You're the man to ask. So why have Dortmund struggled so hard this season?

Make your answer as long as you want. I'm intrigued to see your thoughts.

You forgot Bernie Madoff to do the accounts

All the goals here btw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GESyL...DGti_i&index=1

Watching them all I'd say...ooh maybe Stephanie Roach (featuring all 6 people in the crowd) or Rodriguez's. Honestly, I'd be tempted to say Roach's goal. Would be great to see that from a different angle.

Funny thing is on the comments for the Roach goal there's a comment about Joe Garner's goal for Preston *takes hat off proudly*

Proud Preston lad

i'm no expert but i think 2 problems have occurred:

1) started the season with a *very* shallow bench-- 9 starters injured at some point i think i recall.

2) said shallow bench was burned at the champions league matches, which i think left them tired for weekends.

3) while the rest of the planet perceives the bundesliga as a one-team league (bayern), they are all highly competitive -- much more than la liga for example. lots of ups and downs midtable. dortmund's first win in quite a while was vs. a team (monchengladbach) that's battling for 2nd place, while they lost against various relegation contestants-- one would have expected the opposite.

4) dortmund is best on the counterattack, when they have possession they don't seem to know what to do with it. other bundesliga teams seem to have figured this out and let them have possession.

5) they've had a lot of shots on goal but they have consistently failed to convert. mkhitarian, immobile, aubameyang. ramos and even (especially) reus are ultimately constipated. witchcraft?

6) none of the new guys is good enough replacement for lewandowski. even though immobile was capocannoniere in serie a last year...! he seems lost now, not sure why.

7) klopp keeps subbing in grosskreutz for kagawa. how very wrong, but that's their shallow bench-- a lumbering mostly defensive jack of all trades for a gifted creative midfielder.

8) a lot of key players are still injured out or not in full form. hummels, sahin, and i think gundogan were watching from the bleachers last weekend. last time gundogan came in (after 15 months) he was way below top form--supposedly man u want him now.

9) weidenfeller, while big and strong and imposing, can sometimes be a slow lumbering dumbshit. dortmund needs to start looking for a good alternative.

10) witchcraft, obviously.

I think it's from Dec to Dec.

The Zlatan goal I think you're talking about was about a couple of years ago now I reckon, although the one on the list is great too and just as 'pure Zlatan' as the earlier one.


Given they seem to be fine in the CL, that might be the best answer.

EDIT: And Baines out of England with a hamstring injury, straight after I took a massive points hit in FF trying to shoe-horn him and Sanchez into my side. Baines you fucking neo-Mod-looking bastard!!!! Get well soon!!!!

Gutted. That's another injury for everton. Barry, McCarthy, Pienaar, Coleman, Stones and Kone (lol) all out.

u.s. colombia starts in a couple of minutes! anthems right now.

bale plays for england? so wales doesn't have their own team? (northern ireland does, so i'm puzzled)

No Baines, not Bale. Bale is Welsh and they have their own team. Wish he was English, though.

Watching the USA game now.

oh ha ha. misread.

bale is awesome! unfortunately he'll never be world champion.

usa colombia a little messy but entertaining. wtf kind of name is "craven cottage"? ha ha ha. worst name ever!

Yeah, messy but entertaining. USA haven't been good but might've easily gone in 2-0 up. Your midfield is awful though. Will be amazed if Colombia don't at least equalise in the 2nd half. And their pen shout seemed right. Yedlin's been your best player so far.

Haha. Craven Cottage is a really lovely old stadium right by the Thames. Probably one of the nicest in the country.

Edit: 90 mins

Enjoyed it. US looked better at the beginning of the 2nd half but, like the first, they let Colombia gradually creep back in. US hve no connection between their midfield and forwards, letting Colombia swamp them, who in the end definitely deserved the win. The US are sloggers. Defending well enough but that's about all they're ever allowed to do. The way Klinsmann has them play they just draw far too much pressure onto themselves. They're still stuck in backs-to-the-wall mode, which looks heroic but hardly looks like a step forward.

i have more criticism towards colombia who had the superior players and had to struggle so much to score. i thought their defense was rather meh. usa got a free penalty since armero was pushed and was spared a penalty for jj's handball. so it would have been 4-0 if judged correctly.

most entertaining moment of the game for me was hearing the colombian fans rudely chant "hijo de puta, hijo de puta" near the end of the first half.

usa appeared really in shambles but let's be honest, most of the players are all a bunch of 2nd and 3rd raters. i did like yedlin, guzan & bedoya today. heard that yedlin is going to the premier league to that's really good for him-- hope they train him well. (meanwhile, mls owners bitching about klinsmann's lack of respect for mls. but seriously, fuck the mls.)

maybe the disconnect from midfields to forwards had to do with having jj as a centerback today? wtf. maybe klinsmann has been smoking pep's drugs. also, i keep hearing about the famous diskkerud but all i noticed was he looked like a musketeer--otherwise nothing.

next week usa vs ireland. that should be a more even match (no offense to ireland but they are no colombia).

It was a friendly. Lets not make too much about it for either side

Colombia weren't great but it was a difficult game for them to look good in. for all the criticisms of the USA, we know they pack the defence. On another day Colombia might've taken their chances but we regularly see superior sides struggle in games like that.

I completely agree with you about the Klinsmann debacle but he can't treat the national team like it's a separate entity from the league. A national coach's role is a political one as much as it is a purely footballing one. If he sees it as anything else he should've managed a league team. And for me, he hasn't shown much signs of actually improving the national side anyway, even with his weird re-nationalised Germans. They're still the same fairly hard to beat but ultimately quite pedestrian team they've always been.


True but some friendlies feel like friendlies while some feel like competitive matches. This one definitely felt more like the latter.

I've mixed feelings. It's bad news for me from a FF pov but Everton's next game is against WH so obviously wouldn't mind him being rested for that one.

Anyway, England's starting lineup against Slovenia:

1 Hart 2 Clyne 3 Gibbs 4 Henderson 5 Cahill 6 Jagielka 7 Wilshere 8 Lallana 9 Welbeck 10 Rooney 11 Sterling

yes. klinsmann is not magic. he can't conjure up great players out of nothingness.

the complaint about him was that as coach he can say whatever he wants but as (also) technical director of us soccer he's in a different position-- and yes, maybe he's not diplomatic as he could be, but the mls is a joke regardless, this is where old players come to die not where great players flourish.


friendly (this is for suchfriends) just means a training game, and the point here is-- training for what? there was no attempt at keeping possession, there were a lot of old players who won't be here for the next world cup, it was a lot like the belgium game. one espn commentator said-- if you're going to practice possession then do it and take the beating that comes with it until you do it right. he had a point i thought.

about what you said above re: pedestrian. well, yes, most american players are a bunch of nobodies by world standards. and this is where i side with klinsmann-- american players have to go to europe in order to become good because the mls is a joke. our best players of late-- dempsey, howard, bradley when he played in his correct position, jozy when he's fit & in the mood-- all earn/ed their bread in major european leagues (not norway, iceland, 3rd bundesliga, etc). fingers crossed for yedlin.

--

on other news: chile on fire beat venezuela 5-0. my favorites for next year's copa américa ahead of brazil & argentina.

I disagree completely that US players need to develop in Europe. It has some merits but look at how basketball players from Euro leagues are increasingly finding their way successfully into the NBA which is obviously the top tier league in the world. The "Americans HAVE to go to Europe to prove thrmselves" is becoming less valid every year the MLS develops. I've watched a few MLS games this year and in all honesty guys may be "no names" but they were hardly talentless indeed the gap is shrinking if you ask me. DUH the Eurotrash leagues are best in the world but futbol is growing.. further the international team affords American players a lot of great opportunities to play against European level competition so there is that too

of course. when the boy grows up he will become a man but today he is still a boy.

part of that growing up is to hold the mls to higher standards and developing players from the bottom.

meanwhile, american players have to go to europe to reach their top game. same thing in south america, and there's no shame in it. the thing is though that in south america there is a lot more "seeding" because the way the clubs are structured from the bottom (youth teams, academies, b-leagues, etc).

okay. busy saturday. i hope that suffices to explain what's needed.


that's a street game in america. futbol is not.

Yes and no. I think Klinsmann's a self-serving snob BUT the gulf in quality is greater than yougive credit. Klinsmann's problem is that it's ok sending US talent to Europe but a lot of them hardly play. Most are on the bench. Not all but most. Is it better being a bench warmer in the Prem or the Bundesliga or La Liga or actually getting guaranteed game time in the MLS? That's the $1m question.

Anyway, good win for England tonight. Made hard work of it to begin with but no complaints in the end.

Its not street game that produces professional athletes its pro quality youth and amateur leagues and that definitely is where US needs to improve but our college and national team farm systems are developing quite nicely in that regard. However interestingly enough here in LA people dont play ball in the park, they playing futbol

I agree and why I believe Americans are better off playing in MLS than riding the bench in Europe. However it is agreed that the best US talent should go to Europe the way the best international bball players inevitably play in the NBA..

I'm not American so none of this matters to me, obviously, but the sooner the US sees through Klinsmann the better. You should sack him and appoint Caleb Porter asap. The only person benefiting from the current situation is Klinsmann himself. He plays on America's inferiority complex and over-inflated view of the European game to increase his power while not actually making any real improvement since the Bradley era in terms of results or style of play.

Sorry, I really just can't stand Klinsmann

In his first years I would disagree with you but after the WC I think you may be right. Our style pf play hasn't radically improved after the
2013 Gold Cup and if anything we've seen a regression.. but jurgen has brought and increased focus on the youth leagues and farm system so perhaps behind the scenes there is more improvement

Whatever happens domestically, or even with the national team, America still seems more interested in the European leagues so it makes sense they'll look to a European to turn things around. Saying that I don't think the problem is that Klinsmann's not American, or that he's European, I just think he's a politician first and foremost, whose primary objective is power. Porter might be a solution, but it could equally be someone else, from Europe or wherever. Someone like Glenn Hoddle would be a fantastic replacement IMO. Much maligned when he was managing England but a real long term thinker with a genuine (and innovative) interest in developing things at a grass roots level.

Hold up, if Klinsypoo was a politician he wouldnt have nixed landycakes so there is that. He is definitely power hungry but considering the disorganized state of the huge US maybe that is a good thing. US potential talent pool is as large as all of the Euro leagues,combined but there no coherent system to put it all together. If jurgen wants to be an American Soccer Czar maybe that is what we need to capitalize on our potential? We have a large supply of raw talent and plenty of money to spend

PRECISELY

also lacking is the work ethic necessary to play at the higher levels because (unlike baseball, american football, basketball) is not seen by the poor as a path to riches. soccer is currently a kind of slacker sport that slackers play. i have no problem with that (games should be fun) as long as there is a professional top level as obsessed with their fitness and performance as bruce lee was.

and this is where things also count: while americans might be bench warmers in europe, the training, the nutrition, and the medical care they get is the same as the starters. whether they actually get to play or not, they are fit to play every 4 days for 10 or 11 months of the year. that's where the mls is way behind. and many bench warmers get loaned out anyway and can play regularly (e.g. julian green was loaned out from bayern to hamburg).

OCTAGON, BITCHES

ha ha ha. sorry, i'm a little buzzed.

Interesting blog post looking at the same problem from a slightly different perspective ...

The trademarked motto of the American Youth Soccer Organization is, “Everyone Plays.” As comforting and class blind as this sounds, and as somewhat true as it is for the most basic youth leagues in the country, it’s an empty slogan if your aim (or, let’s be realistic, the aim for your kid) is to develop into the kind of player that might one day interest professional clubs and national youth teams. Because if that’s your aim, you need to get out of AYSO and start paying a lot to play a lot.

Consider the following: Seven of the 23 squad members for the 2014 World Cup USMNT are graduates of IMG Academy.* This is not an academy in the sense of European pro club academies, which do not charge a fee for your child’s enrolment and usually pay for equipment. No, if you want your kid at IMG, you’ll need to fork over $70,000 annually. Your child would be very lucky indeed if he ever made that kind of money playing annually in the MLS.

Even for those in the squad who didn’t go to IMG, a significant time and monetary investment was required. DeAndre Yedlin, for example, one of the most promising of young players to emerge in the US in the last few years, was groomed in Seattle’s prestigious Emerald City FC, Northwest Nationals, and Crossfire Premier programs, each of which charge annual fees of over $2000, with uniform fees and significant travel expenses added on top of that. If IMG is near the top end in terms of cost, the types of programs Yedlin attended are near the lower end. $2000+ (or $50,000+) annually may not seem like a lot of money to some, but it really is if you’re struggling to make ends meet, and, say, if you can’t get out of your evening shifts to drive your kid to four or five different training and match events every week.

If that’s you, and you still value sport, and you think your kid has talent, you’re not thinking US soccer.

Look down the line at past and current American soccer stars, and you’ll discover backgrounds dotted with private schools, expensive soccer programs, well-educated families, and suburban bliss. Look down the line at past and current stars playing for almost any other nation (and at the world’s best clubs), and you’ll find the opposite narrative.

I realize I’m generalizing here, and there are exceptions. But even some of the more marked exceptions highlight the situation I’m describing. Clint Dempsey grew up in a trailer park, but was undoubtedly talented from a very young age. Yet, the only reason he was able to enroll for the elite Dallas Texans youth system is through benefactors with means. Not all kids are as fortunate.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...anti-ira-songs

This will hopefully mean the end of that bloody awful band that follows England around, not because they played an anti-IRA tune but because they're so bloody annoying and embarrassing.

US got shellacked as if steve albini was playing.. 2014 has been a shit year for Klinsypoo

oh i totally forgot to watch that game. i should read some reviews.

can't agree that 2014 was shit for him considering the world cup campaign

"gland band"?!?! (the one on the right)

damn!

Dickheads aside.

Great game last night. God knows how Downing buggered up his chance to impress, but bugger it up he did. Wilshire however? ZOOOMM. He's doing great atm. Let's hope he keeps in the England squad and not Arsenal.

WC totally didnt go to plan. The team did.not play in its new style, really it was a chaotic accident, but NONE of the strategies and styles which Jurgen had been implementing since 2011 which peaked in 2013 Gold Cup and WC Qualifiers were sen in the WC. It was like watching a different team entirely, and now since WC its been just as ugly, almost as if 2011-13 ever happened!

Yeah, Wilshire's been great in that deeper role. The pass for the Ox was world class.

Downing was played out of position and carrying a slight knock. Not making excuses for him but I'm not sure he should've played, full stop, and certainly not where he did.

Big problem for Hodgson when Sturridge is fit. Welbeck's been great this past few games and must deserve to keep his place.

Listened to a phone in last night, afterwards. Unbelievable that after a 6 game unbeaten run there are still people who want Hodgson out, and criticising Rooney. Hodgson has put a foot wrong since the WC (and I'm not sure, taking each game individually, he did much wrong there, either). And Rooney's been great since becoming captain. I sometimes wonder exactly what the average England fan expects. They talk as though we're just a new manager and captain away from suddenly being Brazil circa 1970.

Much as I hate to agree with Klinsmann, there's probably some truth to him saying the team as a whole needs to get nastier. I've always seen USA as playing with a lot of heart but being perhaps a bit too nice for their own good. Saw the highlights and Ireland weren't afraid to put in some pretty brutal tackles, whereas USA never seem to want to go down that route. Beckerman can do it but the team as a whole always feels a bit too gentlemanly for its own good. Rather than trawling the German leagues for your re-nationalised talent, you could perhaps start looking to places like El Salvador instead. You mention ugly, but perhaps now they should start thinking about getting really ugly. You probably don't even need to go abroad. There must be some MS18 members in the US, capable of kicking a ball.

USMNT v2 reveals new squad....

Those dudes play for Chivas LA too?

I get the feeling they'd play for whoever they wanted to. Mourinho probably has his eye on a couple of them, to fill the 'Pepe role' at Chelsea.

another heartbreaking result for dortmund who after a halftime advantage of 2-0 over recently promoted padernborn goes back home with a 2-2 score and an injured (again! motherfucker!) reus. the fucker who injured reus needs to be crucified.

all was going well for dortmund until kagawa got subbed out for grosskreutz, as always. why this is i'll never know. more than that i'm wondering what will become of reus who was carted out in a stretcher (kicked viciously on teh same ankle that kept him out of the world cup and kept him out of games earlier in the season). i don't know if he'll be able to play arsenal on wednesday.

Eesh what's going on with that team!

Well demonrail, let's just say I'm glad there's no such thing as offside. Osman though *bows* love that guy.

Just watched the United/Arsenal game. Well the result certainly doesn't justify how much Arsenal had the game to be honest. But hey, that's the great thing about football. A team gets two goals and still have to have a shot on target (yes you read that right) till the end of the game.

Oh and Ronaldo is now on 20 goals in 11 games. Dude is bloody machine.