Weekend Warm-up: The sad tale of Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso; A throwback to Matthew Sweet; Bundesliga predictions; and MORE!

When looking at Corentin Tolisso’s career at Bayern Munich, you can really only be left thinking, “What if?”

The club’s former record-signing has not lived up to the lofty expectations that were in place, but that was really to no fault of his own (well, expect his COVID-19/tattoo infraction from last season which was a case of one bad decision coming at a really bad time).

Tolisso’s career with Bayern Munich has been victimized by injuries...many of which were quite serious. In fact, Tolisso list of ailments is tough to replicate for any one player.

Since joining Bayern Munich for the 2017/2018 season, Tolisso has missed 83 games (so far) and a total of 474 days of action (so far) per Transfermarkt. Through all of that, Tolisso never advanced up the depth chart. Initially stuck behind players like Thomas Müller, Thiago Alcantara, Arturo Vidal, and Javi Martinez, Tolisso is now rated lower than Müller, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, and Marcel Sabitzer — all world class players.

Finding his way back to the pitch at Bayern Munich will not be easy.

Now, Tolisso’s lack of availability seems to have finally worn out its welcome in Bavaria as recent rumors indicate the club is looking to unload the Frenchman during the winter transfer window.

Someone will take a flier on Tolisso’s talent. There is no doubt that the man can still play when he’s healthy, which honestly is not all that often. Still, he can break into some club’s starting XI and should get that chance.

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Song of Week: “Sick of Myself” by Matthew Sweet

One of the artists who captured the early-to-mid 90s alt-rock, slacker vibe in a near perfect way was Matthew Sweet. Floating on that outskirts of grunge’s popularity at the time, alt-rock back then was for the people who wanted to enjoy a new sound that strayed from classic rock, but who didn’t want to sulk, wear flannel shirt, and think too much like grunge crowd (not that there is anything wrong with grunge...it had its time for sure).

Known primarily for three smash hit songs, Sweet put together a very solid career and is a staple of any early 90s alt rock fan’s collection.

Truthfully, this song was inspired because I recorded three podcasts in less than 24 hours this week because scheduling just didn’t work out...and I was truly sick of hearing myself.

Anyway, Sweet’s other big tunes were “Girlfriend” and “Time Capsule.” Check him out if you like that genre of music.

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Review — Untold: Crime & Penalties

Thus documentary by Netflix highlighted the story of the Danbury Trashers, a minor league hockey team that existed from 2004-2006 in Danbury Connecticut.

Aside of the obvious minor league hockey tropes (goons, brawls, etc.) this doc was fascinating for a multitude of reasons:

• A cast of characters: Everyone from the players to the owners to the the owner’s son to the franchise’s personnel are like something out of a prestige television show. You really could not script this. A perfect mix of Canadians, mafioso, and lunkheads.
• The mob connection: The owner, James “Jimmy” Galante earned his fortune in Waste Management — and had a son named A.J., who was a bit of a knucklehead. Does that sound familiar? It should, that that was the focus of about 20 episodes of The Sopranos! That mob connection, however, slowly becomes the focal point of the documentary. It is implied that Galante was one of the inspirations for the character Tony Soprano.
• The amazement that something like this could happen: How a sports league did not do its due diligence — and then not bat too many eyes at a 17-year-old kid being given control of a club is truly astounding.

Of course, the FBI becomes a part of the story with its “Operation Pail Rider,” which led to Galante being sentenced to 87 months in prison.

Verdict: This was excellent and I highly recommend it. The documentary was a wild ride of crazy decisions, insanely poor oversight, and just outrageousness from beginning to end. Give it a look.

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ICYMI: The Weekend Warm-up Podcast

Bayern Munich is looking unstoppable, and grabbed yet another lopsided victory against Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. Nagelsmann has made all the right moves thus far, and this team looks really formidable and is certainly a treble contender. Yes, the new coach is yet to be tested by elite opposition, but the early signs are very promising.

Bayern face Eintracht Frankfurt at home next, and we can safely expect a win from a team that’s looking overpowered right now.

And on that note, we had quite a lot to discuss on this pod, most of it being quite positive (gasp!). Here are some of the topics we covered:

• Niklas Süle’s incredible form and the WhatsApp fiasco (again).
• Bayern’s superb recent form.
• Sabitzer’s lack of first team action, and what this means for him moving forward.
• More Bouna Sarr banter.
• Coman’s contract situation and whether he stays or leaves.
• Michael Cuisance slander.
• Cobra Kai, Game of Thrones and other stuff.

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Predictions

Bayern Munich is incredibly hot. Eintracht Frankfurt is incredibly mediocre.

This could end poorly for Die Adler.

Eintracht Frankfurt still has the potential to be dangerous, but has just lost too much talent over the past three-to-four years. It would crazy to think about what this team would look like if the club was able to retain the players it lost.

There was something special about the way those Eintracht Frankfurt teams played just two or three years ago. There was a sense of fearlessness and aggression. I’m not saying that still isn’t there...Eintracht just seems to be bringing a knife to a gunfight in this one.

Prediction: Bayern Munich 3-0 Eintracht Frankfurt

Other Bundesliga predictions include:

• FC Köln 3-1 SpVgg Greuther Fürth
• Borussia Dortmund 3-1 FC Augsburg
• Hertha Berlin 2-3 SC Freiburg
• VfB Stuttgart 1-2 Hoffenheim
• Wolfsburg 3-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach
• RB Leipzig 3-0 VfL Bochum
• Mainz 05 2-2 Union Berlin
• Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 Bayer Leverkusen

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Prediction Records

Last Bundesliga Match Day record: 6-3

Overall Bundesliga record: 30-24

DFB-Pokal record: 1-0

DFL-Supercup record: 1-0

Champions League record: 2-0

Overall record: 34-24

Guest prognosticator record: 0-1