Oh to be in Stuttgart's position, just coming back from relegation and winning a game of football....

Come off it. Sven is a bit of a charlatan, a typical hipster favorite that can only operate in the right conditions. Like anyone, tbf, but context is everything.

Bryant wrote:

BVB should think about replacing Favre soon. They're looking like how we were during Wenger's last years and they got questionable Spurs-eque mental ability.

This team has a boatload of talent that can win a Bundesliga.

Apparently they thought about it and agree with you. Favre gone it seems.

Damn. If Rose goes there they will challenge Bayern easily

Clrnc wrote:

Damn. If Rose goes there they will challenge Bayern easily

this is what organised clubs do. get the man they want early. no stress. 

What? He's starting next season! Stop carving everything in the football world into stick to beat Arsenal with. Dortmund are a chump club with zero ambition. Their "rivals" have made them their whipping boys on and off the field.

Claudius wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Damn. If Rose goes there they will challenge Bayern easily

this is what organised clubs do. get the man they want early. no stress. 

Reading more about it, it is not so cut and dry.

Apparently the caretaker coach Edin Terzic is very highly rated in coaching circles (was assistant to Klopp/Tuchel/Slaven Blic etc.)  and knows their youth setup inside out.

He may stay on past summer if he has a Hansi flick's esque impact.

5 days later
jones wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Jones you know anything about Youssoufa Moukoko? Everyone has been hyping him up. Dortmund fans say he is even better than Haaland at a young age.

He's been pulverising every domestic goalscoring record since he's like 11. Played for Dortmund's and Germany's U16s at 12, for their U19s at age 14, appeared and scored in UEFA Youth League (U19s) at 14 too and scored something between 1.5 to 2 goals per game in every one of his seasons. This season he was pulled up to their reserves, played in three games and scored four goals in one and hat tricks each in the other two. Dortmund motioned back in April to have the rules changed to allow him to play professional football when he turns 16 which he did yesterday.

Can't think of any player ever who had that profile at academy level, forget Haaland not even Lukaku or Messi were talked about like him. Really interested to see how he turns out because while he has a very good physique (still, he was 12 playing 16 year olds) his anticipation and finishing are what set him apart.

And now he's the youngest player to ever score in the Bundesliga:

Despite that Dortmund still lost by 2-1 against Union Berlin.

Honestly they are one of worst teams I have seen recently when it comes to defending set pieces.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
jones wrote:

He's been pulverising every domestic goalscoring record since he's like 11. Played for Dortmund's and Germany's U16s at 12, for their U19s at age 14, appeared and scored in UEFA Youth League (U19s) at 14 too and scored something between 1.5 to 2 goals per game in every one of his seasons. This season he was pulled up to their reserves, played in three games and scored four goals in one and hat tricks each in the other two. Dortmund motioned back in April to have the rules changed to allow him to play professional football when he turns 16 which he did yesterday.

Can't think of any player ever who had that profile at academy level, forget Haaland not even Lukaku or Messi were talked about like him. Really interested to see how he turns out because while he has a very good physique (still, he was 12 playing 16 year olds) his anticipation and finishing are what set him apart.

And now he's the youngest player to ever score in the Bundesliga:

Kin' hell did not expect that. What a finish

Shick doing the Zidane volley vs. Bayern!

21 days later

Schakle up 4-0 at home. They haven’t won for 30 games prior to this game!

The Kola effect.

13 days later


What a team goal that is from Dortmund.


And a great finish from Haaland for the first. Helps so much to have a striker who can score from any angle.

Really fun game, Gladbach up 3:2 again after a brillant goal from Bensebaini to start the second half.

Also, Bellingham is really impressive for a 17 year old, England have an amazing group of players coming through.

4:2 to Gladbach now, the third goal from a set-piece, Dortmund are horrible at defending those.

a month later

Frankfurt off to a flying start against Bayern. 2-0 in the 31st minute. They’ve dominated so far. Almost scored a goal from the half way line even. Bayern looking tired and uninspired.

flobaba wrote:

Frankfurt off to a flying start against Bayern. 2-0 in the 31st minute. They’ve dominated so far. Almost scored a goal from the half way line even. Bayern looking tired and uninspired.

Bayern's squad depth is coming to bite them in the ass.

To be fair, none of their summer signings have worked out bar Musiala (who was not even signed as a first team player).

Jones must have blown a gasket over that defending.

Feel like I was on the pitch myself. Pure elation for the first half and intense arse clenching in the second. I might be shitting blood for a week now.


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Haaland is actually not human. Unreal. I'm so glad Manchester United didn't sign him. He's clearly the next best player in the world

Clrnc wrote:


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Can you find another link Clrnc? Don't see anything.

Schalke continue being garbage. 4-0 loss in the derby against Dortmund.

Big Willie wrote:
Clrnc wrote:


Unreal player. Ibra esque

Can you find another link Clrnc? Don't see anything.


Here mate

Mustafi will have gone from prem football to the 2nd league in Germany in the space of 6 months - holy mackerel.

spaceman spiff wrote:

Mustafi will have gone from prem football to the 2nd league in Germany in the space of 6 months - holy mackerel.

I think he might struggle at that level too looking at how bad he is at Schalke.

By the way... 😆

What’s funny? I’m missing it

Can't figure it out myself.

Ref wanted to pick the ball up and played it off when Neuer took it

I don't think so, he clearly goes to pick up the coin.

Saw some stats that showed for players under 21, Mbappé and now Haaland were complete outliers in terms of their goals per game at around 0,8. All other recent great players (Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar) etc had been in the 0,6-0,7 range to that point in their careers.
Possibly football power is getting more concentrated and that is helping these 2 players, but there is no denying their talent. We can spend the next decade bitterly arguing over who is better

Claudius wrote:

Saw some stats that showed for players under 21, Mbappé and now Haaland were complete outliers in terms of their goals per game at around 0,8. All other recent great players (Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar) etc had been in the 0,6-0,7 range to that point in their careers.
Possibly football power is getting more concentrated and that is helping these 2 players, but there is no denying their talent. We can spend the next decade bitterly arguing over who is better

Could be due to playing in Germany and France rather than England and Spain too. They are absolutely elite talent though. Kroenke needs to give us £300m so we can sign both in the summer.

The stats included players like Benzema, Henry and Lewandowski who partially grew up in lesser leagues. And these guys are nearly double each of those chaps in terms of output rates.

You're comparing apples to oranges though Claude. The likes of Thierry would be scoring 50-60 goals a season if they were from this era. Football was very different back then.

That’s why I pointed out earlier that there might be a consolidation effect that is helping Mbappé and Haaland, but their numbers are impressive. Because within this era, there is no youth anywhere close.

Yeah, just trying to explain that players from different eras can't be compared so readily. Especially when back in the day teams weren't conditioned the way they are now, the level of professionalism and attention to detail between now and then in world's aparts. Players these days are like machines, finely drilled on almost every move they make on the pitch, sometimes to the detriment of the flair that used to be in the game. This all comes from the huge amounts of money that keep flowing into the game resulting in the big teams getting bigger whilst the smaller ones get further and further away (England is an outlier).

Remember back then you'd have the traditional big teams like Arsenal/United, Real/Barca, Inter/AC/Juve but many smaller teams like Leeds/Newcastle/Blackburn, Valencia/Deportivo, Roma/Lazio/Fiorentina/Parma all able to hold their own with countless top quality players in their squads? You'd almost never get the same 3 players for the Balloon D'Or because there were so many too players from different teams. Like you mentioned, nowadays almost all the top players are playing for a small group of clubs.

That said, I agree with Qwiss that the Mbappe/Haaland numbers are inflated because of the league they are playing. They'd still be scoring bucket loads in the big leagues as well but wouldn't be at the same level as it is now playing for one of the best teams in weaker leagues.