Werder Bremen Preview

Werder Bremen

Coach: Thomas Schaaf

Thomas Schaaf IS Werder Bremen.
What can we say here really. After ten years of Werder Bremen he was criticized a bit in last season, which was an unlucky season for them though they reached UefaCup final and won the domestic cup.

Anyway the club, especially Allofs does support Thomas Schaaf and he will pay that back with the best possible results.

After Diego left Werder Bremen it may be possible that the usual Schaaf system with one DM, LM,RM and OM in midfield can be changed to two DM, LOM and ROM.

Additionally Schaaf should sign a new contract soon according to Allofs.

Money spend for transfers: 10.950.000 €
Money earned from transfers: 24.650.000 €

Balance: +13.700.000 €

Atmosphere during training camp&test matches:

Atmosphere was good, but many players missed at the beginning of the training. Rosenberg and Jensen were injured. Özil and Marin had longer holidays due to U-21 EM.

Anyway it may not have a big influence on them. Wins over Wolfsburg (2:1) and FSV Frankfurt (2:1) showed their improving form! The latest defeat against Alemannia Aachen (3:2) should not be rated too high since it was last match in Tivoli (old stadium of Aachen).

Possible line-ups & tactics:











Most likely:
1. 4-4-2 (4-2-2-2); LB,CB,CB,RB,DM,DM,ROM,LOM,ST,ST

Aim set by club:

Increase performance this season after last season bad position in Bundesliga. Top five is the aim as well.

Team check:

Goalkeeper: 9/10

Tim Wiese, also called Kong Fu Wiese after his terrible attack on Olic.
It is nothing new that goalkeepers get crazy sometimes so we skip this one and concentrate on his performances.

Wiese is good on line and has a good advantage because he is so big (he looks so small in TV damn!). Additionally he is a playing keeper who has no problem to read the match and run out of the penalty box if needed. Only problem of him that he has a big ego and that he impair his own performances with it.

Defence: 7/10

Both centre backs are very good.

Mertesacker and Naldo could easily play in any other country but both have the disadvantage that they are tall and that is not very helpful when Bremen runs after another counterattack. Same with Prödl, good defender but very tall as well.

The big issue are left and right backs.
Both Boenisch and Fritz are good players but they have an unbelievable average error number in one match. Either wrong passes or very bad crosses. Boenisch also tends to tackle too early, the opponent passes him and he lies on the ground because of a sliding tackle.

Alternatively Bremen has defensive all-rounder Pasanen who does his job without catching any attention at all and Tosic who is not bad, if he could calm down when holding the ball.
Mr. Panic Tosic I'm calling him already, because you can see in his face how nervous he is in some situations.

Midfield: 7/10

Diego left, Borowski came back.

Most likely a time to change the system from one defensive midfield player to two.
Frings and Borowski will then suit the centre position which could work out quite good. If Jensen will be fit he could take one of that positions from time to time, but also Vranjes will sit on bench for the same position.

Left offensive midfield will be Özil side, who could finally show everyone what he is capable of. Good season with Bremen for him, scoring the important goal in domestic cup final and winning the U-21 EM with Germany with good performances in all matches.

Right offensive midfield position can be played by Hunt or the newcomer Marko Marin.
Hunt is a fast guy, an offensive all-rounder really and he would fit on this position.

Marko Marin is good but he has still to learn a lot. He has the talent to go the same way as Özil did go one year ago.

Big question if Marko Marin and Özil can compensate Diego during one whole season!

Striker: 7/10

Bremen probably want get Pizarro for another season which is a big loss!

They bought Moreno who made a good impression in test matches.
It will be interesting to see how he can adapt to German league after he had problems to play in Donezk.

Together with him Bremen has Hugo Almeida who is not bad too. Good in heading and some freaking good long shots, just running a lot is not one of Almeidas favourite things.
Markus Rosenberg and Sanogo may play a role. While Rosenberg got his chances during the last season and scored a few goals, Sanogo could not convince in Hoffenheim were he was on loan for half a season.

Difficult to predict the striker strength without watching some matches but on paper they could be rated average to good only.

Total: 7/10

My prognosis:

An important year for Bremen to see if last year was just one bad season or not.
Will they end up in midfield or will they be able to get back on top?

Well very difficult question. It will depend on how the new transfers will fit into the team. Then two or three guys have to take responsibility in difficult matches and most important if they change the system the team must adapt to it.
It is not easy to find the right balance between offense and defense, especially if you change the midfield line-up!

For me Bremen has a difficult job this season and in the best case I see them qualifying for Europe League.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Preview

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Coach: Jupp Heynckes

Quite a big surprise it was when I read that Leverkusen's new coach will be Jupp Heynckes.

Nobody talked about him for a long while but that few weeks for Bayern München let people remember him and Leverkusen could convince him to be their coach.

The 64 year old coach is a coach from good old school. He sticks to discipline which is the most important aspect for him and that may help the young but too kind team of Leverkusen.

He may teach them to fight, that was the biggest problem of Leverkusen for years that they were playing good combination football but that they had always problems with teams who set them under pressure and who tackle them aggressively.

Money spend for transfers: 5.250.000 €
Money earned from transfers: 900.000 €

Balance: -4.350.000 €

Only one real transfer here which was Eren Derdiyok. Good guy who will replace the injured Helmes at the beginning.

Atmosphere during training camp&test matches:

Without any mistakes and bad experiences. 8 out of 9 matches won. The two big injuries of Helmes and Rolfes are compensated very good and they could win against good teams such as Genk (2:1), Freiburg (2:1), Galatasaray (1:0).

Possible line-ups & tactics:












Most likely:
1. 4-4-2 (4-1-2-1-2); LB,CB,CB,RB,DM,LM,RM,OM,ST,ST

Aim set by club:

Same as all other teams on top really. Top five at least!

Team check:

Goalkeeper: 9/10

Rene Adler, 24 years young and very talented goalkeeper.
Last season it was the first time that he show a few weak performances in a row but that happens throughout a goalkeepers carrier.

Compared to Benaglio and Neuer he is a small step behind them, having problems with crosses from time to time. On line he is very good and safed some points for his club with it quite often.

Fernandez the backup goalkeeper is talented too, but he does not get many matches to play which influences his development negatively.

Defence: 7/10

Leverkusen had good luck when they transferred Michal Kadlec last season. A very good left back who has a good shot and scores a few free kicks in a season. He might improve his one vs. one tackling but that's it really. Backup is Sarpei.

Right back is Gonzalo Castro is younger than one may think sometimes. 22 year old right back who has played a lot of matches for German U-21 team already. In the next two years I expect him to do the next step in his carrier. Last season he did not improve at all.
Daniel Schwaab, new right back from Freiburg is new backup.

Centre back position does present Liverpool legend Hyypia who should still be good enough to increase quality in defence. Together with Hyypia we will see Manuel Friedrich who without doubt is a good defender, but who had many problems last season with guys like Grafite, Gomez and so on. Backups are Reinartz and Sinkiewicz.

Midfield: 8/10


Defensive midfield position of course for Rolfes, but he is injured at the moment and Vidal or Zdebel may take this part for him until he is fit again.

Right midfield probably Renato Augusto who is a very skilled guy. Good ideas, good ball control and he can change the match with one action.

Similar guy is Barnetta who will play on left midfield position. Good passing, good crosses and shots from far away.
Only problem is that both have to work a lot on their positions (offense/defence) and that they at some stage of the match miss some concentration due to tiredness.

Offensive midfield can be filled with Kroos, Vidal or also Renato Augusto it depends on how the coach decides. Kroos came from Bayern on loan and will want to have a good season so that he gets another chance when he will be back in Bayern.
Vidal is a very sultry guy which can be positive sometimes, but also negative when he gets one of his typical red cards.

Striker: 9/10

While everyone said Grafite and Dzeko are very good, Leverkusen did own two good strikers as well.
Kießling and Helmes scored 33 goals together and will have another good striker with them this season.

Eren Derdiyok came from Basel and already impressed in test matches
Since Helmes will miss due to an injury at the beginning of the season, Eren Derdiyok may get a chance to show his skills together with Kießling.

Additionally Theofanis Gekas will be avaible with all his experience and he did score some good goals in test matches too.

So that we can say at the beginning of the season they have three good strikers. Later on, with Helmes coming back four good strikers. Good line-up!


Total: 8/10

My prognosis:

Everything looks like Leverkusen will start very good into the new season once again.

The old-school style of coach Heynckes is accepted of the players and everyone is giving his best.

Anyway the key point will be once again if Leverkusen's young team can finish a season on a constant high playing level. In the past they always ended up on a midfield position because they simply underperformed in the second half of the season.

The team has potential for sure and maybe Hyypia can be their experienced leader which they missed for a long time now.

Personally, I think they will have good chances to get an Europe-League position IF they can avoid this typical low point during the second half of the season.

FC Schalke 04 Preview

FC Schalke 04

Coach: Felix Magath.

My favourite coach in Bundesliga. Felix Magath.

In Wolfsburg he had was able to do whatever he wanted, at least almost everything. He changed the whole team and bought players fitting into his system.

After just two years he made Wolfsburg, which was almost relegated the year before Magath came, win the Bundesliga.
Organised defence, fast change from defence to offense and deadly counterattacks were the receipt of their success.

Felix, or better "Quälix" (comes from German word "quälen" which means torture in combination with his name Felix) is very well known for his very hard training, especially pre-season and in winter break. That is also a reason why his teams often need a few weeks to get rip of their tiredness, but at the end of a season it pays off.

In Schalke Felix wont have the possibility to change the whole team and buy new players. But that is probably the motivation for him to show that he can create a good team with given players already.

However, he keeps underlining that the project on Schalke is a middle/long term one. We will see how his work will influence the team and their success.

Money spend for transfers: 4.900.000 €
Money earned from transfers: 4.000.000 €

Balance: -900.000 €

Atmosphere during training camp&test matches:

A lot of players got owned by hard conditional based training of Magath.

The first pictures of Rafinha lying on the ground almost puking made a lot of fans happy though. Of course a good condition is the basis of success and therefore Schalke had many difficult training sessions.

Because of this they didn't look fit in the test matches and also the way they played was similar to last season still. It will definitely take time for them to improve the way Magath wants.

Possible line-ups & tactics:














Most likely: 1. 4-4-2 (4-2-2); LB,CB,CB,RB,DM,DM,ROM,LOM,ST,ST

Aim set by club: Reach top positions "as ten other teams" (Felix Magath).

Team check:

Goalkeeper: 10/10

Here we go with the best goalkeeper together with Benaglio in my opinion.

During the U-21 EM Manuel Neuer showed what potential he has. Good on crosses, very good on line, good on 1vs.1 situations and most important he is always concentrated and is participating in the match.

But what I like most, which I also love when Benaglio does it, is the fact that if he gets a ball he directly hits the turbo does a few steps in front and either throw or shot a long ball to create fast counter attacks. That is so important to be a very good keeper and he does it awesome really.

Backup is Schober who did show last season that he does his best if Neuer misses and he performed better than I expect to be honest.

Defence: 9/10

One of the best defences over years already conceding very low number of goals.

Rafinha is our right back here, small waspish player really. But he knows how to do his job and Bayern München would be happy to have such a right back.

Left back is either Pander, who loves to be long term injured or Kobiashvili who could rarely convince me. If both cannot play all-rounder Westermann can jump in.

Finally the centre backs and finally a change after years. Krsatjic left Schalke and the young but very convincing Höwedes will take over his part. His partner will be Marcelo Bordon and the backup of both is Zambrano or again Westermann.

Don't have to rate this defence myself, the number of goals conceded in last years shows the quality. Only disadvantage could be Pander missing again and Kobiashvili would be the weak part of the defence again.

Midfield: 6/10

Poor Felix Magath who owns such a crap midfield. Jones is injured and will miss a few matches but if he is fit he may play the defensive midfield part together with Westermann.

Right midfield Farfan who played behind the expectations last season and left midfield we could see the young Holtby whom I saw playing here in Aachen a few times. He is a good guy who will improve a lot more with Magath.

I don't know but if Magath will play with the same midfield tactic as in Wolfsburg, we will see probably see Jones as defensive midfield, Farfan as playmaker, Holtby and Westermann on the wings.

Big problem of the midfield is that they lack a good bench. Vasilios, Latza, Stevanovic, Yalin, Kenia are all young guys who played in Schalke II last season. Sanchez, Grossmüller and Streit were all bought with big expectations last year or the year before but all of them are not convincing Magath.

Ivan Rakitic has a similar problem to Sosa in Bayern. When they get the ball we can see that they can play football, but they let miss the rest. Only basic approaches are not enough for Bundesliga. Magath wanted to sell Streit and others but they want to stay since they have good paid contracts which they wont get at other clubs.

Striker: 6/10

If Farfan plays in offensive midfield we have only Halil, Kuranyi and Asamoah as strikers.

I like Halil, he did play so good in Kaiserslautern but when he moved to Schalke he could not repeat the same success which I link more to the team than to him really. During the test matches Halil scored a lot of goals and is a step in front of Kuranyi.

Kuranyi has some problems with the difficult training program of Magath but the only alternative Asamoah is not much better so that he will probably play.

Very sparsely populated on striker position although they can always rotate and let Farfan or Sanchez play as striker. However, compared to the other teams this is really improvable.

Total: 8/10

My prognosis:

I would not love to coach this team if I had not some more money to invest in it.
But that was a typical Magath move, he looks for the challenge and he can not lose a lot.

Everyone knows that Schalke has big problems in midfield and offense and that he has not much money to invest in new players. I wish he could somehow teach those guy how to play real football. At least he owns a few players who were good at some stage in their carrier so that if he can bring them back to their best possible performance he may somehow survive this season between 5-9 position.

If they not had a good defence and a good goalkeeper I would not give them the chance to be under top 10 this season.
The first weeks will be the most difficult ones because media tends to push small disturbances and in past the club let influence itself by such things. Controlling this must be one of a few aims this season.