The Daily Bee: Lothar Matthäus has Tough Words for BVB

Sometimes, Lothar Matthäus can be a bit of a loudmouth, but every so often he really hits the nail on the head. He did it once again in his latest column for Sky, where he laid down some pretty harsh truths about BVB. I’d recommend reading the full article on the link above.

If you’re eliminated without a word from teams in all cup competitions and sometimes make a fool of yourself, then you have to say that that’s not satisfactory, it’s cruel. And when I then read excuses aimed at Bayern paying so much more salary, I would like to know how much more salary Dortmund pays compared to Ajax, Glasgow Rangers or FC St. Pauli.

BVB do indeed suffer from a financial disadvantage against Bayern Munich, but it’s also not like the club is dirt poor either. The front office has conducted no shortage of wasteful transfers over the last few years, and has allocated resources pretty poorly: spending highly in certain areas (Malen) while underspending in others (defensive midfield).

Matthäus also suggests that it might be time for Marco Reus and Mats Hummels to move on for the club, as they’re both past their prime and are receiving very high wages. While I don’t think that Reus and Hummels are “done” as players — Reus average almost one goal or assist per game — but they aren’t enough to completely build the squad around, and their play probably doesn’t justify their wages anymore.

This all goes into the same theme that we’ve been writing about recently, that BVB are in desperate need of a total rebuild. Reus and Hummels can stick around for a bit longer, and to be honest it’s not like we can sell them for much anyway, but the core of the squad will need new, younger blood. The Süle and (hopefully) Schlotterbeck transfers would be a good start, but there’s still much further to go.

Man City Break Through Against Atletico

Manchester City and Pep Guardiola have done what their Manchester rivals couldn’t: they beat Atletico Madrid. Atletico bent but didn’t break for the longest time against an onslaught of attacks, but eventually the blues broke through with a goal from Kevin de Bruyne:

Footy Scran of the Day

We’ve got an emerging heavyweight in FSOTD. Today’s edition features Norway for the third day in a row. They’ve already made us depressed with sausage water and made us gag with a burger with strawberry jam, Let’s see if they can offer some redemption:

Yes! Finally! Something that sounds appetizing! This is the type of sandwich that would be a limited-time gimmick menu item at a Sonic or something. What’s great about it is that they didn’t fucking ruin it with some strawberry jam or grape yogurt or some other bullshit. Meat, carb, savory sauce. That’s your recipe for success, folks.

What I find most notable about the waffle dog, though, is that it’s actually cheaper than the sausage water. Can somebody please explain that to me?