Talking Fussball Podcast

After a week off in light of the desperate situation in Ukraine, JT and Flo are back in the saddle to help you take your mind off of it. Listen in to find out: which elite striker to keep (and which to sell), whether Florian Wirtz is a must-have this weekend, which English translation of Anschlusstreffer hits the nail on the head and much more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're going deeper into German football history and culture studies this week - that means it's time to meet a few more clubs from the country's third-tier division for the western part of the country, the Regionalliga West. What clubs will you meet via Nik, Jasmine and Maik? Not one but two Rot-Weisses, a near-Borussia and one from the city with the most fascinating railway in Germany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you're a club in the bottom six places after 25 games, it's time to face it: the remainder of the season is about survival - no more, no less. This past weekend, a couple of clubs seemed to get the picture...while quite a few others did not. Matt sat down with Eva-Lotta Bohle of the 2. Bundesliga Podcast to get her thoughts on Arminia Bielefeld's recent defensive troubles, Borussia Mönchengladbach's irreconcilable differences, the shocking fragility of Hertha BSC and all the rest of the problems of the downtrodden. (Don't worry, they talk about the good teams in the league too...) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty of news from the 2. Liga. Werder Bremen prevailed over Hamburger Sport-Verein in an action packed Nordderby, Schalke realized after all these years that their main sponsor had some dodgy connections, and a return to form from SV Darmstadt in a win in Dresden. Speaking of Darmstadt, their assistant coach Maximilian Hahn joins the pod for some on-the-ground insight. Listen in as he talks all things lower leagues with guest host Jasmine Baba and Maik Krükemeier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now are you ready to crown FC Bayern München Bundesliga champions-in-waiting? After a limp draw for Borussia Dortmund at FC Augsburg on Match Day 24, the Rekordmeister's win at Eintracht Frankfurt restored their lead to eight points and may just end talk of a title race once and for all this season. But there's plenty more to talk about, like how to interpret Eintracht's enigmatic up-and-down season. For that, and all other subjects this week, Matt turns to Brian Sanders of the Hey Eintracht Frankfurt podcast. Plenty on tap about the Europa League draw, potential peril for Stuttgart and Hertha, and more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Match days come and march days go, but this one's special...at least for JT and Flo. As residents of Cologne (Germany's Karneval capital), our fantasy fellas had to squeeze in this episode prior to joining the days-long festivities. They've got all the advice that's fit to print, including the best way to replace the injured Patrik Schick, which injured players you shouldn't get rid of, and more... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This one's for the crate-diggers, truffle-hounds, and off-the-beaten-path walkers of football fandom. Nik, Maik, and Jasmine take you down to one of Germany's fourth-tier leagues, the Regionalliga West. That might sound a bit obscure, but today's Regionalliga West is chock full of clubs with fascinating histories, which the gang are ready to tell you about: KFC Uerdingen, Fortuna Köln, Alemannia Aachen and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Germany's big three - FC Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, and RB Leipzig - all ran riot on Match Day 23, collectively outscoring their (admittedly lowly) opponents 16-2. It was a big about-face from the three teams' patchy performances in Europe at midweek. Matt gets hold of goal.com's Ronan Murphy for a chat about the teams on either end of those big blowouts, about the probabilities of scissor kicks, and (because Ronan's still on a high from last weekend) about the L.A. Rams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a two-week layoff from match day podding, James Thorogood and Flo Reinecke are back in the saddle. That means a whole slew of your questions about line-ups, transfers, and more will be answered at length. Lots of high-scoring potential out there this week, so make sure to listen in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just as in the Bundesliga, Germany's second tier is heading into the final third of the season and the time has come to take a closer look at the promotion prospects of the various sides hoping to make the jump to the top flight. At least six sides have a legitimate chance at promotion, so Nik, Jasmine and Maik have their hands full figuring out which are the best bets. Thy also tell us how 3. Liga fans have been working hard to be able to do something else with their Monday evenings than watch football... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's not every week we get a result as shocking as FC Bayern München's 4-2 loss to promoted side VfL Bochum. It's also not every week that a Bayern first-team regular decides to leave the club...for Borussia Dortmund. And it's certainly rare that the big conversation in German football all week has been about whether North American-style playoffs are a good idea for the Bundesliga. So there was plenty to talk about when Matt rang up Lewis Ambrose - all the aforementioned and much more, including the magic of Max Kruse, Christopher Nkunku's will-he-or-won't-he flirtation with the Congolese national team and other topics. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the face of all the commercialization baked into the modern professional game, it's easy to feel a bit romantic about amateur football. After all, that's where players play for the love of the game...right? Arne Steinberg, one of the producers behind a new documentary broadcast on German TV network ARD found otherwise. Listen in as he tells Nik Wildhagen about how Germany's non-professional divisions have become an unregulated wild west. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yes I know you probably put away any notion of a title race weeks ago, but the math heading into round 21 allowed us to believe (just a little bit) otherwise. No more. Not after the Rekordmeister gutted out a win over a very game RB Leipzig, and certainly not after Dortmund ended up overmatched against Leverkusen in their own house. Listen in asa Matt gathers with Adam Khan to talk about big games, at-home touchline tirades, and a potential shift in the winds of success after Max Kruse's move up the tracks to Wolfsburg from Union Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Max Eberl, one of the towering figures of the Bundesliga over the last decade and a half, made a bold decision last week: he walked away. The Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director said he was exhausted, and that he had lost any sense of joy in his work, so he called a halt to his tenure at the venerable club. His press conference was a tearful exit, not least because it was evident to all involved how much he cared for Gladbach - and how much he had accomplished prior to a patchy season this term. How did it come to this? Nik Wildhagen wanted to find out, so he called up Vollraute Abroad podcaster Manuel Breuer for a good long chat on Eberl's body of work, and what might come next for the foals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2. Bundesliga only just got back up and running about 10 days ago, but there's plenty to talk about already. St. Pauli's loss to their cross-town rivals handed Darmstadt the opening they needed to take over at the top, Fortuna Düsseldorf find themselves in major upheaval, and Werder Bremen kept on rising after a wild win. Listen in as Nik, Jasmine, and Maik walk you through these stories, along with a few from the lower divisions too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So we had a number of late scratches from starting line-ups last week - not least the one involving a certain Frankfurt winger. JT and Flo talk through strategies on how to make the best of these bad situations, give you their player picks and answer a number of your listener questions. Listen in and be ready for Match Day 20! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 19 match days in the books, Berlin's rising force from Köpenick are knocking on the door of the UEFA Champions League places - held back, in fact, by nothing more than goal difference at the moment. Considering they spend less than all but a handful of clubs in the division, how are they pulling it off? Listen in as Nik Wildhagen gets the inside dope from our resident tactical analyst Jasmine Baba. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plenty to talk about from the weekend - Erling Haaland did his best to match the goalscoring exploits of Thomas Meunier and fire Dortmund to victory against Freiburg, Union Berlin kept on burnishing their European bona fides ahead of a big DFB Pokal Berlin derby clash, and Robert Lewandowski made Bundesliga history for the umpteenth time. Matt rings up Terry Duffelen to make sense of it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lots of tasty fixtures in store in Bundesliga this weekend - not least the Dortmund-Freiburg clash in store for Friday night, so Match Day 19 will be getting off with a bang! ...Speaking of fast starts, we got off to one this week with our recording time, so JT and Flo weren't able to answer any of the questions you sent via Twitter. Not to worry - they did their best mind-reading act and answered a few of the ones you sent anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bundesliga has long been known as an incubator for young North American phenoms, but FC Augsburg's purchase of Ricardo Pepi is different. It's the biggest Bundesliga move of the January transfer window thus far, it's the second-biggest-ever sale price for a MLS player, and it's the most FC Augsburg has paid for any player ever. A lot riding on the El Paso native's shoulders...but at least one reporter who knows him well thinks he'll but up to the challenge. Listen in as Texas soccer writer Jon Arnold tells Matt about Pepi's meteoric rise, his pedigree from the vaunted FC Dallas academy, and what Bundesliga fans should expect from the center forward going forward... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices