Talking Fussball

If you've been listening to the podcast this season, you have definitely heard Nik, Matt and others praise VfB Stuttgart's performances in its first season back in the top flight after a two-year absence. Attacking talents like Silas Wamangatuka, Nicolas Gonzales and others have been setting the Bundesliga alight and coach  Pellegrino Matarazzo has garnered plenty of praise for his intelligent tactical set-up. Yet all is not well at the club - a boardroom power struggle has stolen the headlines in the local press, and some fans worry it has the potential to endanger the club's return to success. Nik talks with Thilo Neumann of Der Spiegel, one of the reporters who has been instrumental in uncovering some of the key facts, in an episode designed to help you understand a verrrrry complicated story.

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When six out of eight games on the weekend end on level terms, you have to hand it to the teams that went out and won. A hearty round of applause to Eintracht Frankfurt and RB Leipzig for picking up three points when nobody else was up to the task. No, not even red-hot VfL Wolfsburg, who couldn't quite put a goal past Borussia Mönchengladbach. (Marco Rose is definitely off the Christmas list now, going public with his end-of-season move to Dortmund  after we recorded this pod but before we could release it.) Listen in as Matt and Nik talk about the torrent of draws, who's happy with them, and why Bayern  (who didn't play) lost in  the PR game despite winning Dayot Upamecano's signature.

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After the dust settled on last weekend's action, the cancellation of the Bielefeld -Bremen match didn't end up being such a bad thing for some fantasy managers. Players were awarded their per-game season averages and we all got to move on. Will MD21 be another week of winter weather trouble, or maybe even a Covid outbreak-marred round? And if it is, what should you do? JT and Flo don't reckon that's likely, but it's well worth thinking through. That and a host of other fantasy dilemmas solved in this week's TF Fantasy...

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Can we call what Dortmund is going through a crisis now? The Talking Fussball crew is ready to ring that particular bell, so there's much to discuss. How did BVB lose in Freiburg, despite holding their hosts to next-to-no good chances? What's to be done about the goalkeeper position? And how has Edin Terzic succeeded where so many before him have failed - namely, stopped Erling Haaland from scoring? All that and a look at Gladbach's Rheinderby loss, Bayern's tarmac misadventures, Reiss's rescue of Mainz-Union, and goodness gracious great balls of Eintracht!

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If you've busted your budget on can't miss players up front (like a lot of us), you're always on the lookout for more modestly-priced options - especially at the back - to fill out your roster. JT and Flo share a few picks to solve that problem on Match Day 20, as well as remind you to follow the action in the TFF Pokal!

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With FC Bayern München making sure there wouldn't be another slip-up against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig needed full points on Saturday night to stay within touching distance of the top. They did just that, picking up their first win of the season against a fellow Spitzenmannschaft (top team) in Leverkusen.

But who is a Spitzenmannschaft anyway? Adi Hütter reckons his Eintracht Frankfurt side are one at the moment, and VfL Wolfsburg might be too as they spend another week in the top four. Listen in as Matt and Nik hash the issue out, along with much more after an eventful Match Day 19.

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A few of you were feeling laid up by the epidemic of penalty saves and misses, but don't get twisted: many of the guys who failed to convert are still going to be good earners going forward. JT and Flo are here to set you straight about who to put in your XI on a Match Day 19 that features a tricky fixture schedule.

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Thank goodness there was something to take our mind off the incredible disappearing title race. With Bayern making sure this season is likely to end much as the last eight did, Matt and Nik turn their primary attention to Hertha BSC. The capital club has been a basket case this season, but there's reason for hope. 

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We could talk about Yannick Gerhardt's non-appearance against Mainz after last episode's fanfare. We could talk about what marginal gains could be had by taking a look at who's playing when on the weekend, but STOP THE PRESSES - we have an unlimited transfer situation on our hands! JT and Flo are here to help you with that total squad renovation project you've been putting off all these weeks ahead of MD18.

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We're now 66.66% through the Bundesliga's latest englische Woche and the narratives are coming thick and fast. So fast it can be hard to keep track. To take the temperature of as many teams as he could, Nik recruits a string of voices from around the league to react to: Leverkusen's big win against Dortmund, a shock for Stuttgart in Ostwestfalen, Hertha's horror night against Hoffenheim and much more, in a konferenz-style speed round.

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