Winter break benefits BVB/Bayern hugely

Cheers, Sheriff. That was the impression I got as well.

Podolski wa sinjured when we bought him. Apparently he needs an op in the summer. Taking tyhat into account, I think he has had a very good first season.

Podolski will only play well when everyone else does. He is not the guy who would win you a game single handedly. Can’t beat a man with Flair , or trickery. Doesn’t have Aerial strength or movement to play up top on his own. Bar good finishing with and a hammer left foot. What else does he offer?

Mertesacker is not a bad defender tbf. People pick up on the fact that he's slow because the PL is so fast paced. He's a decent defender.

Yh people bang on about Mertesacker's pace but you never see a player run past him very intelligent defender always in the right position

Mertesacker is a good intelligent defender.

But his lack of pace is further exposed when Arsenal play a higher lane.

We'd probably see a similar thing if we played a higher line with Rio and Vidic but we cater for their lack of pace by sitting deep when they play.

It's why we concede less but score less when they start.

"Darren, the German league is just as fast. The main difference lies in the fact it's more technical and along the ground unlike the blood-and-thunder physicality and hoofing in the English game. Germans like Podolski and Mertesacker found the physicality a little hard to adapt to, not the intensity of the league."

It hasn't helped German clubs to win a trophy in Europe for the previous 11 seasons

I hate going the match on boxing day.

it's definitely an advantage, there's too many games in our calendar. Domestic cups are not that important nowadays, they should scrap the league cup and give more importance to the FA Cup.

I think there's an advantage in playing fewer games, but it can't be that great in view of their lack of success for so long. How it might impact the national team is something I'd never thought of and it's interesting.

Bear in mind though that it isn't just a 4 week holiday. The sides have winter training camps; alot of them come to the Canary Islands where they play friendly tournaments. They can't just let go of things for a month.

I think one of the big positives for the German sides involved European comps might actually bear relation to their domestic campaigns, because it means that all of the sides can plan their peak fitness levels for the same months, regardless of whether or not they're involved in Europe. It means a side like Bayern or BVB won't run into in-form teams during their aforeplanned 'fitness troughs'.

In other leagues, the sides in European competition generally plan their seasons so that their fitness peaks at two points, coinciding with the CL group stages and ko rounds.

The knock on effect is that they could meet a couple of in-form teams in Dec/Jan that take advantage of their scheduled dip. There's been more than one title campaign that's come off the rails precisely around the Christmas period, and its often points dropped against the so-called 'lesser' sides.

No idea whether there might be anything behind this, but could one of the secrets behind Fergie's domestic success be precisely that he knows better than any other manager how to pace the team and spread the minutes to ensure that they don't get caught out in winter?