Midweek Warm-up: Bayern Munich’s Tiago Dantas will get his chance to shine in January; Bob Odenkirk will play a different role in “Nobody”; HBO to reboot “True Blood”; Bundesliga predictions; and MORE!

It won’t be log until Tiago Dantas is bolstering Bayern Munich’s midfield depth as the Portuguese youngster will almost assuredly be facing a key period to start 2021.

Considered a top prospect — and a potential value buy — Dantas will likely be given the opportunity to breakthrough with the first-team starting in January. The 19-year-old already reportedly has a huge fan in Hansi Flick and his extremely cheap purchase option (reportedly €8million) almost makes it a no-brainer for Bayern Munich to pull the trigger on making the deal permanent.

The technically-gifted, but physically-slight Dantas will have his work cut out for him in earning minutes with Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Corentin Tolisso, ahead of him on the depth chart, but he will almost certainly be given the chance to prove his mettle. Hampered recently by an injury, Dantas has shown well at times taking the field for Bayern Munich II in 3. Liga, but the jumped to the Bundelsiga can be steep.

Dantas, though, represents more than just a “steal” from Benfica. The midfielder was reportedly the only offseason that Flick pushed for that he actually got. When Timo Werner and Kai Havertz signed with Chelsea, Flick could only hold this trophies and wonder, “Why can’t I get anyone I really want?”

Bayern Munich’s front office finally relented and got their manager his man in Dantas...and soon enough, the focus will be on how Dantas plays under the bright lights of the Bundesliga. If he shines, it could mean Flick has a louder voice in personnel decisions.

And if he falters?

Well, Brazzo still has a kick-ass beard to use as intimidation when dealing with other clubs.

Seems like one of those “no lose” situations, eh?

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Odenkirk taking on a different role

Bob Odenkirk plays the role of Saul Goodman oh-so-good on Better Call Saul — just like he did on Breaking Bad. In his upcoming film “Nobody”, however, Odenkirk is going to be playing quite a different role (warning some NSFW language included in the trailer):

At some point, I’m going to take a look at TV spinoffs and try to determine if there has ever been one as good as Better Call Saul. As of now, I think I’d rate Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as the best combo, but I need to do some additional research.

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Spare my eyes, there is no need for a True Blood reboot

Man...HBO is really grasping at straws.

When it initially debuted, “True Blood” pushed the envelope for the vampire genre in a relatively successfully transition to “prestige TV.” Early in the show’s run, it was clear that the show’s “world” had a lot of interesting characters and some intriguing storylines, but like many shows these days, “True Blood” did not exactly have staying power.

The storylines — which were always ludicrous — got even more crazy and became...unwatchable at times. I “hate watched” it to the end, but I knew I wasn’t watching good television. I just wanted to finish what I started. I’d say there was a significant drop-off in the show after season three and it followed that downward trend through the end of the seventh and final season where it limped across the finish line.

Now...when no one was asking for it...HBO is ready to run it back!

(No one cheers)

I can’t imagine the impetus for this aside of, “We are failing to create any captivating content in the element that we essentially created in the United States — prestige television.”

For as campy — and sometimes awful — as the initial series was, there were some good parts — and those were mostly with the characters. Anna Paquin (as Sookie Stackhouse), Stephen Moyer (as Bill Compton), Sam Trammell (as Sam Merlotte), Ryan Kwanten (as Jason Stackhouse), Nelsan Ellis (as Lafayette Reynolds), and Jim Parrack (as Hoyt Fortenberry) were all solid, but Alexander Skarsgård (as Eric Northman) and Kristin Bauer van Straten (as Pam Swynford de Beaufort) were the best of the lot.

Skarsgård was flat-out born to play that role. His character’s backstory was truly the most fascinating storyline of the show overall.

I’m not going to write in stone that I won’t watch a reboot...but I don’t know if I could muster up enough energy to go through that world again — especially knowing how it will be impossible to top some of the character portrayals from the first version.

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Predictions

Who needs a midfield, anyway?

Bayern Munich is going to head into today’s match-up with Wolfsburg without Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Javi Martinez, and Tanguy Nianzou, so we could see some mix of Corentin Tolisso, Jamal Musiala, and...(maybe) Marc Roca patrolling the center of the park.

Yeah, there are some concerns.

However, Bayern Munich still has Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, and Kingsley Coman which has proven to be more than enough to create stress for the opposition. The big question will be how the Bavarians can deal with Wout Weghorst defensively. A tall, target-man, Weghorst should have his hands full with either Niklas Süle or Jerome Boateng (or both!).

It might not be pretty, but this Bayern Munich team has too much pride in itself to drop more points.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3-1 Wolfsburg

Here are the predictions for the rest of the Bundesliga:

• Eintracht Frankfurt 2-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach (L)
• Hertha Berlin 2-1 Mainz 05 (L)
• VfB Stuttgart 2-2 Union Berlin (W)
• Werder Bremen 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (W)
• Schalke 04 1-2 SC Freiburg
• Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 FC Augsburg
• FC Köln 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen
• Hoffenheim 1-2 RB Leipzig

(Tuesday games were submitted prior to games starting)

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Predictions Record

While my Bundesliga record was an improvement, it still was not good. I seem to have lost my way. Hopefully a bit of midweek madness will sharpen the blade a bit (probably not).

Last Bundesliga match day record: 4-5

Last Champions League match day record: 1-0

Overall record: 54-51*

Guest predictors record: 17-3

(*includes DFL-Supercup, DFB-Pokal, and Champions League — and not including any results from yesterday yet)