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  • Markus Babbel Is New Wanderers Coach

    mack

    By mack (edited)

    Western Sydney Wanderers have appointed Markus Babbel, confirming the new manager at a press conference this afternoon.

    The former FC Luzern club manager will replace Josep Gombau, who was sacked by the club after finishing 7th in the 2017/18 A-League regular season.

    Markus Babbel, 45, is one of the most high profile coaching appointments in the history of the A-League, having played 51 times for the German National team, with a glittering playing career that included winning the Bundesliga and UEFA Cup with Bayern Munich, the FA Cup & UEFA Cup again with Liverpool and the 1996 European Championship with Germany.

    His coaching career took him to Stuttgart and then to Hertha Berlin, where he won the German 2nd Division title in 2010/11. His most recently appointment was at FC Luzern in Switzerland where he stablised the club back into the top half of the competition before leaving due mid-season after he decided to not renew his contract.

    Babbel spoke at the press conference about wanting a new challenge at the club, "It wasn't a difficult decision to come to the Wanderers, I am looking forward to the challenge". Tomi Juric was mentioned as having sold the club to Babbel, comparing Wanderers supported with the much quieter people of Switzerland. Babell will return to Europe for a brief holiday with his family, before returning to take on the role heading into the pre-season.

    Edited by mack

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    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, wswnick said:

    Bozanic?! Don't we have enough City players...

    He played for half a season for Heartless. He is a serial recycled A-league player (Mariners, Victory, City). And he played under Markus at Luzern.

    Edinburgh

    Edinburgh

    Posted

    7 hours ago, FCB said:

    Maclaren and Bulut should not be mentioned in the same sentence.

    Bulut demolished any remaining hopes for a football career in Australia, and he did it all himself. There are better players than him in the NPL who are too light for the HAL. 

    This is like flogging a dead horse. 

    I don't think anyone is serious about him coming back it's become a running joke

    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted (edited)

    Here is a centre back that has worked under Markus.

    Fits the bill for being German and only played 4 games last season for Darmstadt and played a few times for the German u21 team

    https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/peter-niemeyer/profil/spieler/4691

    he is also a free agent for next season

     

    Edited by Paul01
    Added info
    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    7 hours ago, Paul01 said:

    He played for half a season for Heartless. He is a serial recycled A-league player (Mariners, Victory, City). And he played under Markus at Luzern.

    And on top of that he was born in Sydney, and played for Parra and Blacktown in his younger days. Which makes him at least an honorary Westie. Bring our boy home :-) 

    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, FCB said:

    And on top of that he was born in Sydney, and played for Parra and Blacktown in his younger days. Which makes him at least an honorary Westie. Bring our boy home :-) 

    Just like Fitzgerald. 

    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, Paul01 said:

    Just like Fitzgerald. 

    Isn't Fitzgerald a Blacktown boy?

    Upthehill

    Upthehill

    Posted

    1 minute ago, FCB said:

    Isn't Fitzgerald a Blacktown boy?

    Yeah he’s from Kings Park I think.

    Re Olly Bozanic, don’t get too worried about where he’s been. He only played 5 games for Joyce. He’s up to the task. He’s also the best Aussie free agent CM available this off season.

    Babbel started him regularly at Luzern. I think Bozanic will be keen to get under him rather than risk another Warren Joyce situation

    Smoggy

    Smoggy

    Posted

    47 minutes ago, Paul01 said:

    Here is a centre back that has worked under Markus.

    Fits the bill for being German and only played 4 games last season for Darmstadt and played a few times for the German u21 team

    https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/peter-niemeyer/profil/spieler/4691

    he is also a free agent for next season

     

    I am still holding out Huth dreams lol

    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted

    1 minute ago, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said:

    He played at Lurzern under babbel and when he played under babbel he reached his best form or his best peak but we are currently in discussions with him so if we sign him I think it will be a good solid signing 

    Are you Taurus in disguise?

     

    wengerboy

    wengerboy

    Posted

    Bundesliga coach in a Budesliga  style stadium  in Sestern Sydney after next season living my fantasy here.

    Themumf

    Themumf

    Posted

    Not a single chance that Maclaren is even on the radar. Scoring goals in a European league and on more coin than we have to spend. Nope. Next unsubstantiated rumour please....

    Beer

    Beer

    Posted

    Mario Gomez?

    Upthehill

    Upthehill

    Posted

    EDIT: Disregard - wrong thread. We’ve derailed this discussion into a squad rumours thread

    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    On 21/05/2018 at 10:37 PM, GrEmIoWaNdErEr said:

    Wel if Bulut doesn't come then surely we should have a go at Maclaren I mean he ain't marquee worth but needs game time and a return to the a league and he can help us win the title, or we go with my option sign some random African striker who turns out to be the next drogba  :xnod:

    The manager sees Maclaren's future at Darmstadt. According to Schuster, loaning out Maclaren served its purpose, the player has been told when pre season training starts at the club. 

    Seffa

    Seffa

    Posted

    to bring this thread back about the coach

     

    question: where do you think the highest we will finish under Babbel? what type of football do you think he will play?

    Upthehill

    Upthehill

    Posted

    26 minutes ago, Seffa said:

    to bring this thread back about the coach

     

    question: where do you think the highest we will finish under Babbel? what type of football do you think he will play?

    Placing? Top two in his second season.

    Style of football? He openly says he will assess tactics after he reads his players. My hope is direct, technical football. I would love to go back to seeing us as a physically dominant side.

    WanderingToqui

    WanderingToqui

    Posted

    I think our fitness will be through the roof. Fittest side in the A-league. 

    • Popular Comment
    mack

    mack

    Posted

    • Popular Comment
    3 hours ago, Seffa said:

    to bring this thread back about the coach

    question: where do you think the highest we will finish under Babbel? what type of football do you think he will play?

    This upcoming season will be as close as our first 4 years before the FFA approved domination of SFC took over.

    You can probably discount the Mariners and Wellington from the top 6 (but with Mulvey onboard they might be more stable than with Okon) but outside of that:

    • Perth have Popa who will almost certainly look to go back to his basics of no-frills defence first, counter-attacking 4-2-3-1 style. They might grind out results they weren't getting in the last... decade. They weren't an 'awful' team last year so there's no reason Popa couldn't get them into the top 4.
    • Roar & Adelaide will continue down their course but Adelaide have new owners and who knows what they might bring to the club. If they go on a run early they might be able to stay there.
    • Melbourne City are going to be pissed about failing last year. If Arzani stays & learns how to score they could be deadly especially if they can stop Malik losing them games.
    • Victory are entering a rebuild phase with the bonus of having ended with a somewhat unlikely championship, but they have a decent core even if Berisha & George leave, they will have a lot of cap space.
    • Newcastle for all the good work they did last year couldn't hack getting over the line and with O'Donovan out for a third of the season they could suffer 2nd year syndrome as teams will not let them play their counter-attacking style again I would think.
    • SFC have an inexperienced (in the top job) manager, and they have to re-sign their best players. If they fail to replace their extremely good players with new extremely good players (or signing them costs them squad depth) they will not be as good. If Corica can't defend as well as Arnie, they still have Redmayne in goal and if you shoot enough times at him he will make mistakes.

    So Wanderers. My major questions is how much will Babbel's experience and ability as a manager mean in a salary & squad capped league. Even though he wasn't much of a spender (in European terms) according to Transfermarkt he still spent in the order of 40 million Euro's on players. He he won't have as much flexibility with his squad, buying a player is practically impossible for the owners to sanction, and the quality of football here ranges from good (for top teams) to abysmal, and most individual player ability is wildly inconsistent.

    We need to replace Cejudo with someone who will add ~18 goals to the side (via assists or direct goals), and then somehow get Roly to offer up a dozen goals/assists or to find someone who can & replace him. The rest of our Australia attacking & midfield players need to step up dramatically, we need more goals & assists from the Baccus brothers, we need a replacement for Herd, we need to find a central defender to play alongside Hamill or Tongik and we have to hope Vedran & Riera play as well if not better than they did last year.

    I have a tinge of worry about the "I need to see how the team plays" tactical statement. People are excited to hear it because Gombau's "project" failed and thus they want a try a different method, one where you look at players first and the tactical system second. My concern is that it could mean Babbel playing a tactic that "suits the team" could see him dragged down to the level of the A-League, at which point he gets beaten by the experience of other coaches at this level instead of using his experience to create a team who can do more than just lump it long to Riera.

    Kevin Muscat might not be a tactical genius, and he hasn't managed to get a team out of the European Champions League Group Stage but Muscat managed to get the better of Ernie Merrick & Graham Arnold at the big end of the season and bought home the trophy when fans had been calling for his sacking earlier that season.

    I think we can make the top 4, and have a decent shot at making the top 2. We need the players who failed last season to not do the same things they did last year on or off the pitch.

    Burgerman

    Burgerman

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Seffa said:

    to bring this thread back about the coach

     

    question: where do you think the highest we will finish under Babbel? what type of football do you think he will play?

     

    Mack pretty much summed it up and will take a bit of time for him to adjust to an amateurish league compared to Europe. If he brings in a true 10 and decent cb that last year let in goals straight after we score and keep discipline and fitness focused we could actually achieve a trophie. Not expecting us to finish top 2 but will be competitive and Babbel won't do stupid line ups like the derby demolition.

     

     

    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    Babbel didn't sign up to just be top four, and the club didn't sign him up for that either. ACL qualifaction is the measure. At least top 2 is the target. 

    I was listening to a recent interview in German. He was stressing that the team has to defend as a unit. If that does not happen then the backline will be made look poor - and don't we know it. 

    We'll have a good squad. Add fitness, discipline, a united locker room, a flexible adaptive game plan when needed, and you have all the trimmings of a title contender, regardless of what the others are doing. 

     

    mack

    mack

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, FCB said:

    Add fitness, discipline, a united locker room, a flexible adaptive game plan when needed, and you have all the trimmings of a title contender, regardless of what the others are doing. 

    Can we add Messi on loan just to make us certain treble winners?

    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    Just now, mack said:

    Can we add Messi on loan just to make us certain treble winners?

    Babbel's biggest challange will be the logistics of away trips, cow padocks, var and the refs. Beyond that we'll be competitive, at the very least.  That's more we could say for most of the last two years. Babbel will make sure that we get the basics right, and some. 

     

    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted

    1 minute ago, FCB said:

    Babbel's biggest challange will be the logistics of away trips, cow padocks, var and the refs. Beyond that we'll be competitive, at the very least.  That's more we could say for most of the last two years. Babbel will make sure that we get the basics right, and some. 

     

    Sounds like BvM is doing with the national team. 

    I'm hoping that Ben Wilson can p*** o** with Gallop in September when the FFA board gets spilled, then there won't be any favouritism any more amongst the A-League referees.

    btron3000

    btron3000

    Posted

    13 hours ago, FCB said:

    Babbel's biggest challange will be the logistics of away trips, cow padocks, var and the refs. Beyond that we'll be competitive, at the very least.  That's more we could say for most of the last two years. Babbel will make sure that we get the basics right, and some. 

     

    C’mon, he’s not perfect (no-one is). Not all the things that could trip him up are going to be the fault of Australian football’s sub-par standards!

    He might not settle, he might not gel with some cultural aspects or some players, he might have some mild success and get bored/want to return etc.

    But you also missed balancing the squad and salary cap restrictions, understanding  summer football and hard pitches etc.

    Zelinsky

    Zelinsky

    Posted

    3 hours ago, btron3000 said:

    C’mon, he’s not perfect (no-one is). Not all the things that could trip him up are going to be the fault of Australian football’s sub-par standards!

    He might not settle, he might not gel with some cultural aspects or some players, he might have some mild success and get bored/want to return etc.

    But you also missed balancing the squad and salary cap restrictions, understanding  summer football and hard pitches etc.

    Perfection is for the Gods. Mere mortals try to control the things that can be controlled.

    Yes, yes, yes - all of that might happen. However, if he settles in as well as his fellow Bavarian Broich then even you will have nothing to moan about :-). Unless, of course, you really go out of your way and try to find something to moan about...

    The salary cap restrictions Babbel will leave for JT to sort, as mentioned in the press conference. If he can't balance the squad then he is not a manager. Give him an assistant coach who knows the ins and outs of HAL football to fill any knowledge gaps.

     

    Smoggy

    Smoggy

    Posted

    4 hours ago, btron3000 said:

    C’mon, he’s not perfect (no-one is).

    He is German, don't tell him that.......he won't like it.

    Paul01

    Paul01

    Posted

    18 minutes ago, FCB said:

    Perfection is for the Gods. Mere mortals try to control the things that can be controlled.

    Yes, yes, yes - all of that might happen. However, if he settles in as well as his fellow Bavarian Broich then even you will have nothing to moan about :-). Unless, of course, you really go out of your way and try to find something to moan about...

    The salary cap restrictions Babbel will leave for JT to sort, as mentioned in the press conference. If he can't balance the squad then he is not a manager. Give him an assistant coach who knows the ins and outs of HAL football to fill any knowledge gaps.

     

    So what is temperament on the Kurz scale?

    Angrier or calmer with the referees than Kurz.

    Wonder how Griffiths-Jones will react to Markus?

    bombagol

    bombagol

    Posted

    Any news on who Babbel’s assistants will be?  Is he bringing his own crew?



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