Miss out on another comprehensive recap of last weekend's Bundesliga action? As a German would put it, "Keine Ursache". We've got you covered with the re-post. Some week. Stories galore! League-Wide Talking Points: Round Eight The best Golden Cannon race in years It gets immensely interesting. Erling Haaland's four goals put him on 10 for the season, just one off Robert Lewandowski's league-leading 11. Three players lurk behind in third place with seven tallies. Some may forget that, in Dortmund's 5-2 drubbing of Hertha, the rapidly improving Matheus Cunha also netted a brace. He sits in fourth place with six strikes Regarding the three players in third, Lucas Alario did … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Eight
Joachim Löw
Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“Eyes wide shut”
Well shit. That was a perfectly miserable end to one of the most wretched years most of us semi-evolved simians have ever experienced. So much for the normal trajectory toward optimistic support of the national team. Looks like another trend gets bucked in this year of endless shattered norms. Germans won't gravitating toward the side of the "Schwarz und Weiß" anytime soon. If anything, we stand grateful that we can completely forget about them for four full months. Despite all of the yacking about a "historic defeat", one actually doesn't have to reach back a full century or more to locate parallels. The languid performances in the lead-up to the 2006 World Cup engendered similar … [Read more...] about Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“Eyes wide shut”
Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“A Typical Teutonic Crawl”
The boos rained down in Köln. Actually, wait a minute. Nevermind. No they didn't. Nary a soul sat in the RheinEnergieStadion bleachers. Any and all perceived hisses and hecklers stemmed from one's own psychosomatic imagination; not unlike the "phantom phone vibration" that pesters one's leg in the midst of a dream staff meeting. Sigh. Blame COVID. Blame the dubious identity of the newly formed nations league. Take it further and blame Joachim Löw's back-woods mullet, grim wrinkled face, and sudden capitulation to the "Bob Bradley at Swansea City Turtleneck Wardrobe Collection" if you wish. Irrespective of what one choses to blame, the negative attention the current version of Germany's … [Read more...] about Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“A Typical Teutonic Crawl”
Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Three
Some truly fantastic high-scoring affairs send us sailing into the season's first international break. For anyone who missed the latest in-depth analysis piece amid all the transfer deadline chaos, here's the re-post of this week's discussion: League-wide Talking Points: Round Three The Iron Armada Perfect debuts for strikers Max Kruse and Joel Pohjanpalo leave one very optimistic about the survival prospects of the capital city's smaller footballing club. Kruse, featuring in his first Bundesliga starting XI in over a year, headed home a magnificent finish early in his club's fixture. Pohjanpalo opened his account for his new club literally seconds after being subbed on … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Three
Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“Good Enough for Government Work”
Time loses its essence in a post-corona world. Last Spring's upheaval may have disproportionately affected humanity, but virtually all seven billion of us experienced a simultaneous assault on our own internal metronome. The days ran together when the entire world shut down. An semi-ordered life governed by what day of the week it was suddenly wasn't. The instinctual rhythms of waking, working, sleeping no longer applied to the reality before us. We've all recovered and adapted in our own ways. We learned to live without libraries, museums, movie theaters, concerts, and live sporting events. Studying and working from home became the new routine. A protective cloth mask now hangs from our … [Read more...] about Nationalelf Tactical Focus–“Good Enough for Government Work”