I had the opportunity to speak with Andy Brassell of the BBC’s excellent World Football Phone-in on Up All Night. I want to emphasize that for those of us who follow the Bundesliga, this show, although based in England, can be a massive resource. Tim Vickery, with his knowledge of South American Players, and Andy with his knowledge of the continental players as well as the Bundesliga itself can aid us in getting to understand new players to the league. Although I don’t cover it with Andy, he is an expert on the European competitions and he wrote a book called All or Nothing: A Season in the life of the Champions League and he can answer questions about our clubs/opponents playing in Europa and Champions League. Feel free to call-in to the show and ask questions. I did. If you do, they will take your name and number and call you back so it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. I still want to call back about Geromel.

How did you become an expert on the continental game?

I kind of fell into it through freelancing via some European football titles. I was always interested. It may seem odd to someone younger today, but flying was a luxury when I was young so we didn’t get to see a lot of the European teams as England were shut out of the competitions due to Heysel. Seeing the likes of Real or Milan or even an Eastern bloc team was quite romantic in those days. It became a way of travelling inside his head

Next I began to ask about new players in the league.

I’ve heard from some that Anatoliy Tymoschuk might have come 3 years too late. What do you think?

It’s a very interesting thing. When he signed, I thought that is it for Mark van Bommel, as he seems like a double for Tymoschuk. However, he still is the captain and started the first game. But I know what you mean. If you look up the stats, you notice that he’s only 2 years younger than MVB. But he is still in fantastic shape.

Overall I think he’s going be a good signing. While there is a difficulty switching from the East to Center of Europe because they play at different season times, he should make the transition smoothly. There’s no sense of development as he will be able to come in right away and be a leader. He was bought for some immediacy and should be a hit straight away. And if you look at his skills, there shouldn’t be a doubt at his ability to be a big impact at Bayern: he never dives in, he has a good range of passing and he’s a leader. He’s always been a captain since he was a kid. So he’s not exactly a short term signing as they can still hope to get a good 3 years out of him.

Danijel Pranji? and Edson Braafheid

The question is how the new signings will do. There’s a difference between proving yourself at a high level and proving yourself at a massive club. Boumjohann and Pranji? have proven themselves at the highest level, but how does that translate to the particular pressure of Bayern Munich, where every point lost is a crisis. Pranji? should be nailed on to be really good. He didn’t rush into his big move, waiting until the prime of his career. And his relationship with Braafheid, who should slot in at left back, will be important as they. LB is a position which Munich have been looking to fill so they can move Lahm to the right. Since both Braafheid and Pranji? are coming in at the same time from the same league, they could develop at the same rate together and it should be really interesting

Marcus Berg

Losing Olic was a big blow, so they needed more bodies up front. Berg has shown he can score, albeit in Holland and the U21’s. Can he make the step up to a bigger league? There are a lot of players that have scored in the Eredivisie only to fail elsewhere, so that is always a worry. However, he won’t have to start every game with Guerrero and Petric already there. He should be able to develop without pressure mounted upon him.

Eljero Elia

He is “GREAT” signing. There were lots of big clubs in for him as he was great in the UEFA Cup. But he’s not a one year buy. More like a five year buy hopefully. I expect big things from him this year.

David Rozehnal

He was excellent at PSG, but lost his way at Newcastle and Lazio. It’s odd, but he’s in so he’s in his prime but needs to re-prove himself. He’s rugged and physical, which is something Hamburg have lacked in the past. Since Van Buyten left, they’ve lacked a defender to take control of the game. But he can do it if he gets back to his PSG form and could form a great partnership with be a great with Alex Silva.

Eren Derdiyok

His voice got very excited at the mention of this young player.

He looked absolutely terrific when he came into the Swiss national team and has been very good for Basel in Europe, scoring at the highest level. He looked to be going elsewhere, but I think he made a smart move to go to the Bundesliga where he will play more often. It’s so important to be playing every week when you are 20 or 21. He did take his time with his first move. After all, he has been fated for greatness since he was 17. He’s a terrific finisher. Very intelligent. He’s a big guy who can take a battering but has a nice touch and can see a pass. He’s definitely one to watch this season.

Maniche

The key for him is to get fit. In the first game, he looked his chubby worst. When he’s on form, he can release an attack with the best of them. Even last year, he started off with Atletico like he ended with Porto, but faded. He’s always struggled with weight, which will matter in such a fast paced league, thus fitness will be his key. And he may play forward at times as they see that he can’t run enough to play central midfield all the time.

Pavel Pogrebnyak

He is a great finisher: ice cold in front of goal. Good with both feet and good in the air too. He’s the guy you want when you have to have a goal. It might take a while to transition from Russia, but the Christmas break will help. I don’t think Pogrebnyak is inferior as a finisher to Huntelaar who would have cost 4x as much. He fell a bit of the radar due to his injury during the Euros but he is far superior to Pavlyuchenko, who is good, but wouldn’t have been noticed by the likes of Tottenham had it not been for the injury.

I asked about Hleb in respect to Martin Lanig and whether his progress would suffer.

It’s all about having a squad. The thing that can derail teams, that out-do expectations, is dealing with the extra games, therefore Hleb will help them rather than derail Lanig. And it’s a good deal, as Barca are paying part of his wages.

I didn’t ask about Sami Khedira, but he did volunteer that he thinks the Stuttgart midfielder is going to be a really big star in the next 5 years.

Another player he offered up was Wolfsburg midfielder Karim Ziani. He is is defintely one to watch. He was underused at Marseille, who had an abundance of attacking midfielders, but he could be a terrific signing.

I want to thank Andy for his time, as he allowed me to stray off-point to talk about Spurs at times. That was kind of him.

Please click on picture to see all the caricatures of German footballers from Pit Hammanns

Hamburg SV
The Dinosaurs face Schalke in the most intriguing game of the weekend. They have lost three of the last four matches against the Royal Blues at Nordbank. Chances for this weekend’s game don’t seem great with Nigel de Jong out with knee problems and Marcell Jansen out six weeks with a muscle tear.

TSG Hoffenheim
With success comes rumor. Vedad Ibesevic is being targeted by Tottenham Hotspur. Why the Bosnian, who is the only success story from the MLS developmental system, would want to play in the second division in England is the question I would ask.

Stuttgart
Just as Sami Khedira looked ready to make the attacking mid position his own, he tweaks his ankle in the U21 draw with France and will be sidelined for three weeks.

Bayer Leverkusen
Guess who has a €20 million release clause in his contract? He is also Germany’s new #1. I’ve been saying that Adler will eventually become of the most expensive keepers in the world. I wonder if Bayern or United are willing to test this clause and prove me right.

Schalke 04
Not content with Rafinha being the biggest douche at die Knappen, Kevin Kuranyi’s antics against Russia have him poised to challenge the Brazilian in classlessness. However, here’s the kicker! His national team form has been so non-existent, that nobody cares. In fact, for most fans of the Mannschaft, they just learned he was still being called up by Löw. If a tree falls in the woods, as the saying goes.

Borussia Dortmund
West Brom Albion is rumored to be after Marc-Andre Kruska. They must have been impressed with his marginal performance against France midweek. Perhaps they mixed him up with Kringe and heard about his four goal outburst this week against FC Herdecke/Ende. Perhaps they should check that it’s a 9th division team and the final score was 25–0.

Werder Bremen
They lose Martin Harnik, Daniel Jansen and Markus Rosenborg to injury for the important clash against Dortmund this weekend. In addition, Per Mertesacker is serving the second of his three game suspensions. With Naldo and Prödl as the central pairing, Valdez has been smiling all week.

Hertha Berlin
In a good bit of news, Lucio’s knee is recovering and he could play by the new year. In a bit of bad news, Arne Freidrich wants a lot of money, and more Nutella, to stay, and the Old Lady could be soon selling their captain.

Wolfsburg
Cristian Zaccardo tore a ligament in his right ankle during a friendly match against Furth. And thus, you have the only news on the Bundesliga’s biggest summer flop so far this season.

FC Köln
If they win at Cottbus, they will have 13 points and be in the top half of the table a quarter of the way through the season. Not a bad return to the Bundesliga for the Billy Goats. With the likes of Petit and Geromel, they should be safe from relegation worries.

Bayern Munich
Okay, can we please stop with the Jurgen in lederhosen pictures? We get it. He’s a joke at the moment.

Karlsruhe
A win at home this Saturday, and Edmund Becker’s side can go above Bayern Munich in the standings. Then again a draw and a win at Frankfurt midweek would do the same thing, and KSC could kill off two managers in a span of five days.

Hannover 96
While Enke’s injury has seriously dented his hopes of tying down the #1 role for the Mannschaft; it is truly going to play havoc for trainer Dieter Hecking, who is above the relegation zone mainly due to his captain’s exploits between the sticks.

Bochum
Was their comeback against Bayern about their ability or Bayern’s ineptness? A home match on Friday against Gladbach should help sort that out. Personally, I think it’s a little of both and it’s time we started paying attention to Dennis Grote.

Arminia Bielefeld
Someone better learn to keep the ball in midfield or Josue is going to have them for lunch this weekend.

Energie Cottbus
Seriously, I’ve got nothing.

Eintracht Frankfurt
They face five games in sixteen days as they face Bochum in the Madonna match midweek and next week is an English week, with a full slate of midweek games. Three of their opponents during this span include Cottbus, Gladbach and KSC, so Funkel’s position should be either safe or gone by the 2nd of November. With CEO Heribert Bruchhagen now faced with fan ire, anything less than 8 points will most likely see the manager fired.

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Who do you call upon when you are in a relegation dogfight? A man with experience! In Gladbach’s case it’s the return of the entertaining Hans Meyer, who was last seen taking Nuremburg to the Zweite. However his C.V. includes keeping Hertha afloat in their 2004 flirtation with the drop and, of course, gaining the once mighty giants reentry into the top flight after the unthinkable in 1999.