Out came the sunshine…

… and dried up all the rain. And 1.FC Nuremberg moved (slightly) up the Bundesliga table again.*

The book about being an English supporter of 1.FCN, For Better Or For Wurst, is due to released in its German language version in early 2012. There is an additional chapter which manages to put the last three and half seasons into a handful of pages – an absolute neccesity as it would have been almost impossible to cover 2008-11 in as much detail as 2005-08 without the risk of further repetition. There are only so many ways to say that a load of fans flew to Germany, ate lots of sausages and drank vast quanitities of beer, witnessed another Glubb defeat, flew home and repeated it all again a couple of months later.

In a slight expansion on the previous two sentences, a comparision is drawn between 1.FCN and the English weather. When everything is set fair, and everyone is basking in the glory of it all, a storm appears from nowhere and devastates every last remnant of a joyous summer. When, on the other hand, all hope of any brightness is all but lost and the days are dark, wet and cold, something akin to a miracle occurs, bringing sunshine and hope that the darkest days have passed.

And so it was in Leverkusen as Glubb recorded a miraculous 3-0 victory over Bayer 04. The awfulness of the previous few weeks of heavy away defeats, lack of goals scored, deluge of goals conceded, suspensions, injuries and generally poor performances could be forgotten as the Bundesliga paused for the winter break – Nuremberg had bounced back, at least a little bit.

A look at the league table provides the most telling analysis of what went wrong during the first 17 games, namely that 1.FCN did not win enough games because they didn’t score enough, and conceded too many, goals. Deeper reasons, and these are purely personal opinions, are that inexperience of some of the players, a lack of passion, and a lack of an alternative plan prevented the team from building on what was a steady enough start to the season.

While I would not criticise the management/coaching set-up at Glubb, with Martin Bader and Dieter Hecking making the most of the difficult situation of competing against teams with far greater financial resources than Nuremberg, it does sometimes seem that there is an unwillingness to make big changes to the team and the formation. Of course, it can also be argued that under Michael Oenning, far too many changes were made far too regularly, unsettling the players and leading to ultimate demise. The inexperience of the younger players is often refreshing when things are going well, but it is reasonable to question whether they all have yet developed the required reslience when faced with more difficult periods. I do not presume to know what is going on in the heads of players either, but watching each game does lead me to question whether there is often enough ‘fire-in-the-belly’. For example, although I would never condone players arguing with the officials, there have been plenty of occasions on which I would have liked to have see Tomas Pekhart at least throw his arms up in despair when flagged offside. I’m sure he is gutted to see the assistant referee raise his flag, but a demonstration of this would at least place a little doubt in the mind of the official, making him look even more closely the next time.

Questioning the loyalty of the players to Glubb is a little unfair from someone sitting in front of a live stream of a game several hundred miles away, and I’m generally convinced that they all want the best for 1.FCN, but it is surely not just coincidence that against Leverkusen there was the sort of passion always shown by Raphael Schaefer from all of the players. Marvin Plattenhardt was a revelation, Daniel Didavi played like his life depended on it, as did Jens Hegler and Christian Eigler. And when in the first few moments of the match, Pekhart failed to connect with a cross into the box, he looked angry and I’m sure he even beat the floor with his fist. From the start of the game there was a commitment and a passion not truly seen for several months. Even without some frailties in the Leverkusen defence and attack , Nuremberg would have been victorious.

One win alone will not ensure that Glubb stay in the Bundesliga but when the second half of the season begins in late January, there will be nobody who can doubt that 1.FCN have got what it takes to climb away from the dangerzone. Several more shows of collective passion, fearlessness and belief will once again have people sitting-up and taking notice of a team which has the ability to not only firmly establish itself in the Bundesliga, but also win many friends among advocates of the truly beautiful game. It would be testimony to the work of Bader and Hecking if Glubb can repeat yesterday’s performance with enough regularity to survive in the German top flight. January can not come soon enough!

 

*With huge apologies to Incy Wincy spider, and the author of the English nursery rhyme.

Fanfreundschaft

Saturday 19th November sees the Bundesliga host this season’s first Schalke 04 and 1.FC Nuremberg Fanfreundschaftspiel (the fan friendship game) . The day when arguably the two most famous German football teams (historically speaking) play each other. Der Club of Franconia against Gelsenkirchen’s Koenigsblau. The fans will party together before, during and after the game but why?

It all started back in the 80s when the fans of 1.FCN and S04 had the unenviable reputation of being quite probably the two most feared ‘firms’ in German football. The story goes (and please add a comment below if you can confirm or dispute this) that a Nuremberg supporting girl had arranged to meet a Borussia Moenchengladbach supporting boy. Romeo and Juliet (although I’m certain these were not their real names) both took along a posse of friends who, from a distance, would make sure neither of the two young lovers came to any harm. It seems that at some point during the ‘proceedings’ these groups clashed but the out-numbered Glubberer were miraculously supported by passing Schalke fans. The combined forces fought off the Moenchengladbach assailants and from that point on ‘worked’ together. However much of this story actually happened (again – please comment below if you know), one thing remains true, and that is the rare freindship between the fans of both clubs.

But another, more immediate, fact also exists. Even now, after just 12 games of the current season, the points at stake for this match are hugely important for each team. Should Nuremberg lose then there is a very real possibility that they will fall into the bottom three and be nervously eyeing the trap door to the second division. Should they, as underdogs, manage a first win in the Veltins Arena, then the 1.FCN worries will be eased a little and hope and optimism will return for at least another week. Defeat for Schalke could allow a gap to begin to open between themselves and the coveted top three Champion’s League qualification places. A win could put S04 firmly within them.

As the half way point of the season fast approaches,  jostling for positions is heating up. Just one game it may be on Saturday, but maintaining momentum at the top, or halting a concerning run of form at the bottom is vital. Schalke are clear favourites and there are few who would bet against them. A single point, although not a huge help at the wrong end of the table, would be accepted by most Glubberer as a fantastic result. For S04, three points will be firmly expected.

Whatever happens over the 9o minutes,  when the two teams take to the field on Saturday there will be no friendship  for the players. And why should there be – these are tw0 sets of professionals desperately battling for Bundesliga points. The league positions are currently very different but the desire to win will not be. And nor will it be for the fans either. But in true Fanfreundschaft style the two sets of supporters will celebrate and commiserate together after the game in a truly rare moment for a sport in which fans are too often (and too often rightly so) much maligned for their behaviour. What really needs celebrating is that something special came from the darker days of 1980s hooliganism and has stood the test of time.

I’ve never heard any anecdotal evidence to suggest that the SO4 boy and 1.FCN girl went on to live happily ever after and have many Nuremberg and Schalke supporting offspring to their name. Let 1FCNUK know if you know any different. If they did it should be made into a Broadway musical!

Too good to go down?

Bad refeering decisions, the luck of the opposition, unfortunate injuries, even a DFB conspiracy against 1.FCN – just a few of the reasons cited for the current predicament of a team with so much promise and exciting potential. The very same team which now sits precariously in 15th place in the Bundesliga, with just three wins from the first 12 games of the season. With just three teams beneath Glubb, and the bottom five separated by just four points (ahead of basement club Augsburg’s home game against Bayern), it appears that Nuremberg will now be drawn into a relegation battle which only the most pessimistic few would have contemplated back in August.

In his weekly Bundesliga blog following game day 10, The Guardian’s Raphael Honigstein described 1.FCN as,  ”…a team with a worrying tendency to pick up fewer points than their efforts and organisation deserve.” A fair and accurate analysis of the majority of performances this season. Another way of looking at this, and adding even more negative conotations to the phrase ‘a worrying tendency’, is to start to wonder whether Nuremberg are a team who, on paper at least, are too good to go down. And the words ‘too good to go down’ are almost like a football manager getting the dreaded vote of confidence from the powers that run a club – the problems often deepen and the worst fears are realised.

Unfortunately for Glubb, it’s also a phrase often applied during their last relegation season in 2007-08. Then, as the previous season’s cup winners, Hans Meyer’s charges were expected to more-or-less match the excellent sixth place of 2006-07, even with the added distraction of the UEFA Cup. After never recovering from a poor start (which yielded just nine points from the first 12 games), many still pointed towards the likes of Wolf, Galasek, Pinola, Mintal, Kluge and Misimovic, as well as the legendary status of Hans Meyer, as having the necessary qualities to help 1.FCN avoid the drop. Ultimately, the season went from bad to worse, Meyer was replaced in February and Glubb went down.

Now, with a slightly healthier though no less worrying 12 points from the first 12 games, and just one home victory in six home matches, a few similarities can be drawn to 2007-08.  After finshing eighth last season with a very young team and several loan players, it was expected that at least mid-table should be the target of Nuremberg, and at best, maybe even a top six finish. Dieter Hecking’s side were deemed fit enough and exciting enough to entertain and give any team a run for their money. Of course, the services of Gundogan, Ekici, Schieber and Wolf could not be retained, but in came Tomas Pekhart, Alexander Esswein and Timm Klose to add to the highly-rated talents of Cohen, Wollscheid, Chandler and Mak, and the experience of Schaefer, Pinola and Simons. The new seemed to gel with the old in the first games. Pekhart seemed a handful for defences and Esswein’s pace and skill has looked menacing. Unfortunately the creativity, that excellent final pass, or defence splitting ball, has not been present as often as it was with the likes of Ekici and Gundogan in the team, and when it has, it appears to have come as something of a suprise to Pekhart who clearly needs much more time to fulfil his potential.

The most glaring similarity with 2007-08 and, as it happens, an element of hope Glubberer can hang onto for the remaining 22 games, is the goalkeeping situation. Following the Cup Final victory, Raphael Schaefer’s move to Stuttgart and his replacement by Czech number two national ’keeper, Jaromir Blazek, was a blow but appeared to be by no means a threat. As it turned out, Nuremberg missed Schaefer enormously. That Blazek was not quite as good as Schaefer between the posts was only part of it. The defence seemed to lack the leadership and confidence provided by their familiar and respected former number one, and ultimately the 51 goals conceded were as instrumental in relegation as the meagre 35 scored. (Both the goals conceded and scored so far this season are currently on course for totals too close to comfort to those shown in the final table in May 2008.) A major problem this season has been Schaefer’s absence after just two games. After his injury, the defence did not seem as confident, with first Rakovsky and then Stephan in goals. His return in game 12 saw an uncharacteristic positional error contributing to Freiburg’s rather fortunate equalising goal but the smart money would have been on Schaefer dealing better than his half-time replacement, Stephan, with the guest’s last gasp attack which led to a penalty and winning goal. 

The hope for the remainder of the season is that Schaefer will play most of it. The reserve goalkeepers at Nuremberg do not look awful but they the do not yet have the presence of the club captain ‘Rafa’. There are other concerns of course, and Bader and Hecking  may already be thinking of reinforcing the striking department in the January transfer window(Schieber returning for another loan spell from Stuttgart maybe? Please!).

Too good too go down? Maybe on paper, but the key to any team’s success is how good they are at overcoming the injuries, bad decisions and other mis-fortunes they face during a season. At the moment 1.FCN do not appear to be able to cope well with all that is thrown at them, and appear less than effective at creating their own luck. Hopefully Raphael Schaefer will play a major role in providing the resilience required over what will undoubtedly be a tough period for all involved with Glubb, and lead them to the safety of the mid-table mediocrity many were taking for granted a few weeks ago.

Munich here we come…

1FCNUK are on route to Munich… 3 points for Glubb???

The phantom goal (Cheated – part 2)

Ahead of the ‘derby’ game in Munich at the end of October, here’s a look back at a most ridiculous incident that took place when 1.FCN met Bayern in their former Olympic Stadium home. Ignore the title of the YouTube video in this clip. It was clearly made by a Bayern fan. For this example of disgraceful footballing dishonesty at least, the clip should be renamed ‘Worst Than Maradona, Worst Than Thierry Henry… Thomas Helmer You Dirty Rat’

April 1994. With 1.FCN (playing in yellow shirts) struggling for points at the wrong end of the Bundesliga and Munich trying to hold off the challenge of Kaiserslautern at the top, Nuremberg visited the Olympic Stadium which Bayern then shared with their neighbours 1860. With the score at 1-1 the referee made one of the most curious decisions ever seen.

As a cross came into the penalty area, Nuremberg keeper Kopke was left stranded. The ball fell to Thomas Helmer at the back post but he somehow managed to mis-control it and to the relief of Nuremberg the ball trickled harmlessly wide of the target. Kopke was now in a heap in the goal having scrambled to make up ground, and Helmer sportingly helped him to his feet, a nice gesture after such an embarrassing miss. However, when Helmer turned around he saw that the referee had signalled a goal.

The Munich players began to celebrate as Helmer’s sportsmanship was quickly replaced by a disgraceful lack of morality when, realising the points would go to his team, he raised his hands in triumph. Despite the protests of the Nuremberg players the ‘Phantom Tor’ was allowed to stand and the hosts won 2-1.

In an unprecedented move the DFB ordered the game to be replayed but the outcome was the same with Bayern taking the points, this time with a 5-0 victory. The hurt was to get much worse for the Clubberer a few weeks later when they missed safety by one point and Bayern won the title by the same margin.

And just in case you’re wondering why this post is sub-titled ‘Cheated – part 2′ and where ‘part 1′ has got to, read the first 1FCNUK blog post ‘At least Dick Turpin wore a mask’. It has now been re-named ‘At least Dick Turpin wore a mask (Cheated – part 1)