With the snow melted and February nearly out, it's time to gear up for a great 2020/21 Bundesliga "stretch run". There's another fine weekend of football on tap. Here's the re-post for those who didn't have a chance to catch last Sunday's comprehensive breakdown of the previous round. League-Wide Talking Points: Round 22 The VfL Streaks Who can resist a nice and clean streak narrative? Oliver Glasner's Wolfsburg record their seventh consecutive clean sheet on the trot. Friday's 3-0 win over Bielefeld also marks the sixth consecutive time the VfL trainer deployed the exact same starting XI. We know for certain that one series is officially over. Defender John Anthony Brooks … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round 22
Leon Goretzka
Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round 11
With the Bundesliga's first internal "Englischer Woche" set to kick-off just ahead of the holidays, we'll supply an early re-post for anyone who missed this week's hot-sheet. So much to talk about following another eventful weekend. It goes without saying that Lucien Favre earns quite a bit of space in this one. League-wide Talking Points: Round 11 Congratulations to the new "Spitzenreiter" What seemed probable heading into the weekend did indeed transpire. Another huge win for once-fired Dortmund head-coach Peter Bosz and the high-octane 4-1-4-1 we discussed last week. As noted then, they should be considered title contenders. Fatigue can't stop this team, even as so many … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round 11
Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Ten
Quite the eventful weekend in Germany's top flight! As if four consecutive days of highly intriguing football weren't enough, the DFL released its long awaited new revenue-sharing package on Monday. We've got all the on-and-off-pitch matters covered in this week's column. Those who missed out on the initial issue can, as always, catch up here. League-wide Talking Points: Round Ten The Berliner "Turning Point" Football never conforms to one's expectations. Neither does Germany's capital city. Nothing goes according to plan in Berlin. The metropolis's "Szene" works the visitor, not the other way around. This writer will still go out on a limb and declare that round ten … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Ten
Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Eight
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
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”
Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Seven
Everything takes just a bit longer to come out of America these days. Miss out on the weekend round-up amid all of bluster and noise? No worries, we'll repost. League-wide Talking Points: Round Seven Hertha: "Symptome einer Besserung" Quick little German translation for those who enjoy the exercise. This is how the Süddeutsche Zeitung opted to describe Hertha BSC following their encouraging draw against Wolfsburg last week. It translates to "symptoms of improvement." Perhaps Germany's football writers could have picked a better description in a pandemic-age. The concept of "symptoms" doesn't really come attached with positive connotations these days. In any event, Hertha's … [Read more...] about Bundesliga Tactics Talk–Round Seven