The Half-Back Delivery - Issue 5 - Winter break is coming...and the title is in the balance

The Half-BackDelivery Issue 5 - 25/8/17Your Football Manager Fix 31st december 2019Winter break is coming...and the title is in the balance 17 games in and dortmund crash out of the the winter break champions league has arrived. Withthe bundesliga titlefirmly poised you canread all about it on page 2&3

The winter break is coming bundesliga title is in the b The German Bunde- Dortmund have looked Some losses that Half- sliga has reached it’s to be a force to be reck- Back would quickly mid-point and the Winter oned with this year with like to forget are a 2-1 Break has arrived. The them sitting in second, loss to Mainz at home title is still firmly in the just 3 points behind and a 2-1 loss away at balance, despite reign- leaders Bayern Munich. Karlsruhe. ing champions Bayer Despite this only having Leverkusen sitting in 9th a 1 point improvement The second half of the and 15 points adrift from from this time last year, season should lead to the top. and only scoring 2 goals an exciting climax, with more, they have kept out just 8 points between the It has been a topsy turvy 10 more goals. top 5 teams, and just 10 season in Germany with points between 10th and teams over-achieving Half-Backs men have 3rd meaning there will and some under-achiev- led the way with goals be interesting ends to ing. Hoffenheim are with only RB Leip- the season in the chase currently sitting in 5th, zig keeping pace. for the title and europe- 6 places above last They have had some an places. seasons placing, and mixed results, with Bayer Leverkusen fall- stand out wins against ing a whole 8 places in Bayern Munich(H) 1-0, comparison. Wolfsburg (H) 5-3.Page 2

g and thebalance Amazing Amiri Nadiem Amiri. A player we covered in our last issue for his bright future. A player that is well and truly living up to this. Last year he was shipped out on loan to Feyernord, where in 29 games he recorded 3 goals and 7 assists, with an average rating of 6.58. Maybe not his greatest return, but as a youngster it’s promising. On his return Mr Back couldn’t confirm whether Amiri would be part of his plans or not, but he has definitely put that doubt to bed in the first half of the season. In just his 16 outings this season he has recorded 12 goals, 3 assists, 6 player of the matches and an average rating of 7.83. Outstanding return from the Shadow striker, which is seeing him top charts and compete with the top performers in the Bundesliga. Page 3

Dortmund cra champion Half-Back hasn’t quite lived up to expectations in the champions league having crashed out in the Group Stage something he wasn’t best pleased about. He had this to say “this was a competition we wanted to go deep into. We were dealt a tough group, but we didn’t represent ourselves well enough. We must be better than that on the big stage.” Poor results against PSG losing 5-0 and 2-0 had their backs against the wall. Having secured two draws against Back’s former club Inter, it was all down to who could have the better record in the four games. A disappointing last minute equaliser for Celtic consigned Dortmund to a draw, meaning they would be ending the group in third... But fall into the with an enPage 4

ash out of thens leaguee europa leaguenglish tie Finishing in third sent Dortmund down into the Europa League, a competition Half-Back was all well to familiar with, having finished runners up last year with Inter Milan. Borussia Dortmund have been paired up against English side Southampton, who are sitting pretty in 5th place of a very competitive Premier League. Half-Back will be wanting to go to the end of the competition following his disappointment at exiting the Champions League, so I expect we will be revisiting this story in the near future. Page 5

The Half-BackDelivery Issue 5 - 25/8/17and in other news... 31st December 2019 DFb Polkal drop-out More cup disappointment see’s Dortmund drop out of the DFB Polkal cup in the second round against minnows Kaiserslautern. Dortmund just couldn’t muster up a goal to fight back and eventually fell victim to their own complacency. Something i’m sure the club will want to rectify next year. Manager WatchLet’s take a look at some of the stranger appontmentsJohn Terry is taking a crack Reading have since got rid ofat management in League 2 Steve Sidwell but appointedwith Bristol Rovers former Manchester United player Ryan GiggsUnfortunately things didn’t quite work our for Lazio and BarbaraBerlusconi, she was sacked having left Lazio in 15th place!Please interact with us on twitter at @The_half_Back