Comments on: van Gaal takes over team

By: Angela

Angela — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:07:20 +0000

@Luke: It’s okay – it’s part of the reason I love him. I’m just a sucker.

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:59:21 +0000

Angela: Strictly a qualifying statement of fact It seems the players themselves were all aware of their status in that regard..

Building off of Shane’s comments a bit, it is rather difficult to swallow, but it hard to understate how important this weekend’s match is to our club’s future. I suppose we’re not supposed to worry–all the other club’s fans have just seen us succeed too many times to think we’ll trip on our shoelaces Saturday. But, to fail Saturday and be forced into the Europa League again might be the moment that we look back on 5 years down the line as the moment Bayern molted out of its shell of dominance. But for now, I am dusting off my 00-01 Sagnol jersey (it’s not an Andersson, sadly), as we’re going to need some 2001-style luck to spark a spontaneous celebration on the Marienplatz.

By: Shane

Shane — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:49:47 +0000

Midway through the season if you had asked me where we should sell Ribery I would have laughed and flat out said “no fricking way.” Now, I think we may need to do it. It has become clear that he wants to get out and an unhappy Ribery can be prone to mental lapses (his recent red card of frustration) and spells where he decides not to put in the extra effort. I’ve seen this from him after the Barcelona loss and even a bit before and if he is forced to stay at Bayern next year I think we will see a lot more of it and a new coach isn’t going to change that. He’s an incredible player and it will be a huge blow to lose him.

However, during this off-season we can sell him for an enormous price tag to England or Spain and make a couple of key moves. I agree with Roger above that if we sold Ribery I’d like to see a move to replace Toni with someone like Grafite or Dzeko, a new goalie, left back and center back. Above all I don’t want to see games next season where we have a Van Buyen/Demichelis center defence, my lord that is horrible.

There’s only one or two players like Ribery that can kick your team into another gear but we still would have an excellent midfield especially if we brought Kroos back.

This is all talk for later. For now I just want to make sure we win or tie this weekend and guarantee we will be seeing champions league football next year. If we find ourselves sitting in 4th at the end of Saturday our prospects for making quality off-season moves will grow very dim.

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:57:59 +0000

@Luke Van Bommel (9 actually!)>> You’re just trying to make me love him more aren’t you?

By: Armando

Armando — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:54:12 +0000

Thanks for clarifying that for me Jan.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:55:29 +0000

As much as I’d hate to see Ribery leave, there is no doubt he will be gone next year when his contract expires. If they could get around 80 million Euros in a transfer fee they could use that to get 3-4 really good players and fill the holes like goaltender (Kameni might be a really good pickup and wouldd be free) and right back.
I’d also not mind if they could sell Luca Toni. He is missing so many easy goals right now and has no other skills than putting the ball in the net with help from others. They could then use the money they get for Toni, and what’s left from the Ribery money and get Grafite from Wolfsburg. He has a far higher skill level and can do everything (dribble the ball through defenders, set up other people and score goals).
Bayern is loaded at midfield, so they would not need a replacement for Ribery. In saying all this, I’d love to see them keep Ribery, but it would not be doomsday if he leaves and they spend the money they get wisely and shore up the need positions. 80 mil is a lot of money and could net us a lot of players for just that one. He is one of the five best players in the world right now, so let the bidding war begin, and then see if the money is right… Maybe even try to trade him to Barca for E’To and cash…

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:14:26 +0000

Podolski joins Cologne in the summer. The deal has been signed long ago. The only get out clause would have been a scenario where Cologne gets relegated, but that’s not the case, so he’s definitely gone.

By: Imi

Imi — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:36:27 +0000

i think we can forget about the title this year, at least we have to secure the second place, so it means beating Supermario and co.The spanish press is messing around Ribery and R Madrid,as they say he has agreed to the transfer. We´ll see, I guess this week everything about player movements (coming and leaving)will be stopped until the horizon clears. This counts also on Podolski, I think it is not clear cause we do not know what new coach wants.

By: Armando

Armando — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:26:50 +0000

I asked this on the Koln offside, but its not as popular as this one so i’m gonna ask here too. Is Podolski still coming to Koln next season? I’m just making sure, because even though Koln have for sure now avoided relegation and are staying in the first Bundesliga, but it doesnt say he’s playing for Koln from 2009 onwards anymore on Wikipedia, and he’s been playing more since Klose has been injured and since Klinsmaan has been sacked too. So i’m just making sure he’s still coming back to Koln next season?

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:54:56 +0000

Come on yellows for Grafite/Dzeko