Topic: Ralf Rangnick and RB Leipzig.

[kaz1983]

The timeline:

• 2005: Red Bull acquire Jaguar Racing.
• 2005: Red Bull acquire SV Austria Salzburg.
• 2006: Red Bull acquire Metro Stars
• 2006: 1899 Hoffenheim sign Ralf Rangnick as manager
• 2009: Red Bull acquire SSV Markranstädt, they change the name to RB Leipzig.
• 2011: 1899 Hoffenheim and Ralf Rangnick part company.
• 2012: Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzip sign Ralf Rangnick as Director of Football.
• 2012: Red Bull Salzburg sign Roger Schmidt as manager.

After reading about Ralf Rangnick it got me thinking about his footballing philosophy. The same philosophy that has been used successfully, from 1899 Hoffenheim to Schalke 04 and now to RB Leipzig via Red Bull Salazburg. Rangnick is the man behind Hoffenheim's rise from nowhere to sitting midtable in Bundesliga. He also is responsible for uncovering Roger Schmidt from the second tier of German Football, from nowhere. Rangnick has been a manager and a technical director, meet Valeriy Lobanovsky and had a chat about football, he even made his debut as a footballer 34 years ago for Southwick..... but yeah, if your interested there are more links below on him:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/aug/26/bundesligafootball
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/champions-league/8470605/Schalke-v-Manchester-United-how-Ralf-Rangnick-the-fussball-professor-found-a-winning-formula.html
http://www.onceametro.com/2015/10/16/9349831/ralfball-gegenpressing-new-york-red-bulls-mls-jesse-marsch-ralf-rangnick-rb-leipzig-salzburg
http://www.onceametro.com/2015/10/19/9548103/ralfball-tactics-edition-the-formation-jesse-marsch-ali-curtis-new-york-red-bulls-ralf-rangnick
https://tomkinstimes.com/2011/01/ralf-rangnick-next-liverpool-manager/

Rangnick plays not with a conventional with a traditional #10 (like Klopp) but more with two forwards who both drop deep or drift out wide depending on the situation and both wide attacking players drifting around, linking up with the central midfielders and feeding the forwards. His attacking players are powerful on the counter as well as needle players (players who are deliberately deployed to keep the ball in tight spaces) – a very dangerous combination. Rangnick looks to have two “complete” forwards who are capable of almost anything on the pitch; combination play, finishing, or tactically intelligent movements.

Rangnick's Red Bull Salazburg play a very similar type of "heavy metal football", his version of it. This fellow has seen both first-hand:

http://www.dw.com/en/klopps-close-ally-powering-red-bull-for-europa-league-fight/a-17511071

"Our football is relentless," said Red Bull Salzburg's Oliver Bartlett.

The London-born Australian was one of the behind-the-scenes experts who helped mastermind Borussia Dortmund's recovery from near financial oblivion almost a decade ago. He was head-hunted by Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc after a recommendation from Sebastian Kehl whilst Bartlett was on national team duty at the DFB.

Bartlett is now at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Anyways, here is some more infomation on Red Bull Salazbug's pressing:

https://vimeo.com/89108219
http://spielverlagerung.com/2014/04/15/red-bull-salzburg-under-roger-schmidt-2014/
http://thenewlibero.blogspot.com/2014/03/have-red-bull-salzburg-reinvented-4-2-4.html

On a side note Rangnick currently has an interesting project going on with RB Leipzig. With the team sitting top of the second tier in Germany and looking likely  - hopefully - of promotion, that along with the sort of financial backing Red Bull continue to invest into Leipzig - they have already invested €100 million euros into them and won't have FFP rules to worry about not being in Europe but that is their goal you would think.... if your interested to know more:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/06/rb-leipzig-sending-shockwaves-through-german-football
http://bundesligafanatic.com/defence-of-red-bull-the-leipzig-football-project/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotion_to_the_Bundesliga

 

[King_doggerel]

Still annoyed by Rangnick's Schalke against the Mancs in the CL semi a few years back.

Must have been the most one sided semi in recent years. Basically gave the Mancs a bye to the final.

[CornerFlag]

Fuck RB Leipzig, bought themselves up the leagues and fucked over the 51% ownership model.

[child-in-time]

Fucking despise them.

[afc tukrish]

Possible to argue that Schmidt is too wed to his principles without the players to support it at Leverkusen this year as well...

[CornerFlag]

The worst thing with RB Leipzig is it's a shitstain in a city that is genuinely (along with Liverpool and Geneva) the most beautiful I've been to.  Here's what I'm on about if anyone's wondering.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/06/rb-leipzig-sending-shockwaves-through-german-football

Why RB Leipzig are sending shockwaves through German football

The Red Bull-backed team's rapid rise up the leagues is a worry for the established order but far worse is the threat to the game's structure and its cherished membership model

Only 30 fans had made the 500km journey from Burghausen in deepest Bavaria, but they had rehearsed their own choreography. Just before kick-off, supporters of the bottom-placed club in the German third division held up pieces of cardboard that spelled out 50+1 muss bleiben ("50+1 must stay"), and then, after they'd flipped them over: Red Bull vertreiben ("Red Bull go away").

The 7,000 home fans could manage only a few half-hearted boos in response. Increasingly, they are used to this kind of reception: their club, RB Leipzig, is fast on the way to becoming the most controversial club in the country. To their supporters, they are a rare beacon of hope in the bleak landscape of east German football. But their opponents fear the team's success could unravel the foundation of the Bundesliga's recent successes.

RB Leipzig used to be a fifth-division team called SSV Markranstädt that not many had heard of even in Saxony – until 2009, when the Austrian energy drink manufacturer Red Bull bought the club's license and changed the team's name, crest and kit.

In 2010 RB moved to the 44,300-seater stadium in the centre of Leipzig, which had been built for the 2006 World Cup but wasn't in regular use: Lokomotive Leipzig, the successor of the club who won the very first title in German football in 1903, are stuck in the fourth division, while local rivals Sachsen Leipzig were dissolved in 2011.

Two years later, the former Schalke coach, Ralf Rangnick, was installed as sporting director and was handed a transfer kitty of €100m. RB Leipzig has been gradually climbing up the leagues since. They are currently second in the third division and primed for promotion.

In a rare interview in 2011, Dietrich Mateschitz, the notoriously media-shy owner of Red Bull, said: "We are developing RB Leipzig with the aim of playing in the Bundesliga in three to five years. We also want to get into the Champions League and be successful there, which is something you can only achieve with a club that plays in one of the top leagues."

Given Red Bull's financial acumen – their annual turnover exceeded the €5 billion mark for the first time last year, a third of which they are expected to invest back into marketing – that kind of statement should have touched a few nerves not just in Burghausen, but also in Munich and Dortmund.

But Germans fans don't just worry that RB Leipzig could compete with their teams for the league title in 2020. They fear that the rise of this club could undermine the very structures that have given German club football such a good name in recent years.

The so-called "50+1" rule in the statutes of the German league association (DFL) guarantees that no investor can gain majority voting rights in a club registered as a stock company, thus giving members a crucial veto over issues such a ticket prices.

RB Leipzig doesn't break the letter of the 50+1 rule – it does have a membership scheme, and it's not registered as a stock company anyway. But it does break the spirit: becoming an RB Leipzig member will set you back €800 a year, on top of a €100 first-time registration fee (for comparison, being a member of Bayern Munich costs €60 per season). On top of that, RB Leipzig reserve the right to reject any application without justification.

As a result, more than four years into the club history, RB Leipzig have only 11 members – most of them employees of Red Bull (Bayern, for comparison, has 224,000). As the journalist Christoph Biermann wrote in a recent edition of 11 Freunde magazine: "It's hard to imagine a more blatant way in which RB Leipzig could break the 50+1 rule."

Some fans dismiss such complaints as hypocrisy. They point out that other Bundesliga clubs already break the 50+1 rule, such as "company clubs" Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, or Hoffenheim, where the billionaire Dietmar Hopp is said to act as a de facto owner without holding an official function. "RB doesn't break with the principles of modern football, it merely exaggerates some of its principles", said Matthias Kiessling, who writes a perceptive blog about the club.

A self-described "tactics geek and pragmatist", Kiessling argues that Red Bull are offering a more permanent kind of investment than anything Saxony has seen since the fall of the wall. Fans of more traditional clubs in the region may express their disgust with the "plastic club", but in private they'll be proud to see an east German team put the frighteners on the traditional clubs from the west.

The much-lauded membership system, Kiessling reckons, only exists pro forma anyway, and workers' participation takes place via different channels now. "If you're a fan and you're not happy with the club hitching up ticket prices, you raise your voice on social media these days, not in the members' meetings."

Yet if you look more closely at how RB Leipzig is run, it's hard not to conclude that the club takes the commercialisation of football to a new level – not just in Germany, but Europe-wide. Other German clubs may be propped up by big business, but there is usually a geographical link between the companies and the region where the club is based: Volkswagen's offices are in Wolfsburg, software giant SAP is based in the next town down the road from Hoffenheim. Red Bull are based in Fischl, Austria, and owner Mateschitz has yet to attend a Leipzig match in person.

In the past, investors used to focus on propping up one club, but RB Leipzig is part of a global portfolio with clubs in Salzburg, New York, São Paulo and Sogakope, Ghana, all playing in the same red-and-white kit. (Rangnick acts as sporting director for both Salzburg and Leipzig, and one wonders what will happen when two Red Bull clubs face each other in the Champions League).

When Red Bull bought SSV Markranstädt in 2009, their bid to rename the club "Red Bull Leipzig" was turned down by the league – but Rasenballsport Leipzig, meaning "lawn ball sports", was waved through. In their merchandising, the club refer to themselves as Die roten Bullen, so that even the team's nickname already advertises the product. It's as if Wolfsburg were known as "The Beetles".

In brand management speak, this is known as "content marketing": rather than just pay to have their logo on a BMX cyclist's helmet, Red Bull organise the race. Rather than just sponsor Felix Baumgartner's parachute, they organise his spectacular skydive from space. Rather than sponsor a successful team, they help a team climb from the lower leagues into the Champions League and become part of the story.

Up until now, the league association has largely turned a blind eye to developments in Leipzig. But there are growing signs that other clubs could try to block the club's licence if they get promoted at the end of the season.

Bernd-Georg Spies, vice-president of FC St Pauli, one of Leipzig's potential opponents next season, told the Guardian: "When a new club is promoted from the third division, it's only right that the German football league association examines closely whether that club complies with the letter and spirit of its jurisdiction. St Pauli would encourage the football league association to look closely at clubs who actively hinder their fans from becoming members with a right to vote."

RB Leipzig have until mid-March to hand in their licence application. Should the league association reject it, or tighten the 50+1 rule altogether, the soft-drink giant could take the matter to court. Either way, the fundamental values of German football will be put to the test.

[kaz1983]

IN DEFENCE OF RED BULL: THE LEIPZIG FOOTBALL PROJECT

It was just the latest article in a campaign by 11Freunde to denounce the evil doings of the Austrian company. But surprisingly, this time there was a backlash, and in this month’s issue, 11Freunde printed in the “Gästeblock” column responses by readers that in many ways defended the investments by Red Bull in the football infrastructure of Leipzig.

One reader responded to the article by writing: “RB Leipzig is fundamental to improve the living quality of the city of Leipzig! Leipzig has a population of 500,000 people and deserves professional football.” Furthermore, he stated that RB Leipzig unlike the other two clubs is a family-friendly project unlike the other two Leipzig clubs (Lokomotiv and SG Sachsen Leipzig), which are both on the verge of bankruptcy: “I can’t visit home games of FC Lok with my son, what happens in the stands there is in many ways degrading, and many of the ultras have even created a dangerous atmosphere.” He finishes “the only thing is your polemic article.”

Leipzig: a football wasteland

Indeed, the city of Leipzig has been without professional football since the relegation of VfB Leipzig (which was known as Lokomotiv Leipzig in the GDR and has since returned to this name) in 1998 from the 2. Bundesliga to the Regionalliga. Leipzig’s other team, Chemie, briefly competed in the Germany’s third tier as Sachsen Leipzig after the fall of the wall, and like Lokomotiv plays in Germany’s lower tiers far away from professional football.

The fan scene of both clubs has also been saturated with violent types, which in many cases have deep-rooted connections to Germany’s right wing parties such as the NPD. Violence between the two clubs has also been an issue and alienated the club from many mainstream fans such as the above-mentioned writer to 11Freunde.

The argument that Red Bull’s engagement in Leipzig will lead to destruction is also weak. For example, what is the difference between Red Bull and Bayer Leverkusen (Bayer AG), VfL Wolfsburg (Volkswagen)? On the other hand, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim is another story, since although Dietmar Hopp officially only holds 49% of the shares, it is effectively owned and dependent on him as the main benefactor.

The Bundesliga: commerce is everywhere

In Munich, 1860 has sold 49% of its shares to the Jordanian investor Hassan Ismaik, and Bayern Munich has recently completed a deal in which it sold about 8% of its shares to the insurance company Allianz. Germany’s largest club also has similar deals with Audi, and Adidas, and altogether the club has sold about 25% of its shares to major corporations, who have become a major influence in the decision making process of the club, especially now that the long-standing club leader Uli Hoeness is off to jail.

In the very west of the country, Schalke 04 has signed a major sponsorship deal with Gazprom, and the company is the major reason that the club can now competes year in and year out for a Champions League spot in the Bundesliga. But of course Gazprom’s investment does not come without the company’s influence and Russian state actors wanting a say in the club’s policies, as even Putin himself has tried to intervene in the daily running of the club.

With all these examples, it seems unlikely that the 50+1 rule would survive when put under scrutiny in front of a European court, and perhaps it shouldn’t. The current system protects the major clubs in Germany and has created a status quo in which the rich become richer and smaller clubs and cities without Bundesliga football cannot break the strangle hold by the big clubs.

The 50+1 rule: a white elephant

As recently as 2011, the DFL softened the 50+1 rule, when Martin Kind, the long-standing chairman of Hannover 96, threatened the DFL with a court case in front of the European court of justice. He argued that individuals should not be barred from investing in their favourite clubs, and that people who invest should have the right to have a larger role in running a club. Threatened with a court case, the DFL budged and changed the rule so that individuals and companies that have been investing in the club for over 20 years would be allowed to become majority owners. However, this was a typical German compromise that extended the status quo.

Now with the possible ascent of RasenBall Leipzig to the Bundesliga 2, the DFL stands to soften the rule even further. The league has no interest to not give the club a licence to compete in the second tier of the Bundesliga, as the governing body is aware that they would not be able to win a court case against Red Bull and the current ownership structures of the league would completely fall apart.

In any case, it is dangerous to brand mark a club like RB Leipzig as the devil of commerce. Without Red Bull, there would be no Bundesliga football for Leipzig, and indeed the club would stand as a nice counter weight to the existing clubs from the former GDR, which have created bad press through fan violence, corruption and bankruptcies. Those who say that RB Leipzig is a typical commerce club should look at the above mentioned examples. The reality is that modern football is deeply rooted to big business, and Red Bull is no different than Allianz, Audi, Adidas, Gazprom, Bayer, Volkswagen, and Dietmar Hopp.

Header courtesy of 11Freunde.com.

http://bundesligafanatic.com/defence-of-red-bull-the-leipzig-football-project/

Why all the hate?

I'm curious because it doesn't seem Red Bull haven't done anything too extreme at Leipzig like they did with Salazburg.... the change of name and crest/colours........... as for it being unfair on the big clubs - I don't thing they are innocent when it comes to sorta money that's in football today.. all the invested interests, Audi and Allianz at Bayern Munich, Gazprom at Schalke, Wolfsburg and Volkswagen... etc

[TheShanklyGates]

Why all the hate? .. I'm curious.

Your argument, or at the least the argument in the article you've posted, is essentially 'oh, some other clubs do it as well so it's okay'. It's all part of the growing monetisation of modern football where clubs see their loyal followers as customers rather than fans. In this case in particular let's not pretend for one second that RB Leipzeg is anything other than an elaborate marketing ploy, much in the way Chelsea are just a rich Russian's vanity project. The 50+1 rule in Germany isn't perfect but it is a major reason why, for example, ticket prices in Germany are largely still at a level that doesn't price the average fan out of going to games. What RB Leipzeg are doing is shitting all over one of the fundamental principles that keeps German football in such rude health.

[kaz1983]

I understand what you mean.

[stoa]

To be honest, I think you're massively overrating Ralf Rangnick while at the same time massively underrating the spending power he has had with his clubs in recent years. In their first season in the 2. Bundesliga Hoffenheim spent more than 18 million Euros on new players. That was way more than the rest of the league combined with loads of clubs having a positive net spend. Of those clubs spending more money on buying players than getting money for selling them only Koblenz had a higher net spend than 1 million euros (2,2 million to be exact). In total players for roughly 37 million Euros were bought that season by all clubs in the league. Half of that was spent by Hoffenheim.

The same can be said for Salzburg to a smaller extent as they seem to have gone for more of a feeder club approach buying younger cheaper players, partly developing them at their academy and then shipping them off either to Leipzig or the highest bidder. They're still able to spend much more money than the other clubs, especially on young talented players they can put in their academy first...

Leipzig have spent 18 million Euros on new players this season. There were only three other teams in the league who spent more than 2 million on new players (Freiburg with 4,9 million while selling players for more than 24 million, Paderborn 2,7 million and Kaiserslautern 2,6 million). The rest spent about 1,5 million or much less on new players. The season before, Leipzig bought players worth 23 million Euros. Only one other team spent more than 2 million on new players (Nürnberg with 3,9 million and again the sold players worth more than 18 million due to being relegated the season before). When they were in the 3. Liga they spent 2,88 million Euros on new players. The other 19 teams in the league together spent a total of about one million on new players that year.

Money is the main reason Hoffenheim, Salzburg and Leipzig are successful.

That said, I'm not denying that Ralf Rangnick is a good manager and I like him as a person. However, to say that he's the reason why those clubs have done so well in recent years when they've been able to massively outspend the opposition on a regular basis is a bit far fetched. Again, I'm not denying that he has done a good job spending that money, but it has to be much easier to do that, when you can afford to take one or two gambles on players when other teams are basically struggling to stay afloat...

And I am also not so sure about Roger Schmidt being uncovered from nowhere. I think Rangnick showed an eye for talent when he got him to Salzburg, but it's not as if Schmidt was sitting in a cellar somewhere waiting for a call. He had done well at Preußen Münster and did a decent job at Paderborn. That's probably the standard of German manager you can get in Austria. I'm not sure anyone could have predicted how things turned out for Schmidt in the end...

[kaz1983]

Money is probably a big reason why those clubs in question moved through the league system so quickly, I won't deny that. To me though I don't see too much of a problem with it, not to the extent that others seem too anyways. I suppose the acid test would be their STAYING power once they reach where they're wanting get to....... but spending money doesn't always = success lets not forget but it sure does help.

I get that as a manager Rangnick isn't world class, maybe he doesn't think that club management is the "be all and end all" I think he admits it himself actually....... anyways to be honest it's his work behind the scenes as a DoF and with the German National Team.... that is most interesting........ the fact that so many managers refer to his work 10 - 15 years ago as being inspiring and somebody they looked to  in their early days of management. Well that's how I see it.

Things like this make me think maybe they are not a German version of Man City:

In August 2015, RB Leipzig donated 50,000 Euros to the City of Leipzig for its work with helping asylum seekers. The club also sold 60 containers from its training center, including sanitary facilities, to the city, in order to serve as accommodation for asylum seekers.

The club had originally invested around 500,000 Euros in the containers. Moreover, the club became patrons of the initiative "Willkommen im Fußball", giving refugee children the opportunity to play football. Staff and players of RB Leipzig collected and donated sporting equipment and private clothes to refugees.

Also sporting director and head coach Ralf Rangnick participated in the donation, with personal concern for the commitment, citing his own background as being a child to refugees. His parents had met in a refugee camp at Glauchau, his father had fled from Königsberg and his mother from Breslau. By initiative of fans, RB Leipzig invited refugees on free admission to watch its home match against SC Paderborn on 11 September 2015.

450 refugees attended the match, they were met and accompanied by 200 fans before the match.

[kaz1983]

Read this.. makes some good points:

http://bundesligafanatic.com/new-series-the-rb-leipzig-watch-the-story-so-far/

[Tomaldinho]

I've been watching RB Leipzig all year for work, and in spite of the enormous outlay they've put forward compared to the other sides in the division, it hasn't been completely plain sailing. Those of us who are hoping that Klopp overhauls the Liverpool squad this summer should take heed of the start to the season that Leipzig had. Despite buying some fantastic players, changing half your first team is always going to mean an adjustment period, and so it proved here.

Oddly from a manager of Rangnick's experience, at the start of the season they were lining up with a cavalier 4-2-4 formation - almost as if they had so much attacking talent to throw on that they would just outscore every opponent. They only looked like living up to their tag as title favourites once they changed to a more sensible 4-2-3-1.

By Christmas it was being treated as a foregone conclusion that they would be winning the title. January's press was split between who they would be buying for their first season in the Bundesliga, and whether they could set the points record for the 2nd tier.

Since then things have become a bit more uncertain - RBL have fluffed their lines on the big occasion, twice. First came a frankly farcical Monday night match played in several inches of snow, where barely any football was played, but Freiburg managed to dig out two goals to Leipzig's one. Then last weekend it looked as if Nurnberg's frankly ridiculous 16 match unbeaten streak was coming to an end, but Leipzig threw away the lead to lose 3-1. The end of that game was very reminiscent of the tricky games earlier in the season where Rangnick would just throw on more and more attackers and hope to get the result. Burgstaller was given 3 one-on-ones in literally a minute in stoppage time and managed to grab the game-killing goal with the last.

I don't have the dislike of Leipzig that so many fans in Germany seem to have. Their football has been brilliant when they've been on their game. I met Matthias Kiessling  (mentioned in one of the above articles) in January, and from him I really got the sense that they're just happy to have a team in Leipzig that won't go out of business in 3 years. Not all of them think they'll be beating Bayern next season.

Having said that, with Nurnberg on such a run, you can't deny it would be quite amusing to see them drop into the playoff spot.

[kaz1983]

Very interesting insight that, nice one.

[Baraka]

I know rangnick from back in 1997-2001, he took my local team ssv ulm from the 3rd division to the bundesliga, back to back promotions but he fucked off to vfb stuttgart with 5 games remaining. We then over spent in the bundesliga and had terrible finances, got relegated on the last game of the season to the 2nd (I still remember ulm getting smashed 9-1 by Bayer leverkusen at home) then the club got relegated again but to 5th division because of finances. Still struggling now!

[Willi]

I know rangnick from back in 1997-2001, he took my local team ssv ulm from the 3rd division to the bundesliga, back to back promotions but he fucked off to vfb stuttgart with 5 games remaining. We then over spent in the bundesliga and had terrible finances, got relegated on the last game of the season to the 2nd (I still remember ulm getting smashed 9-1 by Bayer leverkusen at home) then the club got relegated again but to 5th division because of finances. Still struggling now!

I was just about to post this.
Not quite right, he fucked off during the 1 Bundesliga season I believe. We had season tickets.
He did build the team from either old or cheap players though, he didn't have much of a budget.
We went to the last game of the season, away at Frankfurt where we lost 2-0. Really disappointed, if we had won Frankurt would have gone down The stadium was really crap, grass growing out of the terraces. This was before it was done up for the World Cup.
 Also remember the 9-1against Leverkusen at home, the Ulm goal came in the last minute and the crowd cheered like we'd scored the winner. The ground was still full at the end and noone booed. Good times.

[Willi]

Just did a Wiki check and you are almost right.
It was announced during the winter break (2 Bundesliga promotion season) that he would train Stuttgart the next season, Ulm fell from top to 5th  so he resigned.
Ulm then recovered and got promoted.

[kaz1983]

He has great ideas re playing style and a progessive approah it seems, putting it into practice longterm is another thing.

Fair to say?

[Tomaldinho]

He has great ideas re playing style and a progessive approah it seems, putting it into practice longterm is another thing.

Fair to say?

One thing is for certain, he won't be manager of Leipzig next season. He preferred the director of football role he previously held. He only really stepped in out of necessity.

[kaz1983]

Let's revist this on the 15th May.

[Tomaldinho]

Let's revist this on the 15th May.

Well indeed, but their next game against Bochum won't be a walkover!

[kaz1983]

3 points off the top, with a game in hand. No sure on thier goal difference.

[Tomaldinho]

Inferior to Freiburg's but the title is of very little importance compared to promotion. They should be 3rd going into tonight's game but Nurnberg's 18 match unbeaten run came to an end in embarrassing style at home to bottom of the league Duisberg yesterday so Leipzig can reassert a 6-point gap tonight. Can't imagine they'd give that up with 5 games left after that.

[kaz1983]

http://www.worldfootball.net/news/_n2211100_/controversial-rb-leipzig-win-promotion-to-the-bundesliga/

[warrenpe]

They're being very strongly linked with Hasenhüttl, who has already announced that he won't sign a new deal at Ingolstadt. If Leipzig are trying to win friends, why would they appoint the Austrian Tony Pulis as their new manager? 

[Chris~]

England looking at him to be the next manager

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/29/german-ralf-rangnick-wants-another-chance-to-pitch-for-england-j/

This seems to be a much smarter approach than Southgate or Bruce.

[TepidT2O]

England looking at him to be the next manager

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/29/german-ralf-rangnick-wants-another-chance-to-pitch-for-england-j/

This seems to be a much smarter approach than Southgate or Bruce.

That's not setting the bar very high though.

[exiledintheUSA]

That's not setting the bar very high though.

The FA laid for bar on the ground when they gave it to Fat Sam.

[TepidT2O]

The FA laid for bar on the ground when they gave it to Fat Sam.

More a case of chucking the bar away, digging a trench and filling it full of shit

[Tomaldinho]

Leipzig now 5th in the Bundesliga after an unbeaten start to the season (3w, 3d). Away fans of other clubs seem to be boycotting them so far this season.

[Tomaldinho]

From John Hartson on Oliver Burke:

“He’s gone over to Germany and I can’t understand that, to be honest with you. I think that stinks of agents more than anything else. How much German football do we all see? We see highlights of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and that’s about it.

“The Premier League is the place to be. I thought that was the next step for him. He’s gone to Leipzig, but what about a Burnley or a Sunderland or a West Brom?

“It’s only my opinion, but I think he is good enough for the Premier League.”
How Burke must wish he was spending his Monday night playing in West Brom v Burnley instead of celebrating being top of a tinpot European league.

If only he’d believed he was good enough for the Premier League.

Leipzig now top and yet to lose this season. Very few new signings from last year! Rangick being showed up!

[Petadroli]

From John Hartson on Oliver Burke:


Leipzig now top and yet to lose this season. Very few new signings from last year! Rangick being showed up!

Reminds me a lot of Mainz 05's season 2010/11. Started well, kept playing well and got rewarded with Europa League qualification.

[Lush is the best medicine...]

That quote can't be real?

[mc_red22]

That quote can't be real?

John Hartson is a clueless lemon so it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. As if he thought he should join Burnley or West Brom

[Tomaldinho]

http://www.nottinghampost.com/oliver-burke-should-have-gone-to-burnley-says-john-hartson/story-29696998-detail/story.html

[Flaccido Dongingo]

Are any of this recent influx of ex footballer pundits NOT dullards?

[Vinay]

How good is Oliver Burke?

[elsewhere]

The worst thing with RB Leipzig is it's a shitstain in a city that is genuinely (along with Liverpool and Geneva) the most beautiful I've been to.  Here's what I'm on about if anyone's wondering.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/mar/06/rb-leipzig-sending-shockwaves-through-german-football

i may move to geneva by jan/feb, glad to see you liked geneva, i was a bit afraid of leaving nyc but money is good to turn down

[Lush is the best medicine...]

http://www.nottinghampost.com/oliver-burke-should-have-gone-to-burnley-says-john-hartson/story-29696998-detail/story.html

idiot

[GBF]

http://www.nottinghampost.com/oliver-burke-should-have-gone-to-burnley-says-john-hartson/story-29696998-detail/story.html

yes why play in a club that is growing in statue when you could play for clubs that fight against relegation every year....yes, why not? huh?

how dumb can someone be