Lolerpool.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=32487883&nid=1205

done by BYU's Tv students

It was silly and he obviously did himself no favours but Beckenbauer just loves the sound of his own voice a bit too much.


You may be right about Ribery, I dunno, but my memory of the Lewandowski sub was Bayern were already ahead and looking comfortable in a game they didn't really even need to win, so why risk an injury to their main striker? He was also getting increasingly physical with Kompany as the game went on so Pep was probably just trying to make sure he didn't draw a card.

Never saw the game but Rodgers was bigging up their performance in the post match. Although regardless of how Liverpool play, there's always some comedy value in a Brendan Rodgers post match interview.

oh, dortmund!

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now you all know what i was talking about. dortmund has officially become a dull team.

props to alexis for the beautiful goal (and previous attempts). also that long-legged dude who scored the first goal. and cazorla played so well. but regardless, dortmund has officially become a dull team.

very very sad, but also true.

You hit it on the head, dull, flat. It felt like Klopp was the only one interested. I was poo-pooing your relegation fears earlier in the season but, while I still don't think they're quite that bad, there's obviously something very wrong there.

And yeah, Sanchez's goal was a beauty.

see normally in the bundesliga the opposing teams play them defensively and neutralize dortmund's counterattack. arsenal had less possession today! 45% vs. 55 dortmund/

the problem with klopp's system it seems to me is that
- it relies on young players who can overrun the opposition
and
- when said players get old, they can't run as fast and/or they get injured (sometimes when young too)
and
- it depends too much on counterattacking. what do you do when you have possession most of the time?
and
- it relies on exceedingly young brilliant players (gotze, lewandowski, reus) which are rare/easily poached/ get injured.

the thing with his system, it's not brilliant, but it depends for its brilliance on individual ability, and this year he doesn't have it, hence = dull.

immobile should have make it work but what the fuck is up with him. i don't know. top serie a goalscorer last year now can't find his way out of a paper bag. also, aubameyang, fast but inaccurate. ramos has been a mess. mkhitarian always making impressive moves but always also failing to deliver.

the defense missing hummels & sokratis due to this or that always (sokratis = broken leg, hummels still out on an ankle injury). kehl about to retire. gundogan improving but still not in full form. kuba also injured. sahin no idea. kagawa with nobody to play the way he used to w/ gotze & reus-- or maybe it's that he can't run as when he was younger?

new strategy: recruit them at 19, make them run until they break, sell them at 25, rinse & repeat.

dortmund currently #16 on the bundesliga table (out of 18 teams). that's the relegation playoff spot.

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the goal by sánchez was so pretty because it went out and curved into the goalpost and weidenfeller reached for it but it also curved downward and plopped riiiiiiiiight into a very small unreachable pocket-- what a beautiful shot because, damn, it's practically impossible. also not sure if you spotted but he attempted a similar one minutes before. practice makes perfect.

Must spread Rep, etc ...

Dortmund look like a perfect storm. Key players sold or injured and new ones not firing at all, playing a system too easy for opponents to neutralise. All the things you said, basically. And, unless there's a dramatic turn around in form soon, it'll only get worse as in demand players like Hummels and Reus almost certainly start looking for an exit. I still think it's too early to think about them getting relegated, despite their current position, but if they're playing in the Bundelsiga the way they played against a (let's not forget) very average Arsenal side, then who knows? But even if they avoid the drop, not qualifying for any European football at all (which does seem very possible) would be disaster enough, not just for Dortmund but for Klopp. He's currently still on the radar of clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal but more performances like the one on Wednesday will really hurt his prospects with any potential employers.

You could put this to Ajax too. Great players brought up, sold, which then buggers up their champions league.

It could be said of any team who tries to build long term that isn't in that elite, super-rich bracket. And it runs all the way down. In buying Lewandowski, Bayern only did to Dortmund what Dortmund did to Lech Poznan. Poznan wins the league with Lewandowski as top scorer then Dortmund jumps in, buys him, and the following year Poznan finish mid table. Dortmund plays the same game as every other club, their fans are just pissed cos they're not at the very top of the spending chain the way Bayern is, but Dortmund would do exactly the same as them if they were. And they are doing exactly the same thing to clubs below them. Every club who buys players in from outside is.

pep about to start a weird 4-1-3-2 formation (on paper anyway)

rafinha boateng dante bernat
alonso
gotze robben ribery
muller lewandowski

looks crazy. let's see what happens.

--

ps- a bit crowded but they won 1-0.

Meanwhile ... West Ham!

Most fun I've had supporting them since the 2005-6 season.

frankfurt punking dortmund 1-0 at half time. as of right now, dortmund is the sole occupant of the bottom spot on the bundesliga table.

earlier today wolfsburg beat monchengladbach 1-0 in a lively game. really nice back and forth.

oh, poor dortmund-- kagawa running in circles without any decent help, mkhitarian shooting at the moon, ramos trampling around like a man on stilts, the defense floundering before frankfurt's lightning-fast counterattacks. this is like something out of a greek tragedy or the book of job. a closeup of klopp grinding his teeth as he watches from the sidelines is all you need to see to understand.

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eta: 2-0 at 78'!

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http://www.bundesliga.com/en/stats/table/

Well at least I don't feel as bad as Dortmund fans do. God dammit Everton.

Bad result for you but a great game. Harry Kane looks like the real deal. He was the difference today.

Yeah he's looking great. It's getting busy up front with players to chose from for the England squad. At the back though...

And trust it to be this game Soldado finally gets a goal.

Yeah, be interesting to see what Roy does with Kane. Same with Charlie Austin. But in making Rooney captain he's effectively eliminated at least one option up front, and on current form Welbeck's pretty much undroppable. Purely from a selection point of view he maybe should've made Cahill captain, creating more competition for places up front, and knowing nobody's realistically challenging for Cahill's position right now. Although I have to say, so far, I've really liked how Rooney's adapted to the captaincy.

^^ hey, congrats on west ham's good fortunes. they other day i heard them mentioned as candidates to make the champions league. i'm going to have to check them out one of these days! and did you move up to that olympic stadium yet or did that never happen?

They're doing great but their current league place flatters them a bit. Big teams like Arsenal and Liverpool will inevitably improve and West Ham will start to fall to around the mid table, which is more realistic and still far better than I've been used to the past few seasons.

As for watching them, they're getting results and generally playing well but nothing to excite neutrals. No Sam Allardyce side will ever be pleasing on the eye but relative to last season they're at least watchable now.

They move into the Olympic stadium next year.