A Moenchengladbach supporting friend of mine says this is them deciding who gets to take the free kick?



Brilliant if true.

Awesome!

26 goals in 27 matches so far for Huntelaar at Schalke. We should have considered KJH a little more thoroughly I think. The misses we see from Robinho, and to think we crucified Huntelaar for that one miss...

It was all Leonardo's fault in my opinion.He barely played him,and when he played him it was on the wings which is crazy!I always liked the player,and thought he had potential.The time he saved us against Chievo was it?Scoring two goals,or that amazing one from a far distance.

Yup, that was his last goal for us, and probably his most magical. Left footed strike, wham! And yes, I've been following the guy ever since he left us (rarely do I do this), and totally agreed with Fillipo. He didn't cost much, went for round about the same price to Schalke, scored as many goals he could humanly here, and frankly didn't earn that much either. Could (or should) have been the perfect player for us in certain circumstances.

But his position was straight in front of the goal, as a pure poacher. Little did he played there, sadly.

It's a sad waste. Something we usually don't do.

Again, totally agreed. I don't think (most) any player deserves to be kicked out after just one year. It usually takes that much time to integrate with the team, the new environment, even new language. Who here thinks, Huntelaar (or any new player we sign) knew Italian more than a few words? You can't speak with teammates, you don't get very far.

And any player we ship away within 6 months or 1 year, reflects very, very poorly on the club and it's scouts. Waste!

Absolutely..which is why I'm kind of appreciative that Taiwo has been playing more than one game in a row.

You're not the only one, then! I know he's not the second coming of a certain individual, but the guy is not a complete hack either. Susceptible defense, agreed, which can be worked upon by the coaches. Abate wasn't too strong defensively, a while back, but he got there with hard work. The more he plays, the more Taiwo can get his act together.

I don't know when he will leave, but at the very least I want him to score one of his epic long-range goals!

Big news in the Bundesliga: Marco Reus joins Borussia Dortmund in a 17,5 million Euro deal. Poor Gladbach

At least it's in Summer... and it's good money for Gladbach. All I hoped for he was finishing the season with VfL

He'll get a chance there, whilst he likely would be wasted at Bayern. Good move for Reus. Good signing for Dortmund. Good money for Gladbach. At least that's what my Gladbach supporting friend thinks.

I hope Borussia will be able to sign good new midfielders, while not only Marco Reus but also Roman Neustädter will leave at the end of this season. Unfortunality the latter will go for free, contract is expiring, to Schalke.

Obviously Reus is the one carrying Gladbach's attack, but it takes more than 1 player to do so well, and that includes Neustädter. VfL has a nice young midfield. I wonder what midfield they will have next season.

And yeah, Dortmund seems like a safer choice than Bayern, but obviously he went there because it's his youth love; Reus comes from Dortmund afterall. Kagawa may leave now, at least rumours are showing up, Milan included.

Neuer

What did he do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fjgi9pABVY

Ah, technology. The game's live now and here we are. Pretty stupid/lazy mistake, though.

2-0!

Best left back in the World at it again..

3-0. Jesus.

Bayern's defence sucks.

Bayern sucks

FT 3-1.

Today is yet another chance to reassess Bayern. Playing Schalke, should be fun to watch.

Hertha 0-6 Bayern

With about 23 minutes left to go.

Huntelaar scored his 20th and 21st goal for Schalke in the league this season.

As for Bayern, still winning. But to score 20 goals in 3 matches is amazing.

Lethal. Two of the best (or at least my favorite) strikers playing in the Budesliga. Hunter and Gomez.


You know these German teams. Run like a military with mechanical efficiency. They're always a force to reckon with, and I don't know what to call a titan like Bayern pulling this feat of 20 goals - amazing or unsurprising.

And more stats: Huntelaar scored his 40th goal in his 39th Schalke match.

Cheers, man! Amazing. More than a goal a match!

He wasn't on the mark with us, yet that stat says it all.

He wasn't at Real either. I don't think he can hack it at a top club, he certainly wouldn't be producing these stats with us

He was never allowed to be. Playing at the right and being asked to do stuff he clearly is not best at. But I stil remember all his goals as vividly as humanly possible. The last one in particular, left foot classic bomba from out of the box. Which one us the match, thank you.

It had more to do with our impatience than Huntelaar that saw to the door. One more year, would have settled it.

He doesn't have to. Around half of these will do. And you never know, with a strong engine behind him, he could even better it, and get a ratio of 0.6 goals per game. Plus, Real isn't an example to follow. They are pathetic in this regard, anyway, beyond pathetic when it comes to giving time for players to settle down!

He only played a couple of games on the right at the end of the season when Pato was injured, by that analysis Pato shouldn't have been played either but that's how it went under Leo.

Oh, I've always maintained that. You try and fit players in positions they can give the most in. It's the responsibility of the coach and training staff to figure this out. Unless they are absolute champions who can fit anywhere, then that's okay. But even champions may have a hard first year.

I've always liked Leonardo, and I've always like Huntelaar - but his handling of the Dutch is something that I will always hold against him. And for this reason alone, I am not an inch saddened that we parted ways with the Brazilian. He always preferred Borriello over the Hunter.

But Boriello worked in that system while Huntelaar didn't, even when playing in the center. Boriello held up the ball well to bring Dinho into play, that was the entire syste, under Leo. And Huntelaar is just not that kind of player

Totally agreed, and that's why I maintain it was a wrong system to begin with. Look where dependence on Boriello ended us. Even Ronaldinho was stupid to play at the comfortable position at the left, instead of more a more hardworking position at the exact center. In essence it never maximized our potential as a team. It was a miracle we ended up 3rd anyway, considering the squad we had at our disposal.

One thing is certain, however: You don't get to more than a goal a match in the German league, do excellent in the Dutch league, earn and keep a place in the Holland National Team for years, do decent enough in the first year at titanic new clubs like Madrid and Milan while being a mediocre player. Even mediocre players survive and thrive in good systems at big clubs. Huntelaar is our loss as a club, Boriello or Gilardino not so much.

I can go on to say that we have never had a better, more lethal pure finisher. He wasn't much good outside the box, but give him a chance inside it, and the guy will bury it 9 times out of 10. He's an Inzaghi without the added frustration, and Inzaghi sometimes requires more than one chances to score. Besides, the Hunter rarely, if ever, gets injured. That's as big a plus for any striker as anything.

Pair Huntelaar in the box, with someone like Tevez or Ibra behind him, and you can score at will. Literally and figuratively. Add his low salary and good-guy nature to the mix, it's a massive win. Trust me, I've followed Huntelaar since his early PSV days, all those years back. And this was one guy who could have given much more.



And with 31 goals for Holland, he is just 9 shy of breaking the all time record for the Oranje. That's impressive enough for someone who does not always start, and only usually comes in dying minutes. Point is, we lost a graceful, prolific talent who could have been here for a few good years, easily.

It's in the all in the past now, so doesn't really matter. But I do hope we do better the next time around, and maximize the potential of the players we sign. That'll do us good as a club.

Watching Dortmund highlights. Wow. The quickness and passing of this team is unreal.

Very true. German efficiency at it's best, like I said a couple of days back.

Dortmund 1-0 Bayern. Including a 87th minute penalty miss from Robben.

His miss a couple of minutes later was even more outrageous.

Just saw the highlights on the sports news. what huge misses by Robben!

He was horrible, like the rest of Bayern. Dortmund are a really good team.

Yup...but too inexperienced and I think that's why they got caught out in Europe. But I think they play some of the fastest football I have seen.

I would have liked Klopp in Milan, except with the kind of hard running he expects we'd have our whole squad in the treatment room by matchday 4.

Haha. Klopp is a good coach, but he's very irritating. He's like Andy Roddick.

At least they are a country mile better than Bayer Leverkusen. Those freaks gave away 5 goals!

Why should that make you angry?

I always get angry when a team gives away a bucketful of goals. I love defending, partly as an art, and partly as as science (mostly art), but when a team, any team bends over like this, they fall down in my eyes like no other. Maybe smaller teams can get away with it, very smaller ones, level B or C clubs. But not professional ones.

And surely not teams that play in Europe. If you aren't scoring goals, the least you can do is try and prevent the opponent from scoring them. Or at least minimize them with good, solid, water tight defending. But if you can't even do that, then I'll start doubting that teams footballing credentials. Just like I doubt Roma. And Arsenal.

Surely, any team is bound to have a bad day at the office, but this bad?! Just get your thick heads together, and defend, goddammit. Show some urgency, show the people watching you care. For me a 0-3 defeat is as bad as it gets, meaning you are totally and hopelessly outclassed. Anything more is a murder. Cold-blooded murder.

But why should you care? They're not your team. Regardless of your love of defending and all, it doesn't affect you nor the team you support in any way possible. I always take defeats like that with a laugh.

I don't have a team, Milan are the closest to what I call almost being a fan. I don't even have a favorite player anymore, at least none that currently plays. The 5 I liked retired, and the club I was a fan of stopped being that club after Kaka, Maldini and Carlo left. And Brazil is another thing, but they too have more than a few thugs in disguise as players. Still, I watch Brazil NT matches anytime I can.

You can say that I've evolved. Outgrown the sports a bit maybe, yes. Your case is different, I've seen the highs of the past, and the present does not compare. So it's uninteresting to me. Even if we do win the CL next somehow, it still will not match the 2007 triumph for me, which will not match the loss at 2005, which will further not match the win in 2003 (that one was sweet). And so on.

Point being, I like the sports for what it stands. Little more than that now. I do like watching quite a few names, and always like seeing quality stuff on display, some tough neck-to-neck affairs, fair play, champion sportsmanship. That for me is the beauty of the game, and what sports stand (or stood for) in general. And I struggle to get that out of my head.

Granted you don't see that quite often now, what with the falling standards, but hey, I'm not complaining. Much. This new football is a dirty, dirty affair. And almost as worse is the falling standards in all departments. Give me one goalkeeper that can touch the heights of a Buffon or Oliver Khan. None come close.

Same goes for most strikers and midfielder. Can you see how much of a dearth (oh, I love using this word) we have now of really visionary playmakers. It used to be a glut a few years back. What we have now are either mechanical and military (like Emanusleon, or the type that Allegri likes), or the real creative ones are lazy basturds.

And so I do care, when I see teams like Leverkusen being clueless during a match. It's a small nail in the coffin for me when it comes to footballing standards. And it hurts like a small nail too. I mean, if we, with a weak, weak team hold Barcelona to 0-0 and go there without our first choice midfield, attack and more importantly defense, and hold them to 1 goal (those two penalties don't count for me), then Leverkusen should be doing better.

Long rant, I know, but that's that. It's the falling standards of the game that irks me the most. And I blame commercialism and the glut of money for it. Pretty soon the spirit of the sports will die (if it hasn't already), and I am not sure I'll be watching it as much then. Just like cricket after the advent of the money making events like IPL and Twenty20.