really? Where? I haven’t seen it in German news articles. They mostly focused on Merkel’s lil blunder when she called him Jeromy.

It’s not very popular to show patriotism to your own country over here, it usually only happens during world cups or euros. At least that’s when I notice a remarkable increase in public displayed flags. I think it has to do with our past which isn’t anything to be proud of. It’s kinda a dead horse, but I think people are still beating on it. We’re still far away to making it a common trait to be proud of our country and sing the anthem before every sport event.

However, there is another thing. Fans of their clubs identify themselves first and foremost with their club and not so much with the nation. Most clubs have an own club anthem which is sung  or played before every home game.

Manu has always been a sweeper keeper, he was out of his box many times when he still played for Schalke, however it didn’t happen with such a high frequency as with Bayern when Pep became coach. IMO the reason is pretty simple, with Pep Bayern played ultra pressing ball possession football, so in most matches it was very often just Manu being in the own half while all fieldplayers were in the opponent’s half.

I think most Bundesliga clubs still have classical goalies and not sweeper keeper types, at least I cannot see a trend that goalies try to turn into sweeper keepers. You can see them doing some sweeping or running out their box every now and then, but it’s not really common. It’s also not really needed for most clubs in the Bundesliga as most don’t press that much and instead focus more on defense in general.

It’s very likely that now with Carlo Ancelotti you’ll see less sweeping Neuer but more of his longthrows again.

As for Pep obviously saccing Hart, I don’t understand it really. Football in the PL is different. It’s much faster, very pushy, miles consuming. The ball goes back and forth between the teams. That doesn’t leave a goalie that much time to keep the ball going in the match when there are already 3 strikers close. So it’s kinda normal that you don’t see many short passes or building up an attack from the defense, usually the ball is simply kicked away from the danger zone.

I’m not even certain that Pep’s playing philosophy will work out so well in the PL, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other teams can score often with counter attacks, using long passes to bring the ball behind Pep’s high line of defense. That’s what usually broke Bayern’s neck in the big matches.

Either way, he doesn’t even give Hart the chance to adapt to his new playstyle, he just assumes he can’t do it.

Yep, the silver medal is certainly nothing to fret about, even if this means they lost the final. Without hardly any preperation they entered the turney and got better with each match. But I think it was mostly every player’s strong will and a great team spirit that brought them so far.

An injury prone player usually gets a “cheaper” contract if he prolongues his contract with the same club. They just don’t have the arguments on their sides to ask for a salary that’s as high as it was when they were in their prime.

I think as long as such players don’t ask for moon prices, it’s a good choice for Bayern to keep them. It’s good for the team morale, it keeps the family feeling intact.

Robben usually goes kaput when he plays for his national team or returns from it. He is made fit and healthy after weeks of therapy at Bayern, just in time to be called to his national team from where he usually returns injured. IMO he should maybe consider to quit there and use his remaining years to focus on the club only. It’s not uncommon to do that. You gotta listen to your body and accept that it gets older and needs more rest.

Badstuber is another story, a very sad and tragic one. He reminds me of Uli Hoeneß a lot who had to stop playing when he was still so young. I hope Holger doesn’t have to share the same fate. But every new knee injury is another step closer to a premature career end. :(

I know, it really starts to annoy me, too. He is the only one who runs a campaign that aggressively. But that’s not even the thing that bugs me the most. I’m mostly annoyed that his campaign contains 90% politics and a racism discussion and just 10% are about his skills and football, and 0% are about the team. He plays a card no other player can (and prolly wants to) play. He puts himself over everyone else and I absolutely dislike that.

Besides that, I don’t see him as the perfect choice for captaincy anyways. Not until he finally stops to have his rages on the pitch.

Yeah me too. I like Joe a lot. I hate it when so established and successful players get shunned like that. I hated it when it happened to Iker, I hate how it happens to Schweini. Sure, a player as he gets older might not be as good as he used to be when he was a young fella, but I just don’t understand why they are treated with so little respect. Why aren’t they given the chance to leave the club without losing their faces? Just approach them internally and let them communicate their move to the public in a respectful way, but not in a way to let everyone know they got kicked out.

Yes I heard Bierhoff saying that and I kinda agree, but then again I think the closer the tournament will be the more Löw will be eager to win it. How often do you get the chance to win the Confed Cup anyways?

I think whether Manu will play or not will greatly depend on whether he’ll be the new captain or not. I don’t see the German NT going into a tourney without their captain.

Yeah he was awesome yesterday. I was totally flashed how well he played after just a week back in training. That bloke just doesn’t need much preperation to be in awesome form.

Yep, Poldi nailed it cuz he’s kinda old school and knows it’s just Manu’s turn now. It would be so incredible rude not to make him captain after he was the secret captain for 2 years already (cuz as much as we all love Basti he hardly played). I do not want a captain just cuz it would be “a symbol” to racists. Football and politics should always stay apart.

Also, folks forget so fast, Olli Kahn was captain for 6 years and it wasn’t a problem either.