Bundesliga – The News Desk

How can you tell if a football manager is actually good at their job?

9Apr

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How can you tell if a football manager is actually good at their job?

An important thing to remember about Andre Villas-Boas is that he had ridiculously good hair.You don’t spend a record-shattering €15 million (£12.9; $16.3m) fee to sign a rookie manager away from Porto unless you’re pretty sure you know what you’re getting, and one thing Chelsea knew for certain, back in the heady days of 2011, was that the man with a swirling, fox-red side-parting looked impossibly cool getting tossed in the air during trophy celebrations. Villas-Boas at Porto in 2010 (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)Hair like that had sexy new ideas — a philosophy, perhaps. It had the sort of rakish sweep that could command a press conference, smouldering volcanically above the jagged peaks of an unbuttoned collar. But when the 33-year-old prodigy conducted his first i...

The Briefing: Will Haaland’s form cost Man City? Cole Palmer: MVP? Xabi Alonso’s power move

2Apr

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The Briefing: Will Haaland’s form cost Man City? Cole Palmer: MVP? Xabi Alonso’s power move

Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday during this season The Athletic will discuss three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s football.This was the round when Newcastle snatched victory from the clamped-shut jaws of defeat against West Ham, Liverpool went top of the league after an early scare against Brighton, Manchester United went 1-0 up in the 96th minute and still didn’t win and Sheffield United threw away another two-goal lead.Off the back of all that and more, we will ask if Erling Haaland is playing poorly at the worst moment for him and his club, if Cole Palmer is the Premier League’s most valuable player and whether Xabi Alonso turning down Liverpool and Bayern Munich to stay at Bayer Leverkusen is the real power move…Is Haaland’s bad form at the worst poss...

Free agents in 2024 – the players who can now sign pre-contract transfer agreements

2Jan

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Free agents in 2024 – the players who can now sign pre-contract transfer agreements

This season’s winter transfer window is now open, meaning clubs can officially start the scramble to add reinforcements or offload players deemed surplus to requirements.Premier League sides can do business until 11pm GMT on Thursday, February 1 — and, following discussions with the major leagues around Europe, that will also be deadline day in La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France) and the Bundesliga (Germany).But while clubs who want to sign players under contract must negotiate and, usually, pay a transfer fee during a FIFA-determined transfer window, wise forward planning allows ‘pre-contract agreements’ in some circumstances.The Athletic explains what these are and which players due to be out of contract in the summer could now step up transfer plans…What is a pre-contrac...

Marie-Louise Eta, Union Berlin’s quiet Champions League trailblazer

1Dec

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Marie-Louise Eta, Union Berlin’s quiet Champions League trailblazer

This season, The Athletic is following Union Berlin, a Bundesliga club from the former East Germany who were playing regional-level football less than 20 years ago, on their inaugural Champions League journey for our series Iron In The Blood.GO DEEPERIs the Premier League still on course for an extra Champions League spot?As Union Berlin’s players drifted down the tunnel and the stands in Braga’s Municipal Stadium emptied to the tune of one last song over the PA system, Marie-Louise Eta stood alone by the side of the pitch for a moment, lost in her thoughts.Union had just picked up a second successive point in the Champions League on the road — that was the good news.The bad news was that Union had carelessly squandered a lead against a team that had played with 10 men for more than an ho...

Brenden Aaronson: Leeds, relegation, anti-U.S. ‘noise’, Union Berlin and what’s next

10Nov

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Brenden Aaronson: Leeds, relegation, anti-U.S. ‘noise’, Union Berlin and what’s next

“It’s just been tough to get a rhythm,” Brenden Aaronson says. “And I think that’s everything for a footballer — it’s just finding your rhythm and confidence.”“Tough” is a word Aaronson uses a lot right now, which is not surprising in the circumstances.It is Thursday afternoon, less than 48 hours after Union Berlin were knocked out of the DFB Pokal by Stuttgart, condemning them to an 11th straight defeat in all competitions. On Saturday, against Eintracht Frankfurt, that losing streak was extended to 12 matches, leaving Union third from bottom in the Bundesliga.For Aaronson, who joined Union on a season-long loan in the summer on the back of suffering relegation from the Premier League with Leeds United, it must feel like a never-ending cycle of misery.In fact, the 23-year-old could be fo...

Xabi Alonso and why everyone wants Bayer Leverkusen head coach

1Oct

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Xabi Alonso and why everyone wants Bayer Leverkusen head coach

From the relegation zone to being level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso has led Bayer Leverkusen on quite the ride in his 12 months as manager. Some sort of rebound was almost inevitable given the team’s talent, but the complete change in the team’s attitude under the Spaniard has been nothing short of remarkable.Ever since the club acquired the unwanted “Neverkusen” moniker following three runners-up spots in 2002, Bayer had been a byword for underachievement and lack of resilience. Now though, they are coming back from a late goal away to serial champions Bayern to score an even later equaliser and generally play with a swagger that befits the most balanced, confident team in the league.Sporting director Simon Rolfes makes no effort to underplay th...

Harry Kane to Manchester United – the deal that did not happen

21Sep

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Harry Kane to Manchester United – the deal that did not happen

There were staff at Manchester United who believed signing Harry Kane would transform their team into title challengers. Erik ten Hag’s thinking was along the same lines. That’s why, as striker options were being assessed towards the end of last season, Kane was top of the United manager’s list.But on Wednesday night, when United face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena to start their Champions League group campaign, Kane will be playing for the serial German champions rather than Ten Hag’s side, giving immediate cause for reflection about why the much-touted transfer never happened.United had looked at a move for Kane at various stages over the last few years but, back in May, the stars finally seemed to be aligning. Kane was about to enter the final year of his Tottenham Hotspur contract...