With the 2011-2012 football season knocking at our doors like an old friend, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the gifts and headaches that friend put us through last year and give some thoughts on how he’s likely to appear on our thresholds this time round.
But instead of reading my dribble, let’s have some of the players and managers take us down memory lane with a few quotes.
We’ll start off in Germany.
In the Bayern ranks things didn’t go so well. Schweinsteiger summed things up nicely when he said, “we’ve shot ourselves in the foot again” after 1-1 draw at Leverkusen in November. They would go on to lose everything that produced silverware and hobbled up into the top end of the table after the sacking of Louis van Gaal.
The vultures began to circle around Bayern’s start German players, whose contracts were due to be extended or terminated. Christian Nerlinger (Bayern’s Munich’s general manager) responded to the overtures for Bastian with an absolute no. “Schweinsteiger is not for sale at any price. It doesn’t matter who comes knocking, he is non-transferable.” Luckily for him and the club, Schweinsteiger saw it the same way.
Schweinsteiger kisses Bayern badge after telling home crowd he is renewing his contract
While Christian Nerlinger was proved right another Bayern official got it dead wrong. President Uli Hoeness said, “a clear victory. A draw or a defeat are out of the question. We’re the better team. One on one against us, Dortmund has no chance.” There is a fatal error in this quote. Yes, man-for-man you could argue that Bayern is better. But they couldn’t for the life of them seem to figure out how to play together. And well, you know who won the Bundesliga title.
These boys:
Borussia Dortmund Celebrate
Despite the fact that Nuri Sahin (pictured above jumping into Jürgen Klopp’s arms) has been sold to Real Madrid and several other star players have also gone, it would be a massive mistake to underestimate Dortmund. They are not one trick ponies.
As for Bayern’s chances this season? Well, they got Neuer, who left his beloved Schalke in better shape than he found it. At the start of last season they were handing out on the edge of relegation. They ended up advancing further in the Champions League then ever before knocking out Inter before they fell to Man-U. They also won the DFB-Pokal.
Schalke win DFB-Pokal
Bayern haven’t made his trip down south easy. They’ve fracked up the backline putting Lahm at leftback to favor new signing Rafinha. That combined with the fact that no two centerback pairs are ever on at the same time for long means major defensive errors are leaving Neuer badly exposed. And the superstar strikes aren’t firing on all cylinders either. So sorry boys looks like its going to be another long season.
Fanatical for Football 