J. Schlaudraff scored 7! who the hell is he?

Never heard of him myself. We'll have to wait for LaPalma to get on and clear it up for us I think!

La Palma will correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I think Schlaudruff is the striker Bayern bought last year who never really made it into the first team -- and so he's been sold to another club, with Bayern's blessing.

No correction needed. Schlaudraff was the revelation of the 2006/2007 season when he played for Bremen. Played some games for Germany too. Bayern bought him but he never came close to the first team so they sold him to Hannover...he's nothing special
The score isn't so special when you know what kinda game it was. Darmstadt plays in the fifth league and it was a charity game cause they're almost bankrupt.

Wow. I did remember it right. Thanks for confirmation, La Palma.

Just saw this on uefa.com:

Croatia forward Ivan Klasnić will leave Werder Bremen when his contract expires this summer, the German club have announced. "In the past few days we have even increased our offer again but unfortunately he has decided not to sign an extension," said Bremen sporting director Klaus Allofs. "We would have liked a different outcome because he is an outstanding forward who has shown his class even after his kidney transplants." The 28-year-old, who joined Bremen in 2001, scored seven goals in nine Bundesliga starts in 2007/08.

Given the pending lawsuits against Bremen's medical staff, it's perhaps not a surprise that he's leaving. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up - he's a good striker.

I truly like Klasnić!


I have never heard of them before but this is always sad to hear...

Hmh, Ivan has been linked with Besiktas and Wigan, but I hope he'll do better then that,..

Wigan?

Yes, he'll do better than that for sure.

Wigan are also after AEK Athens' 19-year-old CB Papastathopoulos! I think he's one of the greatest players in the Greek league (which of course is not telling... ). He has some very good qualities and I think he could become a great player if he worked on them. Normally, he lacks experience and as we know defenders, like wine, only get better with time!

I hope to see him play for one of Europe's bigger clubs in the future. He has also been linked with Juventus.

Bayern 4:0 Hertha 70'

3 goals for Luca so far

Toni for Ballon d'or

Bayer 0:1 Werder
Bayern 4:1 Hertha
Bochum 1:2 Rostock
Dortmund 2:4 Wolfsburg
Frankfurt 4:2 Duisburg
Hamburg 7:0 Karlsruhe
Hannover 4:0 Cottbus
Nurnberg 0:2 Schalke
Stuttgart 2:2 Bielefeld

Werder finishes 2dn after their late goal, Schalke will play the preliminary for the CL.

Toni finished top goal scorer with 24 goals. 39 goals in 46 games this season. Not bad for his first season in Germany huh

That is a riduculous amount. Anything fake Ronaldo does, Toni does better

Seriously though how many has CR scored this season and in how many matches

C.Ronaldo scored 38 goals in 44 games between the championship and the CL, which is not bad too

I'm not too sure where to find official stats or anything unfortunately as I'd really like to compare these 2!

For Ronaldo I have..
Premier League: 35 games, 32 goals, 7 assists
Domestic Cups: 3 games, 3 goals, 0 assists
European Cups: 10 games, 7 goals, 1 assist
Totals: 48 games, 42 goals, 8 assists

Still, it's not as good as RvNs 44 goals in 50 games in the 02/03 season. I forgot just how prolific Ruud can be sometimes!

Ronaldo has done extremely well, but i am curious as to how many penalties he (and Toni) have scored

I think he scored 31 goals in the league.



Toni doesn't take the PKs and CR takes them all ...

Yep, you're right, 31 apparently.

Ronaldo does take most of the penalties, free-kicks too which will help boost his goal count.

Well, Pks and Fks are not the same for me, it takes more skills to score a Fk and a Pk where there a lot of luck involved, I count Fk's as normal goal but the penalties CR scored sure make the difference between him Toni and Torres.

I agree that free-kicks are more of a skill. But if you're good at free-kicks it certainly makes it easier for you to get alot of goals in a season.

So? If you're good in front a the goal it makes it also easier to get more goals!

I'm not sure you're getting what I'm saying. Penalties is a skill, just like taking free-kicks. Obviously taking penalties you have more chance of scoring than a free-kick. But taking free-kicks gives you a better chance of scoring than NOT taking free-kicks none the less.

I got what you mean, but it's like saying playing as a forward gives you a better chance to score than playing as a midfielder. Now do you get what I'm saying? Pk's are more about chance, every one can score from a Pk, it's more easy if you want, but to score a free kick it takes skills, that's why I put the free kicks in the same category as the normal goals. Got it?

^^^

Yup...

Ooops....no...I lost it...can you run that by me again.

Am I the only one here that's going to say good-bye to Oliver Kahn?
He played his last match yesterday.

^^^

Give him my regards will you.

Kahn never did it for me. Never fired me up much. I preferred Gigi and Dida a 1000 times more.

The season is over. Here are my top and flops.

Top

Vfl Wolfsburg:They started with little expectations and made a run for 5th place after a great second part of the season. Felix Magath got a relegation candidate and formed a top team. They already signed Cristian Zaccardo and Zvjezdan Misimovic (brillant playmaker) and it seems they might also get Andrea Barzagli. There's no doubt IMO that "Qüalix" wants to attack Bayerns league domination in the upcoming seasons.
Energie Cottbus: When Bojan Prasnikar took over at Cottbus after week 6 it was almost certain they'd go nowhere but to the 2nd Bundesliga. But with a lot of courage they finshed above 16th for the third time in a row.
Bayern Munich:After what was one the most dissapointing seasons for them, Bayern built up a completely new team. With success. Franck Ribery and Luca Toni were responsible for almost 70 % of Bayerns goals. Of course they won another league title.


Flop

Borussia Dortmund:"We will fight for the title", said Dortmunds manager "Susi" Zorc in front of the season. In the end they finshed on 13th place. The worst result for them in the last 20 years. Their coach Thomas Doll just resigned.
FC Nürnberg: The cup defenders go down to the 2nd Bundesliga. Eben though they had a team that could have fought for a UEFA Cup spot they played a miserable season. After firing Club-legend Hans Meyer the new coach Thomas von Heesen couldn't do anything to rescue the former German record champions.

It's one of the few things I disagree with you capt'n. Kahn has a big charisma and he is a true legend. The Bundesliga without him,...it's not the same. IMO - Gigi>>Kahn>Dida

And did anyone see Hitzfeld cry? Oh, that was so emotional. Hoeneß also...that surprised me. But then again, he was allways there for Ottmar, he was like his best friend (unlike that cold Rummenigge mathematician..),..

I saw the Bayern game. While I've never been a particular fan of Kahn, it was really rather special watching his last game and it was touching to see just how much the game affected both him and Ottmar. (Thought it was a nice touch by Ribery to come over and shake the coach's hand after his goal).

My Bundesliga Game of the Year involves Bayern.

It's probably not a game they want to remember, though. Instead of one of the many goalfests, I rather liked the game v. Energie Cottbus. Cottbus were in last place at that point, and, well...they beat Bayern. The Bundesliga throws up surprise games like that now and then, moreso than some of the other big leagues. (highlightshere )

Yeah, it's strange how these huge names that I grew up with sre dissapearing from football...sniff.

Kahn was superb. I was also never a fan of his but I still can't find words for his performances in the 2002 WC. On the line he's the best GK ever. Kahns only problem was that he rarely leaves his goal. But he's been the best German Gk of my lifetime. Even better than Illgner and Köpke.

Besides my strong dislike for Bayerm no one can't deny Ottmars achievements. But IMO he wasn't the old Hitzfeld this season. Not the one who won two CL titles. Now a new generation has to fill the huge gap left by the "General". But if there's someone who's capable it's Jürgen Klinsmann. He's a golden boy, even at the age of 43. Everything he does turns into gold. And albeit people think he's a naive tactician I'm absolutely certain he's not. We shouldn't forget he played under some world class coaches like Giovanni Trappatoni.

Really, it is. I just can't imagine that there won't be a Hoeneß at Bayern soon too. That's just not the Bayern I was used too see..


For Cottbus,..hmh, I really don't like their team and wanted them to get relegated (or Arminia) instead of Nürenberg, but...they did show class. And it's all Prašnikars magic. He created like a Balkan-South-East-European squad with all does Serbs, Croatians, Bosnians, Romanians, Bulgarians,...

I also can't imagine Bayern without Hoeneß....he was clubs leader for 30 years. He's one of the main reasons for Bayerns ongoing success. He's their face...even more than Franz Beckenbauer.

Yes. What Prasnikar did was amazing.

Btw. Next years Bundesliga is going to be a lot stronger with Cologne and Gladbach back in action. Bochum will fight much harder to stay in the Bundesliga.
But I'm most excited about TSG Hoffenheim who'll play in the Bundesliga for the first time. A club from a town with only 3000 inhabitants which is only their because of it's multi-billionaire President Dietmar Hopp. He used to play for Hoffenheim when he was younger and already bought players for 30 million euro (in the 2nd Bundesliga!!!). They also have a good (if not great) coach in ex-Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll fight for a UEFA Cup spot next season.
It'll also be interesting to see how Wolfsburg developes.

Here's a nice read for anyone who's interested in Hoffenheim.

So, LaPalma. What did you think of Bochums season overall? You finished 12th right? I don't know much about your club if I'm honest so I'm not sure whther you're a young team on the up, or just starting a rebuilding phase, etc. Think you can make a push for a European place next season, will you be fighting relegation, or be just in between both?

They're the Birmingham of the Bundesliga. Now form your opinion.

Nah. Bochum never got relegated.

And as far as I know, they never singled out players for the reason of their failings, there's no way they could be classier than Birmingham.

Bochum got relegated under Neuruhrer last time. They never have a player that lasts long or plays an important role in the German NT (the last one was Dariusz Wosz I belive..), but they allways manage to find a good team spirit and a leader. This season it was Stanislav Sestak.

Oh, I meant they didn't get relegated this season. Do they have much money, or are they able to bring in decent players or are they fairly unknown?

I hadn't really heard of them before I joined MF to be honest. (Sorry LaPalma!)

Not a problem. Bochum is not the kinda side people outside Germany would support.

Bochum made its first appearance in the Bundesliga in 1971 and stayed there until 1993. In that time we escaped relegation more than once which is why people still call us "Die Unabsteigbaren"(which means we can't be relegated at all because we always manage to stay in the Bundesliga). Between then and now we've been relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga for 5 times or so. But we always managed to be back for the next season hence we got a new nickname: "Die Fahrstuhlmannschaft" (the elevator side).
We managed to finish forth in 1997 and 2004 which allowed us to play in the UEFA cup. Our campaign in 2004/2005 was a disaster (we were kicked out in the pre stage against Standard Luttich because they scored an away goal....in the very last minute.....oh that was horrible) but in 1997 we almost kicked out Ajax Amsterdam.
We're back in the Bundesliga since 2006 now and avoided relegation very smooth till then after we finished 8th in 2007 and now 12th.
Do we have money? No we don't.... Whenever we bring out a new talent we have to sell him to likes of Bremen (former international defender Frank Fahrenhorst), Leverkusen (former German international Paul Freier, our brillant playmaker of the late 90ies Yildiray Bastürk/now Stuttgart, last years Bundesliga top scorer Theofanis Gekas), Hertha (Bochum legend Dariusz Wosz) or sometimes even Bayern (Vahid Hashemian). A problem is that Bochum is located in the Ruhrgebiet. Germanies region with the biggest depth of professional football teams with Schalke and Dortmund as the two top dogs. Denying Schalke the "Meisterschaft"(Championship) by defating them last year was awesome of course.
But we're got at getting new unknown players like Stani Sestak this year. He came for 750.000 € from MSK Zilina. 13 goals and 9 assist in his first season isn't exactly bad for such a guy.
Bochums best known player ever should be Stefan Kuntz, maily known for his efforts in Germanys Euro 1996 campaign. He scored the vital equalizer in the semis against England.

As for recent history. As I said we made the 5th place in 2004 under Peter Neururer, the "dancing coach" (he always went to the fans after a win and danced in front of the stands). But we missed the chance to build up a formidable team, sold our best players (got horrible ones in exchange...) and were relegated in 2005.
But our new coach Marcel Koller is definetely more skilled than Neururer was and is dtermined to build up a solid Bundesliga team in Bochum and till now he did an awesome job.
For the next season we already signed playmaker Mimoun Azuoagh from Schalke (was on loan before) - a great addition to our squad - and Leverkusen winger Paul Freier returns to us.

It's a shame that football happens the way it does. The rest of the league are just feeder teams for the top clubs really, anybody who shows a sign that he could be a good player and the bigger clubs sing them up.