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Should be an exciting season. Dortmund look even better than they did last season, between the addition of Reus and maturation of their very young squad this could be the year they start making noise in the champions league.
Bayern have done a good job bolstering their depth, but I still think they need a big midfield addition like Javi Martinez to partner Schweini. Gustavo's a great destroyer, but he's not that useful when Bayern have to dominate possession, Kroos is skilled but isn't very good at winning the ball back, isn't very quick and tends to be more of a passenger than a difference maker. I also think they're too wing heavy up front since they lack anyone other than Kroos that actually excels as a central playmaker, Robben and Ribery are terrible in the middle, Mueller is much better on the wing and Shaqiri is also a natural wide man.
Schalke are amongst the favorites to secure CL football again with their young players coming up around the proven quality in their team. They'll miss Raul's veteran ruthlessness in the CL, but Draxler looks poised for a huge year.
Gladbach might be the most interesting team to watch since they're coming off a phenomenal season where they've lost 3 crucial starters but have so far made some very shrewd buys to replace them while bringing in more talented youth players to bolster their depth before a season with european football on the horizon.
Stuttgart are a team in flux, they've got some good young talent but rumors are starting to mount about their star CB and I'm not sure how well they will hold together without him.
Leverkusen are similarly a giant question mark. They have young talent, Leno, Wollscheid, Bender, Castro, Schuerrle, Sam and Keissling up top. But their defense was a massive cluster-**** last season which forced Leno into making ridiculous save after ridiculous save. To go with all this they've lost much of their veteran contingent with the likes of Ballack and Barnetta leaving.
Hannover are team looking too build off of last season's strong run in the EL during which they held onto a european place in the league campaign. If Diouf gets healthy quick and their kids keep improving Hannover could be looking to get back into fourth.
Felix Magath's Wolfsburg is a club with a ****load of players, a strong manager and no clue what'll happen next season. All of the change could continue to sabotage any chemistry and consistency or Magath could work his magic yet again.
Then you have clubs like Werder, Hamburg and Hoffenheim who are works in progress with the talent to earn european football, but who could also fall far short and find themselves in the bottom half of the table.
And we've got new comers Greuther Fuerth. I hope that they're not star struck early in their campaign to put themselves behind the eight ball cause they put together a fun, young team that could do well in the first division if they settle in quickly.
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