The Spaniard got off to a flyer last week but a 5-1 thrashing at Frankfurt has revealed the true size of his taskThis was it. The start of the Xabi Alonso-as-coach story, where one of the most natural schemers in a midfield would prove himself as adroit and successful with the backdrop of the touchline. If there was any assumption that his former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard would be a certain type of manager based on his assurance as a player, that perhaps goes double for Alonso on the back of three seasons of displaying his philosophy at Real Sociedad’s B team.The view for a while has been that Alonso is so cerebral that he should be on an inexorable...
Robert Lewandowski is sorely missed and the spectre of Thomas Tuchel now hangs over the Bayern managerManuel Neuer has been the hero on so many occasions but here, he very nearly found a new way to be so. His 95th minute header from Joshua Kimmich arrowed towards the corner but his opposite number, the outstanding Rafał Gikiewicz, twisted on his line and dived to push it away with his left hand. Seconds later, Neuer lurched at the ball after Alphonso Davies lifted it back in, and Gikiewicz palmed away again, to the fevered acclaim of his teammates. The plaudits belonged to the Polish goalkeeper, rather than the German one, this time.But since when were Bayern reduced to this? Neuer’s very...
Coach insists avoiding relegation is his club’s main aim despite a 3-2 win at Leverkusen that took them to the summitIt took a bit of fortune but few, bar those of a Bayer Leverkusen persuasion, were complaining. Freiburg eventually came out on top in a five-goal thriller at BayArena on Saturday, a scenario that had looked a long way from likely at half-time. Their coach, Christian Streich, called it “a lucky win”, with characteristic frankness.No matter. Freiburg go back into European competition this week on top of the Bundesliga. They’ve been there before only once before, after winning 4-0 against Stuttgart on the opening day of 2000-01, so whether you can even count that is open to debate. Streich said...
Urs Fischer’s team were brutal, cold and unforgiving against Schalke, not the cuddly club of football fablesThose records keep tumbling. Their longest top-flight unbeaten run (now 11) was extended. This is the first time they have gone unbeaten in five Bundesliga away games. Add to that, of course, the big one – this was their biggest ever Bundesliga win, at the home of one of German football’s iconic clubs in front of a sold-out, 62,000-plus crowd. Union Berlin are not a curio, not a fleeting story and more than a minor irritant to the Bundesliga’s established order.Saturday’s 6-1 win at Schalke took Union level on points with Bayern Munich at the summit, planting their flag again in unexpectedly high grounds,...
After his side somehow lost to Werder Bremen from 2-0 up in the 89th minute, the returning BVB coach has work to do“Even as a child, you can’t imagine a sequence of play that spectacular,” said Ole Werner. The 34-year-old Werder Bremen manager is the Bundesliga’s youngest head coach but anyone would have celebrated as wildly on the pitch after this tumultuous ending at Signal Iduna Park, which left Borussia Dortmund stunned.“I have no idea what happened there,” said their shocked captain, Marco Reus, who has seen a lot of improbable twists in his decade at the club. Continue reading...