Joel Emery

Editor's note: The following is a fictitious look into the future to see what impact the introduction of goal-line technology may have on English football: 2012 On July 25 2012, FIFA introduced goal-line technology in a new regulation covering all professional leagues throughout Europe. In a bid to win the next presidency; Sepp Blatter described the […]

What would you pay for Champions League success? "Imagine if we had an extra 100 million euros available, then I'd tell our fans to get ready to celebrate winning the Champions League," says Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness in an interview with Wirtschaftswoche. His proposal involves an increase of 2 € of Germany's TV licensing […]

3 – Likely number of German top goalscorers over the past 10 years by season's end. With Ibisevic's injury cementing his tally at 18, it seems likely that Patrick Helmes (17), Mario Gomez or Grafite (14 each) will end up with title of Torschützenkönig. BUT if Grafite were to win, it'd increase the number of […]

No images as a lead-in for this story on a pole-dancing Hannover 96 fan at a friendly versus VfL Osnabrück. According to reports the fan stripped down in -4 celsius (~25 fahrenheit) weather, egged on by cheers of „onanieren, onanieren!“ (masturbate, masturbate!). Local police and supporters are not amused, although at that temperature it's difficult […]

Energie Cottbus Rank: 16th Preseason Prediction: 18th What was I thinking? Have you ever had a gut feeling that something was absolutely going to happen? In this case for me it was Cottbus being relegated. It's no certainty, but that was my feeling before the season started and it remains unchanged. As you may know, […]

VfL Bochum Rank: 17th Preseason Prediction: 17th What was I thinking? In the final 2007-08 standings I had grouped Bochum among a few sides that I referred to as being consistently adequate, hovering just above relegation. I was prepared to keep them there, too, except for the signings over the summer of Hashemian and Freier, […]

Dülp at the German blog Bolzplatz has an interesting post on Gladbach and the club's recent winter acquisitions. He's experiencing a crisis of faith in the club, seeing Meyer's recent moves as "Advocaat Reloaded." In other words, Meyer's calls for a complete rebuilding of the team and given carte blanche to do so are reminiscent […]

Borussia Mönchengladbach Rank: 18th Preseason prediction: 12th What was I thinking? Gladbach entered the Bundesliga having won the 2. Bundesliga with the most prolific offense and third-stingiest defense. They featured a versatile, if somewhat inexperienced side headlined by Germany's next can't miss prospect, Marko Marin. Season High: It all started off so well with an […]

This seemingly inscrutable graphic actually details how my preseason picks (scroll down to the comments) have turned out thus far. We've reached the winter break in the Bundesliga and things haven't quite turned out as I expected. Those of you kind enough to point out that there's still a lot of football left to be […]

I wanted to point out this great collection of pictures available at Auswärtssieg! (away win!) a German Schalke blog. Unfortunately for Auswärtssieg! Schalke went down 2-1 to Leverkusen, but that shouldn't prevent us from enjoying these great pictures. Here are a few to whet your appetite: You can look at the rest of them here.

1-2-3 – Current ranking of Bochum, Cottbus, and Bielefeld on the "Anti-Fair-Play Table." Here Bochum has a commanding lead thanks to their 33(!) yellows in 12 games. This trio tops another table as well, but this one's about "Anti-Results." All three are currently in the relegation zone. Coincidence? Probably not considering Anti-Fair-Play cellar dwellers Leverkusen […]

0 – The number in Frankfurt's win column (still, and I'll keep on mentioning this until Frankfurt take note and do something about it) 5 – Difference in points between 1st (Hamburg) and 11th (Bayern). 6 – Number of goalscorers Hamburg and Werder Bremen have in the top 12 (ie, those who have scored at […]

Earlier this year the Ligapokal was cancelled due to fixture congestion in the aftermath of Euro '08, but was expected to return bigger and better. Understandable, if unfortunate. Now according to kicker the old men at the DFL* have already cancelled the 2009 edition of the competition. The reasoning behind the move? According to DFL […]

Another Germany-Wales match, another game too close for comfort for die Nationalmannschaft. The all-time series record stands at 8 wins for Germany, 2 for Wales and 6 draws between them. I don't know what it is with the Welsh, but they punch above their weight when playing against Ballack and co. Germany needed all my […]

It appeared inevitable and now it's been confirmed as Borussia Möchengladbach fired trainer Jos Luhukay today in their wake of their defeat to Köln (and their fourth straight). After seven games, six of which they've lost, Gladbach sit at the bottom of the table with only three points. The team was perhaps too ambitious in […]