Hollerbach's Geisterspielwurst - Bundesliga 20/21

[Sporting]

There are no rivalries really to match Real/Bacelona or their likes.

Hamburg - St Pauli?

[imp]

Rivalries in sport are mainly manufactured by the teams for commercial reasons and media for the self-interested hyperbole. The derby games themselves are almost always anti-climactic shite. Big fuss about segregation on game day, then the rest of the time 99.9 per cent of fans walk past their 'rivals' in the street, or live with them and work with them and socialise with them, and somehow manage to refrain from hitting them or spitting at them.

Came in from a long hike yesterday afternoon to find Eintracht 2-1 down to Stuttgart. Put on my Eintracht shirt and sat down on the sofa. "You honestly think that shirt is going to make any difference to our chances?" remarks a sardonic frau imp. Eintracht have just won a corner. Five seconds later - Abraham heads in the equaliser. I celebrate, quite loudly - the double whammy of the equaliser and its timing. Impette2 runs into the living room? "Is it happening?" she shouts. "Yes!" I cry back, assuming that she means Eintracht's comeback from 2-0 down. She looks at the TV, confused. "I meant Biden winning," she says. "Ah, no, not that." But low and behold, around half an hour later my lucky Eintracht shirt swings that one too.

[G-Man]

Hamburg - St Pauli?

There have been too few regular derbies to create a real rivalry. HSV fans would probably look more to Werder as their "traditional" rival, in as far as "traditional" goes back only 20 years. The same goes for Bayern/1860.

imp, your Eintracht shirt made world history!

[sw2borshch]

Dynamo Berlin vs Dynamo Dresden, innit.

[danielmak]

Dortmund couldn't get it going in the first half, but the second half they were mostly perfect to win at Hertha. Haaland scores 4 and then is subbed off late for the youngest player to start for Dortmund in a league game (Moukoko). Sahin was almost 17 when he first started but this kid just turned 16 on Friday. So, a 20 year old comes off and a 16 year old comes on. Dortmund is more Barca than Barca. Of course, this amazing youth development has come with 0 trophies so the pride only goes so far.

[treibeis]

Dortmund couldn't get it going in the first half, but the second half they were mostly perfect to win at Hertha. Haaland scores 4 and then is subbed off late for the youngest player to start for Dortmund in a league game (Moukoko). Sahin was almost 17 when he first started but this kid just turned 16 on Friday. So, a 20 year old comes off and a 16 year old comes on. Dortmund is more Barca than Barca. Of course, this amazing youth development has come with 0 trophies so the pride only goes so far.

Moukoko came on after ten o'clock in the evening. He's a minor. Minors aren't even allowed to be outdoors at that time.

(Yes, budding lawyers: There's a dispensation clause for "child stars". But I bet Dortmund didn't concern themselves with it.)

[imp]

Eintracht drew 1-1 for at least the fourth fucking time this season. There seemed to have been so many 1-1 draws this season that I decided to count them - yes, I know, I'm a hero like that. 19 in the first 72 games (eight match days). Comparison figures: 2019-20 - 10 x 1-1 draws over the same period. 2018-19 - 9 x 1-1 draws over the same period. Conclusion? Nothing really, but it gave me a theme to rant about in my Soccer America column this week: Why I hate 1-1 draws.

Haaland is a terrifying fucking machine. He's an absolute master at finding space and timing his runs behind the defence. You'd think opposition coaches would just stick a fast defender on him and order them not to let him more than an inch away for the full 90 minutes. But I somehow doubt that defending against him as easy as that down on the pitch when you're being dwarfed by his bulk, speed and strength.

[Janik]

What a pass just now to set up Stuttgart going 1-0 up on Bayern. The lead probably won't last, but if there is a better ball this season someone will have to go some.

[ursus arctos]

Ach du lieber BvB

[G-Man]

When Koln made it 2-0, I let out a celebratory scream of the sort not heard from me since the goal against Mainz that sealed qualification to the Europa League four seasons ago. It was a huge release. For the rest of the game I was nervous like hell, especially after Hazard scored. And I can't believe Haaland missed that last minute sitter. But Koln were good value for their win, especially given that they had several players missing, and two more went off injured during the game..

[danielmak]

Brutal loss for Dortmund, but Koln were well organized; they moved well as a unit squeezing the space. I'm stunned that the guy who scores the first goal is left all by himself at the back post on the next corner. Crazy. Dortmund's passing was horrific today. Constant use of looping passes that seemed to be motivated by nothing more than the player who had the ball felt he should move it. Brandt was poor, Chan was poor, Haaland was mostly poor. It wasn't until Hazard, Rayna, and Moukoko came on that Dortmund seemed to move the ball on the ground. Hopefully, this win changes Koln's fate, G-man. For me, it's another reminder about the gulf between Dortmund and Bayern.

[imp]

Hopefully Dortmund will take that form into next weekend's game in Frankfurt, where they haven't won for several years (but probably will now that I've typed that).

31 goals in seven games so far this weekend, an average of almost 4.5 per game. Poor Schalke almost had me feeling sorry for them last night, but they did score the best goal of the five in their 4-1 defeat at M?nchengladbach.

[sw2borshch]

Ach du lieber BvB

HaHSV.

[treibeis]

HaHSV.

Indeed.

[Sporting]

If only their neighbours were doing better...

[Sporting]

Have Hamburg considered putting up a scoreboard of minutes since never being relegated from Bundesliga B?

[treibeis]

If only their neighbours were doing better...

My adopted home city is indeed absolutely shit at football.

[ursus arctos]

Not as good as Berlin is indeed quite the indictment

[G-Man]

My adopted home city is indeed absolutely shit at football.

Indeed. Hamburg's top teams at the moment:

1. HSV (4th in the 2. Bundesliga)
2. St Pauli (relegation bound in the 2. Bundesliga)
3. St Pauli II (4th in the 11-club Regionalliga Nord northern stream; 4th tier)
4. HSV II (5th in as above)
5. Altona (bottom of the table in above)

[danielmak]

Dortmund's goal drought continues. A 1-1 draw. Sancho has been a big problem in these recent games; he seems uninterested in going to goal and often chooses a more complicated route or pass that only serves to help the defense.

[treibeis]

Indeed. Hamburg's top teams at the moment:

1. HSV (4th in the 2. Bundesliga)
2. St Pauli (relegation bound in the 2. Bundesliga)
3. St Pauli II (4th in the 11-club Regionalliga Nord northern stream; 4th tier)
4. HSV II (5th in as above)
5. Altona (bottom of the table in above)

Teutonia 05 are above St. Pauli II. But, like Altona 93, we're Danish (despite the name), so we don't really count.

[Amor de Cosmos]

The Bayern/Leipzig match yesterday was the best game of football I've seen in some time. Skillful, intelligent play from both teams. Little, if any, shithousery and very well officiated. Too bad RB couldn't nick all three points but can't argue with the result.

[matt j]

Stuttgart absolutely thrashing a fully asleep Dortmund. 3 goals in the last 20 minutes.

[ursus arctos]

The fourth by Coulibaly was a work of art

[matt j]

Much like Son's last week, the live camera angle was near perfect, you could see the shot coming as soon as he faced up the defender and the way the ball came back inside the post at the last moment was gorgeous.