Hollerbach's Bockwurst mit Senf - Bundesliga 2021/22

[Stumpy Pepys]

The heady days of being sponsored by Generali are long gone for Haching. Since then we've had Alpenbauer (confectionery), Frostkröne (unhealthy frozen snacks) and now, erm … seeds.

[treibeis]

I really wish I hadn't found out about that Hertha shirt. It made me think of Hansa Rostock in the 1990s, which made me google photos of Mike Werner. I'm not saying I was running my finger tenderly across the pictures and softly singing "But I remember when we were young" in an Ian Curtis voice, but I wasn't far off.

I know everybody knows who Mike Werner is and that his photo has been posted several times before, but I'm going to do it anyway:

[ursus arctos]

Sorry not sorry

[Sporting]

I had no idea that the second diivison started this weekend. And Schalke are still rubbish.

[treibeis]

I had no idea that the second diivison started this weekend. And Schalke are still rubbish.

They were good for the first 20 minutes on Friday.

[G-Man]

I don't think I'd like to call the "Aufsteiger" from the 2. Bundesliga. The big names will be the favourites, but I expect Karlsruhe to be in the mix, and St Pauli and Hannover to be in the contest, too.

Relegation: at some point Sandhausen have to do down. Ingolstadt and Darmstadt to join them in the bottom 3.

[G-Man]

3. Liga:

To finish in the Top 3: München 1860, Magdeburg, Saarbrücken.

Relegation: Meppen, Havelse, SC Freiburg II, Zwickau

[G-Man]

And Bundesliga...

1. Bayern
2. Dortmund
3. Leipzig
4. Leverkusen
5. Wolfsburg
6. Stuttgart
7. Freiburg
8. M'gladbach
9. Frankfurt
10. Mainz
11. Hertha
12. Union
13. Hoffenheim
14. Köln
15. Bochum
16. Augsburg
17. Bielefeld
18. Fürth

I reckon any of the teams in the lower half might have something to do with relegation. And who'll be the big club that collapses into a relegation fight. I have a feeling that Gladbach might struggle, especially if Plea's injury is serious. Frankfurt might have problems, too.

[Discordant Resonance]

I don't think I'd like to call the "Aufsteiger" from the 2. Bundesliga. The big names will be the favourites, but I expect Karlsruhe to be in the mix, and St Pauli and Hannover to be in the contest, too.

Relegation: at some point Sandhausen have to do down. Ingolstadt and Darmstadt to join them in the bottom 3.

Interesting - St Pauli seem to have been bumbling inconsequentially around lower mid-table for a number of seasons now, so would be welcome if they are concentrating more on onfield matters again, rather than the merch.

[scratchmonkey]

Good start for St. Pauli as they beat Kiel at home and for the other second division side I follow, as Fortuna beat Sandhausen on the road with a Hennings brace, one from the spot.

[imp]

I reckon any of the teams in the lower half might have something to do with relegation. And who'll be the big club that collapses into a relegation fight. I have a feeling that Gladbach might struggle, especially if Plea's injury is serious. Frankfurt might have problems, too.

Once again we in Frankfurt are grateful for your annual playing-down of Eintracht's chances (as are my old pals in Bielefeld), including your obligatory outside tip for us as relegation fodder. Safe for another season! Perhaps even title candidates.

I really hope Gladbach struggle and that the treacherous Hütter is fired too late to save them. Would love to see Hoffenheim and Hertha go down with them, to be replaced by Aue, Sandhausen and Heidenheim to guarantee Bundesliga status for Eintracht and maybe even Bielefeld for years to come.

My forecast:
1. Frankfurt
2. Dortmund
3. Bayern (due to a combination of Nagelsmann failure and imp wishful thinking)
4. Leipzig
5. Leverkusen
6. Mainz
7. Freiburg
8. Augsburg
9. Hertha
10. Mönchengladbach
11. Stuttgart
12. Wolfsburg
13. Bielefeld
14. Union
15. Bochum
16. Fürth
17. Hoffenheim
18. Köln (returning the favour)

[G-Man]

Oh, I didn't say Frankfurt will be relegation fodder. I said "might have problems". New coach, Bobic gone, best striker gone, distraction of the Europe League... Of course, I hope Frankfurt will do better than the evil franchises from Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Leipzig. Or Gladbach, to teach Hütter a lesson in glory-hunting.

I have a good feeling about Köln this year. But there are a few positions that are of concern -- the fullbacks and striker positions, especially. We'll also need another DC. Losing Bornauw to VW Wolfsburg hurts, but I think this year Meré will break through. If Skhiri goes, that'll hurt more. Getting Kainz back after his long injury is like a new signing, and if Modeste's pre-season is an indicator, we night have a striker again.

Baumgart seems to be someone who knows what he's doing, and will motivate the players in ways Gisdol couldn't. He seems to be a bit of a Klopp figure, which is just what this squad needs. Though I fear we might have a situation like under Sokbakken, when we'd win 4-0 one week, and lose 5-0 the next.

[treibeis]

Would love to see Hoffenheim and Hertha go down with them, to be replaced by Aue, Sandhausen and Heidenheim

I've never understood the Hertha hating. Although I realise that Rheinländer are the funniest people in the world (primarily because they never stop telling the world that they are), that turn-out with Klinsmann in Berlin last season, for example, was much more amusing than anything Köln (or, indeed, Frankfurt) could come up with,

Or do you want Hertha to go down simply because you lot down south want to keep it cosy amongst yourselves? Ensconced in your wood-panelled Bierstuben, with your three-quarter-length jeans and those odd short-sleeved collared shirts with the kaleidoscope patterns, gabbing away to each other in your cutesy dialects about how teams in the north are, on the whole, absolutely bloody useless?

[ursus arctos]

Pity is more appropriate than scorn.

And imp is surely an Ebblewoi man by now, ceramic pitcher and all.

[treibeis]

And imp is surely an Ebblewoi man by now, ceramic pitcher and all.

Yes, I was going to write something to that effect, but I didn't know how to spell it (not least because it's not a proper word). And if I'd looked it up, I'd now be being bombarded by adverts for home-brew Ebblewoi kits, make-your-own-jug pottery courses and Ballermann karaoke CDs.

[imp]

People, it's Ebbelwoi. I order it about once a year, usually when demonstrating to visitors why our most famous drink has never enjoyed export success.

I can't really explain why I dislike Hertha so much. Boring kit, boring team - they're just non-entities who think merely being in a capital city entitles them to something much bigger and better than they've ever been. The Klinsmann episode was highly comical, and the promised but possibly stalled Windhorst payments hold out the prospect of further laughs down the line.

[imp]

Oh, I didn't say Frankfurt will be relegation fodder. I said "might have problems".

No, you did, you definitely did. It's all good. "G-Man tips Frankfurt for the drop." That's my headline, and I don't care what the story underneath says.

[G-Man]

Hmmm, the ethics of a Bild Zeitung editor and the Ebbelwoi-drinking habits of that citadel of post-war German TV conservatism "Zum blauen Bock". Frankfurt has done terrible things to you, imp.

And elsewhere, a Hanseate defending Berlin? Fucking endtimes, these.

[imp]

I know, right? I was surprised to see treibeis defending anything that wasn't Altona 93's Over 45 C team.

An Ebbelwoi pub opened around the corner from us a couple of years back and ran "Zum Blauen Bock" on its tv screens non-stop - fortunately, without sound. It was either mesmerising (for me) or deeply irritating (for frau imp), depending on your historical relationship to Germany. The pub didn't survive lockdown (the third place to have deserted the same premises in the six years we've lived here).

[treibeis]

As a man paid to make Tatsachenentscheidungen, you ought to get your facts right: The club I'd defend as if my life depended on it is Bahrenfelder Sportverein von 1919 e. V..

(The pub team I play(ed) for used to play on a cinder pitch round the corner, along with at least six other pub teams. The pitch doubled as a school playground, but nobody minded us climbing over the fence after hours. We even had our own little Wilde Liga. There was also the Dänemark-Pokal, a tournament held every year on 3rd October, when you'd often get Oberliga and Landesliga teams turning up just for a laugh. We even had a very young Ivan Klasnic and Tunay Torun turn out for us a few times.

About five years ago, the council decided that the pitch should make way for a multi-purpose sports hall. (Oddly enough, this sports hall looks very much like expensive private flats.) So we had to find another pitch. The only option was to join a proper club, and the only one that would have us was BSV 19. None of the other pub teams managed/bothered to find somewhere else, so there's now no little Wilde Liga, no Dänemark-Pokal, no nothing except a 90-minute kickabout amongst ourselves at half-past eight on a Friday night. Better than nothing, of course, but, like everything, not what it was.

Oh, and our pub, although it scraped through the lockdowns, may well go to the wall. Only 16 punters are allowed in at any given time, and it has to close at eleven. Previously, it didn't even open till nine and often had up to 100 guests (usually after there was a punk gig on up the road). It was also where I met The Lady I Walked To The Registry Office With.)

That was all very "Jumpers For Goalposts", wasn't it?

[G-Man]

An Ebbelwoi pub opened around the corner from us a couple of years back and ran "Zum Blauen Bock" on its tv screens non-stop - fortunately, without sound. It was either mesmerising (for me) or deeply irritating (for frau imp), depending on your historical relationship to Germany.

I'd be with frau imp on that. Though it must be said, if you want entertainment for a certain demographic, it was very well made. But not my bag in any way whatsoever.

Presenter Heinz Schenk seems to have been a decent sort (plus, he reminded me, physically and in personality, of an uncle -- a cousin of my father's -- who was from Darmstadt). BUT: the musical director was Franz Grothe, a big Nazi in his time, ostentatiously unrepentant about it, a nasty piece of work all round.

[Stumpy Pepys]

3. Liga:

To finish in the Top 3: München 1860, Magdeburg, Saarbrücken.

Relegation: Meppen, Havelse, SC Freiburg II, Zwickau

Sechzig will go up if Sascha Mölders keeps scoring. He is getting on a bit though.

[imp]

Five presumably not unconnected journalists voted for Sascha Mölders in kicker's German Footballer of the Year poll, which tickled me. Lewandowski walked it.

[G-Man]

I'm starting to like Baumgart more and more. In an interview with the fan site Geissblog, he said (my translation): "We [coaches] get annoyed with players who constantly fall over and roll about on the ground. But we, as coaches, are responsible for that. One thing I say is this: 'Is it sore? Yes. Is it sore when you stand? Yes. Can you stand? Yes. Then you can also run.' I don't need anyone who wastes time."

[sw2borshch]

https://ostsport.tv/

The go to channel for the Regionalliga Nord Ost, currently showing BFC vs Energie Cottbus. Looks like they show a handful of games each match day.