I had a long conversation with Mani Honigstein, who is the brains behind the football social networking site Footbo. An avid Bayern Munich fan, I talked to him about the summer transfers and his views on the season ahead for the Bavarian giants. Tell us a little about Footbo, and what you are trying to […]

You call this a formation? Seven notes on Werder dismantlement of FC Bayern at the Allianz. 1. Stereotyping A defensive player usually makes an attack-minded coach and an attacking player usually makes a defense-minded coach. Granted, there are exceptions such as the Bruno Labbadia’s of this world, but the general rule of thumb holds enough […]

Having had the time to digest Bayern's 2-5 mauling by Bremen (no need to rehash things here, if you need a refresher check out the excellent post at Deutsche Welle's Ballspiel or the video highlights at 101 Great Goals), I wanted to know exactly how bad it was for the Bavarians. No matter what your […]

1st Schalke What You Know: If baseball's Chicago Cubs had a baby with the Red Sox prior to 2004, Schalke would be the offspring. What You Don’t: All things both good and bad must end. What to Expect: Yes, Campeones! I say that, bucking all trends, and knowing full well that Schalke could be leading […]

The new Bundesliga season is just days away, so Bundesliga Talk writers Mark Moll and Double Pivot decided to interview one of the preeminent writers and authors on the topic of German soccer, Raphael Honigstein. Many readers may know Honigstein best from his appearances on the Football Weekly Podcast by The Guardian. Here's the transcript […]

This week we make the short trip west on the A40 from Dortmund past Bochum to Gelsenkirchen, home to Schalke 04 and their new coach, Fred Rutten. Much like his new Ruhr rival, Jürgen Klopp, Rutten has been a one club man for almost his entire 30-year playing and coaching career, all with FC Twente […]