well i just read this and

LEVERKUSEN BEAT ATLETICO DE MADRID!

1-0

i have to watch the recording

YO YO YO

zonalmarking has a writeup of juve-dortmund!!

Not only does a simple long pass from defence to attack negate Dortmund’s midfield pressure, it generally means the defence is exposed and unprotected, too, unless they’re playing a very high line and keeping extremely compact. Dortmund didn’t do that here, and were caught out twice by these quick attacks.

Does anyone actually find those Stats Zone graphics interesting?

hell yes

nobody got past them (except for that slip) and that shows how they were the pirlos with pirlo gone

they also moved teh ball between them a lot

didnt i say yesterday chiellini + bonucci great? (or something along those lines?)

proof.

I've no idea when your birthday is but here's an early/late present

I thought I was walking into an NFL thread. Bummer.

ha ha ha! is that in bolivia?

around the world cup there were videos of the germans dancing with amazonian indians. that was cool AND THEY WON THE WORLD CUP.

now dante... dante obviously wasn't there ha ha

I dunno where it is. The original clip is I think from the Borat film. There's a Real Madrid version that went viral for a while.

oh! that looks like the andes (if you can spot the children on the left edge).

anyway this is what i mentioned-- the photo w/ mueller was the funniest as i recall but i couldn't find it

Haha. But for its sheer what-was-Pep-thinking? factor, still hard to beat this ...

I only said, "It's not football"

oh ha ha pep is into that too?

i remember after they brought the trophy home they did this horrible dance i think it was in berlin or something

it was hilarious-- i'd look for photos but it eats my internet. just put "german world cup homecoming". i'm sure there's videos for your eyesore of choice.

ew yeah, not seen that before. Not good.

i though it was fun and very ugly and funny on account of that, but some of the germans i know were horrified at the expressions of national pride, which had not been seen publicly in nearly 7 decades.

good for a laugh though.

Yeah, you win a world cup you're entitled to make at least a bit of a twat of yourself.

This. Just like there's nothing wrong with waving a flag of the country you've just represented.

i know, but for germans, considering their history, this was a huuuuuuuge deal

they didn't even do this after reunification

this is new for a lot of people

one of the guys i know who was alarmed (he wasn't the only one obviously) lives in a converted bunker btw

eta: here's a good writeup on that: http://wapo.st/1jG4d9a

They should just be thankful John Terry didn't try to gatecrash their party

haaaaa haaaa haaaaa haaaaaa

must spread rep etc

Meanwhile, if we're not trying to kill german football with our money, we're trying it with bombs

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...nexploded-bomb

today dortmund beat schalke 3-0 in a superexciting game!!!

unfortunately i witnessed what looked like a choppy slide show of something that resembled pictures of a game

but damn!

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i/?img...j_1296x729.jpg

Please tell me they didn't wear those for the duration of the match!

ha ha ha. i think (i read) aubameyang pulled out the batman mask after he scored (@78' at long last). that photo is post-match.

i really hope to see them do well on the return leg vs juve. i mean, if juve must win, fine, but i really want dortmund to be a menace again.

I wonder what the odds are now on dortmund qualifying for the Champions League? 8 points off with (I think) 11 games to go. Be an incredible turnaround if they did it.

bayern and wolfsburg are too far gone ahead, and some people like wolfsburg to win the europa league so keep an eye on them as the new german sensation maybe? they beat munich 4-1 recently so they're a serious team. i don't think they'll give up their spot.

however 3rd and 4th place are currently 12 & 8 points ahead respectively. so conceivably yes (even 3rd place). add to it the fact that 5th place schalke seems to be struggling at the moment, and it's... maybe possible.

monchengladbach & leverkusen will fight hard for their spots though. leverkusen just beat atlético madrid 1-0 (i haven't had a chance to watch the recording yet). i haven't paid much attention to monchengladbach, but even without any proper stars (hazard's little brother on loan from chelsea! lol) they're a solid team. so dortmund can get to 5th place but for 3rd or 4th we'll see who blinks first.

Over here a few pundits are desperate for Klopp to come to the Prem. They want him to do well in the rest of this season, to re-establish himself on the scene, but not too well that he feels he has more to do where he is. Any word on his position at Dortmund?

Marcelo Bielsa on West ham Shortlist

OMFG! Please please please let this happen. Please! I wouldn't even care if we got relegated under the fucker. This would be an absolute dream come true for me.

More related stuff coming out the woodwork

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/...lace-allardyc/

Fucking hell. I'm hyperventilating!

Other names on the shortlist:

Moyes: Wouldn't say no but a bit too safe
Laudrup: Excellent appointment but nowhere near as exciting as Bielsa
Bilic: Big fan favourite but no idea how he'd do in the Prem
Rijkaard: Doubt there's any truth to it. Would take him in a heartbeat but would still rather Bielsa.

Sam's going is good enough. But the very thought of him being replaced by Bielsa. Happy fucking days. ... until the bubble bursts and the board quietly unveils Gareth Southgate.

wow i hope you guys get bielsa. of course that would mean the end of west ham's style altogether-- wouldn't that be a problem with your players? then again bielsa is far from stupid and would adapt. or maybe you can get klopp instead ha ha ha-- almost a ready fit.

don't know about kloppo going anywhere though. i remember him in his glory days talking about how maybe in 2016 or 2017 when his work at dortmund was completed he would consider moving, but i have a feeling that having taken such a big hit this season the delivery date of his finished "oeuvre" has been pushed farther back. by this i was assuming that he'd quit after having established dortmund as a permanent contender, a barcelona to bayern's real madrid (or viceversa), and a regular power in europe. of course we have to see what happens next with him-- he could conceivably get fired at the end of this season if things start to go poorly again.

No! That's the whole thing! People laugh at and dismiss this whole thing about the 'West Ham way' (including our current cunt of a manager) but the 'West Ham way' actually refers to something real: adopting the most technically advanced style of football (at the time Hungary's) and putting results to one side. We had a reputation for being great to watch, playing 'good', entertaining football without ever being that successful. Bielsa represents the epitome of that.

The concept is encapsulated by our manager Ron Greenwood who introduced the idea and the tactics in the sixties, when he said that

“The crowds at West Ham have never been rewarded by results but they keep turning up because of the good football they see. Other clubs will suffer from the old bugbear that results count more than anything. This has been the ruination of English soccer.”

Not even every West Ham fan agrees with that but some (including me) absolutely do.

Bielsa represents that to the absolute hilt. Only Pep can compete with him on that level, and we're never gonna get him, and even he idolises Bielsa over everyone else (and Pep's ultmately far more pragmatic than Bielsa).

It's why I said I'd happily be relegated under him. Odd I know, but I honestly feel that way.

EDIT: The reality is our current owners would never go for anyone as bold as Bielsa. They'll go for a far safer bet because they're terrified of relegation before we move into the Olympic Stadium. I almost wish his name had never been mentioned. For me anyway it makes every other alternative a massive let-down, even though I should simply be happy that Allardyce is going.

Given we'll never get Bielsa, I'd love Klopp, but like you I can't see him leaving Dortmund now. Amd if he does it'll be for Arsenal not us.

I should feel happy but I just feel so deflated at the overwhelming likelihood that the dream won't come true.

wow. i thought it was all long balls and andy carroll headers. i had no idea!

re: owners. aren't you now just jealous of the 50+1 bundesliga model? oh, come on, just a little jealous. admit it.

i don't think bielsa is gonna get any team relegated. you're more likely to do that with some mediocro.

AND what's with the rejoicing at allardyce's departure? weren't you like "i love sam" just months, if not mere weeks ago? what's happening?

This. I really don't understand where people think West Ham are meant to be? Champions League? Non. Europa league? Maybe sometimes. I don't get it.

I've not always been critical of him, especially at the start of the season, when at times I even praised him, but it's impossible to watch us recently and not be completely disillusioned with his whole approach. The whole West Ham Way thing is important for some fans and irrelevant for others but I'd say a majority of even those who couldn't care less about it have had enough of him now. So yeah, in that sense, the 50+1 idea would be great. It would've certainly meant we'd have never appointed him to begin with.

As for what West Ham fans think the club is meant to be, I'd say a majority accept we're a yo-yo team but expect to be entertained with 'good' football and maybe have an occasional cup-run. Sam is all about safety-first and tends to dismiss the kind of flair players the supporters have generally always seen as being a key part of the club's identity, through the training methods entrenched in our academy that go back to the 50s. I don't hate Andy Carroll and actually think he's a decent player (and more versatile than Sam allows him to be) but his appointment under Sam represented a real abandonment of that idea.

The joke about West Ham for years was that they were this really cultured football team that usually lost and certainly didn't have much chance of winning anything significant. It was like an in-joke (like the lyrics of the Bubbles song) but a lot of mostly younger fans just want results now - and to be fair, the way the game's gone, it's pretty much understandable. But apart from at the start of this season (and getting us promoted out of the Championship), Sam's style has proven neither entertaining or successful.

Less important, but maybe significant for some fans, is Sam's utter arrogance. Mourinho gets away with it cos his results back it up. Sam's don't. This is the man who's on record saying he's better suited to managing a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona than a mid-table one in the Prem league - which let us not forget, he came within a whisker of getting relegated last season. He'll get another position after West Ham because he seems like a safe pair of hands and that's more important than it's ever been for a lot of clubs, but he's currently the 13th highest paid manager in world football. Shouldn't a club expect a bit more for that kind of money? Would I sack him now, before the end of the season? No. Would I renew his contract when it ends at the end of the season? Also no.

No complaints tonight, even though we lost. Could've easily got a point or even 3. Sakho could've easily got a couple.

http://www.dw.de/five-reasons-for-bo...orm/a-18299071

they play hamburg in 2' (in paper it should be easy as hamburg sucks-- but im still nervous)

--

eventually found a stream in the middle of the first half and it was exciting, chaotic, but no goals.

2nd half was exciting, a little more organized, but still no goals.

0-0 feels like a dortmund defeat-- they dominated but still no cigar.

Interested to know from H8Kurdt what the general mood is among Everton fans at the moment about Martinez.

We don't talk about that.

Well it looks like all the talk about Bielsa (or anyone) replacing Allardyce was just that, talk. I was obviously a bit OTT in my condemnation of him in the previous few posts but, either way, it looks like he's there for probably at least another season. Oh well. Reality check I suppose.