10 thoughts after #10’s day in the sun

By: Luke | August 30th, 2009

1) A day later is perhaps a better time to write, letting the euphoria of a skillful, beautiful, exciting victory sink in a little bit. But as fans, we’ve got to try to maintain some balance to things. Just as last weekend should not have sent us looking for a ledge to leap off of, this week should not find us dreaming of rainbows and lollipops and free Paulaner forever. This was reflected by Mario Gomez’s post-match comments. As critical as I am of Gomez at times, I have to say that I’m always impressed by the maturity and insight of his interview comments. This is a refreshing change from Podolski, who I am not sure is fluent in any language.

2) As I was watching Ribéry and Robben sprint side by side down for the third goal, it made me think of this tangentially related scene. We’ve got to come up with the right nickname for these guys. I’m not sure I like “Robbery”. Rib-Rob, which immediately reminds me of “Jib Jab” (but not enough to create an old-timey animation of Arjen and Franck), seems like it would catch on better with Germans at least. “7-10 split” seems like it could carry some weight. Please weigh in with your ideas guys, this is a creative group, and now is the time, before some annoying moniker we all hate takes hold.

3) The most encouraging thing is, I believe this match could have been won without Ribéry and Robben. We saw a lot more stability out of the defenders, Tymoschuck had one moment where he was too late getting back and allowed Dzeko a free header, but was otherwise solid. The difference yesterday was, we went from competent to stellar with our playmakers on the field.

4) Perhaps the only player on the field who didn’t improve over the Mainz match was Ivica Olic. And yet, you’d be really stretching things to say he had a bad day. He was adequate, nothing more, which was just fine on Saturday.

5) The once heir-apparent to the 10 jersey in Munich, Toni Kroos, had an assist on the game-winning goal for Leverkusen, just 6 minutes after coming into the match. Kroos has remained mostly in the background this season, he was subbed in after the 80th minute in the two previous league matches. Perhaps Saturday’s effort will see him increase his playing time, but following the Robben acquisition, it seems more likely that Kroos’ loan spell has a better chance of becoming permanent. Meanwhile, Bayern’s last #10 also played the part of hero in the dying seconds on Sunday.

6) Almost lost in the excitement of the victory was the goalkeeping change. Hans-Jörg Butt replaced Michael Rensing in goal, after playing in the mid-week friendly. At that time, I was convinced he was simply getting some playing time in a meaningless match, but LVG stated on the club’s website that he will go forward with Butt. Say what you will, about how much a good offense makes a good defense, but Butt kept a clean sheet against one of the fiercest attacks in the league. However, he might owe that to Philipp Lahm’s clearance off the line and well constructed posts as much as to his own performance.

7) Champions League Group A roundup: Maccabi Haifa overcame a deficit, scoring 3 goals in the last 23 minutes of the match for a 3-1 victory at Hapoel Raanana. Juventus has defeated AS Roma by the same count, and Marseilles hosted Bordeaux in a Ligue 1 showdown..which ended like so many of them do over there, 0-0.

8. Multiple sources have indicated that the Rafinha transfer rumor is dead. It seemed to be more than a rumor on Saturday, when Kicker broke the story. Rafinha would have been a much more logical transfer to have undertaken right when the window opened. You’ve got to wonder what those conversations with Magath are like on these topics, there’s got to be some interesting psychological dynamics.

9) Saturday was also a banner day for FC Bayern II. Mehmet Scholl and company got their first victory of the season, defeating recent DFB-Pokal opponent Wuppertaler SV, 3:1, surely to the chagrin of the entertaining proprietor of the Abseits Guide to German Soccer. Despite the Robben debut scheduled for just a couple hours later at the Allianz, 1,700 turned out at the Grünwalder.

10) I wasn’t looking on my calendar when I kept talking about “next week, next week”, as next week is an international week! Bayern will be back in action, September 12, at Dortmund, with a start time of 9:30 Eastern. As you look ahead on the schedule, the weekend of September 26-27 sees the club visiting Hamburg. Although not officially announced by the DFL yet, that match in Hamburg will ~~almost surely be played on Sunday~~ be played on Saturday at 12:30 EST. So, adjust your American college football watching schedule and other commitments accordingly!