BL, MD18: FC Hansa Rostock 1 - 2 FC Bayern München

[Trim]

I thought 'game over' after the 2-0 goal, but it wasn't the case. Rostock made it difficult for us in the first 20 minutes of the second half after scoring the 2-1 goal, they've put pressure on us, and that's a sign of what we can expect in the rest of the campaign, we have to be prepared.

It's a deserved win, even though it's was not exactly a performance as we always like to see from FCB.
However, 3 points is what counts, and we took them all.

Agreed with Miguel, Hitzfeld should have brought Ottl earlier for midfield stability.

You can easy notice Bayern isn't the same without Ribéry. He shouldn't have been subbed off so early, however, I know that Hitzfeld has Bremen match in mind, and that justifies his decision to take him off. His goal today, 5th of the season.

Toni didn't do bad either, scored that goal and had a couple more chances.

Sosa was really good in the first half, however, he wasn't noticed much in the second half. Didn't like Hamit today, I'm not sure if he's good enough to play in the wing.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Bayern looked to be cruising in Friday’s Bundesliga restart fixture, but strugglers Hansa made a real fight of it in the proverbial game of two halves.

Franck Ribery silenced the majority of the 29,000 capacity crowd at the DKB Arena on the blustery Baltic coast with the opening goal after just 11 minutes, ushering in an uninterrupted spell of Bayern dominance crowned by Luca Toni’s tenth of the season two minutes from the interval.

Rostock captain Enrico Kern pulled one back seven minutes after half-time as the sides swapped roles in a frantic second period, but the leaders held on for the three points and have laid down the gauntlet to rivals Bremen and the pursuing pack.

Demichelis recalled

Ottmar Hitzfeld made a single change to the side which beat Wuppertal 5-2 in the Cup last Tuesday, restoring Argentine enforcer Martin Demichelis at centre-half alongside Lucio in place of midweek goalscorer Daniel van Buyten.

That meant a first Bundesliga start in ten months for France star Willy Sagnol, and another outing in wide midfield ahead of the right-back for Jose Ernesto Sosa, with Hamit Altintop consigned to the bench and Bastian Schweinsteiger serving a one-match ban.

Elsewhere, Ribery and Philipp Lahm lined up on the left with Ze Roberto and Mark van Bommel in the centre, behind the usual front two of Toni and Miroslav Klose.

One-sided first half

Struggling Hansa made a bright enough start, but Toni and Ze had already loosed off warning shots at keeper Stefan Wächter’s goal before Ze exchanged passes with Klose on the left edge of the box and hared to the byline, delivering an inviting centre for the unmarked Ribery to side-foot home.

With Hansa on the ropes, Klose squandered two glorious chances to double the advantage, electing to pass when slipping the ball past Wächter looked the obvious solution, before failing to beat the keeper with an angled drive.

The visitors operated a containment policy for a long spell after that, before Toni’s drive from outside the box brought a decent stop from Wächter on the half-hour.

Luca’s tenth of term

Rostock finally directed an effort at the target on 33 minutes, although Oliver Kahn had little difficulty plucking Christian Rahn’s looping header from under the bar, and Bayern now picked up the tempo again as Lucio blasted goalwards and Ribery’s shot from Van Bommel’s pass was somehow scrambled clear.

But the Reds were not to be denied for long, and Toni thumped home with his left foot to make it 2-0 on 43 minutes after Demichelis’ run from Van Bommel’s free-kick drew the Italian’s marker, Brazilian centre-back Orestes.

Hansa fightback

Ribery came close in the last move of the first period, but the France superstar failed to appear for the second half with a tweaked hamstring and was replaced by Altintop, with Sosa switching to the left.

The line-up change seemed to throw Bayern out of their stride, and in any case Hansa were a team transformed after the interval, driven on by Rahn’s promptings and the physical presence of towering striker Viktor Agali.

The Reds suddenly looked vulnerable, and Hansa skipper Enrico Kern duly pulled one back on 52 minutes. Kahn initially beat out the striker’s thumping drive, but Rahn returned the loose ball against the bar and Kern stroked into the empty net.

Frantic finish

Young midfielder Fin Bartels was only denied on the hour by Ze’s desperate intervention and Marc Stein’s long throw into the box almost left Gledson with a sight of goal, prompting a concerned Hitzfeld to withdraw Klose for holding midfielder Andi Ottl a quarter of an hour from the end.

The switch allowed the league leaders to draw Hansa’s sting, Toni scooping over the bar with only Wächter to beat and directing a header narrowly wide as the Reds restored parity towards the end.

Hansa Rostock - Bayern Munich 1-2 (H-T: 0-2)

Hansa Rostock: Wächter - Langen, Gledson, Orestes, Stein - Rathgeb, Bartels, Yelen (Dorn 83), Rahn - Kern, Agali (Engel 88)

Bayern Munich: Kahn - Sagnol, Lucio, Demichelis, Lahm – Sosa, van Bommel, Zé Roberto, Ribery (Altintop 46) – Klose (Ottl 77), Toni

Substitutes: Dreher, Van Buyten, Lell, Kroos, Schlaudraff

Referee: Florian Meyer (Burgdorf)

Spectators: 29,000 (capacity)

Goals: 0-1 Ribery (11), 0-2 Toni (43), 1-2 Kern (52)

Yellow Cards: Agali, Stein, Rahn / Van Bommel, Sagnol

[Oliver_Kahn]

Agreed, Ribery shouldn't have been subbed off so early, though no one expected that kind of reaction from Rostock, at least I wasn't.

Hamit was really poor today, but no one can blame him for not working nor running, he tried, just wasn't his day I guess.

[Trim]

Oh shite, Ribéry got subtituted off because of an injury.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Trim

Oh shite, Ribéry got subtituted off because of an injury.

Didn't the read the report.

That's really shit news, this team doesn't function properly without Ribery, can't say we're dependent on him, but it's not very far from that

[Trim]

The goals:

[kaiserzizu]

We need another creative player to help Ribery out. Schweinsteiger hasn't delivered, Altintop has lost his beginning of the season form and Sosa hasn't been much of a revelation. Unless Schlaudraff gets some minutes in that position, I think Ottmar should just start Kroos. Why?

Well, we know he has the potential and has displayed abilities beyond his age. I think he can handle the preasure of playing at this level and by playing him consistently he'll just become better and better. And who knows, he might even do all those things we rely on Ribery to do. Lots of clubs are playing their young for significant stretches of matches. Whats the worst that can happen? If he doesn't have an impact its as if nothing changed and if plays well and helps the team we'll be much better off than we have been for most of the season.

[Poldi]

I was a few days away but I watched yesterdays match, result is ok, but second half was really hard... I am happy because of Sosa and Sagnol, they played whole match yeah, give more chanses to Schlaudraff , Sosa, Kroos and Podolski. Kroos can be creative player like Ribery, but he nead more time on the field!

[Trim]

Hansa Rostock pushed Bayern all the way in Friday evening’s Bundesliga restart fixture, but Ottmar Hitzfeld declared himself “very pleased” after his men came away with a 2-1 victory. “We’ve taken the three points, which is what we came here for,“ the head coach remarked, although he was not entirely satisfied with his team. “We showed two sides to our character. I’m happy with our fighting spirit but not with the football we played.“ Influential midfielder Mark van Bommel agreed: “We were totally in control before half-time, but we only muddled through the second half.“

Reaction to Hansa Rostock v Bayern:

Ottmar Hitzfeld: “I’m very pleased. We’ve taken the three points, which is what we came here for. It would have been a lot easier for us if we hadn’t conceded the early goal after half-time. That made us a little nervous. Rostock were suddenly transformed, but we stopped playing football and just started hitting long balls. I’m happy with our fighting spirit but not with the football we played. We showed two sides to our character today: we played very well in the first half and should have been further ahead, but we lost our way after they pulled one back and our opponents grew in stature, although we prevented them creating anything clear-cut.“

Mark van Bommel: “We could have made life a lot easier for ourselves. Rostock’s goal gave them a real boost. We were totally in control before half-time, but we only muddled through the second half.“

Willy Sagnol: “Playing good football was difficult on that pitch. But we’ve come away with the three points and that’s what counts. We should really have been three or four up at half-time.“

Frank Pagelsdorf (Rostock coach): “We were lucky not to be three or four down at half-time, but I have to give my team great credit for coming back from two down and playing some good football in the second half, which isn’t necessarily easy on this pitch. It’s a shame we weren’t rewarded for our second half display.“

Enrico Kern (Rostock): “After the way we came back at them in the second half and made a fight of it, you can’t say we’ve started badly. The second half has given us plenty to build on. Bayern cleverly protected their lead and they’ve gone home with the points.“

Christian Rahn (Rostock): “At half-time, we said to ourselves we needed to go back out and give it everything in front of a capacity crowd. We pulled one back but it wasn’t to be. We need to build on the positives from the game. This is a tremendous group of players, and we’ll definitely stay up.“

[Vargas_4]

Originally Posted by kaiserzizu

We need another creative player to help Ribery out. Schweinsteiger hasn't delivered, Altintop has lost his beginning of the season form and Sosa hasn't been much of a revelation. Unless Schlaudraff gets some minutes in that position, I think Ottmar should just start Kroos. Why?

Well, we know he has the potential and has displayed abilities beyond his age. I think he can handle the preasure of playing at this level and by playing him consistently he'll just become better and better. And who knows, he might even do all those things we rely on Ribery to do. Lots of clubs are playing their young for significant stretches of matches. Whats the worst that can happen? If he doesn't have an impact its as if nothing changed and if plays well and helps the team we'll be much better off than we have been for most of the season.

I dunno mate.

I prefer the idea of Schlaudraff playing in Ribery's slot and give him a chance.

I really like Kroos but i don't want us to use him that much cause i'm afraid that he'll get cocky and start demanding shit, you know, getting ahead of himself.

By the way, welcome to Talksoccer. Stick around.

[Vargas_4]

By the way, we did win but did have trouble managing in the end.

The Hansa Rostock goal was conceded taking the fact that there weren't any defenders around. Only poor ZeRo who didn't (i dunno why) pressure the guy and he just took the shot.

We can't permit those lack of concentration during games. If it where against a tougher opponent, we could have gotten in bigger trouble.

I also agree on Ottl's late intro into the game. It should have been sooner.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by kaiserzizu

We need another creative player to help Ribery out. Schweinsteiger hasn't delivered, Altintop has lost his beginning of the season form and Sosa hasn't been much of a revelation. Unless Schlaudraff gets some minutes in that position, I think Ottmar should just start Kroos. Why?

Well, we know he has the potential and has displayed abilities beyond his age. I think he can handle the preasure of playing at this level and by playing him consistently he'll just become better and better. And who knows, he might even do all those things we rely on Ribery to do. Lots of clubs are playing their young for significant stretches of matches. Whats the worst that can happen? If he doesn't have an impact its as if nothing changed and if plays well and helps the team we'll be much better off than we have been for most of the season.

It's IMO too soon for Kroos, not that he isn't talented enough, but we have a lot of options for the winger position and I'd start Schlaudraff ahead of Kroos, at least for now.

Kroos had his change against Stuttgart, was poor; Was given another chance at Bielefeld, didn't really impress.

I'd rather we keep Sosa/Hamit/Schlaudraff rotating

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Oliver_Kahn

It's IMO too soon for Kroos, not that he isn't talented enough, but we have a lot of options for the winger position and I'd start Schlaudraff ahead of Kroos, at least for now.

Kroos had his change against Stuttgart, was poor; Was given another chance at Bielefeld, didn't really impress.

I'd rather we keep Sosa/Hamit/Schlaudraff rotating

Actually i just watched that game vs Stuttgart again...
I have all games from Bayern from fcb.tv of this season. Nice DVD :P

And he was by far one of the better players there. hit the post. had one big chance and created two chances for luca toni. The loss in Stuttgart was for a big deal our defense's fault espescially Lell who was REALLY poor in that game and also Hamit as DM a total disaster.

Back to Kroos. He is 18 yes, but look at Barca. dos Santos and Bojan play there. Christiano Ronaldo played at ManU at that age regularly same for Fabregas at Arsenal.
I'm really tired of that too soon thing. They also said the same about Poldi and now it's too late. I clearly remember what Scholli said about Kroos in an interview. "The kid just has to play. He is incredibly talented, screw the age, I would let him play every game."

[Dragoen]

I also think Kroos should be put in the starting Lineup soon otherwise the same thing will happen to him that did with Poldi he will be stoped in his development. But I think Hitzfeld should wait with this until the game afterthe Match against Bremen.^^
I would like too see Schweinsteiger and Altintop as DM and vanBommel and Ottl as wingers against Bremen because that way we will win 5:0.


I also watched the Rostock game and it gave me hope that we might beat you next week. You had three good chances and made twogoals from it but that was it. Most of the time Rostock was attacking and you were defending. If you try this against Bremen you will most likely loose because if you defend too much against Bremen you might get overrun. Espacially the 1:2 by Kern there was no defender even near Kern he was left alone completly. Kahn did the best he could but if the defenders fail so bad he can't do anything against it.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by Dragoen

I also think Kroos should be put in the starting Lineup soon otherwise the same thing will happen to him that did with Poldi he will be stoped in his development. But I think Hitzfeld should wait with this until the game afterthe Match against Bremen.^^
I would like too see Schweinsteiger and Altintop as DM and vanBommel and Ottl as win