Last night saw the best and brighest minds of the football blogging world get together at Hoxton Hall in London to celebrate the NOPA awards. I took along my dictaphone and cornered some of the nominees and distinguished guests to ask them so questions in their field.

Instead of the normal weekley podcast I recorded some interviews after the NOPA Awards last night, I spoke to David Bevan about the Championship, Tim Hill and Charlie Anderson about Dortmund, Tottenham and Man City. Terry Duffelen talks all things Bundesliga and Ben Shave gives us some insight into the Portuguese League. A smorgasbord of the best bloggers around.

Many questions were raised when Jay Bothroyd received a call up to England’s National team for the friendly against France. Isn’t there someone else playing in the Premier League that would be more worthy of a call-up? Is a player playing in the second tier good enough for an International team as highly ranked as England?

There are many blogs that have gone into the positives and negatives of Bothroyd’s call up, that is not the question I wanted to look at. Fabio Capello has himself questioned the number of English players playing at the highest level, limiting the pool of players he can pick his squad from. Does Capello have a point? If not who are the strikers playing in the Premier League that Capello could call on and are other countries suffering the same fate?

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Bayern Munich struggling in 10 ^th travelled to the Imtech Arena to take on 5 ^th place Hamburg. Louis van Gaal unable to pick Robben, van Bommel, Klose or Ribery stuck to his 4-2-3-1 formation, Ukrainian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk continued in the centre of defence alongside Holger Badstuber. Danijel Pranjić at left back, Ottl and Altintop in midfield gave the team a patched up look.

Armin Veh playing 4-4-2 with Trochowski in the hole behind the front pairing of Guerrero and van Nistlerooy, the manager was also boosted by the inclusion of Mladen Petric on the bench back from injury the home fans would have been confident in taking on the Munich giants.

After a very sluggish start to the game from both sides Hamburg began to put their foot on the ball. Bayern’s tactic was to play a high defensive line trying to squeeze the game and restrict the time Hamburg’s players had on the ball.

It worked well and they continually won the ball back with ease, the problem being there was no quality to any of Bayern’s passes so the ball was given away far too often and Hamburg continued to heap on the pressure.

Without the ball Bayern’s defence sat very narrow, Lahm and Pranjić tucking inside to protect the makeshift central partnership, Collin Benjamin and Marcell Jansen used this to their advantage, constantly finding plenty of space to get forward they both saw lots of the ball early on.

The first chance of the game inevitibley came from a Bayern defensive area, Tymoschuk got himself in a muddle and was caught underneath a cross, Lahm couldn’t react, the ball fell to Paolo Guerrero and luckily for the Ukrainian his shot fizzed wide of the post.

Seeing this close call seemed to wake up Bayern’s midfield and for the first time they got on the front foot and a few minutes of pressure followed, Thomas Müller going close with a powerful shot, deflected over the bar but no corner was given.

Hamburg then gave themselves a little break from pressuring the ball high up the pitch allowing Bayern more time on the ball, Schweinsteiger and Kroos trying to pull the strings, Pranjić and Lahm finding some space to advance up the pitch, unfortunately Schweinsteiger was receiving the ball far too deep in the midfield to cause any damage in Hamburg’s defence, Armin Veh’s men looked very comfortable.

Mario Gómez cast a lonely shadow upfront lacking any support or service it was a frustrating night for last weeks hat-trick hero, without the ball everyone but Gómez worked to bet behind the ball, once in possession the midfield couldn’t close the gap from the striker and most moves petered out.

Bayern’s best chance of the first half came from a fast break after a tidy move Toni Kroos really should have put Hamit Altintop in on goal, the man with the best cheekbones in football was furious with the young German when the shot sailed over the bar.

Very few clear cut chances in the first half, Bayern’s tactics limited Hamburg’s space Piotr Trochowski touches could have been counted on one hand, the most excitement was when Franck Rost had to come off after a Schweinsteiger challenge, Czech Jaroslav Drobny took his place in net just before the Half Time whistle.

Louis van Gaal must have had a stern word for his team at the interval as they came out in the Second Half was a full tank of gas, closing the ball down all over the pitch and not giving Hamburg any space at all, however it is not good enough to only limit your opponents you need to show some attacking ambition.

Glimpses of Thomas Müller’s talents and the driving runs of Schweinsteiger at times breathed life into the Bayern attack but it was ineffective as a Wayne Rooney apology and Hamburg had enough to resist the attacks.

Substitutions were made and Armin Veh choose to freshen up the front line, Mladen Petric and Maxim Choupo-Moting replaced Guerrero and van Nistlerooy, it made an instant impact, the more mobile Moting was able to close down the Bayern defence faster, his runs made space for Jonathan Pitroipa to ghost through the centre of Bayern’s defence.

The movement of Petric, Moting and Pitroipa upset a tired fragile Bayern defence and with Trochowski becoming more influential the smart money would have been on a Hamburg goal. Schweinsteiger tried another of his trademark runs but lost the ball cheaply, Petric had dropped into that space, with time and space on the ball he released Pitroipa with a perfectly weighted pass, clear through on goal the Burkina Faso midfielder’s shot beat Butt but couldn’t beat the post, wheeling away to celebrate Pitroipa could only watch his shot crash off the woodwork.

In the end both teams struggled to create many chances, Bayern fans may have questioned why van Gaal didn’t try something else, the like for like change Gómez for Olic didn’t add anything to the game, bringing Olic on for Kroos for the last 15 minutes could have helped Bayern’s cause, van Gaal’s hands were pretty much tied by the lack of options available to him.

Armin Veh will see this as two points dropped, his team played well in patches, with the amount of possession Hamburg had they should have created many more chances, and that’s what will worry Veh the most.

 FINAL SCORE: Hamburg 0 Bayern Munich 0

Hamburg v Bayern Munich – Tactical Extra

The Bundesliga got off to a fantastic start last night, Steve McLaren was only minutes away from an impressive result at the Allianz Arena, the first English manager to appear in the Germany top division nearly left Munich with a point, however Bastian Schweinsteiger stole all three points for the title favourites.

Another 6 games today in what is a very exciting first weeks of fixtures Hoffenheim take on Werder Bremen and Raul and the rest of his Schalke team mates travel to Hamburg to take on Ruud van Nistlerooy and co.

Here at gibfootballshow times is short, so instead of writing a full Bundesliga preview, here are links to two of the best previews that can be found anywhere.

Bundesbag previews all the teams in his two part feature for the Futbol Fairground website, there is also a podcast which you can download, a really good review, I especially like the club merchandise pictures depicting each team, I will be tuning into the podcast myself today, so go to their site and have a listen.

The wonderful guys at World Football Columns give you a very indepth preview of their thoughts for the coming Bundesliga season, definitely worth a read if you want the low down before the kick-offs today.

I hope you enjoy the two previews I have put the links up for, and more importantly you tune in and enjoy the football, my tips for the season have to be Bayern Munich, they are too strong a team for anyone to cause them trouble over the course of the season, Werder, Wolfsburg and Schalke to complete the top four.

Auf wiedersehen

As someone put it today on Twitter, I am starting my own football revolution, first their was this website, then I brought you my Podcasts, so what’s next I hear you ask, well…….

gibfootballforum

Yes that’s right I have launched a sister site to this, a forum where people can go and make their own points, start conversations, teach each other about players and teams we might not be aware of.

There used to be a group of us on a Pro Evo forum that had indepth conversations about football the in’s and out’s of the beautiful game so I wanted to create a place where this could happen again, so please go to the forum, sign up and start the conversation.

I hope to see a few of you there.

This weekend sees the climax of League One and League Two in England, the Bundesliga, Portugal’s SuperLiga, Scotland’s SPL and of course the English Premier League.

LEAGUE ONE

I’ll start with Saturday’s events, 5 teams in England are all fighting for promotion to the Championship; Leeds, Millwall, Swindon, Charlton and Hudderfield can all still mathematically make the leap to 2nd place.
Leeds have it all in their hands 9th place Bristol Rovers travel to Elland Road for what is expected to be a capacity Elland Road all eager to see their team make the jump finally out of League One, however this is a team made up of mostly lower league players, and how many have played in front of 45,000 people all baying for blood, the ocassion could be too much, or someone could become a hero.

Millwall v Swindon is a winner (maybe) takes it all situation, a win for either side along with a Leeds draw will give the victor passage to the Championship, Millwall’s 16 wins at home would make them favourites for this match, but Swindon can’t be ruled out.

Charlton travel to Oldham knowing that a victory along with a Leeds defeat and of course a draw between Swindon and Millwall would see them promoted, it is a lot to ask for but crazier things have happened in football, an even crazier situation would be a Leeds and Charlton defeat a draw at The New Den and Huddersfield go to Exeter and win, which against all odds would see them come from nowhere to get promoted, and what a story that would be.

Also in League One Tranmere visit relegated Stockport knowing a win could be enough to keep them in the division, Exeter, Hartlepool and Gillingham hover above the dangerzone looking down, Exeter have that difficult game against Huddersfield, Hartlepool travel to Brentford who have nothing to play for, knowing a win for the ‘pool would keep them up, Gillingham travel to relegated Wycombe and a point should be enough to ensure their safety.

So a very exciting day for League One fans with 9 teams all waiting on their fate.

LEAGUE TWO

 
Loads of teams with things to play for, gonna try to break it down.

6 teams playing for 2 playoff spots:
Morecambe v Aldershot
Darlington v Dag & Red
Northampton v Bury
Port Vale v Shrewsbury
Chesterfield v Bournemouth

Wins for Morecambe or Dag & Red would secure their playoff status even a point for Morecambe should be enough, however a slip up could give 1 or even 2 of the other 4 a chance to steal a playoff berth at the death, Northampton v Bury is another win takes all situation, Port Vale have a great chance to win at Shrewsbury, Chesterfield have a tough home game against Bournemouth, it’s all to play for though and a single goal could make all the difference.

At the bottom it is all to play for, 3 teams fighting for survival and it is still all to play for, Cheltenham, Barnet and Grimsby know that Non-League football could be their destination depending on how the results play out.

If Cheltenham draw at home to Accrington Stanley then they are safe,  however if 13th place Accrington can win, it means Cheltenham could be in danger, Barnet are at home to Rochdale: although already promoted, Rochdale could still come 2nd and places do mean more money, Grimsby travel to 14th Burton Albion knowing anything but a win and they are relegated, but a win would put pressure on the other two teams, could be a nail biting finish.

SPL

 
The bottom half of the SPL is in action today and all eyes will be on Rugby Park what a finish we have, Falkirk travel to Kilmarnock in what is a relegation dog-fight, Falkirk sit bottom of the table on 30 points but know if they can beat Kilmarnock they would leap frog above Jim Jeffries side and survive for another season in the SPL.
Relegation would be a disaster for Kilmarnock, reports of losses up to £1.5 million if they go down could cripple a team like Killie, which would be sad for Scottish football, Killie have it in their own hands though, avoid defeat and they could save their club.

Aberdeen travel to St-Mirren and St Johnstone host Hamilton but they have nothing to play for and the Aberdeen players will be happy to end what has been a poor season for them, St Johnstone and Hamilton will celebrate what has been a successful season for both clubs and another year in the SPL beckons.

BUNDESLIGA

 
The Final day of Germany’s Bundesliga kicks off at 14:30 today and it would take a miracle for Bayern Munich not to win the Championship, Schalke travel to Mainz knowing they have to do their job and pick up 3 points, but already Relegated Hertha BSC host Bayern Munich and for Schalke to lift the Title, Hertha need to collect all 3 points, Bayern will be hoping to complete part one of a possible Treble with the DFB Pokal Cup and Champions League final still to come.

Bayer Leverkusen or Borussia Dortmund could cap off wonderful seasons if they can pip Werder Bremen for the last Champions League place, both have already guarenteed Europa League football next season, the Champions League is where all teams want to be though.
Leverkusen travel to Monchengladbach who are save from relegation and nothing to really play for, Dortmund travel to Freiburg who are also safe, Werder Bremen host Hamburg who are trying to steal the Europa League place from Stuttgart so the pressure will be on the team from Bremen, Dortmund need Bremen to lose, however for Leverkusen a draw could be enough.
Stuttgart need a point against Hoffenheim that would secure that Europa League place, visiting Hoffenheim that will not be the easiest place to pick up that point.

At the bottom things are just at tight, Hannover, Bochum and Nuremberg can all still go down, Hannover are on 30 points and 2 points ahead of Bochum and Nuremberg, 1 will stay up, 1 will go down and 1 will have to play in the relegation playoffs, Nuremberg host FC Koln, and then in Bochum the biggest game of the day as they host Hannover, I am amazed how many times the fixture list brings up great fixtures like this.

Should be an exciting day in Germany.

This morning I woke up with a smile on my face, for the first time in 7 years there are no English teams in the Champions League Semi-Finals, this means I don’t have to hear about how the Premier League is the greatest league in the world, far superior to any other league etc, Alex Ferguson blaming those “typical germans” for getting Rafael sent off, when it was Ribery a Frenchman and van Bommel a Dutchman who had approached the referee

Teams from Germany, Spain, Italy and France make up the 4 left in the competition, by English media standards surely this means now these 4 leagues are all better than the Premier League, of course it doesn’t, it is simply a great advert to how global the game of football has become. Personally I do enjoy the Premier League, but also in the same I Love La Liga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga, I just love football, and will watch any league available, of course in all these leagues, you will get games that bore you to death on the other hand games that will blow you away, there are people that I speak to on a regular basis who just decide that they don’t like a league and will never ever change their opinion of it, no matter what.

This type of opinion really gets to me, why be so narrow-minded, given the choice of watching Wigan v Burnley or Bayern Munich v Stuttgart, to me it would be the German match every time, and sometimes it could turn out to be a poor 1-1 draw or it could be a cracker, the same with every game you sit down to watch, I love watching top European football no matter what league or country it is from, this allows me to form opinions of players based over league, cup and international matches, not just 2 or 3 Champions League games against English opposition and then form a limited opinion.

The opinion that the Premier League is the greatest league in the world, is one that English people love to spout off about, 1 point I always make is, “What players at the peak of their game have moved to the Premier League?” and “How English is the Premier League?”

From last year’s Champions League semi-finals 3 of the teams were English but only 8 different English players started in both Legs, not a great amount from 3 of the top teams in England’s top Division.

9 French players played, 7 Spanish, 3 Brazilian, 3 Ivoirians and 2 Argentineans, in total 21 different nationalities were represented, and who was in charge of these so called “English teams” a Scotsman, a Frenchman and a Dutchman, and only Arsenal were owned by an English company.

Without boring everyone with stats as far as I am aware, most other big leagues have a majority of home based players in their squads have home grown coaches and are owned by men or companies from their own country, this so call domination of the European game by “English” teams to me is very diluted, and there are very little English things remaining of these teams, except where they play.

I don’t want this post to seem like an attack of the English game, I watch the Premiership every week and there are some fantastic players playing for some great teams, however I could never limit myself to English or even British football, I’d be missing out on some fantastic players, La Liga with Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo, Higuain and David Villa, Bundesliga with Franck Ribery, Robben, Toni Kroos, Torsten Frings, Stefan Kiessling, Serie A with Sneijder, Milito, Pato, Ronaldinho, Totti, and Cavani, Ligue 1 with Gourcuff, Chamakh, Bastos, Lisandro, Gervinho, Jelen I could go on and on.

People often ask being Scottish why do I bother with the World Cup, and all the players mentioned above are why, I have long come to terms with the fact that Scotland don’t have the players to make it on the International or Club stage, that does not however make my want to watch football any less, because there are hundreds of wonderful players worldwide that make it a joy to watch the beautiful game.