1. Bundesliga: 18. Spieltag

Rückrundenstart

Freitag, den 30.01.09 um 20:30 Uhr
Hamburger SV - FC Bayern München

Samstag, den 31.01.09 um 15:30 Uhr
Hannover 96 - FC Schalke 04
1.FC Köln - VfL Wolfsburg
Borussia Dortmund - Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Hertha BSC Berlin - Eintracht Frankfurt
1899 Hoffenheim - FC Energie Cottbus
VfB Stuttgart - Borussia M'gladbach

Sonntag, den 01.02.09 um 17:00 Uhr
VfL Bochum - Karlsruher SC
SV Werder Bremen - Arminia Bielefeld



The de Jong transfer aside, it has been a rather quite winter break and transfer period, with Gladbach being the "biggest" spenders so far.

List of the winter transfers
http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/aktuell/L1/2008/wechselwinter/menue_transfers/index.html


The most notable news/transfers probably:

Bayern:

Sagnol has retired from football after failing to recover from a series of injuries and will likely take on a job in management of a French club.

Mach's gut, Willy.

Bremen:

Bremen have signed defensive midfielder Alexandros Tziolis and sent Sanogo on a loan spell to Hoffenheim, which I find rather strange. Instead of helping them, Bremen should have taken advantage of Hoffenheim's striker malaise; they are a direct competitor after all. Above that, Sanogo usually starts of VERY well at a new club, so the move becomes even less wise and reasonable.

Hertha:

Every time that I think my dislike for Hertha can't get any worse, ... it does. - Hertha signed the c**t Cufré, the guy who kicked Mertesacker in the groin in the WC06.



SCUM, total scum


Und zur Selbstbeweihräucherung...

Germany's Bundesliga has become Europe's most profitable and best attended football league and and its clubs are better equipped to cope with the economic downturn than their counterparts in England's Premier League, according to a new report.

Despite poor media revenues and a shortage of star players, the Bundesliga is in a strong position to overtake the Premier League and become European football’s biggest commercial success.
[…]

From FT.com

Ah well, when not on the pitch we are at least off the pitch successful.

Metze's Haeschen wrote:

Bremen:

Bremen have signed defensive midfielder Alexandros Tziolis and sent Sanogo on a loan spell to Hoffenheim, which I find rather strange. Instead of helping them, Bremen should have taken advantage of Hoffenheim's striker malaise; they are a direct competitor after all. Above that, Sanogo usually starts of VERY well at a new club, so the move becomes even less wise and reasonable.

I was so happy when I read "Sanogo to Hoppenheim"...until I realized it´s only a loan deal...

Anyway, the strangest thing is Hoppenheim loaned him from us. I mean he will be back for sure in the summer, but still.

Otherwise I completely agree with you, but who knows, maybe Allofs still signs a decent replacement for him. So long I'll keep my mouth shut in this matter...

In Allofs we trust, heh?!

Good to have you back, chrissi!

If football finances were purely based on gate receipts that article in the FT would be correct.

The situation in reality is slightly different though. Some clubs aren't run at a profit and are bankrolled by their chairmen. I think the EPL teams also get far more money from tv revenues than their Bundesliga counterparts.

And even lowly EPL clubs can sell their players for a lot of money as well. Just look at Wigan this week selling Palacios for £14m and before the window is up they could be selling Valencia to Madrid for about £16m

I'm glad to see the Bundesliga has (thus far) avoided the legal action that is preventing websites linking to match streams. I got rid of Setanta recently because of their appalling service, thinking that I could watch the games online anyway which makes the loss of Premier league streams particularly annoying, but I should be able to keep following the Bundesliga for a while longer at least.

Anyway, an article from Rafa Honigstein in the Guardian today:

Bayern emerge the stronger from the winter break

After a serene six-weeks off it is no wonder Bayern Munich are among those angered by next year's shorter break
_____________________

Alanis Morissette would be rolling in the aisles, don't you think? German football has just spent the best part of its six-week winter break – so indecently, unfeasibly long that it really belongs in a John Holmes flick – moaning about the short winter break. Next year's wintry intermission, you see, will last a mere four weeks due to the World Cup and Michel Platini's rebranding of the Champions League final as a family friendly, Saturday night affair.

"We'll lose half of May, the best month of the season. That's madness," thundered Bayer Leverkusen's sporting director, Rudi Völler. "Kicking off on 15 January might be a big disaster. No one can pretend it's fun to sit in a stadium when it's this cold. I can understand every single fan who'll stay at home instead." Bayern's general manager, Uli Hoeness, was not happy, either: "Shortening the break is a mistake that will hurt German football. We're taking away one of our last advantages – the ability to go into the knock-out-stages of international competitions well rested."

The national manager, Joachim Löw, made the counter argument that a short or, in England's case, non-existent break did not harm La Liga or Premier League sides too much as they were "able to keep their rhythm" better. But it is possible to appreciate Hoeness's concern, especially this year, when everything went according to plan. His Bayern side spent two sun-kissed weeks in Dubai, emerged unscathed when Franck Ribéry – the unfunniest funny man in football – crashed the team bus, won all their friendlies in emphatic fashion, sorted the Lukas Podolski problem and returned to action on Tuesday night with a 5-1 humiliation of Stuttgart in the cup, at the Mercedes Benz-Arena. Their form has been so ominous that Süddeutsche Zeitung wondered whether this could be the first ever championship that was won in the winter break.

Judging from the Stuttgart game, where Bayern were 5-0 up after 59 minutes and barely bothered to play properly afterwards, the coach Jürgen Klinsmann has worked hard on fitness and pressing tactics. The MLS import Landon Donovan, a man Klinsmann has taken a shine to, has played surprisingly well so far and there are no injuries at all in the camp. It all smells like a Bierdusche (beer shower) in May.

Tonight's Bundesliga curtain-raiser, away to fourth-placed Hamburg, will be a more severe test for the eternal champions but Philipp Lahm is already convinced that his side are unstoppable domestically. They see their true calling in Europe. The local tabloids are confidently predicting the triple. The only negative headlines have come from Ribéry. The Frenchman has been a little too ambivalent in his reaction to all the transfer speculation and publicly demanded the signing of more star names only yesterday. Much will depend on Cristiano Ronaldo's and Kaka's movements in the summer. With Lionel Messi poised to stay at Barcelona, Ribéry appears third in line for a triple-figure deal.

But where can the league leaders Hoffenheim go in the second half of the season? Public consensus suggests the only way is down. Their preparation has gone as badly as Bayern's has gone well and there is a lingering sense that their miracle might already have happened. The goal-machine Vedad Ibisevic (18 in 17 matches) ruptured his cruciate ligament, Chinedu Obasi is still hampered by a hamstring problem he picked up in December and the coach, Ralf Rangnick, complained about the prawn sandwich brigade in the new Rhein-Neckar-Arena stadium before the first ball had even been kicked in earnest. He has been trying hard to prise Nicklas Bendtner away from Arsenal but has picked up only Werder's Ivorian striker Boubacar Sanogo on loan so far – a good deal, for Bremen.

Hoffenheim will also be without their midfielder Carlos Eduardo for their first-ever Bundesliga home game against Energie Cottbus, as the Brazilian has been suspended for two games after fisticuffs with Hamburg's Ivica Olic in a friendly. The Croatian has also been sidelined by the German FA and will be sorely missed by the northerners against Bayern tonight. "This ban will be pleasing for a few people," said Hamburg's captain, David Jarolim, who is convinced it is all a pro-Bayern conspiracy. Last year the Munich defender Breno was not banned domestically after a red card in a friendly against the Indian club Mohun Bagan. There are no fixed rules for these cases, it seems.

The Bremen maestro Diego has also been in the dock, thanks to a spot of drink-driving that he blamed on an over-officious waiter. "He just kept on pouring more wine into my glass," said the 23-year-old, who is close to agreeing personal terms with Juventus for next season. Not a bad excuse, really, even if it smacked a little bit of Little Britain's disgraced politician Sir Norman Fry ("I accidentally entered a part of another man's body in the gents' - I now consider this matter closed").

Leverkusen could well continue their excellent performances in the absence of any European action but Hamburg, not Hoffenheim, are widely seen as Bayern's most serious rivals. They have had a good pre-season. The chairman, Bernd Hoffmann, staved off a coup from a supporters' group at the AGM last week and pulled off the deal of the century: he sold Nigel de Jong to Manchester City for €20m. The little Dutchman has played perfectly well for them but Hamburg never thought twice about selling him for such a ridiculous price. De Jong had a buy-out clause of €2m in the summer, so City paid an extra €18m for a meagre four months? Was there due diligence there? A few more of these specials and the Bundesliga would soon drown in cash.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/jan/30/bundesliga-bayern-munich-raphael-honigstein

What kind attendence will be at Hoffenheim at the weekend? i know the ground holds 30k but they only have 3k in the village.

is Hamburger vs Munchen going to be worth watching tonight?

It sounds delicious.

Well, you never know what you get in the end, but on paper there's hardly something better in the Bundesliga, apart from Bremen games of course.

It's live on free tv (ARD) tonight btw.

Too bad that Olic is suspended.

@ sgoater
They already sold 20,000 season tickets, so the ground is likely to be sold-out. Don't worry.

The outside of the stadium looks like a train station.

Somehow I feel HSV can't keep a clean sheet with that defence.

Metze's Haeschen wrote:Too bad that Olic is suspended.

@ sgoater
They already sold 20,000 season tickets, so the ground is likely to be sold-out. Don't worry.

Bloody hell, were are their fans coming from ?

Cities such as Mannheim and Heidelberg are situated nearby.

...all glory hunters obviously.

chrissicross wrote:

It's live on free tv (ARD) tonight btw.

Didn't know that : great tip !

Thanks

aber das gibts doch nicht. naechtes Mal punktlich anfangen!

Great start, good match.

HSV are really doing quite well so far, much better than Stuttgart the other day. (Sorry Wiebke )

Poor defedning by Mathijsen (as usual), think he was lucky they blew for a foul by Toni.

HSV impressed so far; Bayern hardly did anything yet.

Why was that goal disallowed.

Toni scores and is fouled while doing so, and a foul is called against him. Fucking ridiculous!

Toni has a goal inexplicably ruled out. Bayern don't deserve to be winning, but they should be ahead now.

DS wrote:Why was that goal disallowed.

Toni was fouled.

Apparently it was Reinhardt, defends like Matijsen. Goal should have stood. Thought the ref was playing the advantage rule very well, looked more like the defender was fouling Toni.

HSV score.

Offside?

Didn't see the replay.

Deserved lead for Hamburg in an entertaining game.

Effenberg wrote:Offside?

Didn't see the replay.

Didnt see a decent angle, what was Van Bommel doing.

We can definitely do better then the central midfield we have.

Everything set up for a great 2nd half. End to end stuff hopefully.

Almost 2-0 for Hamburg...

Supergeiles Spiel