Coach Nicholas Schmidt and BFC Dynamo have exceeded expectations for the better part of a decade. A meteoric rise from the RegionalLiga to the Bundesliga, European Conference Football this season, a good nucleus of of players, a system that has been in place for a few years now set the table for the club to vie for yet more European Football next season.
Instead they finished in 13th place, on 35 points, and if not for some historically poor performances by Hannover and Stuttgart, might have been in a relegation fight. In fact, if not for a November-December run where they won 4 games, drew 2 and lost two, the season would have been in doubt.
Where did it go wrong?
We can’t take issue with the transfer window, given the teams performance last season it was inevitable that several good young players would leave, just as it was inevitable that finding replacements for them would be very hard, even with a large transfer budget. For all of their success, BFC Dynamo is still seen by many as a ‘Second Tier” club, and has long been regarded as a stepping stone club for many players. See Mirko Tulli as the latest example of this.
Coach Schmidt and his team play it off as a string of bad luck. Key injuries at bad times, the failure to close out games (Tel scoring in the 85th minute to claw the draw back is a prime example of this), and the fact that several good players, Tiozzo, Ouassli, Lobo, all had “below average’ seasons based on previous performances.
I think we can ascribe the 32/32 season to the following: There was no one over arching reason the team did not perform to expectations, but a of of small reasons, that when taken individually shouldn’t matter that much, but when considered in aggregate, led the team to where they finished.
I do not think it is anything to worry about.
But if it happens again next season…
-Excerpts from “Stumbling Forward, a Season in Review” By Paul Schimmerman, Berlin Football Daily.
This was the sort of season everyone was expecting us to have almost every season up to now. It was painful to watch, painful to play, and painful not to go in an tinker and tweak and try out stuff “Just Because”, because doing that always -ALWAYS- makes things worse.
The transfer window was quiet, the only out was Christopher Essomba, my promising young wingback. I was in the midst of signing him to a new contract when Borussia Dortmund swept in with a €16.75M offer, and off he went, which really stinks, because I think he has a very high potential and a good future ahead of him, and I’d rather not see it play out in the same League I am in.
On the in’s, I did a lot of window shopping, but I am not one of those managers that needs to spend money if I have it, even if I am going to lose some of it before the next window.
Galatasary listed Emre Akkaş for loan, and with some of the injuries I had he seemed to be a good fit. He does have some weaknesses in his game, yes, but his positional flexibility and many of his other attributes should be enough to offset those.
I have high hopes for Jeppe Vinterberg, but not a screenshot unfortunately. He possesses above average Agility and quickness, is a very good passer, with above average ball control and crossing ability, and very good in the finaly third as well. He can’t defend worth a lick, but as a winger he doesn’t need too. I think he could be a top flight player, and the price we got him for was a steal. Then in February he dislocated his hip in practice…
With Essomba leaving I needed some quality depth at WB, and PSG made Martime Fernandes available. He’s a bit older, but that’s not a knock against him in the least. He’s Above Average attributes in everything but set pieces and finishing, and he’s a more than capable crosser as well. a 4 star CA/PA player for €13.75M? What’s not to like about that?
The one thing that will make you physically ill was the second half of the season:
The only real accomplishment the second half was beatring BMG, because they were a solid team and finsihed 7th. Maybe getting a draw with BAyern can be called a ‘victory’ because we didn’t lose, but we should have. In past seasons our defense was strong enough to keep us close, this season it was just…bleg…
I knew we were in for a hectic last four weeks when we couldn’t even beat Hannover and Union, and they were awful this season. But we managed a 13th place finish. Which after last season’s success id a big let down.
Player wise, Mirko Tulli was everything advertised, leading the club in goals and assists, and he was already getting offers in the January transfer window. Some team will come and make an offer for him and he’ll be gone soon I bet.
Quigley had a decent season, but its become obvious we need to get better at his position. Carlos Tenorio came in the January window, and he didn’t get a lot of playing time but when he did…whoa. And for his first season between the sticks, Popovich was solid.
The rest of the club was…mediocre, as befitting our season:
And as always, the youth intake was very “Meh.”
Next season I think is going to be interesting. We need to be prepared to lose Mirko, which means a new striker, and while we have a fairly good budget, and I suspect when we sell some players that number will get higher, I am not sure we can buy our way into success.
No, this year was an aberration, a blip, a whoopsie, whatever you want to call it. Next year we will be back, fighting for midtable.
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