Continuing his fine form for SV Hamburg.
3 goals in 3 games so far this season.
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Continuing his fine form for SV Hamburg.
3 goals in 3 games so far this season.
Good for him, not in a sarky way- always seemed a likeable guy.
Not buying into this notion for one second though that he'd score hatfuls in this current team- seems to be the trendy thing to say on Twitter. The German 2nd division is his level by the looks.
He was played as a target man just because he was tall
Don’t think he would have the pace to do anything in this team.
I would start him in this current team ahead of anyone we have that’s for sure.
I think its likely Max Watters gets moved on and bangs in goals at a lower level we will get Watters threads.
Glatzel was a terrible signing and not good enough.
I think his goal scoring exploits says more about the standard of German second tier football, than it does about Robert Glatzel.
And yet a young midfielder who could barely get a kick at Hamburg during the first half of last season walked straight into City's Championship side in January and was one of the team's better performers for the rest of the campaign.
Meanwhile, a 28 year-old left-back who had been playing at a mid-ranking Bundesliga 2 club for the previous four seasons looked one of the best players on the pitch when City beat Norwich a couple of weeks ago.
What does that say about the standard of the Championship by comparison to Bundesliga 2?
Do you think perhaps Glatzel was hard done-by during his time at the City?
Maybe we didn't play to his strengths (whatever they might have been)?
To me, he was one-paced, as weak as a kitten at times, had a tendency to scuff his shots, and for quite a tall player, didn't offer an aerial threat.
I felt at the time it was the right decision to let him go. He might have improved his all-round game since then, I don't know.
However, I'm convinced if the same Robert Glatzel were to return he'd still be frustrating to watch.
I honestly don't know. City were an utterly dreadful team to watch during most of his time here. The football was largely prehistoric. Would Glatzel have done any better in a team that set out to play in the way City did yesterday? Maybe, maybe not, but one thing's for sure - I'd have him in the side ahead of Watters or Harris without any hesitation.
I'm more interested in the wider question about the quality of Bundesliga 2, though. Is it a weaker league than the Championship? No idea. I don't think it's possible to compare the two with any kind of certainty. As I said before, Doyle couldn't get a game at Hamburg but walked into City's Championship side. Collins, who came from a mid-ranking Bundesliga 2 club, looked very useful again yesterday, just as he did against Norwich.
What puzzles me more than anything is the notion that the Championship is a strong league. It's competitive without a doubt, and it's physically-demanding for sure. It's a tough division to play in, often unpredictable, but the quality of the football rarely looks particularly good, especially in recent years.
It would be really interesting to see how the top ten Bundesliga 2 sides would compare with the the top ten Championship sides if they were to play each other over the course of a season, but it's something that's never going to happen so we can only guess how it would work out.
If Glatzel is so crap, I’d be grateful to have it explained to why he scores so many goals in German football - I’d love to have seen how he would have done in a team playing like we did yesterday.
As you say, it's difficult to compare. My impression fwiw (very little!) after going to a couple of St.Pauli games last season, and watching the two B1/B2 relegation games on TV, is that any one of the teams I saw would have struggled against the likes of Fulham or Bournemouth last season. I was surprised by what seemed like a lack of quality at the top of B2. Obviously watching City this season but also going to a few German games in October (including the Hamburg derby if I'm lucky) and be interesting to see if it confirms my view that this year's City could probably more than match most in B2.
I don't think the lower half of Bundesliga 1 is as good as the top half of Championship..
Another goal for Glatzel yesterday in Hamburg's 2-0 victory at Nuremburg. That's four goals in six league games this season.
His overall record for Hamburg is now 31 goals in 46 games.
Am I wrong in thinking that you seem to be insinuating that RG would be the answer to our current goalscoring problem?
Can't remember you backing him when he was with us, in fact it his hard to remember you backing anyone who has played for us :hehe:
As has been mentioned, it looks very much like he's found his level.
We didnt play to his strengths. 😂😂😂
I can't imagine the German lower leagues being any weaker than ours, there's a good standard throughout the German leagues and some good players in their lower leagues, I'd imagine it to be pretty comparable to ours at least, although I don't know that for sure.
It would be interesting to see what system he's playing in. He's done well back home in Germany previously so they are obviously using a system that he better fits into. Not sure how he'd fair as a lone striker for us, but probably better than he did during the hoofball era.
RB Leipzig, Leverkusen, Wolfsburg, Shalke, all below the top 6 in the Bundesliga at present. And you suggest they're no better than us or other championship teams?
Is a player like Timo Werner not good enough for us then?
I'd take a Werner over anything we've got at present in a heartbeat!
The Bundesliga will always be dominated by Bayern, that goes without saying. Bayern have the financial clout that the others don't.
Those others still do quite well though regardless and the standard of football is better than you seem to think. I would say the German lower leagues are pretty strong too, probably as strong as ours easily. There are a lot of decent players plying their trade in the German lower leagues.
I like this debate - but it's all about opinions, as there's no way to do a proper comparison.
I would say the second tier of German football is weaker than our second tier. I don't agree though that the Bundesliga below Bayern is comparable to the Championship.
Take Eintracht Frankfurt for instance. Finished 11th in the Bundesliga (and have started weakly this time) but won the Europa league, beating West Ham along the way.
I love debates like this too. I would suggest that Germany has the strongest 'pyramid' in european football, outside perhaps our own.
I am a big fan of German football and regularly read the 'kicker' website. It's a real pain that Bayern are so dominant now. Whilst Bayern have been the top team itt was usually a pretty open league until recently. It's a shame, as the ticket prices, terraces, ownership model etc have usually been cited as a reason to follow a German model. As Peter states above, Eintracht winning the Europa league shows it's a strong league below Bayern too.
Some massive clubs in both the 2.Bundesliga (five clubs with 50,000 capacity grounds) and 3.Bundesliga, with Kaiserslautern, Braunschweig and the mighty 1860 Munich.
For me, the Championship probably just shades it but it's very hard to assess these things, and I'm more interested in the clubs, history, culture of it all really.
Really recommend an annual magazine called the 'Kicker Sonderheft' if anyone is into German football, or wants to be. Helps if you can read a little German but it's a great magazine previewing all the leagues and clubs etc
I’m with Dave, I liked Glatzel and would have him back here in a heart beat. He would have put away most of, if not all of Watters clear cut chances this season.
He wasn't good enough in the same way Watters isn't good enough
Neither of them were crap , that's not the arguement
They just ain't good enough
I've watched plenty of Bundesliga 2 over the last few years and the overall standard is very good. I would say it's on par with the championship only with better technical skills. The cut and thrust may not be quite the same but there are plenty of goals and there isn't a great deal between many of the clubs. I would suggest that both leagues are the best second tiers in world football.
I think England, Germany and Spain stand out for sure as the top 3 European nations for football. All 3 have a crazy amount of leagues and tiers with clubs at grassroots level dotted literally everywhere.
By comparison, I'd say the other main nations such as France, Portugal, Holland etc have far less depth.
The Scandinavian leagues have fascinated me in more recent years.
Clearly not the same level of quality, but football seems to have grown there massively over the last 40 or 50 years.
Norway, Sweden and Denmark probably being a good bit stronger than Finland and Iceland, but all leagues with depth that seem to be growing all the time.
I've said for years that any club worth it's salt should have a small scouting network out in Scandinavia, it's an area that certainly turns up quite a few good players.
Plenty of people talking up the Championship in this thread and yet you just know that in a few weeks time, we’ll see the first “weak Championship this season” thread :hehe:
I’d say from the relatively little I’ve seen of Bundesliga 2 that the Championship is the better league, but there’s not much in it, certainly not enough to explain away the difference in Glatzel’s goalscoring record in the two divisions. Glatzel is a technically good player, but, although the Championship is probably a more technical league these days than it was, his lack of success with us would indicate that physique and power still has a large part to play at this level.
In saying that, I would argue that Glatzel would do far better in this City side and as far as a comparison between him and Watters goes - I may stick up for the latter more than most on here, but it’s Glatzel every time for me.