Hollerbach's Knackwurst - Bundesliga 2018/19

[treibeis]

I think this is the season when I feel genuine sympathy for Schalke fans.

The Schalke fan I mentioned upthread turned up today. He was completely cool about the whole business. "Ja, natürlisch hab' ich dabei die Glotze angespucke'. Dat war es dann aber auch."

[ursus arctos]

Ah, er spricht Klartext . . .

[imp]

I've seen Hannover twice in recent weeks. They are simply dreadful. Even if they were only a point or two behind, I wouldn't rate their chances of catching up. But five back? They are goners.

Recently appointed coach Thomas Doll was interviewed after the game and freely confessed, in a bemused and almost detached way, that his side is shite. Something like: "We come to Stuttgart who haven't won for eight games, but you can rely on good old Hanover 96 to give them the confidence to build themselves back up again. How can you train a team that makes such amateur mistakes?" I think it was a plea along the lines of, "Please fire me now. Don't even wait until the morning. I need to get away from this club right now."

[G-Man]

Couldn't have hapened to a nicer Kind.

Depending on how things go, the relegation play-off could be Stuttgart vs Hamburg or Stuttgart vs Köln. Once upon a time, those pairingswere championship-decuders (in fact, 40 years ago, Köln's 4-1 in Stuttgart in the penultimate round all but confirmed Hamburg as the Meister).

[Ray de Galles]

Each announced Düsseldorf goal was greeted with rising hilarity at the Waldstadion yesterday.

Same at the Olympiastadion, with so much intensity that I had to ask if there was a particular rivalry between Hertha and Schalke.

[CY_Boaby]

Not a good afternoon for the two Hamburg clubs. St Pauli followed up their 4-0 derby hammering by losing to struggling Sandhausen by the exact same scoreline. But Hamburg outdid them in fantastic fashion, throwing away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at home to Darmstadt with the winner deep into stoppage time. The stunned look on the faces of the Hamburg players when the final whistle blew was a joy to behold.

[G-Man]

Köln had their match in Duisburg having been called off. I had feared they might join the Top 4 meltdown. With three key players out for the Duisburg game, the cancellation was quite welcome.

The Duisburg pitch had been destroyed by the Uerdingen game on Friday. And the lovely owner of that club has just sacked Norbert Meyer after seven games. That's two coaches sacked in two-thirds of a season by a newly-promoted side sitting in comfortable mid-table position.

[Capybara]

What's the problem with the Grotenburg? I was there fairly (~4 years ago) recently and it seemed like a decent stadium, albeit only two sides were then in use (for less than 1500 spectators).

[G-Man]

It's being modernised. Next season Uerdingen will play in Düsseldorf, to Fortuna's absolute horror.

[Capybara]

Cheers. Presumably there are good reasons for not doing it one stand at a time like at Karlsruhe, who attract much higher attendances.

[imp]

Eintracht's home game against Nürnberg was so easy they almost blew it - wasted countless chances, then almost got caught with a late shot that Trapp saved well. Filip Kostic had so much time on the left wing that he read 'War and Peace' three times while deciding where to cross the ball.

A VAR classic - while everyone celebrated Ante Rebic's goal to make it 2-0 near the end, I stood and watched to see how long it would take Bibiana Steinhause to make the video screen gesture and then annul it for offside. It was around 30 seconds.

[treibeis]

Just heard something from a regular, who's an unpaid steward at the club but not 50 metres from the hut.

They had a game yesterday against a team that includes the son of a former HSV professional. Said father strode in, was stopped by the regular because he hadn't attempted to pay.

"Yes, but I'm (not) Rodolfo Cardoso."

"Oh, is that right? Listen, son, you could be the Pope in China, I don't care. Three euros."

There was then an "incident". Because Not Rodolfo Cardoso didn't want to pay three euros to watch what was a woeful, woeful game of football.

I mean, come on.

[Alderman Barnes]

Back in the day, he was always referred to as Rodolfo Esteban Cardoso, much in the same way as Diego Armando Maradona and Robert Nesta Marley. Then at some point they stopped doing it.

It's a shame to see he's lost that exotic glamour of yore. I don't like to say this, but it might well have something to do with spending the last twenty years hanging around in the vicinity of your golf hut.

[treibeis]

Yes, but he hasn't been hanging around there. Torsten (Fröhling), Bernd (Hollerbach), Manni (Kaltz) have, that's why they don't have to pay (although, obviously, they do). But Rodolfo Esteban hasn't, that's why nobody pretends they know who he is.

[G-Man]

Hannover 96's members have overwhelmingly elected a board that opposes outgoing chairman and Bond movie villain Martin Kind's idea to take full control and thereby undermine with the 50+1 rule to such an extent as to signal its demise.

This ends my oposition to Hannover 96. Their feckless team will still be relegated, alongside Nürnberg, but with KInd'sdefeat, I won't wish them relegations anymore.

[ad hoc]

"Heidenheim!"
"Ho-de-Ho!"

[Stumpy Pepys]

Blimey. 5-4 at the moment. Even with 10 men, it's a bit embarrassing for Bayern.

[G-Man]

Just a minute before the penalty for Bayern's fifth, Heidenheim had a great chance to take the lead. What a game.

[Janik]

Really weird goings on in tonight's game. For 20 minutes Freiburg looked very dangerous and Mainz's defence wobbly as hell. But then the Freiburg 'keeper, under no pressure, shanked a clearance straight to an opponent 40 yards out, who calmly passed it into the empty net. 10 minutes later, its 3-0 to Mainz! Didn't see that one coming...

[Amor de Cosmos]

A weird match for sure. I'm happy for Mainz, as they've got a bit of a QPRish thing going. It's greatt to watch talented young players like Böethius and Jean-Phillipe Metata who look as if they're going to have excellent and, hopefully, long careers ahead them really playing blinders.

BTW It's the first time I've ever heard a commentator say "Fucking hell, I don't know what Freiburg's manager is going to say to them at half-time."

[Nocturnal Submission]

Hang on. I thought Barry Davies had retired.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Did he say something similar? Must have been after my time.

[treibeis]

BTW It's the first time I've ever heard a commentator say "Fucking hell, I don't know what Freiburg's manager is going to say to them at half-time."

Given the thickness of the Freiburg manager's accent when he's in a bad mood, the players were probably thinking that, too.

[ursus arctos]

Bollocks

Bayern 2-0 up within 17 minutes

[Gerontophile]

Yeah, and after Dortmund hit the post on about 5 minutes.