Into die Löwen's Den (FGC)

Dalbeider · March 13, 2011

I wouldn't call our recent form as "doing well", but eh, at least relegation is not a threat anymore. And yeah, poor Lauth is terribly unlucky with injuries, always coming at the worst possible moment.

Thanks for reading, Mark

* * *

March 2nd, 2013

Borussia Moenchengladbach (9th) vs. TSV 1860 München (10th) (Bundesliga, 24/34)

Midtable duel, with the loser being very likely to lose any remaining hopes of catching up with the top six. With our away form being quite shaky both historically and presently, any positive outcome from this game would be very welcome. Gladbach were doing just enough to keep their heads in the top half.

***

GLADBACH (4-5-1): Logan Bailly (GK); Lamine Gassama (DR), Jean-Sébastien Jaures (DL), Roman Neustädter (DCr), Roel Brouwers (DCl); Almog Cohen (DMC), Charles Takyi (MCr), Andranik Teymourian (MCl), Marco Reus (AMR), Kévin Diaz (AML), Raúl Bobadilla (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alexander Ludwig (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Many unknown faces appeared in Gladbach's lineup, with the surprising absence of Michael Bradley. Neither team looked specially interested in attacking from the get go, but when the first chance of the game arrived, it was to make an impact: Viatri ran down the middle, attracting the defenders' attention before sending a nice through ball towards Malonga, who gathered it inside the box and shot low and crossed to open the score.

Reus almost hit us straight back with a banana shot from outside the box, but thankfully the ball went narrowly wide to the left of Bolat's goal. Bad news hit us two minutes later, since Malonga had to be replaced by Rafa Jordá due to yet another injury, this one following a challenge by Gassama. And in the 20th minute the breakdown was completed when a cross from the left by Diaz was headed into the net by Reus, who easily outjumped a somewhat passive Sutter.

Not much later Bobadilla broke our offside trap with tremendous ease and faced Bolat one on one, but his powerful finish bounced on the crossbar before being cleared out of danger. Teymourian joined the battering with a long distance shot that went just a little bit too high. Reus made a great movement to dodge a tackle by Ghvinianidze, but then failed to finish the job with a good finish and sent the ball well wide. The rest of the half went by quickly, and the draw remained until the break.

HALF TIME - 1-1

We looked quite a bit better in the first minutes of the second half, and six minutes in Moralez licked the post with a narrowly wide free kick. A while later Uzoma tried a long shot, his first in a long while, but the results didn't improve from his previous attemps: well wide. The Nigerian had been battered throughout the game and Ignjovski replaced him, while Belaïd came in Viatri's place, moving us to a 4-2-3-1 with Jordá alone up front.

The change improved our attacking mobility, and soon Bailly had to rush out to prevent a goal by Rafa Jordá following a great ball by Battaglia. Gladbach finally appeared with a great pass by Teymourian that Reus wasted with a terrible finish in the 72nd minute. A counterattack initiated by Idrissou almost gave the home team the lead, but Takyi didn't know how to finish it and blasted the ball over the bar almost unopposed.

Moralez's finishing wasn't much better, miskicking the ball and sending it rolling over the byline after dribbling into the box through the middle. Rafa Jordá turned into a provider with a great ball towards Belaïd, but the Tunisian couldn't shoot in time before Bailly rushed out and cleared the ball right from his feet.

A surprise long shot by Neustädter in the 84th minute hit the crossbar and bounced over, and the final minutes looked promising for the neutral, with both teams attacking without hesitation. Despite that there weren't any further goalscoring chances, and the result didn't change at all. A good point for us.

***

Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (Marco Reus 20)

TSV 1860 München 1 (Dominique Malonga 13)

---

Not a bad result, honestly. The fifth and sixth places remained relatively close, even if we were likely to lose the 10th place to Köln.

The piece of really bad news was Malonga's injury. It wasn't *too* serious, a fractured wrist that would keep him out for 5-6 weeks, but losing both of our top goalscorers in consecutive weeks was a serious blow to our attacking line, and now we had no small striker to partner with Jordá or Viatri. Switching to a 4-2-3-1 while this lasted was a pretty likely option.

March 5th, 2013

The shocks in the DFB Pokal didn't go any further, and the two heavy favourites won their respective semifinals. The final would pit Dortmund (0-4 over Nürnberg) against Werder Bremen (2-1 against Cottbus).

Dalbeider · March 14, 2011

March 9th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (11th) vs. SC Freiburg (8th) (Bundesliga, 25/34)

Yep, another direct duel, and again, a tremendously important one. A win could see us climbing up to four places in the table, putting us that much closer to Europe. Freiburg's away form was pretty bad as of late, with three consecutive defeats including a 5-1 drubbing in Hannover.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Andriy Rusol (DCl); Eke Uzoma (MCr), Sebastián Battaglia (MCl); Alexander Ludwig (AMR), Maximiliano Moralez (AML), Tijani Belaïd (AMC); Lucas Viatri (ST)

FREIBURG (4-2-3-1 deep): Simon Pouplin (GK); Cicinho (DR), Fabián Monzón (DL), Heiko Butscher (DCr), Oliver Barth (DCl); Nikola Pokrivac (DMCr), Johannes Flum (DMCl); Maylson (AMR), Darío Bottinelli (AMC), Maximilian Nicu (AML); Pa**** Cissé (ST)

***

We brushed the dust off the 4-2-3-1, putting Viatri alone up front and moving Moralez to the left wing. The game started terribly slow, with possession rates going our way but only one terrible shot at goal in the first twenty minutes, a long distance failure produced by Flum. In fact it took us a whole half hour to create our first real chance, a powerful but very centered piledriver by Belaïd from the edge of Freiburg's box that Pouplin barely managed to deflect wide.

Nine minutes later Bottinelli snuck into the box and tried to beat Bolat with a placed shot, but the goalkeeper reacted well and parried the shot with relative ease. And... that was it. No goals after a dire first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

It was clear that creating danger through traditional methods wasn't working, so it was time to resort to set pieces. Thankfully, we had two masters of the trade in our squad: Moralez crossed a free kick from the right wing, and Ghvinianidze got first to the ball and headed it low to beat Pouplin and give us the lead in the 55th minute of the game.

But then the game went crazy: only two minutes later Bottinelli tore our defense apart with a great through ball towards Cissé, who elevated his shot just a bit to put the ball past Bolat and draw the game. And only three minutes after that it was our turn: Viatri sent a great pass towards the left side of the box, Moralez cut in and shot low and placed just beside the far post, scoring the 2-1. After 55 minutes of nothing, three goals scored in five minutes.

The crazyness continued in the 65th, but in a much worse way: Viatri went down two-footed from behind on Cicinho, and the referee had no other option but to send him off. Jordá and Romagnoli replaced Ludwig and Belaïd, and we moved to a narrow 4-1-3-1. Faye also returned to action, replacing a somewhat nervous Pocognoli. Jordá could have sealed the game immediately after a missed header by Krmas left him alone inside the box and facing Pouplin, but he couldn't beat the keeper.

In the 75th our luck hit rock bottom: Ghvinianidze was injured after a challenge by Bottinelli and had to leave the field, leaving us with nine players and a huge problem. Battaglia dropped back to play as a makeshift center back, and we gritted our teeth and prepared to resist the onslaught that was sure to come towards us. The first to strike was Barth, heading a corner kick over the bar in the 78th. Two minutes later Bolat deflected wide a shot by Nicu, following a great first-time play by Freiburg.

But in the 86th our resistance finally yielded: Bottinelli took a corner kick low towards the outside of the box and Maylson buried it into the top left corner of Bolat's goal, drawing the game. Thankfully, that was the end of Freiburg's comeback, and we managed to get out of that mess with a point.

***

TSV 1860 München 2 (Mate Ghvinianidze 55, Maximiliano Moralez 60, Lucas Viatri sent off 65)

SC Freiburg 2 (Pa**** Cisse 57, Maylson 86)

---

Viatri earned himself a very nice fine for that, of course. I mean, throwing a game away like that? Inexcusable. We were certainly masters in making things more difficult than necessary for ourselves, and this time we had to pay the penalty.

At least Ghvinianidze's injury was nothing to worry about, a bruise in his thigh that would keep him out for 4-5 days. The real problem was, once again, upfront: with Viatri out for at least one game (most likely to become three) and Lauth and Malonga injured, we had one senior forward in the whole squad. Fantastic. Allgöwer would probably be called again for our next game. Which happened to be against Bayern. Whoop-de-doo.

March 12th, 2013

Ghvinianidze and Moralez made the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · March 16, 2011

As I already said in Red & Yellow, I'm our for the next four days. There may be a post here and there for that time, but no guarantees. Otherwise, next post will come next Monday. To compensate, here's a double post with league table included!

* * *

March 16th, 2013

Bayern FC München (5th) vs. TSV 1860 München (11th) (Bundesliga, 26/34)

Many things of note regarding this game. For starters, Münchner derby, of course, which would also be the first for new Bayern boss Steve McClaren. Second, my 100th game as 1860 manager, which was also a very nice achievement. And third, Bayern would be looking for revenge for their loss in our first meeting of the season, and would do so from an advantageous position, getting closer to the top by the minute and doing much better than with van Gaal. A very interesting match for sure.

***

FC BAYERN (4-4-2): Samir Handanovic (GK); Philipp Lahm (DR), Holger Badstuber (DL), Leonel Galeano (DCr), Víctor Ruiz (DCl); Thomas Müller (MR), Frank Ribéry (ML), Bastian Schweinsteiger (MCr), Toni Kroos (MCl); Mario Gómez (STr), Ivica Olic (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Aleksandar Ignjovski (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Torben Allgöwer (STl)

***

McClaren had changed Bayern's formation to a traditional flat 4-4-2, and it seemed to be working fine for them, while we returned to our tested 4-1-3-2 with Allgöwer once again in the starting eleven, and with another youngster, Marcel Boumsong, in the bench. We had a surprise in the shape of a late winter snowfall, nothing too serious in any case.

Bayern took the initiative from the start, and six minutes in Olic gave us the first scare with a dangerous shot that Bolat deflected into the post and wide. Another long distance effort by the striker went much wider two minutes later. Ribéry was next, after receiving from Olic on the edge of the box, but his shot was weak and easy for Bolat to catch. We still managed to make some attacking movements from time to time, with Ignjovski wasting our first dangerous arrival at Bayern's box with a terribly wide shot from distance.

A cross from the right by Lahm was headed by the always dangerous Gómez, but this time his aim was off and the ball went well over the bar. Schweinsteiger got a bit closer with yet another long shot, but it was still a bit too high to create any trouble to Bolat. The goalkeeper had to tip wide a more dangerous shot by Kroos two minutes later, though, as we made it to the half hour with our options still intact.

Even better, we got a really good chance to take the lead two minutes later after Béda found a gap and sent the ball through towards Jordá, who tried to place his shot near the right post but found Handanovic's gloves in the way. A wide effort by Schweinsteiger from just inside the box was Bayern's next chance, but our luck ran out in the 38th: Olic received a great through ball behind the defense and sent his first finish into the post, but his advantage over our defenders was enough to allow him to be the first to the rebound, pushing the ball with ease into the net to score the 1-0.

The striker almost got a second four minutes later after some bad positioning by our defenders, but wasted a perfectly good chance by sending his finish into the sidenetting. Another wide finish by Ribéry after a great pass by Kroos was the last chance of the first half.

HALF TIME - 1-0

The second half started a tad slower, with Bayern looking a bit less focused on tearing us to shreds, understandable since they were ahead. They still got the first shot of the half with a wide attempt by Olic, though. Pocognoli was having another stinker and was soon replaced by Sutter, moving Kladrubsky to the left. Ludwig also came in Moralez's place. Things didn't change much, so we played our last card: 16-year-old debutant Boumsong replaced Rafa Jordá.

Badstuber had the chance to seal the game from a direct free kick, but Bolat deflected his good effort wide for a corner kick, which Víctor Ruiz headed straight into the goalkeeper's hands. We finally got a shot in with a not too dangerous attempt from distance by Battaglia with only eleven minutes remaining on the clock. But one minute later Olic ran on the counter down the left flank, skinned Rusol with ease and crossed towards the near post for Schweinsteiger to head it in and double Bayern's lead.

If there was any doubt, Olic himself removed it with another great cross from the left that Bolat failed to catch, allowing Müller to gather the loose ball in the right side of the box and shoot from a very tight angle, scoring the third in the 89th minute. Thankfully, nothing else happened before full time.

***

Bayern FC München 3 (Ivica Olic 38, Bastian Schweinsteiger 80, Thomas Müller 89)

TSV 1860 München 0

---

The result was way too harsh for us, but there was no doubt that Bayern deserved their victory. They looked completely different from the very tame version we had defeated a few months back, and Olic was just unstoppable.

No injuries for a change. Still, Rafa Jordá's goal drought was starting to become a bit worrysome, even more considering that he would be our only senior striker in at least the following two matches.

Dalbeider · March 16, 2011

[font=Courier New]=========================
BUNDESLIGA AFTER 26 GAMES
=========================

| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Leverkusen     |       | 26    | 16    | 6     | 4     | 45    | 22    | +23   | 54    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Schalke        |       | 26    | 16    | 5     | 5     | 43    | 27    | +16   | 53    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Dortmund       |       | 26    | 13    | 8     | 5     | 38    | 27    | +11   | 47    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | FC Bayern      |       | 26    | 14    | 3     | 9     | 40    | 21    | +19   | 45    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Hannover       |       | 26    | 13    | 5     | 8     | 43    | 35    | +8    | 44    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Hoffenheim     |       | 26    | 11    | 10    | 5     | 34    | 22    | +12   | 43    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Wolfsburg      |       | 26    | 12    | 4     | 10    | 50    | 38    | +12   | 40    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Köln           |       | 26    | 11    | 5     | 10    | 36    | 32    | +4    | 38    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Freiburg       |       | 26    | 11    | 5     | 10    | 43    | 43    | 0     | 38    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | HSV            |       | 26    | 11    | 3     | 12    | 34    | 41    | -7    | 36    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Gladbach       |       | 26    | 10    | 5     | 11    | 28    | 29    | -1    | 35    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color=mediumturquoise][b]| 12th  |       | 1860 München   |       | 26    | 8     | 10    | 8     | 34    | 33    | +1    | 34    | [/b][/color]
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Stuttgart      |       | 26    | 9     | 5     | 12    | 28    | 35    | -7    | 32    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Kaiserslautern |       | 26    | 7     | 7     | 12    | 35    | 43    | -8    | 28    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Frankfurt      |       | 26    | 7     | 4     | 15    | 24    | 40    | -16   | 25    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | Werder Bremen  |       | 26    | 6     | 6     | 14    | 28    | 46    | -18   | 24    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  |       | Nürnberg       |       | 26    | 5     | 4     | 17    | 24    | 49    | -25   | 19    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  |       | Bochum         |       | 26    | 5     | 3     | 18    | 25    | 49    | -24   | 18    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[/font]

Well, once again the winter season cost us dearly. Europe was a pipedream nine points away in the best of cases and ten in the worst, and our form didn't exactly give us any reason to be optimistic. But at least we had escaped the winter with more points than one year before, and the relegation zone was exactly as far as the European places, so we could be reasonably sure that, at the very least, we would improve on our 2011/12 final position. A realistic target would be the 8th place.

On top, things were more or less the same, with Leverkusen and Schalke (our next opposition) chaining wins and running away at the top, while Dortmund and Hannover fell behind and Bayern tried a bit too late to catch up with them. The bottom two looked quite clear, with Bochum and Nürnberg far from salvation, but the playoff position was about to become a deadly one-on-one fight between Eintracht and Werder, with Kaiserslautern hovering in a somewhat safer but still risky position.

[font=Courier New]===========================
PLAYER STATS AFTER 26 GAMES
===========================
[u]
Average rating (min. 9 games played, league only)[/u]

Benjamin Lauth          [b]    7.25[/b] ([i]10[3] apps[/i])
Mate Ghvinianidze           [b]7.23[/b] ([i]18 apps[/i])
Scott Sutter                [b]7.05[/b] ([i]18[4] apps[/i])
Mathieu Béda                [b]7.03[/b] ([i]20[1] apps[/i])
Maximiliano Moralez         [b]7.03[/b] ([i]20[3] apps[/i])
Dominique Malonga           [b]7.02[/b] ([i]16[6] apps[/i])
[u]
Goals (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga           [b]10[/b]
Benjamin Lauth               [b]7[/b]
Mate Ghvinianidze            [b]4[/b]
Rafa Jordá                   [b]3[/b]
Mathieu Béda                 [b]3[/b]
[u]
Assists (league only)[/u]

Maximiliano Moralez          [b]6[/b]
Scott Sutter                 [b]4[/b]
Lucas Viatri                 [b]4[/b]
Rafa Jordá                   [b]3[/b]
Alexander Ludwig             [b]3[/b]
[u]
MoM Awards (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga            [b]3[/b]
Maximiliano Moralez      [b]    2[/b]
Benjamin Lauth               [b]2[/b]
5 other players              [b]1[/b][/font]

March 21st, 2013

Time for another round of international call ups, and once again our nine usual international players got theirs: Belaïd, Pocognoli, Kladrubsky, Ghvinianidze, Király, Sutter, Bolat, Rusol and Uzoma. Faye seemed to have permanently fallen from the Senegal squad, while other hopefuls like Battaglia kept waiting for a chance.

March 22nd, 2013

Once again, epic fail for Germany in the European competitions, with zero teams among the best eight in the Champions League, and only Leverkusen surviving in the Euro Cup. There was little hope of regaining that extremely important fourth Champions League spot if we kept doing that badly.

Dalbeider · March 21, 2011

March 23rd, 2013

TSV 1860 München (12th) vs. FC Schalke 04 (2nd) (Bundesliga, 27/34)

Night and day. While we hadn't won a game in our last five tries, Schalke were in a run of six consecutive victories that had led them to the second place, leaving behind a year full of struggles thanks to Bruno Labbadia, who had dramatically improved on Magath's results. A very tough test.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Eke Uzoma (MCr), Sebastián Battaglia (MCl); Tijani Belaïd (AMR), Maximiliano Moralez (AML), Leandro Romagnoli (AMC); Rafa Jordá (ST)

SCHALKE 04 (4-4-2 diamond): Manuel Neuer (GK); Atsuto Uchida (DR), Royston Drenthe (DL), George Galamaz (DCr), Benedikt Höwedes (DCl); Vincent Kompany (DMC), Claudemir (MR), Lewis Holtby (ML), José Manuel Jurado (AMC); Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (STr), Jefferson Farfán (STl)

***

Another attempt with the 4-2-3-1, with Jordá up front and Romagnoli starting right behind him. The game didn't start exactly well for us: six minutes in Drenthe took a corner kick and Farfán fell inside the box after a push by Uzoma: penalty kick. Huntelaar buried it with a perfect finish to give Schalke a very early lead. Schalke still wanted more, and Kompany tried luck with a banana shot after an indirect free kick, but sent it well wide.

A bad backpass by Moralez gave Farfán a great double chance to score the second, but first Bolat denied him, and then he sent the rebound wide. Schalke dominated the game with ease, and Bolat had more work in another corner kick headed by Galamaz. We needed twenty-three minutes to find a way to test Neuer, and it came after an individual effort by Rafa Jordá, who dribbled his way into the box only to see his powerful shot parried by the goalkeeper.

In the 25th minute Jurado profited from a huge gap in our defense created by Béda, who was on the floor injured, to receive unmarked and score the second with a beautiful chip over Bolat, who could only watch the ball fly into the net. Not even then did we manage to string three passes together and create something resembling a dangerous chance, while Bolat kept saving shots, the next one coming from Kompany.

But in the final minute of the half we got lucky: Moralez crossed a free kick towards the far post, Neuer mistimed his jump, and Battaglia got there first to head the ball into the net and give us some hope of a comeback. A final chance for Höwedes well caught by Bolat marked the end of a pretty bad first half.

HALF TIME - 1-2

We looked a bit better in the first minutes of the second half after some motivational words in the dressing room, yet Huntelaar managed to get the first shot of the half, easy for Bolat. Uzoma managed to break Schalke's defensive line with a high pass towards Belaïd, who wasted a perfect chance to score sending the ball way over the bar. Jurado answered four minutes later penetrating through the middle and shooting low and wide.

Farfán also shot wide following a bad clearance by Béda, and the time for substitutions finally arrived. Allgöwer, Ignjovski and Ludwig replaced Belaïd, Romagnoli and Uzoma, and we moved back into a 4-1-3-2 formation. We almost got the draw in another set piece, taken of course by Moralez and headed by Ghvinianidze, but stopped with a great dive by Neuer. The Georgian center back also managed to get his head to the ball in a corner kick not much later, but this time the ball flew over the bar.

Farfán had a chance to seal the game in a counterattack down the right wing, but Bolat deflected his shot wide. Ignjovski tried luck from the edge of the box with a low effort after gathering a short pass by Jordá, but Neuer dived well and held the ball. Nine minutes before the end it was Farfán's turn again, turning around and shooting and finding Bolat's gloves in the way once again.

Two minutes later we had our best chance of the game thanks to a great run down the left flank by Allgöwer, who skinned Galamaz before shooting into the woodwork. Neuer saved Schalke once again tipping wide a finish by Rafa Jordá with five minutes remaining. A high header by Ludwig after a cross by Allgöwer in injury time was our last chance of the game, and our comeback never was.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Sebastián Battaglia 45)

FC Schalke 04 2 (Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pen 7, José Manuel Jurado 25)

---

Not looking good. We tried much harder in the second half and probably deserved to get the draw in the end, but our first half performance was abysmal. We must step it up quickly, or we may find ourselves in a deep hole.

March 26th, 2013

Funny, the moment I least expected one of our players to win the Player of the Week award, Sinan Bolat got it thanks to a great performance against Schalke. He and Battaglia made the Team of the Week, too.

March 27th, 2013

Kladrubsky was the happiest of our internationals, playing the whole game with the Czech Republic in an easy 1-4 win over Cyprus. Pocognoli also played the whole game with Belgium, and even set up an assist, but a 1-2 home defeat against Israel dirtied that good performance somewhat. Ghvinianidze had it even worse, having a pretty bad game for Georgia in a 1-3 defeat against Greece.

Dalbeider · March 22, 2011

March 30th, 2013

1.FC Köln (7th) vs. TSV 1860 München (13th) (Bundesliga, 28/34)

Yet another in-form team got in our way. Köln had been slowly but steadily chaining good results and climbing places on the table, and now were calling on the door that lead to Europe. With only one league defeat in 2013, they were a dangerous team that could give us trouble, although not to the same standard of quality of Bayern or Schalke. We had a chance.

***

KÖLN (4-4-2 defensive): Federico Marchetti (GK); Miso Brecko (DR), Jean-Patrick Abouna (DL), Geromel (DCr), Christopher Schorch (DCl); Petit (DMCr), Kevin Pezzoni (DMCl), Marcus Astvald (MR), Daniel Halfar (ML); Alexandru Ionita (STr), Rouwen Hennings (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Andriy Rusol (DCl); Aleksandar Ignjovski (MCr), Sebastián Battaglia (MCl); Alexander Ludwig (AMR), Maximiliano Moralez (AML), Leandro Romagnoli (AMC); Rafa Jordá (ST)

***

Seeing Halfar in Podolski's place in Köln's starting eleven made me smile. That smile didn't last long, since Schorch only needed two minutes to give us a first warning with a high header after a corner kick. That was the only way that Köln found to create danger in the early game, though, with Ionita being the next to try but failing exactly the same way.

The striker had a much better chance in the 18th minute after a very bad mistake by Rusol, but this time Lady Luck smiled upon us and his finish hit the post before being cleared out of danger. The Romanian was looking good, though, and after a ten minute pause in which neither team created any danger, he went back at it sneaking past Ghvinianidze and shooting with power, although Bolat was there to push the ball over the bar for a corner kick.

Köln's strikers weren't having their most fortunate day, and Hennings joined the woodwork club after a great movement inside the box. The closest thing to a goalscoring chance we managed to create was a run by Ludwig down the right flank that ended in a cross that Marchetti caught with ease. Hennings tried luck again, this time from outside the box, but found only air. A high header by Astvald in another corner kick was the final chance of a first half completely dominated by the home team.

HALF TIME - 0-0

As it was almost traditional, we came out looking much better following my half time speech, and Rafa Jordá completed a great individual movement with a pretty bad left-footed finish, clearly wide to the right of Marchetti's goal. Köln struck back in the 53rd with a good attack finished by Freis and stopped by Bolat. In the 61st Moralez stole the ball from Pezzoni and quickly assisted Rafa Jordá, who ran into the space behind the defense and placed a great finish past Marchetti to score the 0-1, breaking his 12-hour-long dry spell at the same time.

Belaïd replaced Romagnoli a few minutes later. Bolat kept showing his quality with great saves, the next one after a real missile launched by Mohamad from a very dangerous direct free kick position. We tried to solidify our midfield bringing Kladrubsky in Ludwig's place and switching to the almost forgotten 4-5-1. It worked wonderfully, and we restricted Köln's attack to the point that they managed no chances in the following fifteen minutes, despite trying constantly.

With two minutes remaining on the clock Rafa Jordá initiated a counterattack with a long pass towards the left, where Moralez gathered it, ran into the box and crossed towards the far post, allowing Kladrubsky an easy finish to score the 0-2 and seal our victory. A great win in a very difficult stadium.

***

1.FC Köln 0

TSV 1860 München 2 (Rafa Jordá 61, Jiri Kladrubsky 88)

---

Fantastic result. We played to our strenghts, holding Köln off in the first half (with some luck), striking back in the second half (again with some luck), and then finishing the job on the counter. Moralez got two assists to bring the total in the league to nine, which is not bad at all. Even better, Jordá finally scored. With Viatri returning from his suspension, things were finally starting to look up.

April 1st, 2013

It was a good time to try and get Battaglia to sign a new contract. Apparently the lack of interest from other teams had reduced his agent's demands, and we managed to strike a quick deal with a small increase in wages to keep the midfielder with us for two more seasons.

April 2nd, 2013

Bolat, Rusol and Rafa Jordá were selected in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · March 23, 2011

April 7th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (13th) vs. Hamburger SV (9th) (Bundesliga, 29/34)

Hamburg's season had been pretty strange. Magath had been walking on the edge for almost the whole year, following another pretty poor start, but now they had managed to chain a number of good results and had climbed to the top half. Yet Magath was still threatened with the sack should he lose. Weird. In any case, if we wanted to go back to the top half of the table, we had to win this game, period.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Andriy Rusol (DCl); Eke Uzoma (MCr), Sebastián Battaglia (MCl); Tijani Belaïd (AMR), Maximiliano Moralez (AML), Leandro Romagnoli (AMC); Rafa Jordá (ST)

HSV (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Jaroslav Drobný (GK); Pablo Pintos (DR), Marcell Jansen (DL), Heiko Westermann (DCr), Héctor Moreno (DCl); Miguel Vítor (DMC), Guy Demel (MCr), Ludovic Sylvestre (MCl), Piotr Trochowski (AMC); Johan Volanthen (STr), José Paolo Guerrero (STl)

***

Once again, the fact that Heung-Min was in HSV's bench was good news for us. Guerrero was good, but hadn't scored thirteen goals thus far like the Korean had done. We did well from the start, controlling the ball and opening the field, attacking their weak flanks until in the 8th minute Jansen intercepted a cross inside the box but failed to notice Belaïd's presence just behind him. The Tunisian stole the ball cleanly and shot past Drobný to score the 1-0. The visitors protested a foul, but the referee just ignored them.

Moralez could have scored the second eight minutes later after gathering near the penalty spot a great ball from Jordá, but Drobný did well to save his finish. But in HSV's first attack of the game Pintos broke in through the right wing and crossed low towards Vonlanthen, who shot unopposed into the back of the net to draw the game in the 19th minute.

The game calmed down a bit after such a hectic start, and it took until the 34th for Romagnoli to try luck from just outside the box, sending the ball narrowly wide to the right. There were no more chances until the break, although we kept the game under control at all times.

HALF TIME - 1-1

Everything almost went down the drain in the first minute of the second half when Pocognoli clearly tripped Vonlanthen as the forward entered our box. Trochowski took the penalty kick, but Bolat saw his intentions and dived across the goalmouth to deflect the ball away with his fingertips.

HSV pushed forward, with Trochowski trying again from afar and sending the ball well over the bar. A knock to Belaïd prompted us to make our first two substitutions, bringing Ludwig and Faye to replace the Tunisian and Pocognoli. Time passed and things didn't improve, so we brought Viatri into the game replacing Romagnoli, changing to a 4-1-3-2. Pintos saw the second yellow card in the 72nd minute after a foul on Moralez, and HSV were forced to complete the game with only ten men on the pitch.

We went forward, but Heung-Min was the one who got the closest to score after breaking through the middle and forcing Bolat to tip his shot wide. Another counter by HSV finished with a wide header by Guerrero, and Jordá wasted our best chance in the 89th with a wide finish after a good nod by Battaglia. An injury to Battaglia in injury time equalized the forces of both teams, and in the end the draw remained until full time.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Tijani Belaïd 8)

Hamburger SV 1 (Johan Vonlanthen 19, Pablo Pintos sent off 72)

---

Another wasted chance. We kept giving away points against teams we were perfectly capable of beating. Oh well, at least we went up one place...

Battaglia had a broken rib, which would need 3-4 weeks to heal.

April 9th, 2013

Two good things happened on the same day. First, Belaïd was selected in the Team of the Week. Second, Malonga returned to full training after his injury. He was unlikely to play against Wolfsburg, but he'd surely be in the starting eleven for our next fixture.

April 11th, 2013

One comes, another goes: Allgöwer would be out for 7-10 days with a strained wrist.

Dalbeider · March 24, 2011

April 13th, 2013

VfL Wolfsburg (7th) vs. TSV 1860 München (13th) (Bundesliga, 30/34)

Wolfsburg had managed to stay near the top for most of the season, but never quite getting involved in the title fight. Now they were only two points away from Europe, but their form was a bit shaky, alternating victories and defeats and lacking in consistency. We were eight points behind them, so we still had a small chance of catching up to them, but we needed to win for that to become a real possibility.

***

WOLFSBURG (4-2-3-1): Alexander Stolz (GK); Sascha Reither (DR), Marcel Schäfer (DL), Andrea Barzagli (DCr), Simon Kjær (DCl); Makoto Hasebe (MCr), Philipp Bargfrede (MCl); Mario Mandzukic (AMR), Andriy Yarmolenko (AML), Diego (AMC); Patrick Helmes (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Aleksandar Ignjovski (DMC), Tijani Belaïd (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Rafa Jordá (STl)

***

Battaglia and Sutter missed the game due to injury and suspension respectively, as we went back to the 4-1-3-2 with our two tall forwards up front. Wolfsburg put out almost the same starting eleven that lost 2-0 against us a few months before, with Stolz and Reither being the only changes.

An early counterattack by Rafa Jordá was stopped by the home defense, but the ball ended up under Belaïd's control and the midfielder, his confidence sky high after his goal against HSV, unleashed an unstoppable 25 yard effort that Stolz could never have dreamed to stop, scoring the 0-1 in spectacular fashion only three minutes after kick off. Yarmolenko tried to answer straight back with a similar long distance shot, but there wasn't any possible comparison, and the ball flew softly into Bolat's hands.

The winger got much closer after gathering a loose ball inside the box and shooting right-footed, but Bolat flew sideways to deflect the ball wide. The following corner kick was headed by Kjær into the net, outjumping Ghvinianidze with ease to draw the game only five minutes after the opener. Wolfsburg kept pushing, and soon the always dangerous Helmes (26 goals thus far) sent a good effort over the bar, and Barzagli followed up with a high header following a free kick taken by Diego.

We finally managed to recover from the blow and stabilized ourselves, and soon Belaïd had a great chance to score the second after a nice assist by Moralez, but Stolz pushed his centered finish away. Wolfsburg struck on the counter almost immediately, with Mandzukic running down the right flank and crossing towards the unmarked Helmes, who blasted it in to put Wolfsburg ahead in the 26th minute of the game.

Another counterattack two minutes later almost ended in the same way, but this time Helmes' finish was bad and Bolat saved with ease. We almost got the draw back in the 35th when Kjær tackled Rafa Jordá inside the box, pushing the ball towards his own goal, but Stolz reacted in time with an acrobatic save and tipped it wide for a corner kick.

The goalkeeper couldn't do the same five minutes later when Uzoma found Rafa Jordá in the box with a nice little touch, and the striker put the ball into the back of the net with a subtle, placed finish, scoring the 2-2. Helmes kept trying, but once again he found Bolat in the way of his turnaround finish. A thrilling first half ended shortly afterwards with both teams level.

HALF TIME - 2-2

The crazyness continued almost without pause after the break. Three minutes into the second half Mandzukic crossed from the right wing, Yarmolenko headed downwards and the ball slipped under Bolat's body and into the net for the 3-2. Two minutes later Belaïd split the defense with a great through ball that Moralez wasted with a very wide finish. Uzoma followed up with a great power shot from just inside the box that Stolz managed to keep out of the net somehow.

Wolfsburg kept striking on the counter, and Helmes finished their next approach with a narrowly high shot from the edge of the area. Faye and Malonga, who returned to action after his injury, replaced Pocognoli and Viatri, both pretty poor once again. The left back's first action of the game was a narrowly wide shot following a bad clearance after a corner kick. Helmes almost sealed the game in the 68th after a great pass by Mandzukic, but his low finish hit the post before being cleared by the defense.

In the 75th, though, we couldn't do anything as another corner kick became the 4-2, headed home by Mandzukic with a great jump. Rusol replaced Ghvinianidze after the Georgian suffered a painful-looking injury. Another great run and pass by Moralez almost turned into the 4-3, but Stolz stopped Malonga's finish with a good save. Faye also had to leave the game early due to injury, leaving us without left back for the whole injury time. Thankfully it was short, and an absolute madness of a game ended in a clear victory for Wolfsburg.

***

VfL Wolfsburg 4 (Simon Kjær 8, Patrick Helmes 26, Andriy Yarmolenko 48, Mario Mandzukic 75)

TSV 1860 München 2 (Tijani Belaïd 3, Rafa Jordá 40)

---

Wow, that was surely entertaining for the neutrals. Too bad I wasn't one of them, and so I had to complain about the mess that our whole defense was throughout the game. Still, the game was so mad that anyone could have won, so we could count us unlucky with the final result.

Faye wouldn't play again that season after tearing his calf muscle. He'd be out of contention for 3-4 months.

Dalbeider · March 26, 2011

April 21st, 2013

TSV 1860 München (13th) vs. 1.FC Nürnberg (17th) (Bundesliga, 31/34)

Probably the easiest game remaining until the end of the season. Nürnberg had only won one game of their last five (kind of like us, only without any draws to show either) and a defeat combined with a victory for both Eintracht and Werder would send them straight towards the 2.Bundesliga.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Florin Lovin (DMC), Tijani Belaïd (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Leandro Romagnoli (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

NÜRNBERG (4-2-3-1): André Dias (GK); Juri Judt (DR), Dennis Grote (DL), Dominic Maroh (DCr), Andreas Wolf (DCl); Adrian Cristea (MCr), Per Nilsson (MCl); Geoffrey Mujangi Bia (AMR), Dario Vidosic (AMC), Sergio Peter (AML); Roman Bednar (ST)

***

Lovin and Malonga returned to the lineup, while Sutter regained his place at the right back and Romagnoli replaced the suspended Uzoma to complete one of our most attacking midfields to date. The game started slow, and when the first attack came it was on the wrong goal, Mujangi Bia shooting from the right side of the box and meeting a great reflex save by Bolat. That woke us up, and soon Moralez was setting up Rafa Jordá for an easy finish that only Dias' rush prevented from becoming a goal.

And then, nothing, at least until Vidosic tried to beat Bolat with a centered shot but failed to do so in the 32nd minute. The game was boring and Nürnberg were having no difficulties in keeping us under control. Only individual efforts seemed to work, and Malonga hit the crossbar with a long range attempt after a nice run through the middle. The first half ended, as predictable, without goals.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Nothing much happened in the first quarter of the second half either, and we soon had to bring some substitutes in. Kladrubsky took Pocognoli's place, Ludwig replaced an exhausted Moralez and Viatri came in Rafa Jordá's place. Not only didn't things improve, they got worse: Lovin had to leave the field injured in the 72nd minute, leaving us with ten players on the pitch.

Viatri had the first chance of the half in the 84th (!!) minute after a good recovery by Belaïd, but couldn't manage to put the ball past Dias and the keeper cleared without much trouble. In the 90th minute Maroh was sent off after a trip on Malonga when the French striker was running after a long pass that had fled over the defense, but it was way too late to matter at all. A goalless draw in an absolutely dire game.

***

TSV 1860 München 0

1.FC Nürnberg 0 (Dominic Maroh sent off 90)

---

Shortest match report ever. Not that there was anything interesting to talk about anyway. Terrible game for both teams.

May 1st, 2013

We got a small scare when Bolat started limping in training. Thankfully it was only a damaged heel that would only make him miss 5-7 days and one game.

Dalbeider · March 28, 2011

May 4th, 2013

Hannover 96 (4th) vs. TSV 1860 München (13th) (Bundesliga, 32/34)

And what a game it was. Hannover were making a final push for the 3rd place, and their form was fantastic, having not lost a game in their last five fixtures. We came with some significant absences, most notably Bolat, yet we still had hope of stealing something from this game and, maybe, climb a few places in the table.

***

HANNOVER (4-4-2): Markus Miller (GK); Sergio Pinto (DR), Emanuel Pogatetz (DL), Mario Eggimann (DCr), Sandro (DCl); Nicolás Bertolo (MR), Christian Schulz (ML), Lars Stindl (MCr), Leon Andreasen (MCl); Mikael Forssell (STr), Mohammed Abdellaoue (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Gábor Király (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Jiri Kladrubsky (DMC), Leandro Romagnoli (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Király returned to the lineup for the first time since the first game of the season. Hannover started dominating as one would expect, and soon Bertolo had their first chance breaking into the box from the right wing and shooting into the sidenetting. Our answer came from a corner kick that Béda couldn't head clearly, the ball rolling slowly towards Miller's hands. We slowly improved, keeping Hannover's attacks under check while trying to create our own.

A good steal by Pocognoli turned into a great chance for Malonga, but the forward blasted the ball over the bar, still looking a bit out of form after his long injury. Hannover responded with a good pass by Forssell towards the left side of the box, Schulz gathering it and shooting first time into Király's good diving save.

The veteran goalkeeper also did well to save a weak header by the left winger two minutes later, but on his third try, this time with a low, powerful shot from the edge of the box in the 21st minute, Schulz finally managed to beat Király and give Hannover the lead. They kept attacking after the goal, and soon Andreasen sent a long range effort over the bar. The midfielder got closer with a direct free kick that Király had to punch away.

We weren't doing much, but Ghvinianidze still managed to hit the crossbar with a great header after a free kick taken by Moralez. The small midfielder did it again with a great assist towards Malonga, who once again wasted the chance with a way too high finish. Even worse, the same play happened twice in only two minutes, with the exact same result: ball flying high, Malonga with his head in his hands. Still, our improvement in the last ten minutes of the half gave us hope of coming back from behind after the break.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Hannover went forward after half time, trying to seal the deal, but Abdellaoue wasted their first chance with another high ball. Rafa Jordá and Ludwig replaced Viatri and Romagnoli after yet another poor performance by both Argentinians. Romagnoli wasn't happy at all with his substitution, but Ludwig soon proved him wrong by stealing a ball and launching a counterattack that only a good save by Miller after Malonga's shot prevented from becoming the 1-1.

In the 60th minute a mess inside Hannover's box turned into the draw when Jordá nodded towards Moralez, whose shot was deflected into the net by Pinto. The players looked pumped up after the goal, and soon Malonga had yet another chance to put us ahead, but his finish went wide. Belaïd soon replaced him, and we moved to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Another chance fell to us after a counterattack led by Ludwig and finished by Jordá, whose shot was perfectly parried by a very in form Miller.

Abdellaoue tried luck from afar but his cannonball went just a little bit too high. Another quick attack was finished by Belaïd, and once again Miller dived perfectly to hold the ball and prevent another goal. The Tunisian had yet another one-on-one with the goalkeeper after a great long pass by Kladrubsky, but failed to hit the target by milimeters, sending his finish wide to the right. Two terribly wide shots by Uzoma and Bertolo followed, with both teams doing their best to break the draw in their favour.

A high header by Ghvinianidze in a corner kick two minutes before the end was our next chance to take the lead, and in the 90th minute we finally got the goal we had deserverd: Rafa Jordá sent a fantastic pass towards the free space on the left half of the box, Ludwig ran in and volleyed the high ball to beat Miller and score the 1-2. The game ended three minutes later, and we grabbed the three points after a great second half performance.

***

Hannover 96 1 (Christian Schulz 21)

TSV 1860 München 2 (Sergio Pinto og 60, Alexander Ludwig 90)

---

Ludwig's season had been pretty poor until then, but he was always there when an heroic, last minute goal was needed. Great win, nice performance and a massive climb on the table, leading us to the 9th place. The worst part of that win was that we almost gifted Bayern the 3rd place and the Champions League spot that goes with it.

Bochum, our next rival, relegated to the 2.Bundesliga. Nürnberg were one point away of doing the same.

May 7th, 2013

Another player who wouldn't play again until the next preseason at the earliest was Rusol, who suffered a damaged achilles tendon and would be out for 2-3 months.

Dalbeider · March 29, 2011

May 11th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (9th) vs. VfL Bochum (18th) (Bundesliga, 33/34)

A game against an already relegated team should have been an easy task for us, but we didn't have to look too far back to see what happened when we took this kind of games for granted. We'd have to work hard to keep our place and put some pressure on Köln in the 8th place.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alexander Ludwig (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

BOCHUM (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Philipp Heerwagen (GK); Marc Pfertzel (DR), Björn Kopplin (DL), Anthar Yahia (DCr), Mergim Mavraj (DCl); Marcel Maltritz (DMC), Milos Maric (MCr), Diego (MCl), Pedro Morales (AMC); John Guidetti (STr), Maxim Choupo-Moting (STl)

***

We started well for a change, with Malonga sending an early chance following a good pass by Pocognoli into the sidenetting, but Bochum also struck quickly thanks to a wide banana shot by Morales from outside the box. Bolat had work four minutes later in a counterattack finished by Choupo-Moting after some questionable defending by Ghvinianidze.

Pocognoli was looking good in those first minutes, and a cross from the left back crashed into the crossbar after it was met by Rafa Jordá's header. Bolat saved again, stopping a good shot by Diego after a nice backpass by Guidetti. We finally took control of the game after a pretty hectic start and calmed down the pace, and in the 31st minute a good cross from the right wing by Ludwig turned into the 1-0 after Mavraj failed to clear the ball and put it into his own net.

Guidetti went for the instant reply after a good assist by Choupo-Moting, but Bolat was well positioned and parried his shot. Uzoma's long distance shot five minutes before the end went, for a change, straight at goal, but Heerwagen did well to save it and prevent the 2-0. Another good through ball by Ludwig was caught by Malonga, with some opposition by Mavraj that made the forward unable to shoot on target. The first half ended with a short advantage for us, but with the game looking under control.

HALF TIME - 1-0

The first ten minutes of the second half looked pretty much the same, with us passing the ball around Bochum's box looking for a gap while the visitors waited on the defensive and tried to launch a counterattack from time to time. Malonga got the first shot in with a high finish after a nice but difficult to control pass by Moralez. The striker got much closer with a turnaround shot from the edge of the box that licked the outside of the right post.

It was time for substitutions, and Belaïd and Romagnoli replaced Jordá and Ludwig, moving us to a 4-2-3-1 with Malonga as our lone striker. Time passed and Bochum didn't even try to get the draw, while we controlled the game with ease. Three minutes before the end we sealed things up the traditional way: corner taken by Moralez and headed in by Ghvinianidze, who scored his sixth goal of the season and put the game beyong any doubt. Nothing else happened, and the three points stayed in the Allianz.

TSV 1860 München 2 (Mergim Mavraj og 31, Mate Ghvinianidze 87)

VfL Bochum 0

---

Solid, easy win. We climbed up one additional place, putting us 8th, the best position we could aspire to. Things were still pretty open, though, and we could finish anywhere from 8th to 12th depending on last week's results. Nürnberg relegated, by the way, and our last fixture would take us to Frankfurt, with Eintracht still in danger of having to play a relegation playoff.

May 14th, 2013

Ghvinianidze and Moralez were selected in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · March 31, 2011

May 18th, 2013

Eintracht Frankfurt (15th) vs. TSV 1860 München (8th) (Bundesliga 34/34)

The end of the line. Frankfurt, despite their still dangerous position (three points above Werder), had managed to chain four unbeaten games in a row, and those points had kept them away from the relegation playoff until then, but they still needed at least a point against us to guarantee their survival. We would have to work hard if we wanted to keep our 8th place.

***

EINTRACHT (4-2-3-1 deep): Ralf Fährmann (GK); Patrick Ochs (DR), Radar (DL), Maik Franz (DCr), Marco Russ (DCl); Sven Bender (DMCr), Ricardo Clark (DMCl); Martin Fenin (AMR), Alexander Meier (AMC), Jajá (AML); Caio (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alexander Ludwig (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

We repeated the same eleven in two consecutive games for the first time in almost forever. Eintracht showed from the start that they were aiming for the win, and Fenin stung Bolat's hands with a powerful shot from just inside the box after cutting in from the right wing in the second minute of the game. But we weren't going to let them be, and following a great steal by Ludwig, Rafa Jordá skinned Franz with supreme ease, ran at Fährmann and blasted the ball in to give us the lead in the 4th minute.

Our morale rising by the minute, Moralez smashed a great looking shot into the woodwork only two minutes later, while Frankfurt looked unable to cope with us. Ghvinianidze kept the pressure up with a downwards header in a corner kick that Fährmann dived into and saved. Another corner kick gave Eintracht a great chance to draw the game in the 14th, but Caio's header made the crossbar crack before going over.

The game finally calmed down after that, and we kept it under control for the following fifteen minutes without trouble. In the 34th Ludwig scored his second assist of the game with a terrific diagonal pass towards Malonga, who broke into the box unmarked and rifled it in first time to double our lead, scoring his first goal after his injury and his eleventh league goal overall.

But Eintracht answered immediately, and one minute later Jajá assisted Meier and the attacking midfielder unleashed a great left-footed shot into our top left corner to pull one back for the home team. And in the 38th Caio received near the edge of the box, feinted once, dribbled past Ghvinianidze and blasted another unstoppable shot into the back of the net, drawing the game.

Now the momentum was with Eintracht, and Bolat had to pull all stops with a miraculous save to a point-blank finish by Fenin in the 42nd. A final header by Clark that the goalkeeper saved easily marked the end of a very entertaining first half.

HALF TIME - 2-2

Results at half time left us in the 9th place, with only HSV overtaking us. Eintracht had enough with the draw, but still went forward looking for more, with Clark blasting the ball into outer space from thirty yards away in the 54th minute as the first half-chance of the half. The game was much slower now, though, and it took us until nine minutes later to get our first shot in, a low and wide effort by Uzoma from the edge of the box.

Ludwig also tried luck a bit later, but his shot wasn't much better and the ball didn't go anywhere near the target. We brought some fresh legs into the game, replacing the tired Battaglia and Moralez with Kladrubsky and Belaïd. Eintracht became more defensive with each passing minute, while we kept attacking with a controlled frame of mind, never allowing ourselves to go crazy.

A great chance for Malonga in the 77th minute, following a nice through ball by Belaïd, was denied by Fährmann with a good parry, and the goalkeeper tipped wide a difficult finish by Rafa Jordá a minute later, as our patience finally started paying off. But our ideas dried up in the final minutes, time ran out and both teams left the pitch happy with one point, their respective objectives achieved.

***

Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Alexander Meier 35, Caio 38)

TSV 1860 München 2 (Rafa Jordá 4, Dominique Malonga 34)

---

A shame about those final ten minutes of the first half, but otherwise we had a good game and probably deserved to win. No matter though, we managed a very good final 9th place in the end, while Eintracht didn't even need the point to keep the 15th place, since Werder lost against HSV.

Leverkusen finally managed to retain the title with a convincing 1-4 win over Hannover in their last fixture, making Schalke's 1-2 defeat at home against Freiburg completely inconsequential. Bayern took third and the Champions League place that went with it, while the two league Europa League positions went to Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim in the end, after a very tight fight against Dortmund and Hannover. The former of those two still had a shot at Europe with the DFB Pokal final against Werder, who would also have to face Bielefeld in a two-legged relegation playoff. Bochum and Nürnberg would be replaced by Duisburg and Oberhausen, two somewhat surprising new members of the Bundesliga for the following season. In more shocking news, Hertha would have to play a relegation playoff against Offenbach to avoid dropping two levels in a row!

The prize money for our 9th place was a very nice €20,892,000. The club's accounts were looking fantastic after three years of steady growth, thirty-six millions in the black and with the board seriously considering repaying the outstanding €15M loan they had agreed to before my arrival. Things looked promising for the future.

[font=Courier New]| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | ECC   | Leverkusen     |       | 34    | 21    | 7     | 6     | 58    | 29    | +29   | 70    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | ECC   | Schalke        |       | 34    | 20    | 7     | 7     | 53    | 33    | +20   | 67    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | ECC   | FC Bayern      |       | 34    | 20    | 5     | 9     | 54    | 25    | +29   | 65    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   | EC    | Wolfsburg      |       | 34    | 18    | 4     | 12    | 68    | 45    | +23   | 58    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   | EC    | Hoffenheim     |       | 34    | 15    | 12    | 7     | 46    | 31    | +15   | 57    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Dortmund       |       | 34    | 16    | 9     | 9     | 50    | 40    | +10   | 57    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Hannover       |       | 34    | 16    | 7     | 11    | 57    | 49    | +8    | 55    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | HSV            |       | 34    | 14    | 5     | 15    | 41    | 49    | -8    | 47    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color=mediumturquoise][b]| 9th   |       | 1860 München   |       | 34    | 11    | 13    | 10    | 46    | 43    | +3    | 46    | [/b][/color]
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Gladbach       |       | 34    | 12    | 9     | 13    | 36    | 37    | -1    | 45    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Köln           |       | 34    | 12    | 8     | 14    | 41    | 43    | -2    | 44    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Freiburg       |       | 34    | 12    | 8     | 14    | 49    | 54    | -5    | 44    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Stuttgart      |       | 34    | 11    | 10    | 13    | 38    | 42    | -4    | 43    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Kaiserslautern |       | 34    | 11    | 7     | 16    | 43    | 51    | -8    | 40    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Frankfurt      |       | 34    | 9     | 7     | 18    | 34    | 50    | -16   | 34    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  | Pl    | Werder Bremen  |       | 34    | 7     | 9     | 18    | 34    | 59    | -25   | 30    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | R     | Nürnberg       |       | 34    | 7     | 5     | 22    | 30    | 65    | -35   | 26    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | R     | Bochum         |       | 34    | 6     | 4     | 24    | 31    | 64    | -33   | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[/font]

Dalbeider · March 31, 2011

TSV 1860 München - End of season player summary

Goalkeepers

[font=Courier New]
Name               Apps    Conceded  Clean Sheets  MoM  Av.Rat.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sinan Bolat          34          42             9    2     6.93
Gábor Király          2           3             0    0     6.75
Björn Bussmann      N/A         N/A           N/A  N/A      N/A
Heinz Müller        N/A         N/A           N/A  N/A      N/A[/font]

Bolat was almost always our starter, with the only exception being the first league game, in which Király showed that he wasn't up to the Bundesliga standard anymore, and one game near the end of the season in which he was injured and the Hungarian did decently well. Overall, an average season for the Turk, with good performances in general but a drop in both average rating and clean sheet percentage after his outstanding debut season. We would be expecting better from him in the following year. Bussmann and Müller didn't feature at all.

Full Backs

[font=Courier New]
Name                 Apps     Goals    Assists    MoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Sutter        26(5)         0          5      1     10     0     6.99
Jiri Kladrubsky     14(4)         2          1      0      1     0     6.77
Ibrahima Faye       16(4)         0          2      0      2     0     6.82
Sylvain Monsoreau    8(2)         0          2      0      1     0     6.83
Sébastien Pocognoli    12         0          0      1      1     0     6.85[/font]

Sutter quickly stablished himself as the best option in the right back, despite a somewhat shaky start of the season while he adapted to his new team and a poor final stretch. His five assists were certainly very welcome, but his ten yellow cards were just a tad excessive. Kladrubsky's average to bad performances didn't exactly help his case and relegated him to a backup role most of the time, although he performed a bit better when played in the midfield. We were considering buying a dedicated backup right back and move the Czech permanently to the anchor man role, as an alternative to the ageing Battaglia.

The left wing looked a bit more problematic, but in reality all three players did acceptably well when called upon. Faye had injury problems throughout the season that limited his playing time, and Monsoreau covered up well for him in the first half of the year. Then Pocognoli arrived in January and made his bid to make the left back position his permanently. His first five or six games were pretty bad, but he improved dramatically in the final games of the season, and he should be the default starter for the following season if nothing goes wrong.

Center Backs

[font=Courier New]
Name                 Apps     Goals    Assists    MoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mate Ghvinianidze      28         6          0      1      2     2     7.19
Mathieu Béda        26(1)         3          0      1      6     0     6.97
Andriy Rusol        19(4)         1          0      0      4     0     6.92
Lukas Sinkiewicz     0(1)         0          0      0      0     0     7.10[/font]

Once again, a great year for our Georgian stalwart Mate Ghvinianidze. Six goals, all coming from set pieces and most of them coming from Moralez's crosses, were a fantastic output for a center back, and his defensive performances were almost without fault. The only problem were those two red cards, which costed us dearly, and some minor injuries that kept him out of the team for a while. Béda was his usual companion once again, and after a fantastic first half of the season in which he looked even better than the Georgian, he fell out of form after the winter break and his performances suffered accordingly. Still, his three goals were also very welcome.

The new guy Rusol was the second choice for both positions in the center of the defense. He was unspectacular, but provided a solid cover and rotation option, and with Béda being 31 already, he was likely to see increased minutes from then on if he managed to keep that level of consistency. The one who missed out this season was, as expected, Sinkiewicz, who only featured once after one of Mate's sending offs, and who had already declared his intention of leaving the club in the summer. Once again, we would be looking for a new center back, hopefully for someone who could compete with Béda for the starting spot.

Midfielders

[font=Courier New]Name                   Apps     Goals    Assists    MoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sebastián Battaglia   26(2)         2          0      0      3     0     6.87
Aleksandar Ignjovski  13(8)         0          1      0      1     1     6.66
Florin Lovin           5(4)         0          0      0      1     0     6.77
Eke Uzoma             24(3)         0          2      0      5     0     6.84
Maximiliano Moralez   29(4)         1         12      4      1     0     7.14
Tijani Belaïd        17(12)         2          3      1      0     0     6.79
Leandro Romagnoli    13(11)         1          1      0      1     1     6.70
Alexander Ludwig     15(15)         2          6      0      3     0     6.72[/font]

A pretty average season for our midfielders, with one shining exception: Moralez. Despite a slow start, the small Argentinian once again became the driving force behind our attack, becoming not only the best provider in our team, but also the second best in the whole Bundesliga only behind Mandzukic, thanks to twelve league assists. Most of those came from set pieces, but he was still the most active midfielder with the ball moving. Ludwig was our second best passer, but what his six assists hide is a very, very poor season in general, only slightly improved in the final fixtures. Uzoma's numbers were pretty poor overall, too, but at least he did better on average, although we missed his goalscoring contribution. He may have hit his roof already.

Defensively speaking, Battaglia remained the most solid of our options, and that consistency earned him a new contract despite not having shined as much as we would have expected back when we signed him. He was also helped by the worrying drop in the quality of Ignjovski's and Lovin's performances. The Serbian's case was specially jarring, since he had many minutes, both as an anchor man as a more advanced midfielder, and did little worth of mention in either position. Lovin did acceptably well as a backup, and the injuries he suffered didn't help him stablish himself in the squad.

The two new guys didn't exactly set the world alight either. Belaïd was plagued by a poor adaptation to the German football and a serious mental weakness which always made him look nervous and out of place. He only calmed down when he managed an early goal or assist, and then he looked like the player we had signed, but that was a rare sight. In the end he had to resign himself to the role of coming from the bench and helping us solve difficult matches in the final minutes. Romagnoli had a rough start with an early red card that hurt his confidence, but a decent run of form in the second half of the season gave us some glimpses of his quality as a playmaker. He'd better take the chance to shine next year, because his age won't allow for many more opportunities.

Strikers

[font=Courier New]Name                   Apps     Goals    Assists    MoM    Y.C   R.C  Av.Rat.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rafa Jordá            23(5)         7          4      1      7     0     6.95
Dominique Malonga     21(7)        11          2      3      1     0     6.93
Benjamin Lauth        11(3)         9          2      3      0     0     7.36
Lucas Viatri           9(2)         1          4      0      2     1     6.63
Torben Allgöwer        4(3)         1          0      0      1     0     6.77[/font]

A breakout season for Malonga, in which he finally showed what he was capable of after a promising but somewhat lacking debut last year. He became our leading goalscorer even after missing most of the final stretch of the season with an annoying injury. He also showed that, like most strikers, he is prone to streaks, both good and bad. With some consistency, he could become a great player for us, and he was still young enough to improve. Rafa Jordá had another solid season but without coming anywhere near the heights of his debut year, only managing to increase his goal count with three golas in the final fixtures. His discipline was also somewhat problematic, and he was even the first 1860 player to serve a suspension after five yellow cards.

Lauth was fantastic, scoring nine goals in only fourteen appearances and leading the squad in average rating. The problem was exactly that: only fourteen appearances. An early injury kept him out until the end of November, and a broken foot ruled him out for the reminder of the season very early in February. We would be hoping for a less eventful season for the upcoming year, hopefully allowing the veteran striker to show his true colours with consistency for once. His natural successor, Allgöwer, made an impact with his game-deciding goal against Bayern, but otherwise looked a bit too green for the Bundesliga. Being seventeen already, he should be ready to make the jump for good soon, probably next season.

Viatri came in January as an alternative for Jordá, and despite a slow adaptation, he showed some glimpses of what he could become for us with four assists in his first few games, although he disappointed a bit in the goalscoring department and with his lack of discipline. His real test would be the next season, when he was expected to rotate with the Spaniard as our target man.

Dalbeider · April 4, 2011

May 22nd, 2013

Malonga would have to endure some pain during his summer holidays after breaking his collarbone in training. He was expected to be out for 6-7 weeks, meaning that he should be back just in time for the first preseason matches.

In a perfect mirror of the previous season, Leverkusen also retained their title as Europa League champions, this time with a difficult 2-1 win over Sporting CP. Early goals by Rolfes and Obasi led the Bundesliga champions to their second consecutive double.

May 25th, 2013

Dortmund had to work a bit harder than expected to defeat Werder in the DFB Pokal final, but they managed it in the end, winning 3-2 thanks to a hattrick by Lucas Barrios, sealed in the third minute of injury time. That win gave them a place in the next edition of the Europa League.

May 29th, 2013

Werder survived again, with an aggregate 4-1 win over Bielefeld in the relegation playoff.

The players got €550k to be split among them as a performance based bonus, given our final position in the league. They would sure go on holiday with a happy face.

May 30th, 2013

Time for some end of season awards. Helmes was the top goalscorer with 32 (!) goals, Ribéry was named as the Footballer of the Year, and Neuer, Lahm, Robben and Mandzukic were chosen as the Goalkeeper, Defender, Midfielder and Striker of the year respectively. Our first and only mention came in the Manager of the Year award, in which I managed to grab a very surprising third place, behind Hannover's Tuchel and the eventual winner, Leverkusen's Rehhagel. The Player's Manager of the Year award ended up exactly the same. Quite happy with that, to be honest.

The players finally went on holiday, and were expected to return on the 24th of June.

The board announced that they had decided to invest €4.1M in some improvement work on our training facilities, which was a welcome parting gift.

June 1st, 2013

The Champions League returned to Spain, as Barça grabbed their fourth overall European crown with a deserved 0-1 win against Roma in Ibrox. David Villa scored the only goal of the game two minutes into injury time of the second half, sending more than a few fans with heart issues straight towards the hospital.

June 2nd, 2013

Six players would have to wait for a bit to start their holidays, since they received international callups for the summer qualifying matches. Kladrubsky, Bolat, Király, Belaïd, Uzoma and Pocognoli joined their respective national teams.

Disaster in Berlin: Hertha relegated to the 3.Liga after losing 5-4 on aggregate against local rivals Union Berlin. I can only imagine the riots.

June 8th, 2013

Substitute appearances for Kladrubsky and Uzoma in easy victories for their national teams, while Pocognoli played the whole match with Belgium in a 3-1 defeat against Italy, as did Király in Hungary's easy 3-0 win over Albania.

June 9th, 2013

A surprise award for us: Torben Allgöwer was chosen as the best U17 player in the whole Germany. Not a bad way to end the season for the youngster.

Lukas Sinkiewicz wanted to leave, and a few teams like Mallorca, Lens and Toulouse made €2.1M bids for him, which I promptly accepted.

June 14th, 2013

The center back chose Lens in the end. The transfer was completed immediately, since the French transfer window was already open.

Uzoma stayed for a bit longer with the Nigerian squad to play in the Confederations Cup.

June 15th, 2013

No changes in Germany's assigned slots in both European competitions, remaining in 4th place in the coefficients table. Despite Leverkusen's second consecutive Europa League trophy, the nation's coefficient points kept dropping after yet another bad overall performance in the Champions League. Italy were almost nine thousand points ahead in the 3rd place, and that distance was expected to increase even further after the 2008/09 results were discarded one year later. Regaining the fourth slot in the Champions League would be tough.

June 16th, 2013

Shareholder benefits were announced by the board, totalling €5.25M after a €65.4M turnover. Not bad at all.

Our new main kit sponsorship was only slightly better than the last one (€2.1M per season instead of €2.04M), but this time the deal would last three years. Given our steady improvement and that we would be hoping to make it to Europe sooner rather than later, this didn't seem like a great idea at the time.

The club received a grand total of €1.45M as club membership fees.

June 19th, 2013

With Sinkiewicz gone we needed a new center back, and the answer came from Nürnberg in exchange for €2M: Dominic Maroh, a 26-year-old pure defender, great tackler and marker and decent enough in the air. He was expected to push Béda for a first team place and Rusol for the backup minutes, hopefully improving everyone's performances along the way.

Dalbeider · April 5, 2011

June 20th, 2013

New season is a go!

Somewhat surprisingly, Scott Sutter was chosen as the Fans' Player of the Year. I guess being a new face helped him against the better performances of Ghvinianidze, Moralez or Lauth.

Once again we were to start the Bundesliga at home against a difficult rival, this time Hoffenheim, following it up with a complicated travel to Köln. Also once again, the first Münchner derby would be played with us as the home team and in October. The last fixture would take us to Freiburg.

TV rights money received: €11M. Nice.

The season expectations were a bit trickier this time. Herr Beeck had already learnt that we had enough quality in our squad to stay clear of the relegation battle with little effort, so he was expecting a safe midtable position at the very least. In a somewhat rare bout of self-confidence (maybe overconfidence?), I decided to do one better and promise a top-half finish. That gave me €7.25M to spend on transfers and a somewhat limited wage budget of €425k per week, not much more than our current spending. I could always shift some money around between both budgets to make ends meet.

Lots of new players arrived to the U19 squad that summer, although the overall quality left something to be desired. The best of the bunch was Murat Solmaz, a very defensive-minded midfielder that could maybe become a first-teamer sometime in the future, but the rest were mostly filler. Demir, Allgöwer, Boumsong and Schölz remained our best prospects, with the first two and the latter looking very likely to make the jump to the first team this season.

Leverkusen and Wolfsburg were said to be chasing Moralez. If there was anyone in the squad that was definetly NOT for sale, it was him.

Uzoma debuted in the Confederations Cup with a good performance in a 1-2 defeat against Portugal.

June 21st, 2013

The yearly profits were announced, and they totalled €8.25M, a pretty hefty amount considering that we spent quite a bit on transfers.

The Bundesliga title odds were out once again, and the bookies certainly expected a tight season once again. Bayern were made favourites at 5-1, but Leverkusen at 6-1 and Hoffenheim at 8-1 were pretty close. Farther behind were Schalke (16-1), Wolfsburg (25-1) and Dortmund (33-1). Our rate improved, but was still pretty abysmal: 500-1.

June 24th, 2013

Another solid game by Uzoma in a spirited 0-0 draw against Brazil, which was not enough to see Nigeria making it to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup.

July 1st, 2013

Transfer window opened, contracts ended. Bussmann, Monsoreau and Schäffler left the club, Maroh arrived. Not much movement this time, as we aimed to keep the same core players while adding only one or two new faces, trying to ease the adaptation process.

Herr Beeck was extremely happy with my work, apparently, and decided to offer me a new contract: €25k per week until the end of the 2016/17 season, which I quickly and very happily accepted. This job kept getting better and better.

Our rise in the world's richest clubs table kept going steady, as we improved to reach the 52nd place. Barça remained at the top.

July 3rd, 2013

The second signing of the season finally arrived: Ibson, a Brazilian midfielder coming from Spartak Moscow for the meager price of €925k. We managed to get him ahead of Leverkusen, so me must have been doing something right. Ibson was a 29-year-old technical midfielder, well suited to the deep-lying playmaker role. We could play him in Battaglia's place if we ever needed more creativity in our midfield, or alongside Moralez in the more advanced line. This, plus Demir's constant improvement in the youth team, made Lovin's, Ignjovski's and Romagnoli's futures quite dubious.

July 5th, 2013

Ghvinianidze had a rare case of summer flu, and he was sent home for 4-5 days to help him recover.

July 7th, 2013

Once again the draw for the first round of the DFB Pokal gave us an easy... wait a minute. Hertha? Away? Oh, come on!

The club had sold eight thousand season tickets in only two weeks. That number looked promising...

---

US Dunkerque vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

France was the chosen nation for our initial preseason tour, and we kicked things off with a match against non-leaguers Dunkerque. They didn't seem to understand the meaning of "friendly match", though, and five minutes in the referee had to dismiss Héloïse with a straight red card after a two-footed challenge on Rafa Jordá. Malonga grabbed the first goal of the game in the 16th after a good cross by Sutter, but that was all we could manage in the first half.

Lauth finally made it 0-2 following a great assist by Kladrubsky in the 67th, and Viatri hit the bar eleven minutes later. A game-ending injury to Belaïd five minutes before the end left us with an bitter aftertaste that Ludwig's goal in injury time couldn't erase. An easy, if a bit short, win.

US Dunkerque 0 (Laurent Héloïse sent off 5)

TSV 1860 München 3 (Dominique Malonga 16, Benjamin Lauth 67, Alexander Ludwig 90+1)

July 8th, 2013

It looked like Romagnoli would be the one to lose out with Ibson's arrival, and a €775k offer from Angers, with Dijon also reportedly interested in him, looked like a good way out for the midfielder.

July 9th, 2013

The transfer market activity was slowly rising. Aston Villa got a €2.1M bid for Pocognoli rejected straight away, while Leverkusen started the "let's chase 1860's youngsters" game with a reported interest on Demir.

July 10th, 2013

Woah, surprise. Mourad Meghni retired from professional football with immediate effect. The midfielder was transfer listed, but he was still in his prime and could have done well in another team, yet he suddenly decided to call it a day. His life, I guess...

July 14th, 2013

Demir kept being the star of the summer. Now Sevilla came with a €975k + 30% of profits offer, which was rejected without a second thought. The worrysome part was the humongous list of teams interested in the midfielder, including but not limited to Chelsea, Leverkusen, Roma and Atlético de Madrid.

---

Vendée Herbiers Football vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Another non-league French squad, Vendée Herbiers, were our next rivals in our summer tour. We started asleep, and Felsina struck the frame of Bolat's goal with a good finish in the very first minute of the game, but a clear penalty on Malonga two minutes later allowed Moralez to put us ahead. The home team did very well to contain us in the first half, though, and even enjoyed some further chances on the counter.

The second half was more of the same, and Vendée Herbiers grabbed a very deserved draw with a fantastic first-time banana shot from distance by Brahim-Bounab in the 79th. Thankfully, a cross from the right by Ghvinianidze two minutes later was finished by Demir to put us ahead again, and we managed to steal a win we only deserved during the final ten minutes of the game.

Vendée Herbiers Football 1 (Nabil Brahim-Bounab 79)

TSV 1860 München 2 (Maximiliano Moralez pen 3, Christian Demir 81)

July 17th, 2013

Red Star Football Club 93 vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

More of the same, this time bringing us to the small suburb of Saint-Ouen, just south of Saint-Denis and Paris. Rafa Jordá got a goal disallowed for a somewhat dubious offside position in the 13th minute, and we needed eighteen additional minutes to finally score a legal goal, thanks to Jordá's assist and Malonga's point-blank finish. That opened the floodgates, though, and two minutes later Jordá assisted again, this time with a backpass towards Moralez who buried his shot into the top left corner. The Spaniard picked up a knock just before the end of the first half. Nothing of interest happened in a very poor second half, and the game ended in yet another short victory.

Red Star Football Club 93 0

TSV 1860 München 2 (Dominique Malonga 31, Maximiliano Moralez 33)

---

Jordá's injury turned out to be a twisted ankle, keeping the striker out for 3 weeks, and the remainder of the preseason.

July 18th, 2013

After some haggling, Romagnoli finally agreed a move to Angers, netting us €750k in transfer fees. Lovin and Ignjovski would stay, for now.

Dalbeider · April 7, 2011

July 20th, 2013

Stade Brestois 29 vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

The most serious opponent we found in the French tour, Brest were in the Ligue 2 and would give us a bit more of a challenge that the previous amateur teams. A very boring first half brought little danger to either goal and no goals at all. Two minutes into the second half a chain of defensive mistakes ended in a clear foul by Ghvinianidze inside our box, and Grougi converted the penalty kick into the 1-0. Eleven minutes before the end another bad mistake, this time by Király in a terrible clearance, allowed Tchalla to score the second for Brest. A last minute injury to Ghvinianidze rounded up a terrible performance by everyone involved.

Stade Brestois 29 2 (Bruno Grougi pen 48, Vincent Tchalla 79)

TSV 1860 München 0

July 21st, 2013

The ticket sales kept going well, with over twelve thousand already sold. The thirteen thousand that the board had set as this season's target looked like an easy achievement now.

July 23rd, 2013

FC Zwolle vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

We said goodbye to France and took a short detour to make a stop in Holland, facing second-tier Zwolle in our second-to-last friendly of the summer. We looked much sharper than against Brest, and Moralez hit the bar in the 17th minute after a great team combination. Two minutes later another nice play ended with Uzoma assisting Lauth and the striker scoring the 0-1 off the inside of the post. In the 28th it was Viatri's turn, turning around and shooting in a very Jordá-esque movement after receiving from Ibson.

The second half started with Malonga hitting wood with a trademark powerful finish, and Ludwig joined the woodwork club in the 68th with an almost perfectly placed long shot. One minute later Allgöwer gathered a nod by Belaïd and scored the third almost unopposed. Once again we ended the game with a last minute injury, this time to Belaïd.

FC Zwolle 0

TSV 1860 München 3 (Benjamin Lauth 19, Lucas Viatri 28, Torben Allgöwer 69)

---

Thankfully Belaïd's injury was nothing serious, just a bruised shin. 5 or 6 days of rest and back into the fray.

July 24th, 2013

All-out attack! In a single day, two giants like Barcelona and Milan came bidding for Scholz and Allgöwer. Both offers were rejected without hesitation.

July 25th, 2013

Potentially huge news for the club: Herr Beeck wanted to leave his post as die Löwen's chairman. Apparently another board member would be chosen to take his place. Beeck was a pleasant fellow, so I didn't really want to see him go, but it was his decision in the end.

The squad bonuses were stablished, and there was a noticeable rise in the league bonus, which went from €2M to €2.4M. The cup bonus was still smallish in comparison, only €425k.

July 28th, 2013

Another ticket sales update, and the initial expectations had been already exceeded with 14372 tickets sold. Things were looking good.

---

FC Ingolstadt 04 vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

Back in Germany, we travelled to Ingolstadt for our last friendly match of the preseason. We played a good first half, dominating the game from the beginning without much trouble, but in the end we couldn't break through before half time. We finally grabbed the goal we deserved thanks to a great first-time pass by Ludwig finished with a point-blank volley by Malonga. We kept pushing, but couldn't get a second goal to make our victory a bit clearer. Still, a good performance.

FC Ingolstadt 04 0

TSV 1860 München 1 (Dominique Malonga 69)

August 1st, 2013

Ho-hum. Nantes were apparently interested in Ingjovski. He wasn't going to have many minutes with us, so maybe a transfer would be a good option for him. Wait and see...

Dalbeider · April 11, 2011

August 3rd, 2013

Hertha BSC Berlin vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal 1st round)

Danger. Hertha may have been deep in their worst crisis in recent memory and a 3.Liga squad through and through, but I still hadn't managed a single win against them thus far. We had to win this game, and that pressure could get to the players. All in all, I was a bit nervous before the match, despite our clear superiority.

***

HERTHA (4-2-3-1 deep): Nicola Ravaglia (GK); Thorsten Schulz (DR), Valmir (DL), Namale Mendy (DCr), Christian Lell (DCl); Michael Fink (DMCr), Badr El Kaddouri (DMCl); Gerd Riemer (AMR), Daniel Beichler (AMC), Melvin de Leeuw (AML); Valeri Domovchiyski (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Christian Demir (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

With young Demir in the starting eleven as our only divergence from our theoretical best eleven, we went all in from the start. Six minutes in Malonga blasted over the bar a good chance after a backpass by a generous Viatri. But Hertha soon hit us on the counter, with Domovchiyski being terribly unlucky with his finish hitting the post after a great run through the middle.

In the tenth minute of the game we took the lead after a great cross by Pocognoli that Malonga finished in his usual way, blasting the ball into the back of the net with all the power he could muster. And only two minutes later, another break through the left flank by Malonga allowed Demir to score his first senior goal with a well placed finish from just inside the box. Things were looking up for us.

We kept pushing, and Ghvinianidze headed narrowly over the bar a corner kick in the 20th minute, while Hertha looked unable to cope with us. Demir's morale was up in the clouds, and the youngster tried to grab himself a second goal with a curling shot from outside the box that went just a bit wide to the left. Things slowed down a bit in the final quarter, and we reached the halfway point of the game without further incidents.

HALF TIME - 0-2

Ignjovski replaced a tired Moralez at half time, with Ibson taking the role of main playmaker. Another set piece, this time taken by Demir, was headed over the bar by the always dangerous Ghvinianidze. The Georgian headed another corner kick over the bar not much later, and it looked like his goal was about to arrive. Two more substitutions brought Allgöwer in Viatri's place, while Maroh, a bit shaken after a collision with a rival player, was replaced by Rusol, who still needed fitness after just coming back from an injury.

Our next chance was a narrowly wide direct free kick by Malonga, who was having a great game. That great game was interrupted when a challenge by Beichler injured him, and we were forced to end the game with only Allgöwer up front. Hertha pushed forward a bit more in the final minutes, with El Kaddouri trying a terribly wide left-footed shot as their first attempt in a long while. We held them off without trouble, though, and they only could manage a final wide shot by Kargbo before our victory was confirmed by the final whistle. Easy win.

***

Hertha BSC Berlin 0

TSV 1860 München 2 (Dominique Malonga 10, Christian Demir 12)

---

Nice and easy, just what I didn't expect this game to be. Oh well, won't complain. Malonga, Pocognoli and Demir were excellent, and the midfielder was already staking a claim for a regular place in our starting eleven.

Malonga's injury was one of those annoying but absolutely not serious dead legs, so he would be available for selection for our league debut against Hoffenheim.

August 4th, 2013

For once, we got a pretty winnable second round draw in the cup: Duisburg at home. Still, it wasn't Dortmund of Leverkusen, but it wasn't going to be easy either.

August 8th, 2013

Hm, interesting. Sandhausen wanted Demir on loan, and made a formal bid. Loaning the midfielder to a 2.Bundesliga team in which he was sure to enjoy many minutes was a good way to ensure his development. So, accepted. Now it was up to the player if he wanted to go or stay and try to make it in our first team.

International callups came again, with the eight usual suspects joining their national teams.

Richey · April 12, 2011

Awesome story. Getting really involved in this!

Dalbeider · April 12, 2011

And I'm terribly happy to read that . Thanks for reading and commenting, Richey!

* * *

August 11th, 2013

Demir rejected Sandhausen's loan offer, preferring to stay with us.

---

TSV 1860 München vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (Bundesliga, 1/34)

Time to get the ball a-rollin' again. Hoffenheim had been title candidates for a while, but they always ended up falling short of the initial expectations, barely managing to get in Europe last year. We had always struggled against them in any case, so a win would be a great way to stablish our ambitions for the new season.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Benjamin Lauth (STl)

HOFFENHEIM (4-5-1): Tom Starke (GK); Andreas Beck (DR), Christian Eichner (DL), Matthias Jaissle (DCr), Marvin Compper (DCl); Edson Braafheid (DMC), Sylvain Marveaux (MCr), Luiz Gustavo (MCl), Emanuele Giaccherini (AMR), Gylfi Sigurdsson (AML); Salomón Rondón (ST)

***

With Uzoma and Lauth as the only changes from our game against Hertha, we got off to a terrible start after a long clearance by Hoffenheim's defense turned into a perfect counterattack chance for Rondón, who dribbled past a somewhat indecisive Bolat and slotted the ball into the net to open the score nine minutes after kick off. And it got worse in the 12th, when Rondón once again got ahead of Maroh to make contact with a cross from the left by Sigurdsson, pushing the ball into the net for the 0-2.

We had to be thankful for a good save by Bolat against yet another finish by Rondón in the 18th. Still, both players and fans looked equally shocked by our tremendously poor start of the game, and we looked unable to resist Hoffenheim's quick attacking football. Marveaux sent a long drive narrowly over the bar in the 22nd, as in hammering the point of our inferiority home.

Another turnaround inside the box by Rondón was held by Bolat with a good diving save, and a bit later Luiz Gustavo sent wide an attempt from the edge of the box. But completely against the flow of the game, Moralez got us a bit closer with a 35-yard blistering free kick that bent Starke's hands and hit the back of the net in the 31st minute of the game.

Rondón woke us up with another counterattack that didn't turn into another goal only thanks to his poor, wide finish, and a header by the same striker four minutes before the break was miraculously tipped over the bar by Bolat. After such a disastrous first half, we had to be really thankful to go to the dressing rooms only one goal behind.

HALF TIME - 1-2

After a few throat-splitting screams during the break, the players looked hypermotivated in the second half. Still, the first chance was once again for Hoffenheim, in a high header by Jaissle after a corner kick whipped in by Sigurdsson. Our first shot at goal after a collective play came a bit later, a wide effort from the edge of the box by Ibson. The visitors still struck on the counter, and another great save by Bolat was required to prevent Marveaux from scoring in the 52nd.

Two minutes later Moralez did it again from a free kick position, this time crossing from the left wing for Maroh to head it in, grabbing his first goal for die Löwen and the draw in one blow. We tried to capitalize on our new found momentum with some substitutions, a very tired Ibson being replaced by Belaïd, while Sutter (awful) and Lauth (invisible) were replaced by Kladrubsky and Malonga.

Things calmed down a bit after the goal, and it took until the 72nd for another chance to appear, but it was well worth the wait. Moralez cleared a corner kick from our box with a long pass towards Malonga who, helped by the passivity of Hoffenheim's defense, ran alone towards Starke and scored the 3-2 with a perfect low shot under the goalkeeper's legs. The comeback was complete, and now it was time to hold on to it.

In fact we were close to extending it with another shot by Malonga after a nice pass by an excellent Pocognoli, but this time Starke did much better with a secure-looking save. Napoles loanee Giaccherini tried to get the draw back with a long range attempt after cutting in from the right, but couldn't hit the target.

But another defensive mistake cost us dearly in the 83rd, when Ghvinianidze missed an easy interception and allowed Rondón to gain his back, shooting with power past Bolat's desperate rush and drawing the game once again. The hattrick hero could even get a fourth after muscling the ball away from two defenders in the 87th, but his finish hit the wrong side of the net. Injury time was surprisingly uneventful, and a crazy game ended in a fair draw.

***

TSV 1860 München 3 (Maximiliano Moralez 31, Dominic Maroh 54, Dominique Malonga 72)

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 3 (Salomón Rondón 9 12 83)

---

Madness. Considering how difficult the game looked after only twelve minutes, we should have been happy with the draw, but throwing away the win due to a stupid mistake at the back always hurts. Moralez was simply outstanding with one goal, two assists and a fantastic overall performance in the midfield.

The final ticket sales figures were announced after the game, and there were no changes since the last report: 14372 tickets sold, a decent increase of 400 over last year's numbers.

August 13th, 2013

Of course, Moralez was chosen as the Player of the Week, and was joined by Maroh in the Team of the Week.

The name of the main candidate to replace Herr Beeck as our chairman was finally announced: Manfred Stoffers, current managing director, and who was willing to pay upwards of €22.5M to take control of the club.

Barcelona got another ridiculously low offer for Scholz refused.

August 14th, 2013

Solid performances for the four players involved in international friendlies. Only Ghvinianidze started, but Uzoma, Kladrubsky and Király did well off the bench.

August 15th, 2013

Now it was Valencia chasing Allgöwer and offering €1.3M plus 30% of future profits for him. No way, guys.

August 17th, 2013

Barça came back with an improved offer for Scholz: €2.6M upfront, €375k after his first international game, 30% of future profits and a friendly match. Still not even nearly enough. In the meantime, Depor were rumoured to be chasing Sutter.

Dalbeider · April 13, 2011

August 18th, 2013

1.FC Köln vs. TSV 1860 München (Bundesliga, 2/34)

After the draw in our league debut, we had the need of a positive result in Köln if we were to start the season in the top half as expected. Köln hadn't had an easy debut either, losing 3-0 against Freiburg, so we were hopeful.

***

KÖLN (4-4-2 defensive): Federico Marchetti (GK); Andrézinho (DR), Stephan Salger (DL), Yousef Mohamad (DCr), Osman Chávez (DCl); Christoph Moritz (DMCr), Grzegorz Krychowiak (DMCl), Martin Lanig (MR), Lukas Podolski (ML); Sebastian Freis (STr), Raúl Nava (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alexander Ludwig (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Christian Demir (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Lots of changes, with Demir starting again and Jordá returning from his preseason injury. Köln's only starting player that featured in our last meeting was Marchetti, which was quite shocking. They still seized the initiative in the first minutes, putting us under constant pressure, but we were holding up pretty well until Moralez performed a very uncharacteristic two-footed challenge on Krychowiak that earned him a very early red card.

We made no changes, keeping a 4-3-2 narrow formation for the moment. We still managed to get the first shot at goal of the game thanks to Pocognoli, who advanced into the box and shot narrowly wide to the right. Köln dominated, but they couldn't manage a single shot at goal until the 37th minute, when Freis broke into the box but produced a poor, centered shot that Bolat saved very easily. Nothing else happened in a pretty poor first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Pocognoli, hampered by some pain, was replaced by Sutter at half time. The second half started with a terribly wide long distance shot by Freis, nowhere near worrying Bolat. Another weak, easy to save shot by Krychowiak followed, and at least Köln were trying to test Bolat, although with little real danger in their attacks. Their next chance was much better, though, with Podolski receiving inside the six-yard box but failing to put the ball past a very well positioned Bolat.

Our first counter of the half ended with Chávez almost scoring an own goal after stealing the ball from Jordá with a dangerous back pass towards Marchetti, who just managed to parry it before another defender cleared. A header by Chihi in the 56th minute went straight at Bolat's hands, and Köln kept failing to find the way to score. Ibson and Lauth replaced Ludwig and Jordá a bit later, but the Brazilian lasted only three minutes before having to leave the field injured, leaving us with nine men for almost a full half hour.

We pulled Malonga a bit back and changed our disposition to a weird-looking 4-3-1. Krychowiak wasted another good chance with a very wide finish in the 67th, as our defense prepared for the constant attack that was sure to be coming our way. Chihi continued the hostilities with a 30-yard piledriver that crashed against the crossbar, and Lanig kept it going with a narrowly high header a few seconds later.

Surprisingly, we could have stolen a win in the 85th when Ghvinianidze headed over the bar a free kick served by Malonga. A shot by Nava in injury time that Bolat saved with extreme ease was the last action of the game. A point well earned.

***

1.FC Köln 0

TSV 1860 München 0 (Maximiliano Moralez sent off 13)

---

Can't complain given the circumstances. Some epic defending by our side, and some epicly terrible finishing by Köln, too. Moralez showed a pretty ugly side of his game that we hadn't seen until then, and earned himself a week without wages as a reward.

Pocognoli's injury wasn't serious, just a gashed leg that would heal in 6 days. Ibson's was even less problematic: bruised rib, 4-5 days of rest.

August 20th, 2013

Bolat and Ghvinianidze appeared in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · April 18, 2011

August 24th, 2013

TSV 1860 München vs. FC Schalke 04 (Bundesliga, 3/34)

What's with our season starts that makes them always so tough? Anyway, Schalke (2nd last year) started the season with a defeat, but improved at home defeating Freiburg 2-0. They were quite unpredictable, capable of destroying you or themselves on any given day. Our last meeting in the Allianz ended 1-2.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Tijani Belaïd (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Benjamin Lauth (STl)

SCHALKE 04 (4-4-2 diamond): Manuel Neuer (GK); Ángel Rangel (DR), Royston Drenthe (DL), Benedikt Höwedes (DCr), Vincent Kompany (DCl); Julian de Guzman (DMC), Jefferson Farfán (MR), Jermiane Jones (ML), José Manuel Jurado (AMC); Roman Kienast (STr), Erik Jendrisek (STl)

***

With Moralez suspended, we gave Belaïd the chance to lead our midfield, flanked by Uzoma and Demir. Huntelaar was also missing from Schalke's lineup due to injury, and that made me a bit happier. What made me a lot happier was seeing Ghvinianidze towering above Höwedes to head into the net a corner kick taken by Belaïd only two minutes and five seconds into the game, giving us a very welcome and very early lead.

Of course Schalke wouldn't go down without fighting, and in the ninth minute Drenthe almost got a lucky draw with a cross from the left wing that went straight into the crossbar. We restablished control quickly, though, and the following minutes went by with the ball spending most of the time in the center of the pitch. Viatri managed to score a great goal in the 27th after receiving from Uzoma, dribbling past Neuer and placing the ball into the net from a very tight angle. A shame that he was offside.

Schalke finally had a good chance when a very long cross by Rangel found Jones unmarked past the far post, but Bolat covered well the small gap between the uprights and parried his finish. Jendrisek had another in the 39th after a great break through the middle, but his finish was performed under heavy pressure by our defense and went over the bar. We held on well for the reminder of the half, staying ahead until the break.

HALF TIME - 1-0

That didn't last much, though: a good movement by the whole attacking line of the visitors in the 52nd minute ended with Farfán sending a nice through ball towards Jurado, who broke in from the left and placed a perfect finish into the back of the net to draw the game. Another nice attack by Schalke ended with Rangel advancing through the right wing and into the box and shooting narrowly wide.

Ludwig, Malonga and Kladrubsky came into the game replacing Demir, Lauth and Faye. Kompany headed over the bar a free kick crossed into the box by Jurado, while we tried to find a way to get past Schalke's overcrowded midfield. We almost found it in a pretty unconventional way: cross from the left by Kladrubsky and good header by a very advanced Sutter, stopped by Neuer with a nice dive.

De Guzman wasted a great chance to put Schalke ahead in the 75th after a great pass by Drenthe by shooting too soon and too wide. Jendrisek did even worse one minute later, blasting over the bar a great opportunity after stealing the ball from a half-asleep Ghvinianidze. Bolat had to fly spectacularly in the 80th to tip over the bar a fantastic piledriver by de Guzman that was flying straight at the top left corner.

Finally, in the 85th, Kompany ran on the counter with lots of space ahead of him, attracted the attention of the defenders and passed towards Farfán who, unmarked, simply placed the ball into the back of the net to put Schalke ahead. The forward got close to the third with a direct free kick that whistled past the right post of Bolat's goal two minutes later. Sutter had another chance in injury time after a nice pass by Ludwig, but once again Neuer denied him with a good save. There was no time for more, and Schalke got away with the points.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Mate Ghvinianidze 3)

FC Schalke 04 2 (José Manuel Jurado 52, Jefferson Farfán 85)

---

Not good enough. We disappeared through most of the second half and gave Schalke the chance to steal the win in what in reality was a pretty even game. Once again, a poor start of the season, leaving us in the 13th place after 3 games.

August 29th, 2013

International callups again, this time coming from Africa. Somewhat surprisingly, Faye returned to the Senegal squad, while Belaïd and Uzoma kept their places in Tunisia and Nigeria.

August 30th, 2013

The negotiations for the club's takeover were going through a rough patch, according to the local press. I just had to hope that the institutional unstability wouldn't affect the players' performances on the pitch.

Dalbeider · April 19, 2011

August 31st, 2013

Eintracht Frankfurt (12th) vs. TSV 1860 München (13th) (Bundesliga, 4/34)

Eintracht's start of the season had been similar to ours, only with them having one extra point after three draws in three games. Their goals were less ambitious than ours, though, so despite being in apparent equal terms, we had to be considered favourites here.

***

EINTRACHT (4-2-3-1 deep): Ralf Fährmann (GK); Patrick Ochs (DR), Giorgos Tzavelas (DL), Maik Franz (DCr), Marco Russ (DCl); Sven Bender (DMCr), Pirmin Schwegler (DMCl); Jajá (AMR), Alexander Meier (AMC), Renatinho (AML); Martin Fenin (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Alexander Ludwig (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Ludwig started in Belaïd's place, since the Tunisian looked a bit short on fitness to make it through the whole game. We started well, trying to play a more direct game when moving forward, and we were rewarded with a good chance in the 8th minute when Malonga stole the ball from Franz inside the box but shot wide on the turnaround. Frankfurt reacted well, and five minutes later Fenin ran forward while both center backs stood back, never challenging him before he entered the box and tried a low finish, tipped wide by Bolat.

The home team took control of the game, and soon Bolat had to deflect around the post another dangerous shot by Fenin, and Renatinho followed up with a high ball after a good movement and pass by Jajá. We tightened our play a bit after that, and after ten calm minutes Rafa Jordá headed a cross by Pocognoli into Fährmann's hands. In the 38th an apparently weak header by Meier after a corner kick fled over Bolat's head and into the crossbar. Eintracht controlled the ball until the break, but couldn't create any more dangerous situations. No goals at half time.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Eintracht kept pushing after the break with an easy to catch header by Tzavelas after a long free kick. At least we managed to contest their midfield dominance in the first minutes of the second half, and that led to an increased possession rate and to a good chance for Malonga after a nice individual movement, dribbling past two defenders before seeing his shot stopped by a well positioned Fährmann.

Another chance arrived in a corner kick, with Ghvinianidze nodding towards the opposite post and Maroh failing to put the ball past the goalkeeper. But in the middle of our best minutes of the game Ochs broke through the right wing, entered the box and crossed low towards Halil Altintop, who simply passed the ball into the back of the net to put Frankfurt ahead. Belaïd and Lauth immediately entered the game, replacing Ludwig and Jordá, both quite exhausted.

The Tunisian's first action of the game was a great run through the middle finished with a nice pass towards Ibson, who shot wide. Pocognoli also needed rest after coming back from an injury, and Sutter replaced him. Time passed quickly while we failed to create chances worth mentioning, until another great pass by Belaïd reached Lauth, who somehow managed to shoot wide in a clear-cut one-on-one against Fährmann seven minutes before full time. Eintracht defended well for the remainder of the game, and we slumped to our fourth consecutive game without winning.

***

Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Halil Altintop 61)

TSV 1860 München 0

---

Not looking good. We needed a win soon, or we could find ourselves too close to the bottom when we least expected it.

We were lacking alternatives to our usual attacking method, so we went for a last look into the market to see if anything interesting was available. A few names sprung up, and we rushed out to make a last minute signing before the transfer window was shut down.

September 1st, 2013

The signing came just in time, and it was a pretty interesting one. Alessandro Rosina, 29-year-old Italian attacking midfielder who was without a team after being released by Zenit, joined on a free transfer. Rosina could play both center and wing, a bit like Moralez, which gave us more tactical options. We had only Moralez, Belaïd, Ludwig and Malonga to play on the wing if we went 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1, and having another option there could see us using those formations more frequently.

Seven more players joined the three Africans in this round of international callups, bringing our total to ten. Sutter was the new face to join the group.

September 6th, 2013

Well, there went the takeover. Manfred Stoffers' offer was rejected by Herr Beeck, who decided to continue on board for a while, or at least until a better offer came around. That made me happy.

September 7th, 2013

Lots of international appearances for our players. Ghvinianidze, Uzoma and Faye played the whole game with their nations, while Pocognoli and Kladrubsky came out from the bench. Most did well, but no one got a breakout performance.

September 11th, 2013

More of the same four days later, with Ghvinianidze and Pocognoli playing a good ninety minutes and the usual cameo performance off the bench for Kladrubsky. The big one, though, was Sutter's debut with Switzerland, playing the whole match and looking good in a 0-0 draw in Lithuania.

Dalbeider · April 21, 2011

September 14th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (16th) vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach (6th) (Bundesliga, 5/34)

Not the best rival to try and escape from our small crisis against. Gladbach had started really well, with two wins and two draws, and had managed to climb to where we had wanted to be at this stage of the season. We couldn't afford another negative result, and anything other than a win at home was to be considered a failure.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Dominic Maroh (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Tijani Belaïd (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

GLADBACH (4-5-1): Logan Bailly (GK); Tobias Levels (DR), Sebastian Boenish (DL), Anderson Bamba (DCr), Dante (DCl); Thorben Max (DMC), Fernando Bob (MCr), Andranik Teymourian (MCl), Roland Lamah (AMR), Marco Reus (AML), Itay Shechter (ST)

***

Sutter and Ghvinianidze looked tired after the international fixtures and were allowed to rest, while Pocognoli was unlikely to be able to play the whole match. Rosina debuted in our midfield. Reus got the first shot at goal with a high and wide effort from the edge of the box two minutes into the game, but our response was swift and smashing: nice combination through the middle finishing with a great assist from Viatri towards Malonga, who shot with power from really close to score the 1-0 in the 4th minute.

We slowed the game down afterwards, controlling the ball and keeping Gladbach at bay for a long while. Even better, in the 21st minute Viatri fought for a loose ball inside the box, stole it from Dante and assisted Malonga again in the same movement, allowing the French forward an easy dribble past Bailly to slot the ball in and score the 2-0.

And it could have been even better if the crossbar hadn't got in the way of Maroh's header in a corner kick seven minutes later. Gladbach looked completely out of the game, we controlled the following minutes with extreme ease, and we only had to see one shot going our way, a very wide attempt by Fernando Bob. We reached half time ahead and looking comfortable.

HALF TIME - 2-0

As expected, Faye replaced Pocognoli at half time. It was vital that we kept our concentration up during the first minutes of the second half to shut down any possible way for Gladbach to come back into the game. Maroh had another good chance early on after another corner kick, but his header from a quite difficult position went over the bar. Gladbach finally got a decent chance with a high header by Lamah after a perfect cross by Boenisch from the left.

The forward followed up with a wide effort from distance, and it looked like the visitors were finally starting to feel their legs, following a change to a flat 4-4-2 formation. But in the 52nd our two strikers did it again: Viatri held the ball with his back to the goal before sending yet another perfect through ball towards Malonga, who broke the offside trap and placed his finish into the net with ease, scoring his and our third.

Gladbach still tried, and Reus sent wide a good effort after cutting in from the left and shooting right-footed. Viatri kept being the provider of our attack with another fantastic pass, this time towards Ibson. Bailly parried the Brazilian's shot, but the ball fell to (who else) Malonga, who simpley pushed it in to grab the 4-0.

Demir and Uzoma replaced Rosina, solid in his debut, and Belaïd. Ibson became our most advanced midfielder, and enjoyed another chance after a nice run into the box, but Bailly stopped his shot again. We relaxed somewhat in the final twenty minutes, but still managed to run circles around the desperate Gladbach players. A final high header by Maroh marked the end of our best game in a long, long time.

***

TSV 1860 München 4 (Dominique Malonga 4 21 52 66)

Borussia Moenchengladbach 0

---

Sensational. There's no other possible adjective. We finally found our pace, Viatri was perfect as a target man, Malonga had a killer night and the midfield just dominated. Great game overall, no complaints other than the fact that we could have played like this every previous week and we didn't.

September 17th, 2013

Maroh, Béda, Viatri and Malonga helped us dominate the Team of the Week. For some reason Diego got the Player of the Week award ahead of either of our two strikers.

Dalbeider · April 26, 2011

September 21st, 2013

1.FC Kaiserslautern (4th) vs. TSV 1860 München (12th) (Bundesliga, 6/34)

Another midtable-bound team which happened to get a great start. Kaiserslautern had got maximum rentability from their goals, winning three and only losing one of their first five games, and were holding a very lofty fourth place, five points ahead of us. Still, if we could play like we did against Gladbach, nothing could stop us.

***

KAISERSLAUTERN (4-4-2): Tobias Sippel (GK); Julian Koch (DR), Leon Jessen (DL), Martin Amedick (DCr), Jan Simunek (DCl); Marquinhos (MR), Jonathan Brison (ML), Christian Tiffert (MCr), Bastian Schulz (MCl); Matías Suárez (STr), Srdjan Lakic (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Few changes in our eleven, besides Moralez's return after his three-game ban. The first fifteen minutes of the game flew by in a tightly contested midfield battle, while the forwards almost didn't see the ball going near their zone. The first shot at goal was long, wide and ugly, by Schulz in the 16th minute of the game.

Lakic tried to surprise with a good turnaround shot from the right side of the box, but Bolat saw it coming and tipped it over the bar with a nice flight. Kaiserslautern tried to dominate, but Ibson stole the ball in the 21st and sent it forward, and our strikers started their usual routine: Viatri holding up, then splitting the very advanced defense with a nice through ball for Malonga to run into, control and turn into the 0-1 with a nice low finish past Sippel's attempt at a rush. A perfect counterattack.

The goal turned the game around, and now it was us who were in control. Five minutes later Malonga received from Pocognoli and crossed first time towards the heart of the box, Viatri stretched himself to be the first to the ball and volleyed it into the net to make it 0-2 with his first goal of the season. Another counterattack initiated by the Argentinian and finished by the Frenchman could have been the third, but this time Sippel managed to deflect Malonga's shot away from his goal, although just barely.

It was starting to look like a repeat of the Gladbach game, but the home team had another idea: in the 29th Lakic ran past Sutter on the left wing and crossed with precision towards Schulz, who cushioned a header that flew over Bolat's head and into the net for the 1-2. We gritted our teeth and did our best to hold onto our small advantage until the break, while Lakic headed a corner kick over the bar in the 38th to increase the pressure. We held on, though, and went to the dressing room ahead.

HALF TIME - 1-2

Kaiserslautern pushed forward again after the break, but a great recovery by Battaglia sent the ball towards Viatri, and the striker knew exactly what to do with it: send pass towards the penalty spot, where Malonga gathered it and scored the 1-3 with another great low finish.

The home team still didn't surrender, and in the 53rd a long pass from their defense found Suárez on the run ahead of Béda, who couldn't catch up, allowing the striker to easily place the ball past Bolat to make it 2-3. We tried to strike right back with Ibson finding Malonga with a good-looking ball, but this time the striker couldn't find the target and shot very wide. Lakic received a through ball a few minutes later after sneaking past Béda and faced Bolat one on one, but he also miskicked the ball and sent it far from the target.

Belaïd and Kladrubsky replaced Pocognoli and Moralez, both due to physical exhaustion. Kaiserslautern kept trying, with Tiffert being the next in line with a terribly wide long range effort. Uzoma came into the game in Ibson's place in the 73rd minute, following a ten-minute-long respite that made us feel a bit more secure, and that Schulz ended with a good control inside the box after a cross by Brison and a half-volley from quite close that Bolat saved and held with surprising ease.

The goalkeeper performed a small miracle with an incredible save to a point-blank header by Simunek, and Lakic was unable to finish the job afterwards, his shot on the bounce hitting the bar. We were under heavy pressure, but Malonga still found time to be wicked, kicking the ball past his marker on the left wing before rushing past him and crossing towards Belaïd, whose first-time finish was somehow kept out of the net by an excellent Sippel. The play continued with Sutter gathering the rebound and assisting Belaïd, who once again failed to score, this time with a wide shot from just inside the box.

The last ten minutes went by quickly, and in injury time, with Kaiserlautern pushing forward desperately, Rosina sent a long pass towards the space for Malonga to run into, and the striker didn't miss his chance to grab his hattrick and the 2-4, sealing the game for good. Another great performance and a fantastic result for us.

***

1.FC Kaiserslautern 2 (Bastian Schulz 29, Matías Suárez 52)

TSV 1860 München 4 (Dominique Malonga 21 49 90+3, Lucas Viatri 26)

---

Nice game, nice win, and nice goalscoring form for Malonga, while Viatri kept bagging in the assists. How long could we keep this going?

September 24th, 2013

Lucas Viatri, Player of the Week after another fine performance. Malonga joined him in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · April 27, 2011

September 24th, 2013

TSV 1860 München vs. MSV Duisburg (DFB Pokal 2nd round)

A great chance to finally see how the third round of the cup looks like. Duisburg were struggling, as was predictable after their promotion, and sat 16th in the table, only ahead of Oberhausen and an extremely disappointing Dortmund with four points in six games. We had to win this, even though there would be heavy rotation in the side.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Aleksandar Ignjovski (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Tijani Belaïd (MCc), Eke Uxoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Benjamin Lauth (STl)

DUISBURG (4-5-1): David Yelldell (GK); Kevin Schöneberg (DR), Douglas Silva (DL), Samil Cinaz (DCr), Chiró N'Toko (DCl); Matías Sánchez (DMC), Patrick Funk (MCr), Eugen Gopko (MCl), Benjamin Kern (AMR), Andreas Laudrup (AML), Jonathan López (ST)

***

An almost whole new first eleven, with only Bolat retaining his place and Ignjovski getting his first chance of the season. We started a bit cold, and Duisburg took the chance to control the early game, but soon Belaïd put everything in place with a defense-splitting pass towards Lauth, who calmly collected the ball and slotted it past Yelldell to score the 1-0, making it look almost easy.

With our lead secured, we sat back for a while and Douglas Silva tried to profit from our apparent relaxation with a very wide attempt from distance. But once again, when we tried seriously, we got really close to extending our lead. Demir muscled the ball away from Cinaz, turned around inside the box and tried to place a shot in the inside of the far post, but missed it by a few centimeters. A header by López on a free kick that went over the bar in the 23rd minute served as a wake-up call, reminding us that we could lose our lead at any time.

And someone took that warning a bit too seriously: Ignjovski lunged with both feet at a loose ball inside the box and caught Cinaz, earning himself an early bath and a permanent place out of the team for the reminder of the season. Way to waste your chance, lad. The rest of the half went by with nothing relevant happenning, while Duisburg failed to use their numerical advantage in any meaningful way.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Battaglia replaced Rafa Jordá at half time, moving us to a 4-1-3-1 and trying to seal the game with possession and defensive strength. And it worked perfectly: Battaglia sent a twenty yard pass through the middle of the defense towards Lauth in the 50th minute, and the striker converted the second ball to reach him in the whole game into his and our second goal of the game.

The goal hit Duisburg hard, and we controlled the game with ease from then on, with Belaïd having another good chance stopped by Yelldell in the 57th. The Tunisian was soon replaced by Ludwig, while Ghvinianidze took Kladrubsky's place in the right back. Duisburg made some half-hearted attempts at attacking but got nothing out of them, while we kept the game under constant control with supreme ease.

Rusol hit the post with a great header after a free kick taken by Ludwig in the 86th, but otherwise the second half was quite boring for the poor fans gathered inside the Allianz. Easy win, despite the stupidity of some.

***

TSV 1860 München 2 (Benjamin Lauth 10 50, Aleksandar Ignjovski sent off 31)

MSV Duisburg 0

---

Ignjovski committed football suicide with that red card. For starters, he enjoyed a two-week fine, and he would have to consider himself lucky if he was ever called up for a competitive game, let alone start. Otherwise, very easy win, and hello, third round!

September 26th, 2013

Third round draw: Werder vs. 1860. Innnteresting, considering that we hadn't lost against them after four meetings.

Dalbeider · April 28, 2011

September 28th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (8th) vs. Hannover 96 (13th) (Bundesliga, 7/34)

Hannover were in trouble. Only one win in six games was a poor result for a team expected to challenge for the European places. As a result Tuchel was under heavy pressure, and sacking threats were all over the press. Our form, in contrast, was fantastic, and playing at home we were clearly expected to win.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

HANNOVER (4-4-2): Markus Miller (GK); Souhaiel Ben Radhia (DR), Konstantin Rausch (DL), Christian Schulz (DCr), Emanuel Pogatetz (DCl); Bakaye Traoré (MR), Nicolás Bertolo (ML), Lars Stindl (MCr), Faris Haroun (MCl); Mohammed Abdellaoue (STr), Mahir Saglik (STl)

***

Back to the usual league starting eleven, plus Maroh in Béda's place. We were certainly looking for another rout, and Viatri tried to quickstart it with a powerful effort from the edge of the area and stinged Miller's hands as the keeper parried. But in the 9th minute we went on the counter with lightning speed, with Moralez launching it with a good recovery, a better dribbling and a nice pass towards Malonga, who completed the breakout with a placed finish to score the 1-0.

Hannover were willing to put up a fight in any case, and soon Haroun sent a header over the bar after a nice cross by Traoré. Moralez was looking very active, and after running with the ball around the box for a while decide to try a bending shot, but it lacked accuracy and power and the ball bounced harmlessly wide. Even better was our chance in the 14th, when a cross by Pocognoli was volleyed way over by Viatri, when half the stadium was already celebrating the goal.

But things took a decided turn for the worse in the 23rd when Ghvinianidze saw a somewhat harsh straight red card after a last-man foul on Abdellaoue. Rusol replaced Viatri immediately, moving us to the same 4-1-3-1 we used against Duisburg, while Rausch took the free kick and sent it wide.

Once again we played very well with ten men, and a subtle pass through the defensive line by Moralez three minutes later was taken by an absolutely on fire Malonga, who sidestepped Miller and finished the job with his left foot, making it 2-0. Schlaudraff, who had replaced an injured Saglik in the first minute of the game, missed a great chance on the counter to pull one back with a mediocre finish that Bolat saved with ease.

Another free kick by Stindl went much closer to the target, and Bolat had to tip it wide to prevent a goal. Our answer was a high header by Maroh in a corner kick in the 34th. Another counter almost turned into another hattrick for Malonga, but Pogatetz prevented it with a great last-ditch tackle from behind, risking a penalty kick and a red card but managing to cleanly take the ball away from the striker. Bolat saved a well-placed shot by Abdellaoue in the 42nd, and that was it for a pretty eventful first half.

HALF TIME - 2-0

Of course, everything had to go wrong in the very first minute of the second half when Moralez was injured by Stindl and had to be immediately replaced by Uzoma, moving Rosina to the center of our attacking line of midfielders. We kept doing well without "Mighty Mouse", with Rosina taking also his role as a set piece taker and setting up Rusol for a header with a nice corner kick, the ball hitting the sidenetting in the end.

Hannover tried to break through by sheer numbers, but their finishing wasn't up to scratch, as Abdellaoue showed in the 54th with a weak shot straight at Bolat's hands. Rosina was enjoying his new role as main playmaker, and in the 58th the Italian made everyone forget about Moralez with a fantastic pass towards Malonga, who repeated his dribble past Miller and easy tap-in of the second goal to seal his third hattrick in a row.

Hannover went forward desperately, but managed only a weak and high header by Bertolo in the following minutes. Meanwhile, Kladrubsky replaced Pocognoli, who seemed to be having some fitness issues as of late, looking unable to play a whole game. Another run-and-shoot by Abdellaoue ended as the previous ones had, with Bolat saving and the ball being cleared from the dangerous zone.

The game just died until the 81st minute, when Abdellaoue tried and failed again, this time with a terribly wide shot from twenty yards away. And in the 85th, just to destroy any kind of doubt, Battaglia sent a perfect 30-yard pass towards the space behind the defense, and who else but Malonga could control it and place it into the back of the net for the 4-0?

With Malonga's eleventh goal in three games (!!!), and with a wide finish by Stindl a few minutes later, the game looked finished, but Eggimann managed to grab a consolation goal for Hannover with a 20-yard drive that Bolat couldn't stop two minutes before the end of the game. That was all in yet another easy win after yet another fantastic performance by Dominique Malonga.

***

TSV 1860 München 4 (Dominique Malonga 9 26 57 85, Mate Ghvinianidze sent off 23)

Hannover 96 1 (Mario Eggimann 88)

---

It bears repeating: Malonga had scored ELEVEN goals in his last THREE games, and in eight games (two as a substitute) he had scored two more goals than in the whole 2012/13 season! That's insane. As insane as our performances in those last three league games. With a visit to Duisburg coming just before the Münchner derby, we were certainly hoping to keep that form rolling for a little while.

Moralez had twisted his ankle, and that would mean missing him for three weeks, most likely including the match against Bayern, even with an international break in the middle.

October 1st, 2013

Once again Malonga was robbed of the Player of the Week award, this time by Derdiyok, who only scored two! At least he was selected in the Team of the Week, together with Maroh.

October 3rd, 2013

Time for more international callups, with the three Africans getting theirs in the first batch.

Dalbeider · May 1, 2011

October 5th, 2013

MSV Duisburg (16th) vs. TSV 1860 München (7th) (Bundesliga, 8/34)

What I said about the game played eleven days before this one still applied. Duisburg had managed an away draw against Freiburg since then, but still hadn't won a single game (and only that one draw) in their last five games, and their level of play was not up to Bundesliga standard, judging by what we saw in the cup. We had to win.

***

DUISBURG (4-5-1): David Yelldell (GK); Kevin Schöneberg (DR), Douglas Silva (DL), Betao (DCr), Chiró N'Toko (DCl); Matías Sánchez (DMC), Patrick Funk (MCr), Goran Sukalo (MCl), Benjamin Kern (AMR), Max Kruse (AML), Jonathan López (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Alessandro Rosina (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

With things working so well, making unnecessary changes would have been a mistake, so we only moved the pieces we were forced to change, with Rusol and Uzoma replacing Ghvinianidze and Moralez. Duisburg's eleven wasn't much different from the one we had met before, and we controlled the early minutes of the game with ease. Our first shot didn't come until the 13th, though, an attempt by Malonga from a tight angle after a nice individual action that Yelldell parried easily.

Duisburg defended well, and nothing else happened at all until the 31st minute, when Rusol tried luck from 35 yards away but the ball flew straight and with little power towards the goalkeeper's hands. Malonga tried a turnaround shot from the edge of the box three minutes later, but the ball went clearly over, and Yelldell did very well to stop his next shot after a great run through the middle, following a beautiful backheel pass by Rosina. A final shot by Viatri, also parried by Yelldell, marked the end of a somewhat disappointing first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Fifteen minutes of nothing passed before Malonga tried another one-man attack with a silky run through the middle full of dribbles and great movements, but once again he fell at the last hurdle and Yelldell tipped his finish wide. Rusol headed the following corner kick over the bar. Belaïd, Demir and Kladrubsky entered the game soon after, replacing Rosina, Ibson and Sutter.

Another corner kick, this one taken by Belaïd, was headed perfectly well by Maroh, but once again Yelldell put himself in the way of the goal we deserved. With eleven minutes remaining Uzoma sent a nice through ball towards Malonga, but the striker didn't look like himself that evening, and sent the ball wide from a pretty good position to score from. The game died quickly on us without the chance to open the score, and it ended in a poor goalless draw.

***

MSV Duisburg 0

TSV 1860 München 0

---

We clearly deserved the win, if anything because Duisburg had the grand total of zero shots, either on or off target. Oh well, at least we remained unbeaten in five games, counting the cup. Still, this was nowhere close what I had expected. We would have to do much better if we wanted to beat Bayern two weeks later.

Allgöwer joined Moralez in the twisted ankle club after a training injury. He would also be out for three weeks.

We brought another legend into our backroom staff: Massimo Ambrosini joined as a coach from Dortmund, which received €70k in compensation. More than worth it, since the ex-international Italian midfielder would certainly improve the mental aspect of our game.

October 6th, 2013

The usual seven European international players joined their African counterparts, bringing our total to ten again.

October 12th, 2013

Not much action for our players in the first round of international fixtures. Only Faye and Ghvinianidze featured at all, both playing the whole game and doing well, despite disappointing results for their teams (0-0 draw for Senegal against Gambia, and 2-0 defeat for Georgia against Greece).

October 16th, 2013

Wow. With the end of the qualifying rounds for the upcoming World Cup, lots of managers lost their jobs. Some of the most notable nations to sack their national managers were Holland, Paraguay, Uruguay, Romania, Sweden and Northern Ireland.

The midweek fixtures were more interesting from our point of view, with Sutter, Pocognoli, Ghvinianidze and Belaïd starting and Kladrubsky and Uzoma coming off the bench. Good performances in all cases.

Dalbeider · May 2, 2011

October 19th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (6th) vs. Bayern FC München (4th) (Bundesliga, 9/34)

What's with always having our game against Bayern in the 9th week of the league? Anyway, both teams got to the derby in terrific form, us with four wins and a draw and them with five consecutive victories. Anything could happen in a Münchner derby, as we proved last year, and the gap between both teams seemed to be narrower now. A victory would put us within striking distance of the top four, all tied with nineteen points to our twelve.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Tijani Belaïd (MCr), Alessandro Rosina (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

FC BAYERN (4-4-2): Samir Handanovic (GK); Philipp Lahm (DR), Holger Badstuber (DL), Leonel Galeano (DCr), Álvaro Domínguez (DCl); Daniel Braaten (MR), Bastian Schweinsteiger (ML), Wilson Palacios (MCr), Toni Kroos (MCl); Mario Gómez (STr), Darwin Quintero (STl)

***

As expected, Moralez didn't make it in time, so Rosina retained his place in the center of our midfield, with Belaïd replacing Ibson and Ghvinianidze and Kladrubsky starting in defense. Bayern's lineup looked somewhat strange, with Schweinsteiger on the wing and with Ribéry and Robben out injured, but still smelled like danger.

We threw the first punch with a nice run down the left flank by Pocognoli, whose cross was finished by Malonga with a wide shot from a tight angle. But after some minutes of total domination, the referee stole the spotlight calling for an extremely harsh penalty by Ghvinianidze on Gómez in an apparently normal aerial contest inside the box. Thankfully, poetic justice worked for once and Schweinsteiger smashed the penalty kick into the woodwork.

Then things quickly went upside down when, after a counterattack led by Malonga, Kroos challenged Viatri inside Bayern's box and the referee pointed to the spot once again in another very dubious decision. Kladrubsky didn't miss, shooting with power into the top left corner to give Handanovic no chance, and we took the lead in the 10th minute of the game.

Bayern went on the offensive in the following ten minutes, while we did our best to contain their attacks. Gómez had a great chance in the 21st with a clear header that went way over the bar, and wasted another immediately after following a good recovery by Palacios, running alone against Bolat but sending his finish wide. We recovered quickly, and Malonga tried his luck with a right-footed effort from outside the box in the 29th only to see Handanovic hold the ball with apparent ease.

Palacios did the same for Bayern a bit later, but his shot was much worse, sailing way over the bar. Another counterattack by Gómez was stopped short by Ghvinianidze with a fantastic last-ditch tackle, stealing the ball away cleanly and effectively. Malonga also had a great chance on the counter following a nice long ball by Belaïd, but Handanovic did just enough to tip his finish wide for a corner kick.

Another high header by Gómez after a cross from the right by Kroos and a wide finish by the same striker seemed to be the last chances of the half, but a last-second header by Domínguez in a corner kick rattled on the crossbar just before the referee signaled for half time. A very interesting first half for sure.

HALF TIME - 1-0

Ibson replaced a motivated but exhausted Belaïd at half time. Bayern tried to keep the pressure up, but the first goalkeeper to have work to do was Handanovic, saving at Malonga's feet after the striker broke through following a delicious pass by Rosina. Our whole defense was having a great game, managing to dominate Bayern's forwards with constante pressure and good tackles. Malonga wasn't having his best day, though, and the forward blasted high and wide a nice cross from the right by Ibson in the 61st minute. He was soon replaced by Lauth.

Ibson tried to head a cross by Uzoma that had lost most of its power after hitting a defender on the way, and the result was a predictably weak header that Handanovic held without any kind of trouble. A counterattack led by Quintero was Bayern's first chance of the second half, headed wide by a very inaccurate Gómez.

Lauth's first shot at goal went really close to the top left corner, but in the end flew narrowly over. Faye replaced an excellent but physically destroyed Pocognoli with a bit over twenty minutes remaining. De Jong had a fantastic chance to draw the game for Bayern after a nice short pass by Palacios, but he crossed his finish a bit too match and the ball went wide, licking the outside of the far post.

Another attempt by the midfielder went straight at Bolat's hands, and time was starting to run out for the red side of München. In fact, the last ten minutes of the game brought no goalscoring chances on either goal, and we ran away as victors for the second "home" derby in a row.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Jiri Kladrubsky pen 10)

Bayern FC München 0

---

Not flashy at all, but it was a win against Bayern and that was all that counted, even if it came from an unfair penalty call. Great defensive display once again, and one position gained in the table.

Dalbeider · May 2, 2011

[font=Courier New]========================
BUNDESLIGA AFTER 9 GAMES
========================

| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Leverkusen     |       | 9     | 7     | 1     | 1     | 18    | 6     | +12   | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Wolfsburg      |       | 9     | 7     | 1     | 1     | 18    | 6     | +12   | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Schalke        |       | 9     | 7     | 1     | 1     | 14    | 5     | +9    | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | FC Bayern      |       | 9     | 6     | 1     | 2     | 16    | 12    | +4    | 19    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color=mediumturquoise][b]| 5th   |       | 1860 München   |       | 9     | 4     | 3     | 2     | 17    | 9     | +8    | 15    | [/b][/color]
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Gladbach       |       | 9     | 4     | 2     | 3     | 11    | 13    | -2    | 14    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Kaiserslautern |       | 9     | 4     | 1     | 4     | 10    | 12    | -2    | 13    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Köln           |       | 9     | 4     | 1     | 4     | 9     | 12    | -3    | 13    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Hoffenheim     |       | 9     | 3     | 3     | 3     | 16    | 10    | +6    | 12    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Stuttgart      |       | 9     | 3     | 3     | 3     | 13    | 14    | -1    | 12    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Werder Bremen  |       | 9     | 2     | 4     | 3     | 8     | 9     | -1    | 10    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Dortmund       |       | 9     | 3     | 1     | 5     | 13    | 17    | -4    | 10    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Hannover       |       | 9     | 2     | 3     | 4     | 9     | 12    | -3    | 9     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Duisburg       |       | 9     | 2     | 3     | 4     | 7     | 12    | -5    | 9     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Freiburg       |       | 9     | 1     | 4     | 4     | 8     | 12    | -4    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | HSV            |       | 9     | 2     | 1     | 6     | 10    | 17    | -7    | 7     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  |       | Frankfurt      |       | 9     | 1     | 3     | 5     | 8     | 12    | -4    | 6     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  |       | Oberhausen     |       | 9     | 0     | 2     | 7     | 5     | 20    | -15   | 2     | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/font]

Yep, couldn't complain. Fifth on the table with nine games already gone was a nice achievement and a good foundation to build on for the reminder of the season, despite our terrible run in the first four games. The only potential problem was our upcoming fixtures, with trips to Leverkusen and Wolfsburg and a difficult home match against Dortmund, with the DFB Pokal match in Bremen in the middle.

The top three (plus Bayern) were looking solid and had built a very comfortable lead at the top, a gap we were slowly trying to bridge over with the hopes of catching up before they got away for good. The rest of the table looked pretty tight, and two consecutive wins could easily bring you from the relegation zone to the top half. No big surprises thus far, except maybe the underperformance of both Dortmund (who were slowly recovering) and HSV (not that surprising). Duisburg were doing better than expected, but were still too close to the red zone for comfort, and Oberhausen were doing exactly as badly as everyone thought they would do.

[font=Courier New]==========================
PLAYER STATS AFTER 9 GAMES
==========================

[u]Average rating (min. 3 games played, league only)[/u]

Maximiliano Moralez      [b]8.17[/b] ([i]4 apps[/i])
Dominique Malonga        [b]7.69[/b] ([i]7[2]apps[/i])
Lucas Viatri             [b]7.44[/b] (7 apps)
Dominic Maroh            [b]7.39[/b] ([i]8 apps[/i])
Mate Ghvinianidze        [b]7.29[/b] ([i]7 apps[/i])

[u]Goals (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga        [b]12[/b]
Maximiliano Moralez       [b]1[/b]
Lucas Viatri              [b]1[/b]
Mate Ghvinianidze         [b]1[/b]
Jiri Kladrubsky           [b]1[/b]
Dominic Maroh             [b]1[/b]

[u]Assists (league only)[/u]

Lucas Viatri              [b]6[/b]
Maximiliano Moralez       [b]4[/b]
Alessandro Rosina         [b]2[/b]
4 other players           [b]1[/b]

[u]MoM awards (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga         [b]3[/b]
Dominic Maroh             [b]1[/b]
Mate Ghvinianidze         [b]1[/b]
Jiri Kladrubsky           [b]1[/b][/font]

Dalbeider · May 4, 2011

October 26th, 2013

Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1st) vs. TSV 1860 München (5th) (Bundesliga, 10/34)

One of the toughest tests we could face at that point of the season. Leverkusen were one of three leading candidates for the title that had managed a nice run of wins, only broken by a single defeat four games in the past. We would need to show our best version if we were to escape from this with anything positive.

***

LEVERKUSEN (4-2-3-1 narrow): René Adler (GK); Slobodan Rajkovic (DR), Michal Kadlec (DL), Stefan Reinartz (DCr), Fabrício (DCl); Denílson (MCr), Néstor Ortigoza (MCl); Eren Derdiyok (AMCr), Zvonko Pamic (AMC), Semir Stilic (AMCl); Stefan Kießling (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maxmiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Moralez was back once again, and Ibson and Sutter returned to the lineup. Pim Verbeek had brought many changes to Leverkusen's lineup, including a new, narrower formation. They took the initiative and Stilic sent over the bar their first attempt, a shot from distance in the second minute of the game. We still had our best weapons ready to strike, and a free kick crossed into the box by Moralez was headed in by Malonga with a great dive, but the goal was disallowed for an existing but very, very close offside position.

Bolat soon went to the ground to deflect the ball away from Kießling after the striker broke the offside trap receiving a great pass from Stilic. Leverkusen's domination increased after the first twenty minutes, and for a while all we could do was defend, but we did it well, with Bolat doing well to deflect over the bar a point-blank header by Reinartz in a corner kick, and also saving a dangerous direct free kick taken by Ortigoza.

But in the 37th, when the worst seemed to have passed, Keißling gathered a long pass, turned around and unleashed a wonderful piledriver from 30 yards away to put Leverkusen ahead in style. Ortigoza tried again three minutes later from a similar position, but the ball went very wide. Leverkusen held their advantage until the break without trouble.

HALF TIME - 1-0

It was time for changes, and the first was a formation switch to 4-2-3-1, moving Malonga to the left wing and Rosina to the right. Kadlec almost got a lucky goal with a cross that bent the wrong way, but Bolat was there to punch the ball away from goal, whilke Kießling wasted a great chance on the counter one minute later with a narrowly wide shot.

But in the 52nd, in a counterattack started by Moralez, Malonga sent a great pass past the defensive line towards Viatri, returning him one of the many assists he had sent his way, and the Argentinian striker didn't miss, placing the ball past Adler to draw the game. Ortigoza tried again from distance, but once again he didn't find the target, shooting over this time.

A corner kick taken by Moralez in the 58th went towards the far post, and Ghvinianidze reached it first, but his header went narrowly wide in a clear-cut chance to take the lead. We kept pushing, with Malonga heading narrowly over a cross from the right by Sutter. Belaïd and Kladrubsky came in Moralez's and Pocognoli's place a bit later.

The game seemed to die after the substitutions, with neither team creating any danger until the 86th, and that's being quite generous with Stilic's terribly wide and weak shot. A long, high attempt by Reinartz in the first minute of injury time was the last action of the game, and we went home happy with the point we had scored.

***

Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1 (Stefan Kießling 37)

TSV 1860 München 1 (Lucas Viatri 52)

---

Good result, and probably a bit undeserved, too, although we did much better in the second half than in the first. Schalke and Bayern lost their games, and we crept a little bit closer to the top.

Malonga's great start of the season was starting to open some eyes, and Girondins were the first to publicly state their interest in signing him. Of course, I wasn't selling.

October 28th, 2013

Of course, that lead to a somewhat tense conversation with the striker, who was starting to feel like he could make the jump to a higher level. I managed to convince him otherwise, but things may change in the future. We had to grow, and quickly.

Dalbeider · May 5, 2011

October 29th, 2013

Werder Bremen vs. TSV 1860 München (DFB Pokal 3rd round)

Hello, favourite opponents! Werder had had a decent start of the season and had managed to settle themselves in the middle of the pack, but three games without winning and only one point earned in those fixtures had seen them drop dangerously close to the relegation battle once again. We hoped that that bad form would translate into an easy way into the quarterfinals for us.

***

WERDER BREMEN (3-4-1-2): Tim Wiese (GK); Naldo (DCr), Leonardo Sigali (DCc), Sebastian Prödl (DCl); Alexander Baumjohann (MR), Josh Simpson (ML), Sime Vrsaljko (MCr), Tim Borowski (MCl); Tamás Hajnal (AMC); Raffael (STr), Goran Vujovic (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Jiri Kladrubsky (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Tijani Belaïd (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Benjamin Lauth (STl)

***

With a lineup pretty similar to the one that defeated Duisburg in the previous round, our first task would be finding a way around Toppmöller's 3-4-1-2 formation. We struggled to create danger in the first minutes, but Werder didn't do much with the ball either. A high header by Sigali after a corner kick taken by Hajnal was the first real chance of the game, and it took until the 18th minute to arrive. Sutter picked up an annoying but not too worrying knock a bit later after a harsh challenge by Vujovic.

Another corner kick, this time on the other goal, led to the first goal of the game in the 24th minute, with Belaïd serving and Béda heading the ball into Hajnal, under Wiese's arms and into the net. The keeper probably should have done better there. Werder went forward looking for a quick draw, and Hajnal sent a curving shot over the bar of Bolat's goal right in the half hour mark. Toppmöller then changed Werder's formation to a 5-2-1-2, which on paper looked much more defensive despite being behind.

As a result, nothing else happened until the 45th, when a foul on Jordá near the edge of the box was turned into an unstoppable direct free kick by Faye, who made it 0-2 just before the break. Another long shot by Hajnal that Bolat tipped over the bar and a high header by Brzenska in the following corner kick were Werder's last attempts of the first half.

HALF TIME - 0-2

Sutter and Rafa Jordá had to be replaced at half time due to injury and lack of physical condition respectively, and Ghvinianidze and Malonga took their places. Werder took control of the game in the first minutes after the restart, and soon Bolat had to dive to save a dangerous header by Vujovic. It was a mirage, though, and soon we recovered the possession of the ball and started moving it around Wiese's box, with Uzoma trying luck from distance but failing horribly.

Kladrubsky was soon replaced by Ludwig, and we moved to a 4-2-3-1 with the German on the right, Malonga on the left and Lauth alone upfront. And only one minute later, Belaïd assisted Lauth, who ran at his marker before shooting right-footed into the inside of the right post and in, making it 0-3 and putting the game beyond any kind of reasonable doubt.

Faye wanted to make the most of his start, and rifled another direct free kick low and with power to beat Wiese again in the 71st, scoring his second and our fourth. Our new formation helped us keep the game under complete control, and Werder didn't do much to defy that dominance, with only a long shot by Jankovic that Bolat saved with ease coming our way. Another win, another great team performance.

***

Werder Bremen 0

TSV 1860 München 4 (Tamás Hajnal og 24, Ibrahima Faye 45 71, Benjamin Lauth 63)

---

Very, very easy, once again. Faye's free kicks helped us along, but overall we were the better team by far. The quarterfinals were a reality, and the final (and Europe!) was only two games away now. Participating in the 3rd round earned us €543k, which was very welcome.

October 31st, 2013

As a Halloween present we got a quite decent draw in the DFB Pokal quarterfinals: Gladbach at home. Things were looking up for us in the knock-out competition after three years of failure.

Dalbeider · May 8, 2011

November 2nd, 2013

TSV 1860 München (5th) vs. Borussia Dortmund (10th) (Bundesliga, 11/34)

Back to the league, and to one of the surviving teams in the cup. Dortmund started horribly with only one point in their first five league games, but improved to win four of their last five, and came to the Allianz with five consecutive wins counting all competitions. The crisis had been averted, and we'd better take them seriously.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maxmiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

DORTMUND (4-2-3-1): Rafael (GK); Vasyl Kobin (DR), Björn Kopplin (DL), Felipe Santana (DCr), Dele Adeleye (DCl); Nuri Sahin (MCr), Lars Bender (MCl); Sidney Sam (AMR), David Alaba (AMC), Magaye Gueye (AML); Lucas Barrios (ST)

***

Back to our usual league lineup, we faced a Dortmund side full of new faces in all lines. After testing the waters during the first minutes, Moralez quickstarted the hostilities with a through ball towards Malonga, who miskicked his first time finish and sent it very wide. A knock to poor Pocognoli followed, although the Belgian left back managed to get back on his feet and keep playing.

Dortmund answered with a dangerous but centered shot by Barrios from the edge of the box, tipped over the bar by Bolat. Nuri Sahin then tried luck from distance with a flat, powerful shot that Bolat barely managed to push away. Dortmund were taking control of the game little by little, although their chances kept coming from long distance shots that Bolat had no trouble keeping out of the goal.

In the 27th Kopplin surprised everyone with a fantastic cross from very deep, while Barrios ran behind the defense unmarked and headed the ball into the root of the post and clear. A good movement by Bender ended with the midfielder shooting with power but with little space available, and Bolat could tip the ball over for a corner kick. A final shot by Kopplin in injury time that our goalkeeper held with both hands marked the end of the first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

We hadn't had the ball at all in the first half, and switched our formation to a 4-2-3-1 trying to improve our control of the ball. We got exactly that. The problem was that we couldn't seem to do anything productive with our increased possession rate. Trying to open up things, we brought Belaïd and Sutter in for Moralez and Pocognoli, switching Kladrubsky to the left back.

Dortmund could only manage sporadic attacks, and their first shot at goal came in the 70th, and it was a tremendously wide attempt by Marquitos that almost didn't count. Malonga finally gave us a decent chance after a great pass by Battaglia, but his finish was very wide, even though he had more than enough time to think were he was going to place it. Lauth replaced a solid Viatri, trying to speed up our attacking line.

One of many bullet throws by Kopplin was met by Großkreutz with a spectacular but not very effective overhead kick, sending the ball well over. Only ten minutes remained, and we tried to make a final push for the winner. Instead, Bolat soon had to save a powerful finish by Nuri Sahin to keep us level. But we still had a weapon we hadn't used: Belaïd took a corner kick in the 84th minute, Ghvinianidze found a gap between all the Dortmund defenders and stuck his head in to score the 1-0.

Dortmund gave us a scare three minutes later when Sam caught a loose ball inside the box and scored with ease, but he was clearly offside and the referee didn't hesitate to disallow the goal. To make things a bit easier for us, Großkreutz sent himself off with a nasty late challenge from behind on Sutter in the first minute of injury time, and with Ionita sending miles wide a final chance on the counter, the game ended in a narrow and hard-fought victory for us.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Mate Ghvinianidze 84)

Borussia Dortmund 0 (Kevin Großkreutz sent off 90+1)

---

Somewhat lucky victory, but it counts as much as those six-goal thrillers from a few weeks back. In fact this one counted even more, since it allowed us to overtake Bayern and spend at least a full week in the fourth place of the table.

Pocognoli's knock turned out to be a pulled hamstring, and the left back would miss 2-3 weeks of training as a result.

November 5th, 2013

Ghvinianidze was selected in the Team of the Week.

November 8th, 2013

Our season wouldn't be complete without a serious and long injury for Benjamin Lauth, and we finally got it. The forward would miss 3-4 months with a torn calf muscle.

But wait, it got worse. In the same training session Rafa Jordá damaged his achilles tendon, and the Spaniard was expected to be out of contention for 2-3 months. Way to destroy our attacking depth in one swift blow, huh?. Allgöwer could have some chances to shine in the first team in the near future. At least one of those months would be the winter break...

Dalbeider · May 9, 2011

November 10th, 2013

VfL Wolfsburg (1st) vs. TSV 1860 München (4th) (Bundesliga, 12/34)

A very interesting week, with us visiting the leaders and Leverkusen hosting Schalke (they drew 2-2, which was good for us). Wolfsburg were leaders but only just, and their recent form had been shaky, alternating wins and loses and not looking too good in Europe, even though their home form was still strong. We had a chance to grab something out of this game and ciment our position in the top five.

***

WOLFSBURG (4-2-3-1): Diego Benaglio (GK); Sascha Reither (DR), Marcel Schäfer (DL), Andrea Barzagli (DCr), Simon Kjær (DCl); Ander (MCr), Makoto Hasebe (MCl); Ashkan Dejagah (AMR), Andriy Yarmolenko (AML), Diego (AMC); Patrick Helmes (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Jiri Kladrubsky (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maxmiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Once again we kept the changes to the bare minimum, with Sutter starting in Pocognoli's place. And once again Malonga got the first chance of the game following a good play by Rosina, and once again he sent it wide with a poor finish, his red hot goalscoring form from a month back apparently forgotten.

We did well in the first minutes, but Wolfsburg's first approach struck true: Reither crossed from the right wing into Helmes' path, and the striker let his run bring him into the six yard box before blasting it in to put his team ahead. We tried to react, but nothing happened until Yarmolenko set up Helmes for another good chance, although this time the striker could only put the ball over the bar.

We finally got a chance the usual way: corner kick by Moralez and point-blank header by Ghvinianidze that Benaglio parried by sheer reflexes and with a little bit of luck. Another corner one minute later started similarly, but ended with the ball flying over the bar. Those chances managed to get us back into the game, and we improved noticeably in the following minutes, even if the next chance was a high header by Ander after another good cross from the right by Reither.

Wolfsburg also knew how to take corner kicks, and Yarmolenko got close in one of them with a header that Bolat saved well. In the 44th Moralez split Wolfsburg's defense with one of his trademark through balls, and Malonga did everything well: the control, the dribble, the run. But the finish wasn't good. In fact, it was wide, when the whole goal was open for him to put the ball in. The first half ended after such a terrible miss with us trailing.

HALF TIME - 1-0

The second half started with another corner kick and another header by Yarmolenko, this one going into the sidenetting. We had control of the ball in the first minutes of the half, and Moralez tried a long distance shot in the 54th that Benaglio saved easily. Malonga didn't look like scoring that day, so we gave Allgöwer the chance to do something. Demir and Faye also came into the game replacing Ibson and Sutter.

A counterattack finished by Helmes hit us after a few minutes with little action on either goal, but thankfully Bolat could tip his low shot wide. Viatri managed to leave Barzagli behind with a burst of speed and ran at the gap, but Benaglio was perfect once again parrying his shot and conceding a corner kick. Another 20-yard attempt by Moralez went wide eleven minutes before the end, following ten minutes of complete domination by our midfield.

Wolfsburg's best weapon were still corner kicks, and Kjær headed one of those into the crossbar in the 83rd. We kept trying, but in the 89th a great run down the left wing by Schäfer ended in a cross towards Helmes, who repeated his control on the run from the first goal and finished the job in the same way, scoring the 2-0 and sealing Wolfsburg's win.

***

VfL Wolfsburg 2 (Patrick Helmes 9 89)

TSV 1860 München 0

---

Oh well, it had to come sooner or lather. Wolfsburg were better than us, no question about it nor complaints about the result. We dropped to the sixth place, still looking good, and we had managed to escape from a series of complicated fixtures with our chances still intact.

HSV sacked Magath, and once again I was the name at the top of their list. Not going to happen, guys, but it's still good to know that you're wanted.

International call-ups again, this time with six players going abroad: Kladrubsky, Király, Sutter, Bolat, Rusol and Belaïd.

November 14th, 2013

Faye and Ghvinianidze joined the international crew four days later.

November 18th, 2013

Funny. Another straight manager swap, this time between HSV, who appointed Ragnick, and Hoffenheim, who took Magath in his place.

November 20th, 2013

Substitute appearances for Sutter and Kladrubsky, while Ghvinianidze played the whole game once again, all three doing well for their respective nations.

Dalbeider · May 10, 2011

November 23rd, 2013

TSV 1860 München (6th) vs. Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (18th) (Bundesliga, 13/34)

It was nice, after so many games against top teams in the league, to face against the main relegation candidates. Oberhausen had managed a grand total of two points and five goals after twelve games, and were the only winless team in the Bundesliga. A win was a must.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Maxmiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

OBERHAUSEN (4-4-2): Stephan Loboué (GK); Flavio Pará (DR), Dedé (DL), Benjamin Reichert (DCr), Thomas Schlieter (DCl); Besart Ibraimi (MR), Heinrich Schmidtgal (ML), Daniel Gordon (MCr), Hayri Pinarci (MCl); Bernd Nehrig (STr), Denis Alibec (STl)

***

It was a good game to rotate the squad around a bit, so Demir and Uzoma started in Ibson's and Rosina's places, while Faye replaced the suspended Kladrubsky and Rusol took Ghvinianidze's place. It took us less than a minute for Moralez to create our first chance with a low cross towards Malonga, who sent a well-placed finish towards goal but Loboué dived well to turn it around the post.

Malonga clearly wanted to break his dry spell with a quick goal, and he monopolized most of our early attacks, the best of those being finished with a low, centered finish that Loboué parried. Oberhausen had more than enough with just defending, but still managed a half-chance in a corner kick, headed well wide by Schlieter. In the 16th Malonga crossed from the left towards Moralez, who controlled inside the box and shot, but the ball curved the wrong way and it went very, very wide.

Our domination was almost absolute, but our luck was terrible: a nice combination between Moralez and Viatri ended with the striker hitting the post with a low finish from the penalty spot. Another good movement by Viatri ended with an easy save by Loboué, and the first half ended in a disappointing goalless draw.

HALF TIME - 0-0

The start of the second half didn't look too promising, either. Malonga smashed our first chance against Loboué's body after another good pass by Moralez, but that took fourteen minutes of nothing to arrive. Trying to break the game open once and for all, we brought Belaïd and Rosina into the game, replacing Demir and Uzoma. That didn't help much, if at all.

We finally created some danger in the 73rd minute, with Loboué stopping a great free kick by Moralez and Faye sending the rebound narrowly wide. It got worse: two minutes later a back backpass ended in a recovery for Alibec, a counterattack, a good save by Bolat to Zelaya's finish and Alibec slotting the rebound into the back of our net to give Oberhausen the lead.

We went forward even more than before, and soon Belaíd sent narrowly over the bar a shot from the edge of the box. Allgöwer replaced an anonymous Malonga with ten minutes on the clock as we tried to work out a miraculous comeback. The young striker soon had his chance, but headed Faye's cross wide. Another drive by Belaïd in injury time was saved by Loboué, and that was all. An embarrassing defeat.

***

TSV 1860 München 0

Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 1 (Denis Alibec 75)

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What the heck did just happen here? Seriously, that was terrible. How did we go from sublime to horrible in such a short time?

To make it even better, Battaglia and Viatri picked up their fifth yellow and would be unavailable for our next fixture. Two strikers available, counting Allgöwer. Smells like 4-2-3-1 time to me...

Dortmund finally sacked Klopp, and a bunch of staffers followed him out.

November 24th, 2013

Oh, look, an international offer, and without even applying! Ivory Coast wanted me, and I said sure, as long as I could keep coaching 1860. They saw no problem with that, and to Yamoussoukro I fled to sign the contract.

Ivory Coast were supposed to be one of the top African squads, but their last results had been anything but good. Two straight defeats, including an embarrassing 3-1 loss against Sierra Leone, had condemned them to miss the 2014 World Cup after finishing second in their qualifying group behind Belaïd's Tunisia. The Africa Cup qualifying groups looked better, with the team on top after two wins out of two, but still. There was enough quality in the squad to pull them out of that mess, with great worldwide players like Salomon Kalou, Seydou Doumbia and Yaya Touré, but there was a certain lack of fresh blood coming through the youth ranks. That would be something to look at. The senior team wasn't expected to play until late March, so I had some time to make myself comfortable in my new role before getting into serious business.

November 30th, 2013

Dortmund legend Matthias Sammer took Klopp's position as manager.

Dalbeider · May 12, 2011

November 30th, 2013

Werder Bremen (12th) vs. TSV 1860 München (7th) (Bundesliga, 14/34)

Hey look, Werder again. This time things were a bit different, though. We had lost two straight, and they had won two straight. Still, the 0-4 destruction in our cup meeting would be hard to forget for both squads.

***

WERDER BREMEN (3-4-1-2): Tim Wiese (GK); Leonardo Sigali (DCr), Naldo (DCc), Markus Brzenska (DCl); Bosko Jankovic (MR), Michal Janota (ML), Alexey Yepafinov (MCr), Wesley (MCl); Diego Souza (AMC); Jong Tae-Se (STr), Taufic Guarch (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Ibson (MCr), Jiri Kladrubsky (MCl); Tijani Belaïd (AMR), Alessandro Rosina (AML), Maximiliano Moralez (AMC); Dominique Malonga (ST)

***

Werder changed almost their whole lineup from our cup meeting, while we went with a 4-2-3-1 due to our lack of healthy and unsuspended forwards. Things started really well, focusing our attacks through their weak wings and creating an early chance thanks to Ibson's vision, sent narrowly wide by Belaïd after cutting in from the right.

Another cross from the right ended with a goal by Malonga, but it was disallowed since the forward had fouled Sigali before controlling the ball. We kept dominating the game and attacking Werder's weak spots, but the guys in green defended well and the rest of the half went by with zero chances on either goal.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Werder finally made a timid approach to our goal in the first minutes of the second half, Guarch's weak shot flying easily towards Bolat's ready hands. In the 51st a cross from the right by Belaïd passed by the whole Werder defense and reached Malonga, but the striker wasted the chance with another terribly wide finish.

He redeemed himself a bit when, after a long pass by Kladrubsky, Naldo fouled him from behind and was sent off by the referee with a pretty fair red card. That left a huge gap in Werder's defense, and Malonga sent a great pass through that gap towards the left side of the box for Rosina to cut in and shoot, scoring the 0-1 and his first goal since his arrivel at München. A header by Maroh in a corner kick five minutes later went narrowly over the bar, while Werder tried to recover from the quick double blow they had received.

The home team tried to attack on the counter thanks to the speed of Guarch and Clara, but the former wasted their first real chance with a high ball. Another attempt by Guarch, this time from distance, met the same fate. His companion did better after facing Ghvinianidze and outrunning him with extreme ease, but this time it was Bolat who prevented the goal with a good save. On the counter, Malonga outdid their opponents with another terrible miss, hitting Wiese's body with his finish after a great run through the middle.

Soon it was Belaïd's turn to shoot wide, although he could be excused in that he used his bad leg, the left one, to finish the play after Moralez's pass. The Argentinian midfielder was soon replaced by Ludwig, while Uzoma replaced a solid Ibson. Rosina was having a blast that evening, though, and after receiving a nice pass from Uzoma he ran into the box from the left, faced Wiese, and passed back towards the other side, where Ludwig crossed the ball first time into the back of the net to score the 0-2 ten minutes before the end.

Werder gave up then, and we happily controlled the remainder of the game without troubles. One minute before the end Ludwig completed a great performance off the bench with a break down the right flank and a cross towards the heart of the box, where Belaïd gathered it and finished the job with ease, making it 0-3. That was it for a great second half.

***

Werder Bremen 0 (Naldo sent off 54)

TSV 1860 München 3 (Alessandro Rossina 57, Alexander Ludwig 79, Tijani Belaïd 89)

---

Poor Werder. We apparently had figured out their 3-4-1-2, and the 4-2-3-1 worked wonders against their weak wings, even more when they found themselves one man down. Back up to the 6th place, keeping the pace with the top four.

December 2nd, 2013

As an international manager, I had the right to cast my votes for the Golden Ball award. I decided to vote for Iniesta, Sneijder and Messi, in that order, because honestly, it didn't matter how well Cristiano Ronaldo had been playing, I wasn't voting for that guy. Not then. Not now. Not ever.

December 3rd, 2013

Ghvinianidze, Malonga, Belaïd and Rosina made the Team of the Week.

Italy called again, this time after Lazio sacked De Canio. The press wanted me to become their new manager, and I said nope.

Makonnen · May 13, 2011

Yes! Elephants > Azzuri.

Dalbeider · May 13, 2011

And Lions > both!

* * *

December 6th, 2013

TSV 1860 München (6th) vs. Hamburger SV (16th) (Bundesliga, 15/34)

Hamburg's fortunes hadn't changed much with the sacking of Magath and the appointment of Ragnick: they had only managed one point in their last three games, and had dropped to the relegation playoff place. Thankfully for them, the relegation places were many points behind, with Frankfurt and (grr) Oberhausen looking almost sure to get them. We had to win this.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Tijani Belaïd (MCr), Maxmiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

HSV (4-5-1): Jaroslav Drobný (GK); Guy Demel (DR), Héctor Moreno (DL), Miguel Vítor (DCr), Heiko Westermann (DCl); Diego Castaño (DMC), Cédric Makiadi (MCr), Tiberio Guarente (MCl), Son Heung-Min (AMR), Felix Bastians (AML); José Paolo Guerrero (ST)

***

Back to the 4-1-3-2 with Viatri and Battaglia back in the eleven, we started the game with the traditional wide shot by Malonga following a nice run down the left flank. We held possession for the first fifteen minutes, trying to find a way into HSV's defense, and we seemed to find it after a quick combination between Malonga and Moralez, but Belaïd shot wide with his left foot and the chance amounted to nothing.

Our domination continued, and in the 26th Moralez tried luck with a direct free kick, but his shot was weak enough for Drobný to gather it effortlessly. HSV only created danger in set pieces, and a rebound after a corner kick allowed Guarente to be the first visitor to shoot at goal, even though he did so with a badly wide effort. Makaidi didn't do much better with a 35-yard shot that went almost as far as that from the target in the 39th. Nothing else happened in a quite even first half.

HALF TIME - 0-0

Time went by and we still kept the ball but created little danger. In the 53rd we finally did something worth mentioning when Malonga headed a cross from the right by Moralez, but Drobný dived well to save. A terribly wide finish by Moralez later, we decided that it was time to change things. Ludwig replaced an ineffective Malonga while Kladrubsky came in Pocognoli's place, as we changed again into a 4-2-3-1.

We tried to attack more, but we just couldn't get through at all. Neither did HSV create any danger on the counter, and the minutes passed with nothing at all happening in either goal. A high header by Béda in injury time after a corner kick taken by Ludwig was the closest thing to a chance we created. The game ended as it started: without goals.

TSV 1860 München 0

Hamburger SV 0

---

Poor, but it could have been worse (see: Oberhausen). Not much else to comment from such a huge amount of nothing, to be honest.

December 9th, 2013

Béda was selected in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · May 16, 2011

December 14th, 2013

VfB Stuttgart (10th) vs. TSV 1860 München (7th) (Bundesliga, 16/34)

Stuttgart's season thus far had been... mediocre. Alternating wins and loses, with twenty goals scored and twenty conceded, and sitting right in the middle of the table, they were the very definition of a midtable squad. Yet they were strong at home, and our form was quite irregular as of late, so we had to be wary.

***

STUTTGART (4-4-2 diamond): Sven Ulreich (GK); Jukka Raitala (DR), Cristian Molinaro (DL), Mathieu Delpierre (DCr), Yaroslav Rakitskyi (DCl); Matthias Lehmann (DMC), Eduardo Salvio (MR), Lukas Schmitz (ML), Patricio Toranzo (AMC); Bogdan Stancu (STr), Kike (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-2-3-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Ibson (MCr), Sebastián Battaglia (MCl); Alessandro Rosina (AMR), Dominique Malonga (AML), Maximiliano Moralez (AMC); Lucas Viatri (ST)

***

The 4-2-3-1 was outperforming our usual 4-1-3-2 lately, so we went for it once again, thinking about making the change permanent if it worked again. We got off to a good start, with Moralez stealing in the midfield, Rosina running on the counter and assisting Malonga, who cut in from the left and shot into the sidenetting. Again.

Bad luck struck us in the fifth minute of the game, when Ghvinianidze injured himself when trying to steal the ball from Stancu, and had to be replaced by Béda. Stuttgart improved, and Salvio got a goal disallowed after a great pass by Toranzo due to a very clear offside position. A high header by Kike in a corner kick was Stuttgart's next chance, already in the 23rd minute of the game.

The game was very even, and neither team could dominate enough to create chances with any kind of consistency. But in the 37th, a fantastic individual movement by Stancu led him to dribble past both Maroh and Béda, finishing the job with a perfectly placed shot to put Stuttgart ahead. We went forward with everything, but managed to create exactly zero chances before the break.

HALF TIME - 1-0

The second half started with a weak header by Toranzo that Bolat caught without trouble, while we tried to find the way to penetrate into Stuttgart's defense. We increased our possession rate narrowing our formation a bit, but when it looked like we were starting to dominate, a long pass down the left flank by Rakitskyi found Gentner on the run behind Kladrubsky, and the winger cut into the box unopposed, placing a beautiful shot past Bolat to make it 2-0.

It was time to return to the 4-1-3-2, and also for some changes, with Belaïd replacing Ibson. That seemed to work, and soon Moralez assisted Malonga with a nice little through ball for the striker to smash it against Ulreich's legs. And in the 62nd a great cross from the right by Raitala was headed into the net by a rampaging Gentner, who easily outjumped a pretty terrible Kladrubsky, scoring the 3-0.

Sutter immediately replaced the Czech before he could do us any more damage. To add insult to the injury, Kike made it 4-0 in the 67th with another header, this time in a corner kick, while the whole defense watched passively. The less said about the rest of the game, the better.

***

VfB Stuttgart 4 (Bogdan Stancu 37, Christian Gentner 57 62, Kike 67)

TSV 1860 München 0

---

No. Friggin'. Comment.

Hannover sacked Tuchel, the third head to roll in the Bundesliga this season.

Ghvinianidze's injury was a very minor facial injury that only kept him out for five days.

December 18th, 2013

Ivory Coast dropped one place in the world rankings, and now were placed 34th.

December 20th, 2013

Simone Perrotta became Hannover's new manager after spending one year and half in Dotrmund as a coach. It would be his first managing job, and that automatically made him a likeable fellow for me.

December 21st, 2013

Great, more distractions. Manfred Stoffers came back with an improved €27M offer for the club, and he was once again in talks with Herr Beeck for the buyout. Hopefully it would go quickly, one way or another.

Dalbeider · May 17, 2011

December 21st, 2013

TSV 1860 München (9th) vs. SC Freiburg (12th) (Bundesliga, 17/34)

End of the first half of the season, just before the feared winter break. Freiburg was a team we should be beating, provided we didn't go belly-up again and just gave the game away. Their form wasn't bad, though, with two draws and a win in their last three fixtures, and in fact they were only five points behind us. A defeat was simply unacceptable.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alessandro Rosina (MCr), Tijani Belaïd (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Torben Allgöwer (STl)

FREIBURG (4-2-3-1 deep): Simon Pouplin (GK); Cicinho (DR), Fabián Monzón (DL), Heiko Butscher (DCr), Pavel Krmas (DCl); Nikola Pokrivac (DMCr), Julian Schuster (DMCl); Maylson (AMR), Darío Bottinelli (AMC), Lilian Bochet (AML); Pa**** Cissé (ST)

***

A clear message was sent to Malonga and Moralez: stop being useless or you'll be dropped. Freiburg's starting eleven was almost the same as last year's, minus Nicu due to injury. Winter was already in München, and snow fell over our heads as the game started. The visitors soon showed their love for counterattacking football, with Cissé running down the right flank and passing back towards Bottinelli, who somehow sent an easy finish wide to the right.

But in the 13th we weren't that lucky, since Schuster's well-measured cross from a dead ball situation was headed in by Krmas to put Freiburg ahead. We answered by creating our first real chance of the game immediately afterwards, a nice pass by Belaïd gathered inside the box by Allgöwer, whose shot was parried by Pouplin.

We had possession, but Freiburg had speed, and in another counterattack Bottinelli outran everyone and easily beat Bolat in the one-on-one to make it 0-2 with 26 minutes gone. The players were showing an absolute lack of ambition, and soon Maylson had the chance to make it three in a break through the right wing, but he blasted the ball over the bar.

Allgöwer wasn't looking any better than Malonga, and a great cross by Sutter in the 38th was headed terribly wide by the young striker. Another shot by Maylson three minutes later was well held by Bolat in what became the last chance of a horrible first half.

HALF TIME - 0-2

I had to backtrack in my decision, replacing an atrocious Allgöwer with Malonga at half time. Ten minutes later Pouplin had his first taste of a shot by the French forward, tipping wide his finish following a good dribbling through the middle. In the 58th a missed header by Cicinho allowed Malonga another chance to score, alone inside the box with only the goalkeeper in the way, but guess what? Ball over the bar.

Moralez and Ludwig replaced Belaïd and a surprisingly terrible Rosina, our only consistently good midfielder up to that point. We were looking a bit better, but in the 61st Bottinelli crossed from the left towards the six-yard-box, Cissé outjumped Rusol with worrying ease, and headed it in to score the third for Freiburg. Five minutes later Bottinelli (again) sent a great through ball towards Maylson, who cut into the box from the right wing and blasted the ball into the back of the net to make it, yes, 0-4.

That was the moment in which Malonga decided to stop sucking so badly and, finally, score a goal after a good run through the middle following a nice nod by Battaglia, making it 1-4 with fourteen minutes left to play. Thirteen minutes and two wide long shots by Uzoma later, Viatri was brought down inside the box by Monzón for a clear penalty kick, and that allowed Moralez to sink a bit deeper in his own personal black hole by shooting straight at Pouplin's hands.

To make things even funnier, Sutter saw an absolutely unnecessary second yellow card in injury time, sending himself off and erasing himself from the team sheet for the next league game. Awesome.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Dominique Malonga 76, Scott Sutter sent off 90+1)

SC Freiburg 4 (Pavel Krmas 13, Dario Bottinelli 26, Pa**** Cissé 61, Maylson 66)

---

All new low. For the first time in forever, I was actually happy that the winter break had arrived. Now we had some time to think about things, visit the shrink and try to figure out what the heck we were doing. One positive is that we could absolutely, positively not sink any lower than this.

Dalbeider · May 17, 2011

[font=Courier New]=========================
BUNDESLIGA AFTER 17 GAMES
=========================

| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Schalke        |       | 17    | 13    | 2     | 2     | 31    | 10    | +21   | 41    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Leverkusen     |       | 17    | 9     | 7     | 1     | 32    | 14    | +18   | 34    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Bayern      |       | 17    | 11    | 1     | 5     | 28    | 17    | +11   | 34    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Wolfsburg      |       | 17    | 10    | 1     | 6     | 26    | 16    | +10   | 31    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Köln           |       | 17    | 7     | 6     | 4     | 24    | 21    | +3    | 27    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Duisburg       |       | 17    | 7     | 5     | 5     | 18    | 19    | -1    | 26    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Gladbach       |       | 17    | 6     | 7     | 4     | 18    | 19    | -1    | 25    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Hoffenheim     |       | 17    | 6     | 6     | 5     | 28    | 16    | +12   | 24    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color=mediumturquoise][b]| 9th   |       | 1860 München   |       | 17    | 6     | 5     | 6     | 23    | 21    | +2    | 23    | [/b][/color]
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Dortmund       |       | 17    | 6     | 4     | 7     | 21    | 23    | -2    | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Freiburg       |       | 17    | 5     | 6     | 6     | 21    | 17    | +4    | 21    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Stuttgart      |       | 17    | 6     | 3     | 8     | 25    | 25    | 0     | 21    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Kaiserslautern |       | 17    | 5     | 5     | 7     | 14    | 22    | -8    | 20    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Hannover       |       | 17    | 4     | 5     | 8     | 18    | 23    | -5    | 17    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Werder Bremen  |       | 17    | 4     | 5     | 8     | 12    | 25    | -13   | 17    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | HSV            |       | 17    | 4     | 4     | 9     | 20    | 31    | -11   | 16    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  |       | Frankfurt      |       | 17    | 2     | 4     | 11    | 12    | 28    | -16   | 10    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  |       | Oberhausen     |       | 17    | 2     | 4     | 11    | 11    | 35    | -24   | 10    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/font]

And the best thing was that, even after being so terrible in our last five or six fixtures, with the exception of the Werder game (of course), we were still only four points away from the all-important fifth place. That said, there were only eleven points between that fifth place and the relegation playoff. Yep, things were tight. Still, we couldn't be happy with the lowest point total we had managed to earn in any of our three seasons in the Bundesliga before the winter break.

At the top it looked like Schalke were going to become runaway champions if they could keep the pace, having dropped only ten points thus far. Leverkusen, Bayern and Wolfsburg were expected to battle for the two Champions League spots. Seeing Duisburg and Gladbach so close to Europe was a bit shocking, as was seeing Kaiserslautern and Hannover so close to the bottom. Frankfurt and Oberhausen had much improving to do if they wanted to escape the red zone, but absolutely anyone from Köln downwards could end in the playoff place with a reasonably long run of bad form.

[font=Courier New]===========================
PLAYER STATS AFTER 17 GAMES
===========================

[u]Average rating (min. 6 games played, league only)[/u]

Mate Ghvinianidze           [b]7.34[/b]
Dominique Malonga           [b]7.21[/b]
Dominic Maroh               [b]7.19[/b]
Maximiliano Moralez         [b]7.15[/b]
Lucas Viatri                [b]7.14[/b]

[u]Goals (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga           [b]13[/b]
Lucas Viatri                 [b]2[/b]
Mate Ghvinianidze            [b]2[/b]
Seven other players          [b]1[/b]

[u]Assists (league only)[/u]

Lucas Viatri                 [b]6[/b]
Maximiliano Moralez          [b]4[/b]
Dominique Malonga            [b]3[/b]
Alessandro Rosina            [b]3[/b]
Tijani Belaïd                [b]2[/b]
Sebastián Battaglia          [b]2[/b]

[u]MoM awards (league only)[/u]

Dominique Malonga            [b]3[/b]
Mate Ghvinianidze            [b]2[/b]
Dominic Maroh                [b]1[/b]
Mathieu Béda                 [b]1[/b]
Jiri Kladrubsky              [b]1[/b]
Alessandro Rosina            [b]1[/b][/font]

Dalbeider · May 18, 2011

December 29th, 2013

Time to take a look at the expiring contracts in the squad:

- Rafa Jordá: the guy that brought us to the Bundesliga was having a tough season, what with injuries and with Viatri playing well in his place. Still, being only 29 and having proved that he's able to keep the pace with the best of the squad, he was offered a one-year extension with a small raise on wages.

- Benjamin Lauth: another year, another serious injury surrounded by good but extremely sporadic performances. And now he was 32 already, going towards 33, and with Allgöwer pushing for a regular place in the senior team, offering him a new contract was difficult to justify. Wait and see, for now.

- Andriy Rusol: the Ukrainian center-back had been solid in his first season and quite decent in his second, and that was good enough to offer him a new deal. What i didn't expect was that he would want to double his wages and to be considered a key member of the squad. That was just too much, and we put the negotiations on hold.

- Alexander Ludwig: the attacking midfielder was having a tough time competing with the likes of Moralez, Belaïd, Rosina and others for a place in the eleven, and his minutes had been pretty limited as of late. Still, he was a legend at the club, and always performed well off the bench. He was willing to reduce his wages from €28.5k to €23k per week, also reducing his status to rotation player, and that helped the negotiations a good deal. One year extension for him.

- Florin Lovin, Gábor Király, Heinz Müller, Ibrahima Faye: veterans with few or zero chances of making the first team regularly, they would be released at the end of the season. Faye was the most useful of the four, but he was 34 already, a bit too old for someone who depended on his pace most of the time.

December 31st, 2013

Huh. Everyone accepted their new deals, with one exception: Jordá, who decided to push for a higher wage. We stopped the negotiations right there, waiting for him to change his mind. He was useful, but not indispensable.

January 1st, 2014

Happy new year!

Odd year, Cristiano Ronaldo year. The Portuguese swept the Golden Ball and World Player of the Year awards, with Messi and Sneijder right behind. He was also chosen as the Best Midfielder, with Rooney as the best Striker, Chiellini as the best Defender and Casillas as the Best Goalkeeper.

January 3rd, 2014

Uh-oh, trouble. Kladrubsky wanted to leave to a bigger club, and there was no way to talk him down from that. I could only hope that he wouldn't disrupt the squad harmony too much.

January 5th, 2014

1.FC Nürnberg vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

As always, we were to play three friendlies through the winter break, but the general level was much higher than in previous seasons. We started with Nürnberg, who were having a tough season in the 2.Bundesliga, threatened by relegation. We dominated the game from the start, and Viatri got the opener in the 35th with an easy finish after a nice movement by Allgöwer. Rusol headed a corner kick into the net just as the first half ended to double our lead.

Switching to a 4-5-1 in the second half, we dominated with even more ease, but we kept failing in front of goal, with Moralez hitting the post eleven minutes from the end. In the 83rd Ibson finally scored the third with a nice left-footed effort from the edge of the box. That was all for a quite easy win.

1.FC Nürnberg 0

TSV 1860 München 3 (Lucas Viatri 35, Andriy Rusol 45+1, Ibson 83)

January 6th, 2014

Kobenhavn, Hoffenheim and HSV made €2.3M bids for Ignjovski, which I gladly accepted.

January 8th, 2014

Barça spent €54M in buying Santos' Neymar. Manzano's team was EIGHTH in La Liga, so I guess they were kind of desperate.

We, on the other hand, also signed a highly rated youngster from Brazil, only we spent much less on him. Eduardo, a 17-year-old goalkeeper which played for Bahía, signed a contract with us in exchange for €120k. One of the best rated young keepers in Brazil, we signed him for the future and as a backup to Bolat once Király and Müller left the team in the summer. The price we paid for him was very, very low for the potential my scouts saw in the lad. He was expected to join us once he turned eighteen, next July.

January 9th, 2014

TSV 1860 München vs. Sporting Clube de Portugal (Friendly)

For our second friendly we brought home one of the "Big Three" in Portugal, Sporting, for a real test of our skills, and our first minutes certainly failed that test, allowing Carriço to give the visitors the lead only five minutes into the game with an easy header. In the 31st a great cross by Matías Fernández was half-volleyed by Yannick Djaló to make it 0-2, profiting from the passivity of our defenders.

We did much better after the break, and Moralez clawed one goal back with a close range finish at his second try, the first having been blocked by a defender. Not much later the small Argentinian hit the post for the second time in two friendlies after a nice pass by Malonga, but eight minutes before the end Lovin completed our comeback with a great header in a corner kick, putting the ball past Hildebrand to draw the game. Maroh hit wood again in another corner kick, and the draw remained until the end.

TSV 1860 München 2 (Maximiliano Moralez 59, Florin Lovin 82)

Sporting Clube de Portugal 2 (Daniel Carriço 5, Yannick Djaló 31)

January 10th, 2014

The transfer market kept focusing on unsettling my players. Now it was Palermo who came with a €2.5M bid for Maroh. I quickly told them where they could stuff their money.

Ignjovski agreed a move to Hoffenheim, meaning we wouldl surely meet him in the league more than once in the future. We could only hope that he got sent off as often as he did for us.

January 12th, 2014

And once again, the takeover talks collapsed. This was starting to look like a neverending tale.

---

SC Rot-Weiß Essen vs. TSV 1860 München (Friendly)

As our final fixture of the winter break, we travelled to Essen to face non-leaguers RW Essen. Rain poured down, and that threatened to impede our passing game, but soon Uzoma gave us the lead heading a great cross from the right by Sutter. Then Essen almost got the draw in a corner kick, but the woodwork refused the header, and two minutes later a clear penalty by Gerlach on Allgöwer allowed Battaglia to double our lead from the spot. In the 37th Viatri hit the post with a low drive, and poor Gerlach pushed the ball into his own net when trying to clear it, betrayed by the slippery grass.

Malonga started the second half with another shot hitting the upright, and the fourth didn't come until the very last minute of the game, when Ludwig volleyed in a good cross by Faye. Easy win to relax our minds before the real thing began again.

SC Rot-Weiß Essen 0

TSV 1860 München 4 (Eke Uzoma 9, Sebastián Battaglia pen 22, Lars Gerlach og 37, Alexander Ludwig 90+2)

January 13th, 2014

It looked like Liverpool had money to spend once again, and came with a €1.5M bid for Allgöwer. Rejected, of course.

Dalbeider · May 21, 2011

January 19th, 2014

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (8th) vs. TSV 1860 München (9th) (Bundesliga, 18/34)

Nice way to restart the season, being hosted by one of our direct rivals for the top half, and who knows if also for Europe. Magath hadn't started too well in Ragnick's place, with only one win in their last five games, so it would be a pretty tight affair. Hopefully.

***

HOFFENHEIM (4-4-2 diamond narrow): Tom Starke (GK); Andreas Beck (DR), Marvin Compper (DL), Matthias Jaissle (DCr), Isaac Vorsah (DCl); Luiz Gustavo (DMC), Anton Putsila (MCr), Sejad Salihovic (MCl), Gylfi Sigurdsson (AMC); Salomón Rondón (STr); Toto Tamuz (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-5-1): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Eke Uzoma (MCr), Ibson (MCl), Alessandro Rosina (AMR), Maximiliano Moralez (AML); Dominique Malonga (ST)

***

Surprise! We started with a 4-5-1, a formation that my staff assured me would work well against Magath's narrow diamond. At the very least, it managed to slow the early game down to a crawl, with neither team managing to create any chances in the first quarter of an hour. In fact, the first shot didn't come until the 23rd, and it was a wide effort from twenty yards away by Tamuz.

The second chance fell to us, and it was so much better: Moralez crossed from a free kick, and Ghvinianidze headed the ball into the crossbar. Malonga was looking lively at least, and in the 31st went into the box with a nice dribbling and placed a good shot near the root of the post that Starke dived into to save.

Things were looking good, but Maroh messed up with a too strong challenge on Rondón when trying to incercept a pass, and the referee didn't hesitate to call for a crystal clear penalty. Thankfully, not only did Bolat stop Sigurdsson's penalty kick, he also managed to save his second chance after the attacking midfielder gathered the rebound. Great goalkeeping job by the Turk. We controlled the remainder of the half without trouble, and the break caught both teams still scoreless.

HALF TIME - 0-0

The second half started with Uzoma blasting a rebounded ball from the outside of the box into the stratosphere. Hoffenheim were dominating the early minutes, though, and soon Putsila had the best chance of the match thus far with a great run from the right flank into the box and a low shot that hit the root of the post before bouncing clear. We answered with another shot hitting the wood, this time by Rosina after gathering a loose ball after a complete mess inside Hoffenheim's box.

Malonga had a great chance after a good pass by Uzoma, but he found himself with little space to shoot from and Starke covered the gap well, parrying his finish. Belaïd and Viatri replaced Moralez and Malonga a bit later. In the 67th Rondón had a fantastic chance on the counter, but good goalkeeping by Bolat and even better defending by both Ghvinianidze and Maroh prevented a goal.

Another chance for Hoffenheim arrived in the 79th minute, when Itzhaki cut in from the right to shoot low and with power, only to see Bolat pulling out another of his great saves. The last ten minutes were strange, with both teams wanting to win but neither willing to risk a defeat, and chances stopped appearing, with only Luiz Gustavo trying luck from afar and shooting too high. In the end, neither won, and we left happy with our point.

***

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 0

TSV 1860 München 0

---

Not bad, considering our history after winter breaks. The 4-5-1 held its own, but we lacked punch up front. It looked like a good option when playing away from home against difficult opposition.

January 21st, 2014

Ghvinianidze made yet another appearance in the Team of the Week.

Dalbeider · May 22, 2011

January 26th, 2014

TSV 1860 München (10th) vs. 1.FC Köln (5th) (Bundesliga, 19/34)

Well, if our target was the fifth place, and we were playing against the fifth-placed team, it was clear that we had to aim for a win no matter what. The problem was twofold. First, Köln hadn't lost in a while, and were in fact closing the gap with fourth-placed Wolfsburg. Second, our form was terrible. Yet we had to go for it, and hope for the best.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Eke Uzoma (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Ibson (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

KÖLN (4-4-2 defensive): Federico Marchetti (GK); Mirso Brecko (DR), Andrézinho (DL), Youssef Mohamad (DCr), Manuel da Costa (DCl); Christoph Moritz (DMCr), Grzegorz Krychowiak (DMCl), Martin Lanig (MR), Boris Vukcevic (ML); Sebastian Freis (STr), Adil Chihi (STl)

***

Podolski was once again out of the team, and that made me a small bit less worried. Köln started strong, though, and soon Brecko got the first shot with a wide and high direct free kick. We answered right back with a quick combination through the middle finished by Malonga with a burst of speed to break into the box and shoot into the root of the right post. Moralez and Malonga looked dead set on finally forgetting their blues, and soon the Argentinian set Viatri up for another chance, well stopped by Marchetti.

We started dominating the game completely, and in the 13th Ghvinianidze headed a corner kick taken by Moralez into Marchetti's hands, increasing the pressure on Köln's defense a bit more. Luck wasn't with us, and Malonga hit wood for the second time in fifteen minutes with a great effort from the edge of the box that had the goalkeeper completely beaten. Moralez tried his luck with a crossed finish after a good run through the middle, but he crossed it too much and the ball went wide.

We kept pounding them, playing the best football the Allianz had seen in months, but we kept missing, like Viatri did after a nice backwards pass by Moralez after penterating into the box from the left wing. Moralez also sent the ball wide with a low shot after a good combination with Viatri in the 36th.

One minute later we had a rare opportunity to run on the counter, and Moralez dropped to the left before crossing towards Malonga. Andrézinho intercepted the pass, but the striker fought for the ball, won it back and finished the job placing the ball past a static Marchetti. Finally, we were ahead.

And then, just like that, in Köln's first chance since the third minute of the game, da Costa headed a corner kick, Bolat parried and Freis pounced on the rebound to draw the game only two minutes after our goal. Disheartening to say the least. A wide power shot by Malonga in the 44th and a header by Ghvinianidze that Marchetti tipped over the bar with a fantastic save were the last chances of the half. Incredibly, we were still tied.

HALF TIME - 1-1

Once again things started with a chance for the visitors, finished by Freis with a wide shot after a good ball by Krychowiak. Chihi followed up with a break through the middle that also ended with the ball behind the goal after another bad finish. We answered with a bending shot from distance by Uzoma, also wide. Köln were playing much better now, holding the ball more and giving our defense much more trouble than in the first half, Chihi being the next to try after a bad clearance by Sutter, and also shooting wide.

A weak free kick by Krychowiak gave Bolat much more trouble than expected, and the goalkeeper needed two attempts to smother the wet ball. We recovered after a problematic first ten minutes, and we restored our siege on Marchetti's goal, with Ibson restarting the hostilities by shooting from distance and narrowly over. Belaïd replaced Uzoma a bit later, trying to bring even more flair to our attack.

A cross from the right by Ibson in the 61st reached the far post, and Pocognoli managed to head it, but only wide. A mistake by the left back allowed Lanig to receive in a dangerous position, but the right winger couldn't find the target with his shot either. Our next substitution brought Rosina in Ibson's place, while Kladrubsky replaced Pocognoli.

In the 76th, a loose ball inside Köln's box after a corner kick reached Viatri, who tried to shoot. The ball bounced on a defender and fell to Maroh, a mere three feet away from the goal line. The defender only had to turn around and kick it to score the 2-1. This time we didn't allow Köln the chance to react, and three minutes later Ghvinianidze was clearly brought down inside the box by Chihi, prompting a penalty kick that Kladrubsky converted into the 3-1.

Bolat saved easily a header by da Costa three minutes later, and in the 84th Marchetti had to fly to prevent an own goal by Andrezinho following a cross by Moralez. A good defensive display prevented any last minute scare, and only Marchetti's great save could stop Malonga from scoring the fourth with a low, powerful drive in injury time. The game ended shortly after, and we scored a vital and very deserved win.

***

TSV 1860 München 3 (Dominique Malonga 37, Dominic Maroh 76, Jiri Kladrubsky pen 80)

1.FC Köln 1 (Sebastian Freis 39)

---

Gods, what a tense game. It was make or break, and we made it, climbing up to the 7th place and closing the gap with the 5th place to three points. A great moment to return to the winning ways, for sure.

January 28th, 2014

Maroh, Ghvinianidze (again!) and Moralez were selected in the Team of the Week.

January 30th, 2014

Udinese approached us with a bid for Malonga, offering €3.1M for the striker. We said no without hesitation.

Dalbeider · May 26, 2011

February 1st, 2014

FC Schalke 04 (1st) vs. TSV 1860 München (7th) (Bundesliga, 20/34)

The worst possible game to follow up after our great performance against Köln. Schalke were runaway leaders, winning almost every game that came their way, and looking unbeatable. Anything that wasn't a defeat would be a great result for us here.

***

SCHALKE 04 (4-4-2 diamond): Manuel Neuer (GK); Ángel Rangel (DR), Royston Drenthe (DL), Benedikt Höwedes (DCr), Vujadin Savic (DCl); Julian de Guzman (DMC), Jefferson Farfán (MR), Jermiane Jones (ML), José Manuel Jurado (AMC); Erik Jendrisek (STr), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (STl)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alessandro Rosina (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Ibson (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Rosina for Uzoma was our only change for this game. Our players faced the game relaxed and without pressure, and an early play by Malonga ended with Viatri scoring from a clear offside position. Schalke soon showed that they meant business with a quick break by Jendrisek that didn't become a goal only due to a poor finishing shot, and thanks to Bolat's good placement.

We still found decent chances from time to time, like one in the 13th minute that Ibson sent way over the bar. In the 24th Malonga tried luck with a flat, powerful shot from the edge of the box that Neuer managed to hold with both hands. Huntelaar had Schalke's answer with a banana shot from afar that went narrowly over the bar.

The Dutch striker tried again, this time with a wide and high direct free kick, but Schalke weren't dominating the game with the ease that everyone (me included) had expected. And things looked even better for us when Drenthe was sent off in the 45th minute for holding Viatri's shirt from behind as the striker was about to enter the box, ready to score. The first half ended without goals.

HALF TIME - 0-0

The second half started with a wide finish by Malonga in the very first minute, and with Schalke switching to an extremely narrow 3-4-2 formation. We took the clue and changed our outlook to a 4-5-1, moving Malonga to the left wing and Rosina to the right. Schalke were still very dangerous, and Huntelaar reminded us with a very narrowly wide header after a cross by Claudemir from the left.

Another header, this time by Höwedes after a free kick taken by Plestan, was well saved by Bolat in the 52nd minute, and the goalkeeper also saved a pretty poor finish by Farfán in a counterattack seven minutes later. A bit later Rafa Jordá returned to action replacing Viatri, while Uzoma took Moralez's place in our midfield.

Soon Bolat had more work, this time stopping a 30-yard piledriver by de Guzman. Schalke were dominating more with ten players than with eleven, and Farfán wasted another great chance with a wide finish, while Pocognoli walked by and watched in awe instead of, you know, defending.

We finally had a chance to run on the counterattack, and Rosina's cross was well finished by Malonga, but Neuer dived well to save his placed shot. Time passed and Schalke's attack died off, in part thanks to our good defensive display. We tried to attack in the final minutes of the game, but we couldn't get through and the game ended without goals. Good result for us.

***

FC Schalke 04 0 (Royston Drenthe sent off 45)

TSV 1860 München 0

---

A draw away against the leaders? Sign me up! Too bad we couldn't profit from Drenthe's red card, but still, we got one point more than I expected us to get.

February 6th, 2014

Bad news: Ghvinianidze pulled his hamstring and would be out for 2-3 weeks, missing the crucial cup game against Gladbach among others.

Dalbeider · May 28, 2011

February 8th, 2014

TSV 1860 München (9th) vs. Eintracht Frankfurt (17th) (Bundesliga, 21/34)

Careful. Eintracht may have been in the relegation zone, but they had managed three wins and a draw in their last four games. A win would most likely take them out of the red zone, so they were sure to give it their all. We'd have to do the same if we wanted to go into the DFB Pokal quarterfinal with a good form backing us up.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Alessandro Rosina (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Ibson (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

EINTRACHT (4-2-3-1 deep): Ralf Fährmann (GK); Patrick Ochs (DR), Giorgos Tzavelas (DL), Maik Franz (DCr), Marco Russ (DCl); Sven Bender (DMCr), Marvin Matip (DMCl); Jonatan Gómez (AMR), Alexander Meier (AMC), Renatinho (AML); Martin Fenin (ST)

***

Starts for Jordá, Rusol and Faye in an effort to keep some of our starters fresh for the cup game against Gladbach. Eintracht put some early pressure on us with a series of corner kicks that led nowhere, but as soon as we got hold of the ball it was over. Sutter got our first shot at goal after a nice movement on the right flank, but it was a weak effort and Fährmann saved with ease.

Eintracht's first attempt came from a set piece, a direct free kick by Tzavelas that Bolat held with both hands. The game slowed down, with both teams trying to play short passing football in a wet pitch, and failing to make much progress. The next shot didn't come until the 32nd, a high effort from distance by Moralez.

We had the game under control, but a missed header by Maroh allowed Fenin to run behind the defense, shooting around Bolat and into the net to put Eintracht ahead in the 37th. The striker tried again four minutes later with a shot from the edge of the box that went over, to which Moralez answered with an attempt from a tight angle that hit the sidenetting in the 43rd. The first half ended with us trailing.

HALF TIME - 0-1

Viatri replaced an exhausted Jordá at half time. Fenin kept finishing most of Frankfurt's attacking movements, and his was the first shot of the second half, a bending attempt from the right side of the box that didn't bend enough in time and went wide past the far post. Malonga hadn't still completely snapped out of his unlucky run, and he proved that with a great header on a corner kick that went over Fährmann's head only to hit the crossbar.

Moralez kept trying from afar, but the Argentinian kept missing the target. Time passed and we weren't making progress, so Belaïd and Demir were brought in for Moralez and Ibson. It took us until the 83rd, but we finally got through. Belaïd crossed from the left, Fährmann palmed the ball away and it fell to Viatri, who pushed it into the empty goal to draw the game.

But four minutes later Halil Altintop broke the offside trap with a perfectly timed run and gathered a great pass from Meier, placing the ball into the net and giving Eintracht the lead once again. Our desperate attack in injury time led nowhere, and the points went to Frankfurt in a game we had dominated.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Lucas Viatri 83)

Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Martin Fenin 37, Halil Altintop 87)

---

Disappointing to say the least. We were the better team on the pitch, but Eintracht took their chances and defended really well. We always seemed to struggle against the 4-2-3-1 with two defensive midfielders for some reason. Down to 11th, although the 5th place was still only five points away.

Dalbeider · May 29, 2011

February 12th, 2014

TSV 1860 München vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach (DFB Pokal quarter final)

One of the most important games for 1860 in recent memory. Reaching the semifinals would be a great achievement and a great chance to get into Europe. Gladbach were doing well in the league, but our last meeting in the Allianz ended with a clear 4-0 win, so we were confident of defeating them again.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Tijani Belaïd (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

GLADBACH (4-5-1): Logan Bailly (GK); Lamine Gassama (DR), Sebastian Boenish (DL), Anderson Bamba (DCr), Dante (DCl); Thorben Marx (DMC), Fernando Bob (MCr), Andranik Teymourian (MCl), Roland Lamah (AMR), Marco Reus (AML), Itay Shechter (ST)

***

Gladbach repeated the same eleven that lost 4-0 in the league, minus Gassama replacing Levels, while we gave starts to Kladrubsky and Belaïd, who had been doing well coming off the bench. Of course, what we couldn't have anticipated was that Pocognoli would be sent off two minutes into the game after a last-man foul on Shechter. We were forced to replace Viatri with Sutter, moving Kladrubsky to the left.

Gladbach seized the initiative after that, and Marx was the first to try luck from distance, sending the ball narrowly wide to the right. We recovered control quickly and retained possession, while Gladbach tried quick attacks that normally led nowhere, except when Teymourian tried a long, flat shot from 30 yards away that Bolat saved with ease. A high header by Shechter after a corner kick in the 23rd minute was their next chance.

We answered the same way, with Moralez crossing from the corner and Rusol heading over the bar four minutes later. Gladbach's best chance came in the 33rd, a good cut from the right wing by Reus finished with a shot from a very tight angle, well parried by Bolat. Shechter wasted another great chance with a wide finish after Maroh dallied on the ball too much and lost it in a very dangerous zone.

We were under siege, and Teymourian followed up with another dangerous attempt from distance that Bolat pushed away with a good save. Another chance fell to Fernando Bob, who blasted it over the bar after a great run and cross down the right wing by Lamah. We managed to hold on and keep the goalless draw until the break.

HALF TIME - 0-0

We kept our defensive approach for the first fifteen minutes, and even managed a decent chance in the 58th when Rosina came into the box and tried to curl the ball into the top left corner, missing it clearly and sending the ball high and wide. Ibson replaced an exhausted Moralez shortly after.

Somehow we were dominating the game, and Malonga soon had another half-chance with a weak header straight into Bailly's hands, following a good cross by Ibson. Time passed and Gladbach didn't look like wanting to win the game, only managing a single shot by Anderson Bamba in the 86th, well parried by Bolat. With that, the ninety minutes ended and we went into extra time.

FULL TIME - 0-0

We made our final substitution, bringing Ludwig in Belaïd's place. Gladbach finally tried to do something in attack, Marx bending a shot from afar that went well wide to the left. We restored control quickly, though, and even enjoyed a great chance near the end of the first fifteen minutes after Rosina ran through the heart of the defense like a hot knife through butter, only to shoot wide.

Battaglia picked up a painful-looking knock in the 109th, but he soldiered on through the pain and kept playing, not wanting to leave the team with only nine players. Bolat saved us with a fantastic save to a finish by Lamah in the 115th, and the right winger headed over the bar a perfect chance with the 120 minutes already gone. No one could score, so the game went to penalties.

EXTRA TIME - 0-0

Penalty shootout

----------------

Rosina.........GOAL! (1-0)

de Camargo.....WIDE!! (1-0)

Battaglia......SAVED!! (1-0)

Dante..........WIDE!! (1-0)

Ibson..........GOAL! (2-0)

Boenisch.......CROSSBAR!! (2-0)

Kladrubsky.....SAVED!! (2-0)

Lamah..........GOAL! (2-1)

Malonga........GOAL! (3-1)

1860 München won in the penalty shootout!

***

TSV 1860 München 0 (3) (Sébastien Pocognoli sent off 2)

Borussia Moenchengladbach 0 (1)

---

That was tough, but we went through in the end. Pocognoli earned a nice little fine for his sending off, which made us waste so much energy in a 120-minute game. We were sure to pay the price in the league three days later. Köln, Schalke and Leverkusen waited for us in the semifinals, and we got a nice money prize of €1.15M.

Battaglia only had a bruised rib, painful but not too worrying. He would miss our next game, but nothing else.

February 13th, 2014

There were no easy draws remaining, but I was hoping to play the semis at home at least. No such luck: Leverkusen away.

Dalbeider · May 31, 2011

February 15th, 2013

Borussia Moenchengladbach (6th) vs. TSV 1860 München (11th) (Bundesliga, 22/34)

And only three days later, we met again. We hoped that we would have the morale edge over them after the penalty shootout win, and at least we knew that both teams would be equally exhausted after such a hard and long match.

***

GLADBACH (4-5-1): Logan Bailly (GK); Lamine Gassama (DR), Dante (DL), Roman Neustädter (DCr), Carlos Zambrano (DCl); Jan Kirchhoff (DMC), Almog Cohen (MCr), Charles Takyi (MCl), Karim Matmour (AMR), Kévin Diaz (AML), Raúl Bobadilla (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Ibrahima Faye (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Jiri Kladrubsky (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

***

Sutter, Kladrubsky and Malonga were quite tired, but still started due to lack of alternatives, while Gladbach started an almost completely new and refreshed eleven. We had to get things done quickly before our tiredness caught up with us, and soon Moralez sent a great through ball towards Malonga, who couldn't shoot in time due to Bailly's quick rush out of his goal.

On his second chance Malonga didn't miss, and after receiving a fantastic pass from Kladrubsky he rifled it in to give us the lead only five minutes into the game. We controlled the game with ease afterwards, only hampered by a knock on Sutter, who limped a bit on his way back into the pitch after being treated by the physios.

A long and wide attempt by Kirchhoff was Gladbach's first approach, arriving in the 25th minute. Malonga almost got the second with a header after a free kick taken by Moralez, but he couldn't control it and sent it way over the bar. Another high header, this time by Bobadilla after a measured cross by Dante, was Gladbach's next opportunity in the 37th, and the last chance of a good first half for us.

HALF TIME - 0-1

Sutter was being hampered by his injury, and Lovin took his place, moving Kladrubsky to the right back. Things started slow after the break, but Cohen broke the boredom with a piledriver that smashed against Bolat's crossbar before bouncing clear. Not much later Jordá and Demir replaced Viatri and Moralez, both in need of a rest despite not playing the whole cup game.

We had the game under control, and in fact attacked more than Gladbach did, with Malonga receiving a great pass by Ibson for another good chance that Bailly broke with a nice save. In the 69th de Camargo was rightly sent off after a late, two-footed challenge from behind on Uzoma. Deserved red, no discussion there, although the Gladbach players protested furiously.

Gladbach tried a 3-1-4-1 formation, and soon Takyi headed a good cross from the left by Shechter wide. Diaz followed up with a narrowly high shot after a good movement through the middle by the whole home midfield. We were suddenly on the back foot, and we tried to find a way to stop Gladbach's newfound domination as Shechter sent another twenty yard shot straight at Bolat's hands with eleven minutes remaining on the clock. Their strength finally waned, and Uzoma could have sealed the game with a good finish after a nice pass by Malonga from the left, but Bailly saved well. We kept things under control until the end and scored a good win.

***

Borussia Moenchengladbach 0 (Igor de Camargo sent off 69)

TSV 1860 München 1 (Dominique Malonga 5)

---

Nice, solid win, and playing some nice football to boot. Malonga scored against the team with which he started that wonderful run back in October, so maybe it was a good omen. Up to ninth.

Sutter had a thigh strain, meaning he would be out for 9-11 days.

Dalbeider · June 1, 2011

February 22nd, 2014

TSV 1860 München (9th) vs. 1.FC Kaiserslautern (12th) (Bundesliga, 23/34)

After a good away win it was time to confirm it with a victory at home against a team ranked below us, but not by much. Kaiserslautern had won their last game in a 3-2 thriller against Freiburg, but that came after three consecutive draws and a defeat, which didn't speak too well of their form.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Jiri Kladrubsky (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Mathieu Béda (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Rafa Jordá (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

KAISERSLAUTERN (4-4-2): Tobias Sippel (GK); Florian Dick (DR), Leon Jessen (DL), Martin Amedick (DCr), Rodnei (DCl); Aaron Hunt (MR), Jonathan Brison (ML), Christian Tiffert (MCr), Bastian Schulz (MCl); Matías Suárez (STr), Adam Nemec (STl)

***

Demir and Jordá got the nod as starters, while Pocognoli returned from his suspension and Battaglia from his injury, though only just. The Spaniard gave us a reason to be glad of his presence in the very first minute of the game, connecting a powerful effort from the edge of the box that Sippel could barely tip over the bar for a corner kick. Kaiserslautern answered with a good twenty-yard shot by Hunt that hit a defender before being deflected wide by Bolat.

Malonga ran after a long pass by Battaglia in the 11th, won the ball back from Amedick and entered the box before shooting into the root of the left post. Another great effort by Hunt gave Bolat more work, and the goalkeeper flew across the goalmouth to tip the ball wide with a great save. On the other goal, Jordá tried to remember old times with a turnaround shot from the edge of the box, but Sippel was well positioned and saved easily.

In the 21st Suárez almost got the opener with a narrowly high header after a free kick crossed into the box by Jessen. In the 30th we weren't so lucky: Nemec gathered a long ball, dribbled past Béda and crossed the ball into the back of the net to give Kaiserslautern the lead. Nothing happened in the remaining fifteen minutes, except a very high shot by Schulz near the end of the half and a dangerous header by Suárez in injury time that Bolat saved miraculously. The visitors had the lead at half time.

HALF TIME - 0-1

We tried to change things around with a switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation after the break, but Hunt soon tore us apart with a great run from the right into the box that only an inspired Bolat managed to stop with a good parry. Hunt had it again in the 49th with a header that Bolat saved again, and seven minutes later the goalkeeper did it again, this time after a good run into the box by Schulz.

It was time to use our secret weapon: Lauth returned to action replacing Jordá, while a very poor Moralez left his place to Belaïd and Ibson replaced Demir. Bolat couldn't do any more miracles when Nemec headed a great cross from the right straight at the top right corner of the goal in the 61st, scoring an unstoppable goal to double Kaiserslautern's lead.

Four minutes later, though, we were back into the game thanks to two of our substitutes: Lauth ran on the counter before assisting Ibson, who ran into the box and rifled the ball past Sippel to score the 1-2, and his first goal for die Löwen. Bolat soon had to save us again after a weird counterattack in which center-back Rodnei crossed the whole field before shooting low, the goalkeeper deflecting the ball wide.

Another counterattack by Nemec ended with a high shot by Suárez, while we went forward looking for the draw before time ran out. But in the 78th Hunt, who had been trying all day long, finally found the target with an outrageous 35-yard effort that flew straight at the top right corner, making it 1-3 and destroying our hopes of a comeback.

Lauth could have resurrected those hopes in the 81st after receiving from Malonga on the run, but his finish went wide. A high header by Rusol four minutes later didn't help either, and the game ended with a wide free kick by Dick while the fans left the stadium with disappointed faces.

***

TSV 1860 München 1 (Ibson 65)

1.FC Kaiserslautern 3 (Adam Nemec 30 61, Aaron Hunt 78)

---

Honestly, at that point I didn't even know what to expect from the team. One day we were brilliant, the other we fell apart at the seams. Béda, Moralez and Rosina were just terrible in this game. We kept our place, and the distance to the 5th place remained the same, so it wasn't all bad.

February 26th, 2014

Kladrubsky twisted his knee in training, and would be out for 12-14 days.

February 27th, 2014

Oh, wonderful. Just after making my first international call-up for Ivory Coast, Monaco and Manchester City withdrew two of my players, Siaka Tiéné and Yaya Touré. No better way to start on the job.

Seven of our players got call-ups of their own, Faye and Sutter being the ones left out this time.

Dalbeider · June 3, 2011

March 1st, 2014

Hannover 96 (10th) vs. TSV 1860 München (9th) (Bundesliga, 24/34)

Another difficult match against an in-form team. Hannover hadn't lost in 2014, and were climbing up slowly but steadily since their managerial change, which put Perrotta in charge. Given that our performance was a complete unknown, everything could happen here.

***

HANNOVER (4-5-1): Markus Miller (GK); Niels Wellenberg (DR), Konstantin Rausch (DL), Sandro (DCr), Karim Haggui (DCl); Christian Schulz (DMC), Lars Stindl (MCr), Faris Haroun (MCl), Carlitos (AMR), Trond Olsen (AML), Mahir Saglik (ST)

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2): Sinan Bolat (GK); Scott Sutter (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Mate Ghvinianidze (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Sebastián Battaglia (DMC), Ibson (MCr), Alessandro Rosina (MCc), Eke Uzoma (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Benjamin Lauth (STl)

***

It was time to move things around a bit, giving Rosina the lead of our midfield and starting Lauth for the first time after his injury. Ghvinianidze also returned, and his presence was soon felt when he headed a corner kick narrowly over just two minutes into the game. But our good start turned into a nightmare when in the fifth minute Olsen picked up a loose ball inside the box and shot first time with power, beating Bolat and giving Hannover a very early lead.

It got worse: seven minutes later Mahir Saglik ran on the break, dribbled past Maroh and crossed towards an unmarked Stindl, who simply pushed it in to make it 2-0. Hannover kept attacking even after that, trying to extend their lead as much as possible. In the 25th they got their wish, with another quick attack full of precise and fast passing that Mahir Saglik finished with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box, making it 3-0 and embarrassing our defense to no end.

Then Battaglia went late on Mahir Saglik in a divided ball, the referee showed him the red card and the real happy times began. Lauth finally took a shot at goal in the 39th, and it was a good one, but Miller touched the ball just enough to deflect it into the left post, denying the veteran striker a great goal.

Ibson also got a shot stopped by the goalkeeper, although his attempt was much worse and a waste of a perfectly good play by Rosina. To round up a wonderful first half, a cross by Marik Saglik in injury time hit Maroh on the back of his head and was deflected straight into the goal for a ridiculous own goal. 4-0 and counting at half time.

HALF TIME - 4-0

For the first time in my career, I remained silent at half time. There was nothing I could tell my players that would fix this. Hannover kept pushing, with Olsen sending a good turnaround shot narrowly over in the 48th. Ghvinianidze answered with another header in another corner kick, this one going wide, and a bit later Bolat did well to save a low chip by Mahir Saglik after a good combination with Stindl.

Terrible defensive decisions left Haroun alone right in front of the box, but the midfielder couldn't beat Bolat with his finish. Malonga, Belaïd and Moralez entered the game replacing Lauth, Ibson and Uzoma, all three with absolutely forgettable performances. Lauth even had time to pick up another injury before leaving the pitch.

The following minutes gave us a high ball by Moralez from distance, a knock to Ghvinianidze and a goal for the Georgian, heading in a corner kick in the 81st. A few half-chances and an injury to Sutter later, the game ended. Thankfully.

***

Hannover 96 4 (Trond Olsen 5, Lars Stindl 12, Mahir Saglik 25, Dominic Maroh og 45+1)

TSV 1860 München 1 (Mate Ghvinianidze 81, Sebastián Battaglia sent off 36)

---

After this game I seriously considered resigning. I knew those players could play well, they had done so in the past, but I couldn't seem to make them remember how to do it. The result brought us down to the 11th place again, and the upcoming fixtures were anything but easy, with the Münchner derby and a double-header against Leverkusen looming in the horizon.

I wasn't the only one in trouble, and in fact others had it worse: 14th-placed Stuttgart sacked Armin Veh and were looking for a new manager.

Injury report from the Hannover game: Sutter, bruised rib, 4-5 days. Ghvinianidze, pulled hamstring (again), 2-3 weeks. Lauth, gashed leg, 8-10 days.

March 2nd, 2014

Toppmöller was the next to fall, with Werder lying in the relegation playoff spot.

March 5th, 2014

Seychelles (160th) vs. Ivory Coast (38th) (International Friendly)

An easy friendly to test the Ivorian waters. I started the game with a 4-5-1 formation with 35-year-old Drogba as our main man up front. The striker did us proud with a quick goal, putting us ahead in the 4th minute after a great assist by Gervinho. Konan made it 0-2 with a great strike from distance in the 16th, but despite hitting the post twice, we couldn't increase the lead any further before the break.

With five new faces in the second half, but keeping the same tactical disposition, Gervinho finally got the third in the 67th minute after a quick break initiated by Zokora. But we relaxed a bit too early, and Seychelles managed to get one goal back in a good header by Odam. A short result, but a good performance overall.

Seychelles 1 (Aurélien Odam 85)

Ivory Coast 3 (Didier Drogba 4, Didier Konan 16, Gervinho 67)

---

Substitute appearances for Rusol, Pocognoli and Belaïd, who even had time to score an assist for Tunisia in an easy 1-4 win over Liechtenstein.

March 6th, 2014

Adding to our small injury plague, Ibson picked up a chest injury in training and would be out for 9-11 days.

Dalbeider · June 5, 2011

March 8th, 2014

TSV 1860 München (11th) vs. MSV Duisburg (12th) (Bundesliga, 25/34)

A game we had to win no matter what. Not only because our form was sinking us quickly, but because Duisburg's wasnt' any better. In fact it was worse, with three defeats and one draw in their last four games. They were apparently safe from the relegation battle they expected to be involved in, though, so their season could be considered a success no matter what.

***

1860 MÜNCHEN (4-1-3-2) : Sinan Bolat (GK); Ronny Scholz (DR), Sébastien Pocognoli (DL), Andriy Rusol (DCr), Dominic Maroh (DCl); Florin Lovin (DMC), Christian Demir (MCr), Maximiliano Moralez (MCc), Alessandro Rosina (MCl); Lucas Viatri (STr), Dominique Malonga (STl)

DUISBURG (4-5-1) : Dan Twardzik (GK); Kevin Schöneberg (DR), Douglas Silva (DL), Betao (DCr), Chiró N'Toko (DCl); Samil Cinaz (DMC), Patrick Funk (MCr), Matías Sánchez (MCl), Benjamin Kern (AMR), Max Kruse (AML); Jonathan López (ST)

***

With two of our three possible right backs injured and the other extremely short on fitness, we had no choice but to give the nod to 17-year-old Ronny Scholz, who made his first start for the senior squad. Lovin and Demir also got in the starting eleven, and they quickly made an impact: short sidepass from the youngster and outstanding banana shot from 25 yards away by the Romanian, beating Twardzik and scoring the 1-0 only two minutes after kick off.

Things looked even better five minutes later after Betao was fairly sent off for bringing Malonga down when the striker was bearing on goal ready to score the second. Moralez took the free kick from a great position, but Twardzik saw it coming and saved with a good dive. Everything was going our way for once, and Malonga made it worse for Duisburg with a great left-footed finish after a nice assist by Rosina, scoring the 2-0 in the 11th minute.

We took a short break before attacking again, with Viatri blasting over the bar a decent chance following a pass by Moralez. Rosina was having a good start of the game, and a shot from the Italian was well saved by Twardzik in the 22nd. Then, only a few seconds later and for unknown reason, Maroh decided that he wanted to elbow López in the face. Straight red, and back to the drawing board, with Béda coming into the game in Viatri's place, shifting us to a 4-1-3-1.

Duisburg finally had a chance on the counter shortly after, and López managed to waste it with a terribly wide finish. We still commanded the game with ease, though, and in the 34th it was Demir who split the defense with a great pass towards Malonga, who blasted it in to grab his second and our third, also earning the young midfielder his second assist. A wide header by Rusol in a free kick taken by Moralez was the last chance of an almost perfect first half.

HALF TIME - 3-0

Duisburg tried to push forward in the first minutes of the second half, and Kern had a decent chance after a rebound that the midfielder sent wide. We stopped their reaction dead in its tracks in the 52nd when Pocognoli sent an advanced pass for Rosina to run into, and the Italian took the chance to shoot and beat Twardzik, scoring the fourth and removing any remaining doubt about our victory.

With the game in the bag we gave Demir and Moralez a well deserved rest, bringing Uzoma and Belaïd into the fray. Malonga was still looking for his fourth hattrick of the season, and got close after a great individual effort in which he dribbled past everyone that got in his way, but couldn't find the target with his finish afterwards.

We took it easy for the rest of the game, and besides a great chance for Kruse, who stole the ball from Béda inside the box before shooting wide, things remained completely under control until the end. Great performance, great result.

***

TSV 1860 München 4 (Florin Lovin 2, Dominique Malonga 11 34, Alessandro Rosina 52, Dominic Maroh sent off 22)

MSV Duisburg 0 (Betao sent off 7)

---

It was Dr. Jekyll's turn, I guess. Great show in general, although Maroh's elbow earned him a one-week fine and a suspension, leaving us with only two central defenders. Plus Scholz, of course, who had a pleasant debut on the right back. 8th now, but the 5th place was now seven points ahead, with Dortmund and Hoffenheim tied on points. Lovin was also very good, and his goal was fantastic. With Battaglia's suspension being extended for two additional matches, he would have the chance to play more minutes in the near future, and maybe earn an extension to his contract.

March 11th, 2014

Strangely, only Malonga made the Team of the Week. Guess the good performance spread equally over all players. Except Maroh, of course...

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