Young Guns in Hannover - In search of lost points

Borussia Dortmund need to win the match, but after some 65 minutes they are 0-1 down at home. Can Leverkusen narrow the gap even more and become a title contender? Mario Götze picks up the ball on the left side, runs into the middle, all set for the pass to the right but now he swings towards the goal, takes on a couple of Hannover defenders, walks past them in one move and scores. 1-1! Within a few minutes the Young Guns seal the victory in style. Another big point, the Meisterschaft now is only a couple of games away.

Still Hannover would go on and finish the league as one of the big surprises of 2010/2011. They qualified for Europe and eliminated Sevilla to progress to the Europa League group stages. The Leinesiders have been one of the teams that shook up Bundesliga last season but just like the Young Guns and Mainz they are currently paying the price for it. They have not won a league match since beating Nürnberg on match day 2 and not won a match since beating Sevilla at home a few days after the Nürnberg match. After a furios start they are now held at 8 points, still one point above the Young Guns, who have not won a league match since beating Nürnberg (who else?) on match day 3. During the week Hannover were held to a goalless draw by Royal Standard Club de Liège. In a lousy match it was only former German international Jan Schlaudraff to at least target the Liège goal. His lob right before half time was denied by the cross bar. The inform Schlaudraff has been running Hannover this season with Norwegian star Abdellaoue, who is going to miss the Dortmund match injured. Still with Ivory Coast strike Ya Konan they have a great replacement in hand.

Let's leave the Slomka team and have a look at the Young Guns. After the impressive return to Europe the upcoming two away matches against Hannover and Mainz are crucial for the rest of the season. Borussia still without Super Lucas up front also need to replace "wunderkind" Mario Götze and Sebastian "now that's a pass" Kehl, who sit out after their red cards against Leverkusen. Also missing is Sven "the offender" Bender. This basically means that we need to find a new formation in midfield. A lot of names have been tossed around as replacements for Kehl, Bender and Götze. Whereas some people hope to see Hummels moved onto the holding midfielder position and Santana playing alongside Subotic and others want to see Großkreutz alongside seeded but still not arrived in Dortmund Gündogan it seems more than likely that Toni da Silva is going to join the former Nürnberg midfielder.

Nothing much is going to change up front. Kuba, after his poor performance against Berlin, has had his chances but missed them. He should be replaced by Ivan Perisic. Not only because of his wondergoal against Arsenal has the Croat earned his spot in the Young Guns XI. The fantastic 20 minutes against Arsenal only followed up his good matches as a sub. According to Klopp Perisic still needs to work on his defensive play but he is going to "ride the wave" now. Perisic might play in front of Piszczek, who is still under the threat of being banned from football for a year. His appeal against his ban from the Polish team is taken to court next week. However rumors have it that the astonishing right back is going to walk out of the court room as a free player. Kevin Großkreutz, the local hero, could be back on his left side teaming up with Marcel Schmelzer. The Dortmunder Jung needs to get his things together again, he looked bad the last couple of matches but should get another chance alongside Kagawa Shinji. The Japan sensation of 2010/2011 is still looking for his form but was vastly improved against Arsenal.

Borussia in Hannover, two teams who need to win to not sink deep into the grey midfield. It could be a wonderful match full of counter attacks but it could also be a nervous match. We will find out tomorrow from 3.30 pm CET onwards. Time to get back on the track, Young Guns! Do it now!

The facts

Hannover 96: Zieler – Cherundolo, Haggui, Pogatetz, Pander – Schmiedebach, Pinto – Stindl, Rausch – Schlaudraff, Ya Konan

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer – da Silva, Gündogan – Perisic, Kagawa, Großkreutz – Lewandowski

Refs: Gagelmann – Anklam, Thielert – Wingenbach

Kick off: 3.30pm CET / Sunday, 18th of September 2011

Fun fact

Former Blue scum left back Christian Pander is also know as Funky Pee, the rapper out of hell. Whenever he is injured, which he is most of the time, he enters the studio to rap a few songs. Have a listen and find out about his many talents here

steph, 17.09.11

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