Talking Fussball

Last week saw big-point jackpots from the usual subjects (Robert Lewandowski) and from some rather more surprising sources (Josip Brekalo). With seven of nine games taking place simultaneously, it's ever more important to get your squad right before kick-off time on Saturday. Listen in as JT and Flo give their top tips for players to pick up! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices....

Ready for another round of Borussia Dortmund vs. RB Leipzig? We sure are, after taking in the two teams' pulsating 3-2 encounter  on Match Day 32. Matt and Nik talk through how the two teams might set up for Thursday's DFB Pokal final, as well as what's keeping them from providing a somewhat sterner challenge for (re-)newly-crowned champions Bayern. More on Eintracht's troubles keeping up in the r...

With Hertha BSC out of action on the last two match days, there's been a decided lack of Ha Ho He on the podcast. A full-blown in-house coronavirus quarantine kept the team away from the pitch for two weeks, leading to a pile-up of make-up fixtures that struck fear in the hearts of many a Herthaner trying to make it through a relegation battle unscathed. Matt (Talking Fussball's resident Hertha ob...

With just three match days to go in the 2020-21 Bundesliga season, there's not a lot of time left to rack up points - and not a lot of room for mistakes. Listen in as JT and Flo answer all your questions on whom to sell, buy, drop, put into your starting XI, and make your star man.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If wasn't already clear, 1. FSV Mainz 05 are up to something under first-year head coach Bo Svensson. They've crawled out of the mire they once shared with poor old FC Schalke 04 with alarming vigor, and are not just not bad anymore - they're good. FC Bayern München learned that the hard way this weekend; the Rekordmeister's loss makes goings on at both ends of the table just a little more interes...

It's been a long week in the world of football, says JT about five minutes into this episode. You can say that again - it was enough to throw Flo off his game ahead of the midweek match day. What's great about an englische Woche, though, is you get a chance to make up for your mistakes nearly right away. Listen in for some strategies... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...

Pretty hard to talk about anything but the plans for a European Super League, even for a podcast that  focuses on a league  whose leading lights decided not to go down that road. Matt and Nik get on the line with ESPN's Stephan Uersfeld to make sense of the big news, to sort out why so many coaches seem to want out of their contracts, and what Hertha's Covid crisis might mean for the relegation ba...

With Hertha BSC stuck in quarantine, we thought we'd zoom in on the capital club ahead of this week's match day wrap episode on Monday. Before the club's covid crisis, the big news coming out of Hertha was the uproar in Hungary - at the highest levels of government(!) - over the firing of Zsolt Petry. Nik gets hold of Hungarian Journalist Gergely Marosi to find out why... Learn more about your ad...

Ready for  three  games in 10 days? You'd better be, because it's englische Woche time in the Bundesliga. Fantasy managers need to stay on their toes with such a fixture pile-up, and JT and Flo have ideas on how to do just that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Never mind their 2-2 draw in Berlin; what's next for Gladbach? They're set to lose  coach Marco Rose at the end of the season and don't yet have  a successor lined up (though  Adi Hütter is getting closer and closer to signing), and they've got work to do if they want to secure European football next year. Nik rounds up Manni Breuer from the Vollraute Abroad podcast to help answer those questions,...

Just seven match days remain in the Bundesliga season, which means it may be time to re-examine your squad-building strategy. (Hopefully you like what you bought last week when the transfers were unlimited!) Listen in as JT and Flo help you figure out the players you'll want to keep and which to send to the discard pile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you didn't know before, now you know. Bayern are going to win the league, Wolfsburg and Frankfurt are all but in next year's UEFA Champions League, and BVB are set to be out in the cold. (Or the Europa League. We're not sure which.) Listen in as Matt and Kit consider these storylines, review the Berlin Derby, and  more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The international break brought a shock Germany loss, a coaching change at Bayern 04 Leverkusen, and - most importantly - an injury for  the Bundesliga's top goalscorer. Robert Lewandowski is set to be out for a couple of games at least, so this week's unlimited transfers are a tempting juncture to make a few changes up front. Listen in as JT and Flo give their ideas on who to pick up, who might t...

Xabi Alonso back in the Bundesliga? Borussia Mönchengladbach Sporting Director Max Eberl seems keen to make it happen, and who can blame him,  because wouldn't it be a  treat, just watching the Spaniard smolder up and down the touchline? The prospect gave Matt, Marie, and Reiss plenty to talk about - along with plenty on FC Bayern München's underhanded overpowering of VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Dortm...

When you're the Fantasy Fussballgott, you don't lose the title after one bad week. That's the ruling handed down by Judge JT - and lucky for Flo after he failed to pick up many points at all last weekend. The delightful duo talk strategy over whether to gamble on another unlimited transfer over the coming international break, where to put your money in the unpredictable RB Leipzig squad, and much...

FC Bayern München are back in front by four points after RB Leipzig found the going a bit too tough against Eintracht Frankfurt. Borussia Dortmund -along with fellow European aspirants VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FC Union Berlin - had a  positive week for themselves. And while it may sound hard to believe on a weekend during which they lost 5-0, FC Schalke 04 may have  hit a bigger jackpot than both of t...

It's that time of the season - the one where your best-laid plans for the perfect line-up fall apart through no fault of your own. Amine Harit's late-breaking injury before Schalke's game against Mainz threw a monkey wrench into Flo's team last week, and you can be sure that a player or two you were counting on will do the same sometime soon. Listen in as the Fantasy Fussballgott and JT give you t...

Erling Haaland tried to make it a game. The strapping Norwegian opened Der Klassiker by scoring two goals inside of ten minutes, and BVB's bunkering act was nearly as good for the remaining 80. But you know what they say about nearly men. Suffice it to say there was a lot to chew on following the big game, and Matt and Nik are determined to gnaw out as much flavor as they can. Tune in for all the...

All eyes in the  Bundesliga are on Der Klassiker - which shouldn't come as a surprise considering the history, the hype, and the circumstances surrounding the fixture this season. But as any good fantasy manager knows, many of the biggest points are in the more out-of-the-way corners of the league. JT and Flo answer all your questions ahead of MD24. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastc...

This one's a treat. When we heard the biggest German player in North America's top soccer league was starting a podcast, we had to find out more - by the time we got him for an interview, the show had just been born. Listen in as Julian Gressel tells Matt about Zee Soccer Podcast, his new show with fellow MLS kraut Fabian Herbers (Chicago Fire), his undying love for one particular Bundesliga club,...

What in the world? FC Schalke 04 have just about topped their own lofty standards for chaos this time - firing no less than five key sporting-side employees in one fell swoop. Mind you, they're not alone in head-scratching personnel moves. With just 11 games left, Arminia Bielefeld are making a coaching change - one they say is to preserve their chances of long-term success.  Meanwhile, with der K...

Last week was a bit patchy for Fantasy Fussballgott Flo (a fact that JT is not about to let go unnoticed), but this week's fixtures have plenty of promise. The episode is a little shorter than usual - JT was set to meet up with with some Young Boys in Leverkusen later that evening - but rest assured, you'll get all the fantasy advice you need ahead of match day 23. Learn more about your ad choices...

This one's a break from the norm: A look at a form of football culture that transcends the Bundesliga (though it's a force there as well). James Montague comes on the show to talk about his book 1312: Among the Ultras: A journey with the world’s most extreme fans.  Nik and James talk through the origins of the Ultra movement, its political and social dimensions, and why it has spread across the gl...

We're happy to report an uptick in excitement at the upper reaches of the table. FC Bayern München are slipping up, RB Leipzig are  looking steadier by the week, and  Eintracht Frankfurt have a rocket strapped to their back. Matt and Nik look at those teams' success, Borussia Dortmund's beatdown of the hapless FC Schalke 04, and Reiss Tigwell drops by to heap praise on VfL Wolfsburg. Submit your B...

A lot to think about ahead of Match Day 22. We've got big scorers on both sides of the ball on Saturday as  FC Bayern München visits Eintracht Frankfurt - who do you put in your team? Borussia Dortmund come into weekend with a Champions League victory wind in their sails, but the Revierderby has thrown up weird results before - can FC Schalke 04 pull off a surprise? And with Coronavirus cases pres...