Derek Rae previews the 2022/23 Bundesliga season

Intro along with the multitude of leagues that are starting up one of the ones that is starting up earlier than the others is the Bundesliga in Germany and this is the third season of the Bundesliga airing on ESPN Plus in the United States and the opening weekend on August 5th and 6th features a number of games and Pitch side coverage from ESPN with games featuring on ABC so today I have the pleasure of being joined by Derek Ray who is the lead commentator for ESPN in their coverage but the Bundesliga Derek it's a pleasure to talk to you again how you doing today and well thanks Kyle good to be with you enjoying myself here in Germany and of course the buzzed as very real ahead of the Bundesliga season kicking off this Bayern vs Eintracht Frankfurt Friday yeah Derek you say you're in Germany and obviously ESPN's coverage of the Bundesliga I mentioned as a crazy weekend to start they have pitch side coverage from Frankfurt and from Dortmund to start and obviously the first game of the Bundesliga season is between the 2021-22 Europa League champions eintracht Frankfurt and a Bayern Munich team looking for its 10th consecutive Bundesliga title and that game is on ESPN Plus on Friday afternoon so Derek just going to talk about the hype surrounding this game and this season while you're there in Germany well I have to tell you that a few weeks ago before the fixtures came out I was fervently hoping that the opening game would be einsteinfoot against Bayern in Frankfurt the Europa League winners against the Cod Meister the record champions Bayern as you said have won 10 titles in a row unprecedented in any major league around the world and Frankfurt is frankly special and I've always felt that and I think it's been underrated to that it almost took until last season for The Wider world to understand just how special Frankfurt is as a football City so that is going to be over the top and then some of the atmosphere on Friday and you're absolutely right that'll be our kick it off on ESPN plus I'm wearing two hats as I sometimes do I don't know if Lester's actually know the differentiation between a world feed and when a commentator is working specifically for one broadcaster but I work of course for ESPN ABC as the lead voice on the Bundesliga and all the big games but I also work for the dfl World feed as one of one of the contagious so I was in Leipzig for the super Cup last week against against Bayern and that was for the world feet and likewise this week Frankfurt against Bayern that is a world free commentary with Didi Harman that'll be attacked by ESPN and this shows the flexibility that ESPN has because archer in touch will be pitch side with an array of guests and then he'll be able to seamlessly link into our world feed and most of us know our viewers at home won't necessarily know that I'm working for the world feeder not for ESPN and then of course on the second day in Dortmund I will be exclusive to ABC ESPN yeah the second Eintracht Frankfurt expectations game which is on Saturday August 6th between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen like you mentioned is on ABC which another incredible venue another incredible game but let's talk about that at Frankfurt against Bayern Munich game which again you already mentioned Europa League champions against the Bundesliga Champions 10 years running now but eintracht Frankfurt last season in the Bundesliga I mean they finished uh 11th or 12th I'm not mistaken but they thrived in the Europa League so for you when you're looking at a team like eintracht Frankfurt what kind of expectations do you hold for a team that may have struggled domestically but they have proven on the European scene that they can compete with the big teams I mean I'm a Barcelona fan and I watch them run rampant into Camp new last season well it was a bit of a mystery last season for Anton Frankfort because they struggled at times I thought in home games against deep-sitting opposition now they've tried to address that with the signing of Mario kutzer who everybody will be familiar with and we're sort of hoping this is going to kick-start his career at the age of 30 and he should help them in those games when they want to be on the front foot and will be on the front foot and will try to break down the opposition I think we saw last season with prime foot just how difficult it is to balance the twin demands of domestic football and European competition um they managed to ride the crest of a wave in European competition you spoke about Barcelona there you can add West Ham and then of course Rangers in the final it was by no means an easy path to success for anti-transport but they are a huge Club historically and in terms of their support and a wider extension of community in the city of Frankfort and the surrounding area so I think that what they try to do is they've tried to beef up the squad to an extent because I think they knew last season that once you got Beyond you you know Player 13 player 14 player 15 in the squad they were a bit limited and that is the case with the number of Bundesliga sites if you have injuries on a grand scale then you're perhaps going to struggle a bit more so it became quite clear early on in the process early on in the new calendar year that the priority was going to be the Europa League and wasn't that the right priority to have when you think about what happens when you think about now automatic entry into the champions league and of course a top seed place in the Champions League group stage so I thought Frankfurt very good adverts for that for the the Europa League of what it can bring and I do think they'll be better in Oliver glasner's second season his preference is to play with a high press um with Pace trying to get forward quickly after winning the ball and playing with passion and I think we saw that Simon again from Antarctica as we speak now Philip hostage we wonder what's going to happen with him uh clearly a coveted player but one Frankfurt would love to be able to hang Bayern Munich expectations on to you're talking about the issues with uh with depth there may have been the bane of eintracht Frank for one of those teams on the other end of the spectrum that seems to have no issues with depth is Bayern Munich but this season could obviously look a little bit different for them I think their loss of Robert Lewandowski is maybe the biggest talking point uh at least in terms of transfer news in the Bundesliga this season obviously Bayern Munich's not going to have any issues with depth or Talent that's I mean they bring in players sadio Mane for example that with ease but how could this season be different losing a player like Robert Lewandowski which I mean we could talk about his accomplishments and his accolades with Bayern Munich over the last however many years he's been there but how could this season look different for them without the big Polish man up top I think the difference those will lie in the style and in terms of how buy and line up week in week out I think over a number of years they became very Robert Lewandowski dependent and you can understand why when you have a guarantee of you know at least 30 calls sometimes more than 40 in the case of Lewandowski I don't think we're going to see that with any one player for Bayern I think it's actually going to make me balanced and we got a glimpse of that against Leipzig in the dfl super cup at the weekend and you spoke about sadio Mane he scores in his first competitive game okay it was a tapping but he impressed as well uh he had the ball on the net on both at one occasion but discovered that he was off site and you have all these other attackers who are capable of being goal scorers I mean Serge can happen he scored 14 goals almost unnoticed in scoring 14 goals last season Thomas Muller for example yeah the assist King in recent years but can also be a goal scorer Lehigh Zane he's got a cracking call right at the end of the super cup so when the game for Bayern and you know so if you look at all these players you look at young Jamal musiala who has goals in his game as well I'm not sure Bayer need to worry I think it's just going to be a different composition in terms of where the goals come from and I don't see them having a 30 or 35 goals a season scorer and I think in a funny kind of way Kyle it actually might make Bayern more more watchable it's certainly going to make them more flexible in terms of their attacking and we saw some ferocious counter-attacking especially in the second half of the game against light seat and I think that is a little hint of the way buyer might go so I'm not sure that it's going to upset the apple cart too much even though everybody is of course going to miss a Hobart Lewandowski one of the greatest Strikers of his generation I think fans of the Bundesliga will also miss another Striker that left a German sign obviously erling Holland departing Borussia Dorman to go to Manchester City do you see a similar kind of impact that Holland's departure might have a Dortmund or is it a totally different style or atmosphere kind of change that we could see at Dortmund with uh Holland's departure well Ellie Holman certainly was important to Dortmund but let's not forget that he missed a significant amount of game time last season so they didn't have him you know for a huge chunk of the campaign and yet at times when he was on the side we often said and commentary they are a bit overly early Holland dependent but much as with Bayern I think this may help god mode as a team now it's unfortunate that what's happened with Sebastian alert and I'm sure everybody is up on that and we wish him the best of health most importantly irrespective of football considerations we hope he comes out of in a healthy way and I know a lot of people are right behind Sebastian uh following the Cubo that was discovered so um you know that's unfortunate from an organizational point of view because he was supposed to come in and not be the New Holland he's not the same sort of player as Holland but at least lead the attack but a bit like with Bayern they have other possibilities as well and I do like karimadiani who has come in and you know I think he will very quickly become a Dortmund player I think he looks like a Dublin player to me in terms of his dynamism and his movement and I think we'll see a lot from Danielle Marlin as well Marco rice is still going strong and you look up and down that because the adopt one side and you know they believe that they have got leaders um young Nico schlotterbeck for example who they signed best young defender in Germany and he's with dog but now Nicholas Zula you know reports about an injury there which is unfortunate but I I happen to think that was a very good signing very clever signing by the Jose Dogman um Jude Bellingham you know for one so young has become the spying of the team and a natural leader you know spoke about leadership there he is a leader and uh where that comes from pH I don't know but uh they depend on him for a bit of fire at Brimstone in Midfield so I I think um with the Lucia Dortmund I think again it should be better than it was last season but we'll see and they do have a heck of a difficult opening game which we're covering of course live on ABC and ESPN plus this weekend at home against a good buyer Liverpool's inside Schalke Werder Bremen expectations Dorman is of course Bayern Munich's biggest uh rival for the the Bundesliga title this season but let's take a step back and let's look at the other end of the table something that really interests me in this season's Bundesliga is the teams coming up from the second tier it's uh for those unaware it is shanka and vertebraiman these are teams that in the last five years have had top half finishes in the Bundesliga table and obviously they took a dip down into the second division in recent years but these are teams that they have recent success they are historical clubs they have massive followings what are your expectations for these I mean I say new teams coming up but I think everybody hears shanka and vertebramon and thinks all those are Bundesliga teams so what are your expectations for these two teams coming back into the Bundesliga I don't think it's going to be easy because they've both had to cut their cloth accordingly having been relegated to the spider Bundesliga and that's something that every Club who gets relegated really has to go through you know they have to realize that getting out of the tiger Bundesliga is a different challenge in comparison with staying up in the top division and shelters financial problems have been well documented Vera Bremen when they went down looks rather a limited side so in terms of predicting what's going to happen with Sharika and Bremen and you're right I mean these are two massive plots if ever you get the chance to go to get in kirken or to go to Bremen take that chance because the atmosphere is wonderful in both places and I'm delighted personally that they are both back in the Bundesliga but I'm not sure that we're really in a position to expect and Bremen to be much better than trying to keep their heads above water that's what I would think I'm not sure that Idaho will go down straight away but I think it's going to be a bit of a fight against the drop but um these credits the odds for Rider to use the German word traditionally supported clubs are really really important at the storytelling of the Bundesliga because in recent years we've had a number of clubs who've come up who are maybe not quite as traditionally strong and maybe don't have that tradition in their core but now we have Sharika and Bremen back and we almost had Hamburg back as well but they lost of course in the two-legged playoff against heyata and hopefully Hamburg will come back at the end of this campaign so yeah we shall see but I'm not predicting and Bremen to be incredible on the pitch but certainly in The Stance it will be as passionate Surprise teams as ever yeah Derek I'm sure you're looking forward to the Rivia Darby between shark and dorm I know we talked previously and that was a you mentioned that was your favorite game to watch regularly but looking at this season you mentioned that the Sharko and vertebrate might struggle are there any teams that you're looking at right now at the beginning of the Season before you've seen any games played are there any teams in your mind that could surprise a few people I think for me at least Freiburg last season uh they were well into the champion I think they finished three points outside of a Champions League place at the end of the season for me that was a surprising finish so are there any teams in the 2022-23 campaign that you think might you know turn some heads and shock some people with the way the season pans out well let's talk about Freiburg obviously they got to The Cup Final and they were in charge of the cup final they threw it away in many respects up against 10 men they couldn't hold the lead and they certainly had the neutral vote right across Germany and maybe around the world but they couldn't do it however I think they've had a good summer and I think credit has to go to Clement's heart environment and Johan Zaya who make all the decisions about bringing in new players and you know I I look at what they've done you know they brought back Madison um coming home if you like to describe work but it's so Dawn I think will be an enrichment we have griego which are very good enrichment as well so all in all I think the squad is stronger for probably yeah they've lost Nico schlotterbeck we spoke about uh dartmund but I think uh Freiburg can push strongly again maybe not getting into the top four but being very close um I mentioned Leverkusen and they did get knocked out of the the cup and rather an ignominious action at the weekend by elvisburg this always happens first week of the cup you always have surprises people talk about the FA Cup as being a couple of surprises you should really look at the damn people card because it's uh it's on a much bigger scale it seems to me nowadays when it comes to to first road upsets um Leverkusen are out um I've already penned my predictions column for ESPN and uh it will be out by the time this goes to air said in that column I actually think Leverkusen can finish second I think they could finish ahead of dot but unlikesy having said that I think those three are pretty even in terms of strengths and weaknesses and it could be any order the way I see it but so I tend to think that David couldn't have a chance they've kept that take who is a formidable Striker as we know Florian verts is going to be over injured for a while he missed the end of last season but they still have the player and the exciting players so so yeah um I I do think uh Lima cousin I think Freiburg and looking down the list I'm looking for improvements by a couple of clubs I think voice will be better under Nico Kovach I think they'll be fitter I think they'll be a bit more positive and with the school of day Harbor I do believe they should be top six or seven or there or there about um same with hoffenheim who fell away badly at the end of last season a new coach there too and Andre Brighton the writer of another new coach to the Bundesliga but having won the title in Switzerland with fct so I I think um those clubs will be better and yeah I mean it remains to be seen the great thing about the Bundesliga is people talk about how British I'm going to win the title like that you know it's true based on the last few years but try predicting the rest of it and all I would say to you is good luck if you think you can predict the rest of it good luck because um I don't know too many people who have success doing that over the last few years yeah and part of that predicting I The relegation battle think is in the relegation battle and you mentioned that Hamburg was so close to getting back into the Bundesliga but they lost in that two-legged playoff to hair top Berlin there are always teams that are going to be disappointing and they're going to be thrust into that relegation battle I think for me at least the teams that I'm eyeing up are Augsburg I think uh as an American I should say I'm I'm rooting for Ricardo Pepe but there are teams that are that will struggle so which teams do you think will be in that relegation about you already mentioned the likes of shotgun vertebraham incoming book coming back up into the Top Flight are there any other teams that could be joining them in that that that dog fight down at the bottom of the table yeah I'm glad you mentioned housework Kyle because uh I have them going down this year now they may not um um to be honest I've made that prediction before and they've always confounded me that God was found a way to stay up but I'm just not sure I have the level of confidence that they're going to do it this time and who knows with Ricardo Pepe he didn't really make an impact in his first few months at the club um yeah it's a longer term investment but I know there was a bit of disappointment about how he actually fares and they have a new coach in in Nicole Martin who comes from labor Jose dortmund's second team he will play over two Strikers but there's no guarantee at the moment that Pepe is going to be one of those two Strikers so American fans might have to be a bit patient with regard to Pepe and Alex Berg I see them being in the the relegation think of things and I also see it and I don't really like saying this but I also see boho being in there because I wanted the clubs I love to go to it is a true Traditions foreign were they used earlier tradition right in the heart of the the whoopots the industrial west of Germany and they played above expectations last season you know with a very small budget they showed that good organization in terms of player personnel and uh real passion can get you very far but I think having lost a couple of the key young Defenders um I've never been a cutshop maxim leich no longer there I think it might be a bit of a struggle for bullhorn so I would say those two both home and Augsburg and Bremen I think will be in that tussle as well and maybe how to again but I have a bit of confidence here so I'm not going to land themselves in the trouble that they did last season and the same really goes for Stuttgart who of course are coached by a U.S born New Jersey born a trainer in peregrino Matarazzo and that that was a great escape for them on the last day of the season right at the end my goodness uh and we'll have to see what happens with some of the key players because of course they are a demand players like sabona Sosa they've already sold oral mongala to English football so um I think it's good Garden here so maybe on the periphery of that but I would say Augsburg Boston Braven the teams to look out for on the relegation Zone Dirk I don't want to Players to watch take up too much your time here so I'll wrap up with this kind of question we talk about teams that people should be watching out for what about players I think you talk about you know the likes of schlotterbeck coming to Borussia Dortmund but uh are there any other names it doesn't have to be one of those big teams you know the likes of teams that are featuring in the opening weekend on ESPN plus you know Dortmund uh buyer and Leverkusen but are there any players that you think could have a great season I think Florian verts for example you mentioned he's injured last season he had a great campaign what other names are kind of circling in your mind for players to keep an eye on this campaign well I think Leipzig have made a terrific signing in getting from hoffenheim there is no better left-sided player the lover of the ball a German football ball and to be honest I worried a bit that he might lead the Bundesliga but he might be in demand with English clubs but we're going to get to see him in the Bundesliga again and I'm delighted about that and I think he will greatly uh help uh Leipzig in their quest to try to maybe get close to Bayern or certainly to to suffered out with dog bonds and as I said Leverkusen um another one who I would give you is actually a player who's on loan uh in Frankfurt from Dortmund and he was on loan for the second half of the season and that is 20 year old anscar kauf and you might have seen him in the the final of the Europa League and the larger stages of the Europa League tremendous pace and daring on the right hand side and just an exciting young Talent as somebody who I think is destined to get better and better playing every week for are good I've had fun for outside on the Oliver plasma so those two and I don't know do we want to do you need any more or do you think those two cover up it out I think those two would uh would suffice um I think it's actually a nice little transition uh people can watch eintracht Frankfurt uh this upcoming weekend on August August 5th uh with you Derek on Pitch side coverage um covering that from Frankfurt obviously they are playing the record Meister Bayern Munich with 10 consecutive titles now and obviously the following day coverage is on ABC between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Leverkusen so Derek we look forward to watching and listening to you this season in the Bundesliga it's always a great pleasure just to talk to you and obviously to listen to you in your coverage Kyle thank you for having me great pleasure Derek I'll talk to you soon thank you thanks again