Slacking Off—Bundesliga Edition
Part 1
For the past few years, Patrick Onofre and Will Clarke have been meeting regularly for a series of pointless conversations on Slack. This is one of them.
Will: So the last time we did one of these, the season was about to begin, and everything looked so bright and sunny for so many teams (except Hull in the Premier League)… and now we’re at the end of the season. No, let’s not be in denial. We’re past the end of the season. There’s no more football for us right now. Hull is still really sad. Patrick, how are you holding up? (If at all)
Patrick: Besides rolling around in soccer kits coated with my tears while I sing the refrain from Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You”? Not well. The only thing we have to look forward to is the Confederations Cup, which we can all assume means Putin will declare the Russians the winners, so there won’t be a point to watch it.
Will: Could be worse. You could be singing “In The Arms Of An Angel” while Willis looks on sadly! But you know what? It’s okay. We have a lot of news to discuss now, because truly, football season never ends.
The bulk of these Slacking Off talks are going to be geared towards managerial changes, because there has been quite a bit of drama, but in some leagues, we will have to get to transfer news, as well.
Patrick: Very true; there is a lot to get to. But I suppose we can do what we always do and begin with the Bundes—
THIS JUST IN: SCHALKE SACK MARKUS WEINZIERL AFTER ONE SEASON; APPOINT DOMINICO TEDESCO FROM 2ND-TIER ERZGEBIRGE AUE!!!
Whoa, that happened while we started talking. How convenient. There’s no way this can go wrong, can it?
Will: With a name like Domenico Tedesco, it’s either going to go very right or very wrong, but either way it’ll do so in a hurry. It’s a very interesting decision though. I can see why they parted ways with Weinzierl, given how inconsistent they were last season. They didn’t show the same identity we’d seen from them in the past couple seasons, and it ended in a very mediocre result. The Tedesco hire is very out of the box, but could actually be a pretty solid one depending on how he handles the giant step up in reputation. This is a man who previously coached Stuttgart’s U17s, Hoffenheim’s youths and U19s, and then took over Erzebirge Aue and saved them from relegation with a 6–2–3 record.
Most importantly, though, he graduated coaching school best in class, ahead of Julian Nagelsmann. Which I think is actually an apt comparison: Schalke seems to be looking for the next Nagelsmann, a young innovative manager who can step right in and lend this team the attacking mindset they want. Honestly? I’m very intrigued.
Patrick: I never thought Weinzierl would pan out, so his firing doesn’t surprise me. Tactically, I think Tedesco has a lot going on, which makes his graduation valedictorian of coaching school, and Erzebirge’s performance believable. I’m curious how that will translate in Gelsenkirchen, though his strategic mind will be wasted if Schalke can’t purchase the pieces to best execute his game plan. If they have another lousy summer, this will be all for nothing and foolish, though everything Schalke has done over the past few seasons has seemed hurried and panicked.
Will: That’s fair, but at least in seasons prior they had enough talent and slapdash chemistry to string together a Europa bid or some such. This past season we never really saw potential for that other than for a hot minute midway through. I like this attempt to rock the boat though, especially after the Weinzierl era didn’t really get off the ground. I’m absolutely wishing Tedesco the best, because another young success story could make the Bundesliga a veeeeery interesting place in the next few seasons, breeding managerial talent.
Speaking of, my team still exists too! And they have a new manager as well, also brought up from a Zweite Liga side, albeit a new one. Bayer Leverkusen’s new manager is… Heiko Herrlich, who was last seen getting Jahn Regensburg promoted in the Allianz Arena. How do you think this one pans out?
Patrick: I don’t know enough about Herrlich to make any kind of speculation. I feel like he’s got to be better than Korkut, so that’s… something? Once again, it’ll come down to Leverkusen’s transfer market more than anything. I’ll let you wax poetic about Herrlich while I mull over the Thomas-Tuchel-firing-and-replaced-by-Peter-Bosz situation.
Will: Haha, I mean, you or I could get the same results Korkut did (if not better), so that’s not saying much. But while I don’t know much about him either, he’s done a great job with Regensburg, and manages an attacking style with a decent emphasis on pace and dribbling and not too much consideration for defense… so, y’know, right up our wheelhouse here at Leverkusen.
But now you’ve gotten to the meat of the Bundesliga discussion: Tuchel OUT! Apparently there were some back room arguments, some distrust all around, and after only two seasons BVB was in the market for another manager! It feels like one of those “shocking… to those not in the know” kinds of moves. I do really like the Bosz hiring, however; I think he’s a perfect fit who manages in a very similar style to what Dortmund has had recently, and I’m always a fan of the Dutch when it comes to tactics. What do you think, though? Are you as rosy about this as I am?
Patrick: Man, I am being a bitter, old grouch. Why does this stink of “deja vu all over again” to me? It’s basically the Dutch Tuchel, as far as I’m concerned — relatively young manager who is book smart and knows tactics and working with what he’s got on the roster very well. My concern with Bosz stems from that Europa League final: they played a Premier League team who massively underwhelmed all season and could barely finish an opportunity as they got outshot 17–7, while Bosz mismanages roster changes in the middle of the match and gets beat when it matters. Sound familiar? Because it sure reminds me of Thomas Tuchel. In fact, didn’t Ajax lose the Eredivisie title race to Feyenoord?
Will: They did! In fact, they lost the year before too, to PSV, but with Frank de Boer in charge (I believe Bosz was at Maccabi Tel Aviv; what a meteoric rise for him!). But they also managed to make it to the Europa League final in the first place, and make it a title race against a Feyenoord team that led wire-to-wire, and tactically he’s a wonderful fit. I can see where you’re coming from, though Bosz’s first matches against Bayern, Leipzig, and Schalke will be very telling as to what this possible new era of Dortmund football could look like.
Patrick: One thing he has going for him is the pacey 4–3–3 he implements, which I think will work well with this team. A major difference between him and Tuchel is, while Tuchel constantly mettled with his formations, Bosz was fixed to the 4–3–3 — they played in that formation all 34 league matches. Maybe that consistency will be a strong benefit to Dortmund’s players, too.
Will: I was thinking the same thing! And it’s interesting, too, because there’s a spectrum where on one end, being too married to your tactics will make you more easily countered as well as there being no guarantee you’ll find the right personnel for your system without ample time.
On the other side, tinkering too much is harmful to team chemistry and stability, and your tactics often get lost in the midst of all the minor fixes and tweaks and alterations. Tuchel’s reign at Dortmund skewed further and further to the latter end last season, and it was clear that this was a team very much in flux all year, even though they finished in a Champions League spot.
Now, whether Bosz’s tactics are adaptable enough to roll with the punches in a league where parity reigns supreme below Bayern Munich, we’ll have to see. But I do have faith—at least initially—in his fit with the club.
Will Clarke and Patrick Onofre are the creators of The Challengers Podcast, a soccer website and podcast that discusses the Premier League, the Bundesliga, and La Liga. Listen to their show on iTunes, like them on Facebook, and follow them on twitter — @ChallengersPod.
