Lateralus91

Finally.... A shot! Who knew those could result in a score? Can't decide what's worse. Refs or Canucks PP today.

One of the greatest, for sure. Read about him on music forums when Rush ended touring, I remember the articles saying something about muscle disease and him not being able to play without pain anymore. But nothing about cancer. Rest in peace, Neil.

1 for 1 so far

Since switching to a 3-4-3 they've actually been pretty good. I would look at the last week before the winter break as a little bit of an exception. 3 games in 6 days at the end of the year, the last 2 being againt Leipzig and Hoffenheim. And even in those they were the (far) better teams. Just unlucky and/or tired (especially against Hoffenheim). Assuming they keep playing in a 3-4-3, Zorc has his work cut out for him in the winter. Bruun Larsen is not good enough to play. Götze has no position in a 3-4-3. Paco is not ideal up front. Dahoud will not be the player we hoped he could be. As it stands, only Sancho, Reus and Hazard are suitable for one of the 3 offensive positions. Maybe Gio Reyna can get a few minutes. But he's only 17 and I don't know how far along he is. Though he looks brilliant playing in the Youth League. Still, we'll need at least one winger. If we can get Haaland as well, great. But with Raiola as his agent I wouldn't hold my breath. Favre won't be sacked during the break. Maybe if they have another bad streak during spring. But my bet is on him staying until summer. There is no obvious candidate for his position available at the moment. Summer may offer some more opportunities (Farke, Kohfeldt for example). Our biggest problem in my opinion is that we have had no consistent philosophy since Tuchel. High intensity Peter Bosz, followed by low intensity, low block Peter Stöger and now Favre who focuses on low risk passes and a lot of patience in creating chances. This results in the roster problems I've listed above. There are a lot of questions for this season and especially next with possibly Piszczek, Hakimi, Sancho, Götze, Dahoud, Bruun Larsen all but guaranteed to leave and a few others also in question.

Some fantastic match ups in there.

Looks like I better get my Scotland trip in before borders close

A Tory begging Germans to vote for the party that wants to get rid of them is comical, if not outright delusional if he's actually speaking to German citizens.

Don't know who would have voted for him on that. Maybe some cats conspired to confuse Alf in order to stop him from eating them. On the official Bundesliga website he's not even listed as a nominee.

Great match from Davies today. Think he got 2 assists? Far bigger news: Dortmund media saying Erling Haaland sighted in Dortmund today. If we sign him we'll have to make Zorc's statue 5 meters taller.

Don't get me (or spielverlagerung I would think) wrong. They are happy with him. Just not at the position they thought he would play. 10m € for a left back who can hold his own in the Bundesliga and probably has potential to be one of the best at his position is still a fantastic transfer. And Bayern's roster is small enough for him to get enough time on the pitch. Since Pavard and Süle are out, he's been literally playing full 90 every single game.

https://spielverlagerung.de/2019/12/01/tuerchen-1-alphonso-davies/ German tactics blog spielverlagerung.de does these "advent calendars" (kinda the German version of 12 days of Christmas) with player analyses. This year they focus on players who changed their positions/roles. Their first entry happened to be Alphonso Davies. Now, the article is in German. So I'll roughly translate the key points here. If you are into tactics, I highly recommend spielverlagerung btw. Their authors are mostly young coaches and/or journalists. Some have gone on to be very successful coaches (e.g. René Maric, now assistant coach for Borussia Mönchengladbach / Martin Rafelt, now Hajduk Split academy) or were hired as journalists for highly renowned German newspaper (Tobias Escher / Constantin Eckner). Here is their English version: http://spielverlagerung.com/ And their analysis of Canada's win against the US earlier this year: https://spielverlagerung.com/2019/10/18/canada-stuns-stagnant-usa/ (Not affiliated btw. Just a huge fanboy.) Anyway, onto Alphonso. In his first couple of games, Bayern coaches realized he would probably not be a dominant winger for them. They think he lacks the right timing and focus in small spaces for him to work out as a winger at Bundesliga level. At the same time they were impressed by Davies' backtracking and covering. Which obviously helps as a left back. When the opponent is in a disarray and Davies has some space. He's also very good in driving the play forward. But he's not yet making the right decisions when he meets a sorted defensive line. In the beginning he had trouble with taking on high switch plays but he's getting very good at that. His first touch also improved, especially with his right foot. He tends to continue the play to the inside more often when he takes on passes with his left foot which helps him in finding the right timing for passes or dribblings. They conclude with saying his re-positioning to left back has done him well and fits his abilities more than the winger position. Still has some details to work on when it comes to finding the right position and spaces (which is something that is usually easier to correct than technical deficiencies). But overall they think he's doing well and the transition was a great idea.

Germany, France and Portugal just drawn into the same group for the EURO 2020. Yikes.

I wouldn't have a problem with the first three I listed as well as Pochettino. Don't think we'll get any of those now. Maybe some of them will be available next summer. Pochettino will go for greener pastures I'm afraid. Could see him at Barca if Valverde gets the boot.

Yup. Couldn't agree more. That was horrible. Favre will probably stay for now. At least until the winter break. But I'm curious to see who Watzke and Zorc have set their eyes on. They've been very confusing in their choices of coaches since Tuchel. First ultra offensive, high pressing Peter Bosz. Than ultra conservative and defensive Peter Stöger. Now Favre, who's quite conservative as well but at least has a system that normally works out but somehow doesn't really at Dortmund. Some names that are being thrown around: Kohfeldt (Bremen), Farke (Norwich), Hütter (Frankfurt), Kovac, Rangnick, Pochettino, Blanc. And that list doesn't give me the confidence that Zorc and Watzke have made their minds up about what kind of a coach they want. Which is likely a problem in itself.

So as I understand under normal circumstances there's no way for Trump to get out of this. But afaik US Senate has to decide on wether or not to indict Trump. And seeing as the majority of the Senate are Republicans that's somehow not going to happen? Could someone with better knowledge about the process weigh in on that?