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)

Good enough?

There is no doubt that 1.FCN are good enough for something. From the first eight games of the season, it would be reasonable to consider that they are good enough to finish in the top 12 of the Bundesliga, and more than reasonable (although the superstitious may want to avoid tempting fate) to suggest that Glubb are good enough to retain their top division status. There are few who would suggest at present that anything higher than eighth come next May would be a realistic prediction. 1.FCN do not currently appear to be good enough for that coveted top six, Europa League, spot.

So, just half a game away from being a quarter of the way through the season, what appears to be the on-the-field issues in Nuremberg?

Until the 3-3 draw with Mainz, the defence looked solid, conceding on average a goal a game. Mistakes have been made but have not proved too costly. The defensive performances appear even better when put into the context of the goalkeeping crisis. Injury to captain Raphael Schaefer, then to his young deputy Patrick Rakovsky, has meant that Alexander Stephan has stepped in, with the defence required to adjust to three different ‘keepers over the first month of the season.

The midfield, as with the rest of the team, have proved capable of out-running most teams over 90 minutes, surely testimony to Dieter Hecking’s leadership. The coach has also once again stamped his mark with clear demonstrations of an attacking, often flowing, passing game.

It’s all been quite pretty to watch, even in defeats against Dortmund and Hannover. Unfortunately, for all the beauty there simply have not been enough goals scored. Time-after-time, the basics (and then some) have been done effectively and attractively up until the point where the ball has approached the penalty area. Then very little. Ok, that’s a bit unfair. There have been nine goals in eight games but it’s almost lamentable that the first time three are scored (against Mainz) three are also conceded.

What can be done about it? Ahh, the million dollar question (which could probably be answered more easily if several million dollars were available). Hecking and Martin Bader have put together a decent team on a shoe-string budget and it would be difficult to see any big purchases being made in the January transfer window. And besides, they’d have to be exactly certain about what 1.FCN needs right now.

Tomas Pekhart looks perfectly capable in front of goal, as does Alexander Esswein, but Pekhart sometimes appears a little isolated in his lone striker role, almost crying out for a partner alongside him. Maybe Esswein could fit this bill rather than playing in a wider role. This may need a change of formation, possibly 4-4-2 for some games although it would be understandable if Hecking does not want to tinker too much with a system which has been a success defensively. However, the last game may have provided a further cause for concern. Once Mainz had stopped full-backs Pinola and Chandler moving forward with their normal freedom, their was inevitably less support for the midfield and strikers. If other teams deploy such tactics, there may need be consideration given to this too, especially if, as suspected by many, Chandler and Pinola are better attacking full-backs than defensive full-backs.

What may really be missing is the ability to create something special in the final third of the field – maybe a special goal but more likely that clever, unexpected pass giving a new dimension to an attack which opposing defenders fail to deal with. Last season, when fit, Ilkay Gundogan demomstrated that ability. Whether any of the the current squad are good enough to provide such a service as this season progresses, only time will tell. From what has been seen so far, the likes of Feulner, Mak, Eigler, Mendler, Wiessmeier, Cohen and Hegeler are all good enough, but not with the consistency to make Glubb any better than simply ‘good enough’ to be  a mid-table team. The hope has to be that one of these players finds the freedom, confidence and consistency to be more than good enough, or simply outstanding, for the rest of the season. In terms of their careers, the most likely candidates to reach such a level of performance have plenty of time on their side. If 1.FCN are to have an outstanding season, time is running out already.

Good enough may have to be good enough for now, and there are few Glubberer who would complain at a ‘good enough’ position after 34 games.

The reason why (part 1)

As members of 1FCNUK prepare for their first game of the season (Borussia Moenchengladbach v 1.FCN), here are three video clips which should help anybody to start to understand why we do it? Clips courtesy of the BBC, Audiollama, and Nordkurve Productions, all via You Tube).

Please add suggestions for video clips you think we should include in future posts.

1FCNUK visit Bremen in 2007… along with the BBC
 

 

The Glubb hymn and the 2007 Cup Final victory, all in one superb piece of editing.

 

 

The Nordkurve… this video from last season’s 5-o thrashing of St. Pauli says it all. What a place to be standing for ultimate atmosphere.

 

Fitness and fight

Match reports are a rare thing from 1FCNUK – we watch the games, love Glubb and rejoice in our support while letting others put the games into writing. After today’s victory in Cologne however, there is a need to at least comment on the match, even if we don’t go into the finer details of every passage of play.

It’s never easy for any team to go to Cologne. Ok, so the hosts over recent years haven’t threatened to trouble the trophy engravers or indeed, the top places in the Bundesliga. However, they have players who can, on their day trouble any team, a vociferous home support and an expectation of success.

After Alexander Esswein had struck the post in the first minute and Cologne keeper Rensing was beaten again only for Tomas Pekhart’s shot to rebound from his crossbar, it looked like the home team might struggle. When Timmy Simons converted a well struck 31st minute penalty, and then repeated this in the 36th minute, one could be forgiven for thinking that FCN were clearly going to take the points back to Franconia. Even when Cologne pulled one back, it seemed that defensively they were no match for the running, probing and skill of Pekhart, Esswein and Markus Feulner, and overlapping of full backs Javier Pinola and Timothy Chandler.

For most of the first half, even after the two goal lead had been established, FCN played like a team who’s very future depended on them playing relentless attacking football. This has been a trademark of coach Dieter Hecking’s leadership – it seems that sitting-back is not an option and the fitness of the players is unquestionable. In the previous game, a 1-0 victory over Augsburg, the team ran 9.5 km more than their opponents. In Cologne they ran just 1.1km more than the home team but that does not tell the whole story. The referee had made some dubious and inconsistent decisions against both teams, including a very harsh booking for Pekhart for a high foot as he attempted an overhead kick. Then Pekhart recieved his second caution for a high foot in the 42nd minute and wss dismissed. Had he remained on the pitch and covered his contribution of 5.35km again in the second half, the fitness and work of the Glubb players would surely have resulted in more attacking. (For the record, the referee ridiculously showed a straight red to Cologne’s Miso Brecko in the 75th minute for a trip on Feulner.)

Not that the reduced numbers of 1.FCN held back. For the first 1o minutes after the break they constantly troubled the Cologne defence and throughout the second half were unafraid to commit numbers forward on regular occasions, with each and every player showing the fight and passion to support at the back in neutralising the threat of Podolski and co. That this threat was largely impotent is a testimony to an excellent defensive performance from a team which loves to attack.

Man of the match awards are often open to a degree of subjectivity so we’ll not give one. However, Simons, Esswein, Pinola and Feulner were highly influential and this stands up in the match statistics. The whole team deserves applause for a fine fighting performance.

Seventh place after five games is just reward for a team who have worked hard and performed well so far this season. If more of the attacking can be converted into goals then 1.FCN could become a genuine force to be reckoned with.

We don’t often publish match reports at 1FCNUK but if Dieter Hecking’s team keep producing such noteworthy performances, we may be forced to bring you a few more.

The friendly Glubb

Over a weekend in April, 1FCNUK (the British fan-club of 1.FCN) spent  five nights in Nuremberg, socialising, playing football and watching 1.FCN. As usual, we were not disappointed in any aspect of the trip (although a win for Der Club would have really made it an even greater success). We also once again witnessed the fantastic off-the-field persona of this historical Bundesliga football club.

The day before the Nuremberg v Mainz game, 1FCNUK were provided with changing rooms and a first class artificial pitch at the fantastic Valnerweiher home of 1.FCN and played against members of other fanclubs. Representatives of the club even came along to watch at least part of a ’pulsating’ 4-4 draw in the midday heat.

A couple of hours after this game, the amateur, worn-out players were sitting around inside and outside the Stuhlfauth Stuben bar adjacent to the facility when Dieter Hecking, mastermind of Nuremberg’s recent achievements, popped in for a Coke and a read of his paper. He was perfectly happy to chat with fans, as were his star players and the rest of the squad as they rolled-up for a training session. They were also happy to pose for photos and sign the 1FCNUK flag, as well as t-shirts, footballs and pictures.

It would be hard to imagine any of the above happening at a top-flight club in the UK. Of course, one could argue that the so-called megastars of the Premier League with their multi-million pound contracts, need to pay due deference to  image rights and journalists, and maintaining some sort of mystic is part of this. But that argument also misses the point that the likes of Marek Mintal (a Nuremberg legend now with Hansa Rostok),  Javier Pinola, Raphael Schaefer and upcoming players such as Philip Wollscheid, Almog Cohen and Robert Mak are highly respected, high quality stars of German football. Such players earn many, many more times the average income of their fans, and will earn far more in their short careers than their fans will earn in a lifetime. They have all of the trappings that their skills are apparently worth these days, yet they are firmly grounded and at ease chatting and posing with the fans.

There were maybe a couple of hundred fans watching the training session. A handful wanted to speak to their heroes and managed to do so. The reason that there were not thousands present, clamouring for autographs and being pushed back by security guards is the fact that in German football, such public training sessions are par for the course and some Bundesliga clubs hold them at least once, often three or four times per week. The players and the clubs seem to recognise that they owe their supporters something far more than the average English fan will ever get.

There is a contingent of Everton fans who also follow 1.FCN (following the meeting between the two teams in the 2007-08 UEFA Cup), and their experience of the friendly Glubb is similar. Nuremberg based fans and 1.FCN help them to arrange tickets and accomodation, and the Evertonians, just like 1FCNUK, are amazed by the generous Franconian hospitality.

German football is teetering on the precipice of the over-commercialisation which many would argue blights the English game. Fan clubs and fan movements oppose this and will help to keep the game in perspective to at least some extent in Germany. The accessibility to the players, and the openess of clubs such as 1.FCN to the fans will also go a long way to ensuring that some sanity remains in what is above all else an interesting and exciting league to watch and enjoy.

A good start

While it’s not been a dream start to the season for 1.FCN, there can be few complaints. Two wins and two defeats – six points from four games – represent  a steady enough beginning to the campaign. Those points do not, of course, tell the whole story.

A reasonable performance in Berlin in the opening game was sufficient for a win against a below par Hertha side. The home performance against Hannover and the away performance in Dortmund, although yielding no points, at least saw the young Nuremberg side put in promising performances. The 1-0 victory against Augsburg courtesy of Alexander Esswein’s first Bundesliga goal was the result of a hard battle against a team seemingly happy to play out a no score draw in the Frankenstadion.  Unfortunately, captain and one of the Bundesliga’s top goalkeepers, Raphael Schaefer, is out injured after just two games – a big blow and he will be sorely missed during his long absence. Patrick Rakovsky however has shown competence as his replacement.

There can be little doubt that Tomas Pekhart will trouble defences all season, especially if he receives good service. Fortunately the midfield strengths and the overlapping full backs should help to keep Pekhart as a focal point. A slight concern is that while defenders are busying themselves trying to keep the Czech striker off the score-sheet, where else will the goals come from? Dieter Hecking’s preferred formation does not necessarily lend itself to a traditional strike partner for Pekhart, and the midfielders will surely weigh-in with a small handful of goals each during the course of the season, but is there enough firepower to really push for the higher echelons of the league? Christian Eigler, Esswein and Albert Bunjaku are the likely candidates for ‘second’ striker, with Eigler seemingly in the ascendency at present, although Esswein’s moment of skill against Augsburg may tip the balance in his favour.  There is no doubting the magic Eigler can produce or his excellent work rate but greater consistency in front of goal is needed to really help to make him a special player. Esswein scored regularly for Dresden last season, albeit in the third division, Bunjaku can score goals but like Eigler needs to do so more often. Markus  Mendler, Julian Wiessmeier, and Robert Mak, may prove themselves but will probably have to do so from deeper positions,  and not quite back in the equation yet is Mike Frantz. Now on his way back from injury, Frantz could add an exciting new dimension to the team, not through goal scoring but through his ability to run at defenders. It would be interesting to see him and Esswein on opposite sides of a five man midfield.

If any of the aforementioned players can hit a rich groove of form, and Pekhart has a good supply chain, then FCN will threaten the European places come next April and May.   And six points from every four games would give 51 points by the end of the season. Nobody associated with the Der Club would complain about that.