European Leagues Thread 2012/2013

[Stranded]

They've been demoted and all results are automatically a 3-0 defeat.

[Starfish]

Huge win for Bayern today away to Schalke, playing more than half the game with 10 players - back on top now. Alas, although I have no love for the men from Gelsenkirchen.

But another victory for FCN today too. 2-0 at home to Mainz (who also had a man sent off). Berlin currently winning against 10-man (!) Cologne so the 'cellar' looks tight. Hertha & Hannover both have to play Bayern, Schalke & Leverkusen in their last five games though and I still think they will both go down automatically with Freiburg triumphing in the 'relegation' play-off against Augsburg and staying up. But my predictions are rarely correct.

Bayern Munich - 59
Schalke 04 - 58
Bayer Leverkusen - 53
Borussia Dortmund - 52
Werder Bremen - 48
Hamburg - 44
VfB Stuttgart - 44
Eintracht Frankfurt - 44
Wolfsburg - 40
Mainz - 38
TSG Hoffenheim - 34
Borussia M'gladbach - 34
Cologne - 31
Nurnberg - 28
VfL Bochum - 28
SC Freiburg - 25
Hannover 96 - 23
Hertha Berlin - 22

Off to Augsburg myself tomorrow - new stadium. Should be fun.

[prostak]

Starfish, I think there's an errant 0 in your description of Cologne, since their own prodigal son has returned.

[Starfish]

Starfish, I think there's an errant 0 in your description of Cologne, since their own prodigal son has returned.

Ooh, nasty.

One could now argue that they should have done better at the weekend as they have played with 10 for most of the season. Big debates here as to whether Poldi should be going to South Africa or not. 2 goals all season and Kuranyi with 18 not expected to be considered due to past misdemeanours. Podolski has scored 35 (?) international goals though, and that will ultimately swing it for him. I suppose.

[prostak]

Germany do seem to have problems up front, and I'm not certain the return of Kuranyi is the answer. Not that any of the other available options are particularly inspiring. Klose, Gomez, Poldi/KK, Kiessling is about the limit of their international-class strikers, isn't it? Maybe Helmes on a very good day, but I can't see der Mannschaft winning this one.

A little after the event perhaps, but based on Monday's silliness this seems fairly relevant. My thoughts remain that it seemed a very harsh red for Boll, given the tension of the fixture and that he hadn't actually done anything but charge before Retov butted him. Hence why I didn't really want to criticise Morrison yesterday.

[bobbybottler]

Massive last twente minutes in Enschede ( ) as the Eredivisie leaders score the opener in the 70th minute and then double it in injury time, once again the pressure is on Ajax to win at home to Venlo - shouldn't be beyond them tbf.

El Classico kicks off - far prefer Barca out of those two.

[bobbybottler]

El Classico kicks off

1-0 Barca

Messi scores but Xavi is in complete control of this match. What a fukcing player.

[sandman]

Messi deliberate handball for the first goal which should've resulted in his second yellow. Alves should've been given a second yellow for a foul on Ronaldo and Raul had a perfectly good goal disallowed.

Barca played well but the ref let them get away with everything something which a team as great as they are do not need to resort to.

[RoyalChicagoFC]

I've seen contact of the kind that Albiol put on Messi on the right-hand side of the box near the byline a dozen minutes in earn a spot-kick (but agreed with the non-call; better to get it wrong, if indeed one errs at all, in not pointing to the spot)

Real had the better of a few good passages of play, in particular the opening exchanges and the final ten minutes and time added on, and about double the number of shots (and shots on), but they didn't make their chances pay, simple as --Valdes deserves a bit of credit, and Real hit a good few of their most golden chances straight at him when they'd've done well at least to try to put it either side of him

In addition, Messi was wrongly flagged offside on two occasions that I saw --upon the second of which Casillas tbf made a superb save at pointblank range (and I think both men were none the wiser, so good job that), but I think Leo'd've found a way around the Madrid 'keeper on the first one with nobody else anywhere near the action

Barcelona were the picture of poise and really showed that you can spend all you want bringing in the best talent on the globe, but you can't buy chemistry --for all of their abundant gifts, those Madrid boys very often looked not to be singing from the same hymn sheet, and it cost 'em dear at a few vital moments

It really had me wondering, both beforehand and upon reflection after the first 45 minutes were played, just how Barcelona, having weathered one brief and none too horrible dodgy patch this campaign, found themselves on level points with 'em headed into today's action and having beaten them once already

And I wouldn't be at all shocked to learn that they were wondering the same thing

[prostak]

Big day in the Bundesliga today, too. Leverkusen managed to secure a draw against Bayern after going 1-0 down to a Robben penalty, but they needed to win to retain their chance of winning the title. They did come closest to winning this, managing to hit the crossbar 3 or 4 times over the match, but it's looking like they'll have to settle for a Champions League Qualifying spot after their great start.
Bayern are now edging gradually ahead, aided by a great game between Hanover and Schalke. The hosts went 2-0 up within half an hour, which Magath responded to by doubling his strikeforce, sending on Edu for defensive midfielder Matip. That worked fairly well initially, as the Brazilian scored the first of 2 quick Schalke goals early in the second half, though Hanover managed to exploit the openings formed at the back to regain their two goal advantage, sealing victory with an injury time goal. This is a massive win for Hanover, taking them back up to the playoff spot and one point behind Nurnberg and Bochum, who play Wolfsburg and HSV respectively on Sunday.

4 games left now, and Bayern are 2 points and a seemingly unassailable goal difference ahead. The bastards look as though they'll win the thing by default, as all their closest rivals seem determined to waste every chance of an advantage which comes their way. I'm just praying Werder stop them from doing the double next month in Berlin.

[soggy biscuit]

Raul had a perfectly good goal disallowed.

LOL. What anout the blatent handball by Benzema that set him up??

[soggy biscuit]

Inter draw 2-2 with Fiorentina meaning a win for Roma at home against relegation threatened Atalanta would put them top with 5 games to go. Considering where Roma were after the first few games of the season that would be a quite staggering turnaround

[Starfish]

This is a massive win for Hanover, taking them back up to the playoff spot and one point behind Nurnberg and Bochum, who play Wolfsburg and HSV respectively on Sunday.

And both Bochum and (alas) Nürnberg lost today. Really thought FCN deserved to get something out of the game, but they have had their fair share of luck so far in 2010. Big game next week - away to Freiburg. Lose and there's a welcome to sh1t creek, draw and ... who knows. Win and safety would be very close indeed.

[bobbybottler]

once again the pressure is on Ajax to win at home to Venlo - shouldn't be beyond them tbf.

Ajax win 7-0, that's 96 goals in 31 games for them.

Fascinating week coming up - FC Twente are away to AZ67 on Tuesday, and then host goal-shy Feyenoord on Sunday. In contrast, Ajax visit Tilburg on Wednesday and then host Heracles on Sunday. Only one round of fixtures to follow that, and Twente still lead by four points.

[Arch]

This is a massive win for Hanover, taking them back up to the playoff spot and one point behind Nurnberg and Bochum, who play Wolfsburg and HSV respectively on Sunday.

And both Bochum and (alas) Nürnberg lost today. Really thought FCN deserved to get something out of the game, but they have had their fair share of luck so far in 2010. Big game next week - away to Freiburg. Lose and there's a welcome to sh1t creek, draw and ... who knows. Win and safety would be very close indeed.

WTF happened to Hertha this year?

[prostak]

WTF happened to Hertha this year?

Everything, really. Tactically, they've continued to play in the ultra-defensive style which worked so well for them last season, but failed to replace their two departing strikers (one of which was Andriy Voronin - yes, he was a vital player for them, odd as that seems). Rafael Honigstein has written two articles this season explaining their plight, the first in September and the second following the pitch invasion last month.
To be honest, it seems more usual for Hertha to be in crisis than comfortable, and next season will be far from the first to see the Bundesliga devoid of representation from the capital. Even going back to the divided nation, Bonner SC never came close to the top division.

[soggy biscuit]

Just 5 games to go in Italy and Roma go top. Would be a massive achievment for them if they win it and the most massive LOLz @ Mourinho for throwing it all away if he doesn't win it

[RoyalChicagoFC]

Shame it had to be Roma, but 'greed on the bit about Mour being a loathsome mutt

Milan are my preferred flavour when it comes to the Italian game anyway, and as such I'd like to see them come out atop the heap, but they'd have to overturn a four-point deficit and leapfrog the top two and do so against what appears at a glance to be a comparatively unfavourable run of fixtures

[Starfish]

To be honest, it seems more usual for Hertha to be in crisis than comfortable, and next season will be far from the first to see the Bundesliga devoid of representation from the capital. Even going back to the divided nation, Bonner SC never came close to the top division.

Indeed, I remember when Hull were promoted to the Premier League, all the fuss about it having been Europe's biggest city that had never had a representative in the top flight of its national football league. And so on.

Lazy journalism as Bonn, for one, is bigger than Hull and has never ever had a team in the top flight and etc.

[soggy biscuit]

Shame it had to be Roma

I have a bit of a softspot for Roma. Mainly because I think Totti is a freaking legend but they are also forever overshadowed by the Milan clubs and Juve so I always see them as the underdog.