LIVE! Match discussion 2014/15

[YoungWolf]

Solbakken used to do that with us. It worked quite well for a while when we went down to ten against Watford away, we equalised and instantly reverted to 4-4-1 at their kick off and were all over the place from then on. Weird.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Solbakken and weird in the same post. Surely not.

 

[andyc225]

Yet another home defeat for BvB. Klopp is surely close to the bullet now?

 

[Carrotdude]

What the hell has happened to Dortmund this season?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

They've been making some appalling mistakes at the back, they've got 4 quality centre halves to choose from now but doesn't seem to matter which 2 they pick this season they've all got a ricket in them, probably not helped that they all seem to be picking up injuries all the time too so they've struggled to get a settled partnership. Think the loss of Lewandowski has been massive for them too, he was a real focal point to their attacks and added so much to the build up as well as providing that lethal touch, if they still had him instead of that headless chicken Immobile then perhaps they'd be getting a few more goals to counteract the clangers at the back or reduce the pressure going that way by giving opponents more to think about.

It's a transfer that doesn't seem to have worked out particularly well for anyone, I don't think Bayern look any better for the addition of Lewandowski, he certainly doesn't look as good at Bayern as he did at Dortmund and his old club are really struggling without him.

 

[andyc225]

The Augsburg goal was a disgrace. The entire backline was drawn to the ball on the left side. Schmelzer didn't even think to have a look over his shoulder to pick up the free man on his side.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's been a long series of sloppy goals all season, right from the very first 10 seconds of the campaign when they conceded to Leverkusen.

In their favour, the bottom half of the table is still incredibly tight and Paderborn are sinking like a stone so they should be taking permanent residence in the bottom two very soon. However we keep waiting for the turnaround and it just isn't happening.

 

[Carrotdude]

It's amazing that they've become so bad so quickly, what does this say about Klopp? A year ago he was everyone's favourite manager and linked to every top job.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

It's amazing that they've become so bad so quickly, what does this say about Klopp? A year ago he was everyone's favourite manager and linked to every top job.

There's only so long you can swim against the tide though, his best players get taken away from him year on year, eventually you're going to lose one too many or just have a bad year with the replacements, Sahin, Kagawa and Goetze were all seen as big losses at the time but they managed to find replacements, this year with Lewandowski gone they haven't even got half the player in either Immobile or Ramos, their best bet up top now seems to be Aubameyang but he can't play anything like the same way as Lewandowski so it still doesn't give them a great replacement.

Still shocking to see just how far they've fallen though.

 

[Carrotdude]

Yeah I agree that they will struggle with players being taken away but you'd expect struggling to equal mid table like liverpool earlier this season not bottom of the league. Very strange.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

You've got their crumbling back line to factor in too, not really sure what's gone on there other than them having trouble with injuries but they've got good options yet none of them seem immune from dropping a complete clanger whenever they're picked, it's really strange.

If they hadn't lost their usual pattern of attacking playing through Lewandowski then there'd probably be enough goals to still pick up more points than they have or if the defence hadn't fell apart since summer they'd still have enough to grind some games out, just unlucky as much as anything i think that both have come simultaneously.

Got to be hard for them to adjust to anything more attritional too considering Klopp's usual mental style of play.

 

[Espresso]

The fans have been incredibly patient but eventually something has to give. They'll put a few wins together in the end right?

 

[MARKakaJIM]

It didn't look pretty after last night's game, fair play to Hummels and Weidenfeller who both approached the crowd and were talking to the angry masses, doubtful they got anything meaningful across but got to be better from a PR point of view than just strolling away if nothing else. Was quite funny seeing Klopp and the other players looking on worried as it happened though.

 

[YoungWolf]

Kagawa was on the verge of tears!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Klopp's football is brilliant to watch but he really does only have one way of playing. It's quite possible that his team have been worked out to an extent - and with the likes of Gundogan, Reus, Blaszczykowski not playing much this season it's going to have an impact on their attacking play, you put inferior players into a system that requires a very specific profile of player and you have a problem. Very different levels and not suggesting the Dortmund squad players (ok, maybe Grosskreutz ) are that shit but have a look closer to home at what happened when Dicko was injured and we asked Clarke to do the same job.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I think the loss of Lewandowski is proving pretty similar to what happened closer to home with Dicko.

He was brilliant with his back to goal, he gave them a great platform to play from receiving balls into his body and laying it off for onrushing midfielders, none of the potential replacements can do it. Ramos just looks a big useless lump, I can't work out what Immobile is any good at other than running around everywhere and Aubameyang is more of a threat in behind, the system just doesn't work as well anymore with that type of forward, it leaves the likes of Reus now trying to make something happen for themselves from a deeper position.

They really should've gone in a couple of goals ahead at half time but some of the finishing was terrible, and they couldn't even blame Mkhitaryan for a change.

 

[Nando]

Mkhitaryan wants out apparently. He's worthy of one the top ten clubs in the world according to his agent. He might want to sort out his end product as it's atrocious at the moment.

The strange thing with BVB is that they look to have the most strength in depth they've had for a long time. I thought they'd push on again this season with the options throughout the squad. It's an unbelievable run of results and they look mentally shot.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Mkhitaryan does some fantastic things at times, he'll skip round players for fun when he's on it but his finishing is absolutely atrocious, i'd be surprised to see any bigger club come in for him, he doesn't even look to be first choice at Dortmund anymore.

 

[NorwayFB]

1-0 Schalke

Must be pretty answering Tranquillo Barnetta when asked your name.

Anyway he scored the goal.

 

[slink]

Martin Atkinson has booked both Monreal and Welbeck in the last few minutes and neither were even close to being worthy, such a poor referee.