So what do you all think of the new coach?....and what has he done differently for the team? How many more matches are there?

Hi George,

the new coach, EL, was a soccer player in the 70. That's the difference with the old one, who also played soccer but never in the Bundesliga.
EL won at Mönchengladbach the European Team Championship, i.e. the actual Champions League. So, he nows about the top. In comparison with the old coach, RR, he knows how to kick the players (also Steve and Clint, they know about it ) in their a****. RR, who was initial a teacher (knickname the professor) always was trying to convince the team by talking.
That's really the big difference.

We still have to play 7 matches. For your interest (you can see the ranking on www.kicker.de -> Bundesliga -> Spieltag/Tabelle), we still have to play against (H = home / A = anti-home ):

H 1. FC Köln
A Werder Bremen
H Vfb Stuttgart
A SC Freiburg
H Eintracht Frankfurt
H Vfl Wolfsburg
A Vfl Bochum

Hope the sun is shining in Florida and see you

Wettberger

I think Ewald Lienen has given the team some desperately needed confidence. As they say, a football match is decided in the mind. That's certainly true and it shows now. Only those players who are aggressive in training are allowed to play for the team, which makes a big difference.

With Ralf Rangnick, training was said to be nice and fun, with a lot of non-football games being played to keep up the team spirit. That has worked well for a few years but I think somewhere along the way the respect for the coach got lost and that was the beginning of the end.

Ewald Lienen demands hard work and that is how the team is pulling itself out of its rut now. I think it's the right way to go.

There's 7 more matches to be played and even though things are extremely close, I think we have a really good chance of avoiding relegation. All we need is more hard work and then things will sort themselves out!

_________________
Konjugation eines unregelmäßigen Verbs

Ich bin fest.
Du bist eigensinnig.
Er ist ein dickköpfiger, unbelehrbarer Hornochse.
(Bertrand Russell)

Quote "Ewald Lienen demands hard work" Unquote

Old Ancient Chinese Poverb: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"!

So Red-Guy, when do you think burnout come for the team?

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Strider

Maybe if you saw one of our matches every once in a while, it would iron out some flaws in your argumentation.

_________________
Konjugation eines unregelmäßigen Verbs

Ich bin fest.
Du bist eigensinnig.
Er ist ein dickköpfiger, unbelehrbarer Hornochse.
(Bertrand Russell)

I saw the last game on Fox Sports World.
It was crap to be honest - 3rd Division quality. How Mathis doesnt fit into that I CANNOT grasp.

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Strider

Me neither. One would think he'd be right at home in a third-rate game.

Kidding. This was too good to pass up.

But seriously, we all agree that the last game was a dud. But it was the first bad game in months. For a team that is mainly fighting relegation, that is not too bad. And crap or not, the game earned us another point. So it wasn't a complete failure.

Btw, I agree that a motivated Mathis could help our team. His shots are often dangerous and one of those can always decide a match. He is not a bad player, no doubt.

But if he cannot bring himself to play and train properly or show respect to others, he has no one but himself to blame. It's his responsibility as a professional player to make sure he is giving his best. Many others have done it and succeeded. But apparently he is choosing the easy way out of a situation he caused himself. He wants a transfer. So let him go, I say.

_________________
Konjugation eines unregelmäßigen Verbs

Ich bin fest.
Du bist eigensinnig.
Er ist ein dickköpfiger, unbelehrbarer Hornochse.
(Bertrand Russell)