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Originally Posted by PuraVida96
Reading some of the internet previews has me convinced this season's bundesliga is gonna be a hot hot 4 team race to the finish because bayern had <50% poss in the super cup and everyone else is primed for massive improvements despite dortmund losing their 3 best players and leverkusen needing to bridge a 30-pt gap so yeah I just want to say I'm totally stoked to the max about it. legggooo
Aye, when I was listening to some preview danish podcast this little fact also seemed to have played total mindtricks on them and one even predicted Dortmund as champions. I hear Honigstein is doing the same!
For better or worse I managed to not even consider that super cup game at all in my lil (top 3) preview postings from yesterday in the transfer thread. I'm not even sure it was there subconsciously. I did at least remember to throw in there that Ancelotti has missed out on good league chances before, but I dunno, it was mostly just to mention it just in case. Not sure it's all that relevant.
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It's definitely those 3 for my top 3.
Leverkusen are in better shape to avoid that dip that they usually have (some will say because of how they play) if their improved squad is managed well.
On paper it does feel like Leverkusen and Dortmund odds should be closer than what they are, but there must be confidence in various of the young, it has to be said, ELITE, talent that Dortmund has acquired, or had at their disposal already, will have immediate impact this season.
I'm not saying they aren't favorites over Leverkusen but with Leverkusen's additions, some from parts of last season that they'll have fully now, I think it's more you know what you'll get with Leverkusen than it is Dortmund.
Volland hopefully taking/upgrading many of Kiessling's and/or Mehmedi's minutes, full season of Aranguiz and Kampl who are both excellent fits, a host of solid centrebacks and where Dortmund has more emerging talent, at least Leverkusen has Benjamin Henrichs who has fantastic potential for all sorts of things. Then there is Julian Brandt, quite possibly the player of the Olympic tournament, who is getting better and better.
For Dortmund the level of Marc Bartra will be pretty huge. I've definitely liked him a lot before but of course it's another world here away from Barca even if Tuchel is exactly who you'd want to make his conditions optimal.
Guerrero at left-back I'm now fully on board with and doubts are long gone at this point. He really does seem excellent. In fact I think I even like him over Wendell who is pretty damn good and gets a lot of hype.
Tuchel is fantastic and with Reus injury concerns it's really all about who and how or when these young attacking midfielders reach their ceiling.
Dembele will have to be the almost sure great thing and he probably is. Then at least one more will have to be better than Schürrle, so that he is "only" a role-player though previously for Tuchel at Mainz he was actually more than that for once, but the more better him the better. The potential is certainly there, and then finally there is Götze who I lean towards being a nice redemption story, but we'll see.
I feel like I talked Leverkusen up here vs Dortmund but you can't ignore Reus, Aubameyang and Weigl being better than anything that Leverkusen has, hence the difference in odds, with Hummels and Mikhi this was one of the very best teams in the world. I guess I'm actually not so worried about Mikhi because there is so much talent that will have a real go at taking over, even if more collective than just one individual. Hummels is tougher to replace I think and he had more unique impact than just about any centreback, but as long as the replacement isn't bad per se, a new centreback playing shouldn't have huge negative impact if the team is otherwise good.
Aubameyang injured would be bad, and Reus too much injured with not enough of the talent making impact would be bad.
When it comes to Bayern. For some reason over his long career Ancelotti has at times not won with pretty good favorites for league titles and I guess there is possibility that they'll lose some amount of in-game dominance without Pep pushing things tactically, but the squad and the culture is so fantastic that prolonged letdowns are difficult to imagine. Ancelotti isn't an idiot either and won't try to change all sorts of things, much will look the same, after all the players are largely the same. His special input will be his usual fitting in as many as the best players as possible with decent defensive balance also possible at the same time. He has a knack of succeeding with that. Then maybe sacrifice some small pct of possession for direct moments here and there with favored automatisms, longer forward passes+off-ball runs, to the players up front.
I don't expect the counterpressing to go AWOL and if they fall back more sometimes, they can also be devastating in more Italian-style transition against plenty of Bundesliga teams.
So, I'm saying same top 3 as last season! Same order too.
Last edited by Bjørn; 08-26-2016 at 12:14 PM.