Dortmund’s bigger problem

After the disqualification of Uefa Champions league BVB is left with one trophy run this of the German Cup for which BVB will need to face Bayern in Munich this Wednesday in a knock out game.

The German league run was over quickly this year for BVB. Actually a little bit before the winter brake BVB managed to destroy whatever it was achieved until this moment. After the 1-0 victory against Bayern BVB were 3 points behind the leading position in the league. However there was a very bad record in the last 5-6 matches before the brake that actually left BVB 13 points behind the league and consequently unable to chase the championship in the second round.

Two main goals were on the table, Champions league and German Cup pokal. In champions league after the clash with Benfica and the bomb attack, the team was completely unable to counter As Monaco losing with and aggregate 6-4 in the two games. Now we are only left with the semi final in Pokal which will be a difficult clash.

But what is the bad consistency of BVB that makes them lose their goals this year maybe a little bit more easy than expected.

Was it the departure of Gudogan, Hummels and Mkhitaryan? I wouldn’t say that. BVB put a better fight last year in both Europa and league with them but still had similar bad results. Yes I believe Mkhitaryan is a player missing since last year the attacking results of the team in league and Europe were much better. However I do not believe Gudogan and Hummels are so missed. Gudogan was there in some matches last year but he never had a consistent appearance to be so missed. Hummels on the other side was always there last year but still defending wise we see similar results as this year in league goals.

Was it the injuries a little bit before and during April? Yes and no. I mean Weigl, Castro, Durm, Reus, Papastathopoulos, Pulisic, Bartra , Rode, Shurle, Goetze and others that I cannot remember were or are out during many crucial games. Yes this definitely affected BVB. They were there however before Christmas when the league title race was put to an end. So I cannot say that those missing games are the only reason. Also they were never all off and BVB has a very deep squad this year to cover many people out.

In my opinion what causes the problem and it was causing it for the past years as well is the defensive culture and inconsistency of the team. This is always there even when we defend with Papa and Hummels but also when we have Bender and Ginter back. The problem is that BVB’s defense is so bad that the opponent can be back in game any time. Look at the match yesterday or with Monaco. BVB dominating but conceding goals whenever you can imagine in the game. That is  the most frustrating thing in this team. It is also the main factor causing failure. It is just impossible for BVB offensive line to produce so many goals to always cover the defense inefficiency. Don’t get me wrong. I do not believe that Papa, Bartra or others are bad defenders. I believe the team has a bad defending culture for way too long that has to be addressed. After the semi final I will analyze what needs to be done in my opinion to shift around this situation.

I hope I will be proven very wrong and I will not see any stupid mistakes with Bayern but it seems impossible for me to imagine BVB avoiding goals in Munich. It is frustrating to think that Bayern can have a 2-0 and actually finish the game but in case BVB makes a 0-2 we will still be in the edge and not being able to believe that we made it through until the last whistle.

Can BVB outplay UEFA

After the shock of Tuesday's attack in BVB's bus an interesting conversation followed between the German's side staff and the European Football Federation aka UEFA. BVB kicked it off during the postgame comments with Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel complaining that his side felt “completely ignored” over the rescheduling.

“We were informed by text message that Uefa was making this decision,”
“A decision made in Switzerland that concerns us directly. We will not forget it. It is a very bad feeling.”

Following in the same path but more brutally central defender Papastathopoulos mentioned that he felt treated like an animal being asked to think of football and play for the crowds 24 hours after an attack on his life.

UEFA side went on to reply to BVB and to the criticism claiming that they never received information suggesting that any of the teams did not want to play. What is interesting however to mention is that the decision was made 1hour after the attack which makes me wonder how much feedback was possible to be gathered from the German side staff just minutes after the attack took place.

In any case Nuri Sahin also came in later to add to the previous comments that the German team was not willing to have this game just a day after the attack.

"It's hard to talk about it, hard to find the right words [about the attack]. No, of course we did not want to play, but we knew we had responsibilities, we represent one of the biggest clubs in the world, it's a big competition, the Champions League.”

Definitely Champions league is a one of the top 2-3 European competitions but back to Papastathopoulos’ comment players remain human beings. So is difficult to factor in the magnitude of the competition in a decision for which the main factor ought to be the staff mental situation.

In any case BVB appears to follow their field strategy out of the field going all out against UEFA as the would do in the pitch when cornered.

Is this the proper was to deal with this?

Would they change something by criticizing UEFA?

I don’t know but I definitely like the fact that the team I support has a culture that goes down to their bones. Dortmund will be direct team and very simple in the way they deal with their "matches" in and out of the football pitch. It is not always successful and sometimes it will hurt them but is not an organization that will hide or play a political game to gain friends. I love the way they acted without overlooking the fault of UEFA because it was made by UEFA. They just said what they felt. I believe that if other teams were buying in this attitude we would have a much better European and Global football where decisions are made with main factor the best of the sport and not the best of the product.

Keep track!!!

As I discussed in the welcoming post, this blog is meant to give simple solutions and to help people become more rational regarding their economic decisions. I don’t want to go deep into economic terminology or theories. Thus, as you will soon find out this first post-tip has nothing to do with economic aspects. It is only about recording and updating your economic situation. Strange may seem but this is the simplest thing to do and it will add the most value to your effort to manage your finance.

As a consultant and financial analyst I have visited many companies and organizations. In my short experience I found out that those who keep a good track of their qualitative (operations, performance) and quantitative (incomes, expenses) measures usually are the best performing. Discussing this aspect with my senior managers and employers I found out that they think the same. I don’t believe that this fact is a coincidence. High performing big organizations have to keep track of their records, it is not a choice; it is a fact of vital importance for their sustainability.

Keeping track of what you are doing have many benefits. By this simple way companies can value themselves and find easily which are the domains that they perform best and where they should improve. They get the chance to know their strong and weak points, and if you have to make a managerial decision, first of all you have to know where do you stand and where do you want to go. It may seem a simple advice but I can assure you that there are many institutes that do not record their performance in a structured way. They lose time and money searching from inside information that should be available in an instant. They use old-fashioned systems to keep their data when their competitors invest and evolve in this domain. A friend of mine working in the banking domain told me once that what diversifies the banks today is their recording and tracking information systems, thus their ability to track and get the market or inside information needed as fast as possible.

Concerning the households, ask yourself whether you or any of your friends keep track of your household expenses. I consider most of you know where your incomes come from (unfortunately only from your job) but I assume you cannot answer what happened to your last month salary. What was the percentage of this salary was deposited to the bank and where did you spend the rest of it?

Try to make your household a top performing company, start by doing this: KEEP TRACK

Why you should do it?

When we perform a strategic management program or a turnaround strategy plan what we always ask first is what is going on in the institute. You see yourself or your household struggling to make it through? Ask yourself why? Is your income very low or are your expenses high? What are the sources of your expenses? Which part of them is fixed (rent, insurance, loan) and which variable? Which of the variable parts are of vital importance and which is of less importance? Do you have big loan payments? Would it be possible to re-negotiate your loan or mortgage? Do you have credit card debt? Can you repay it? Ask your accountant where your taxes come from. In general, before you act find the source of the problem. This is the most important first step. Structure your finance map. Get insight on your organization performance. I have seen individuals that their economic situation was so complex that they were unwilling to start thinking of it. You have to do it because none else will do it for you. Manage your credit cards and record your spending. Start with small steps and you will see how the whole situation becomes more understandable.

In later posts I will give in detail information on how you can start recording your incomes and expenses in a proper way. Just think for yourself what you possess and what you owe (balance sheet) and later what is your monthly income and expenses look like. For me the most difficult part is to keep track of the expenses but maybe using your credit or debit card might help since all the transactions will be recorded for you at once.

This first step might look hard in the beginning but as you get used to do it, it will get easier. Remember, you don’t have to be super-efficient especially in the beginning. Make assumptions, you know more or less how much you spend for the super market every week. Multiply it by 4 and you have your monthly expenses for supermarket. Is it naive? It is better than nothing and believe it or not, most of the companies use these naive straightforward measures when they need to make assumptions for their budgeting and forecasting reports

This in my opinion is the first step to move towards your financial sustainability. As I mentioned before you have to know where you stand to proceed with any possible change. In the next posts I plan to give some more detailed information on how you can build up a small balance sheet and income report for yourself in order to visualize your economic situation.

Let's start

Welcome to economicus24

This is a blog with main concern in economic and politic aspects. I created this blog primary to help individuals understand more things about managing their financial position. Through this portal I focus on present ways and tips on how a person can become a better manager of its own economic position.

It is my firm belief that individuals lack fundamental economical and financial education. How many examples are there of individuals or households highly levered and deep in debt and angst? How many of you know the current state of your mortgage contract, your property's real value and your household financial sustainability? How do you make crucial financial decision about your future without being able to answer this questions?

It is sad to see highly motivated and smart individuals, successful advocates or doctors, to be totally unable to manage their financial situation. Also, many more people that struggle to make it through while they could do 10 times better if they managed correctly their finance. Unfortunately, for some people economics are the everyday science today.

You may be a perfect employee in your domain but if you are not capable to manage your economic problems you will find yourself being stressed and most of the times distressed. It is funny if you ask me because I think economics is the most straightforward science that is why I found it extremely interesting to study it through all my academic programs. I feel that I was one of the lucky people to get insight in this domain. Most of my friends became physicists and doctors. It is really interesting to discuss with them about trivial issues because I find out that their knowledge in economic subjects are just as short as my knowledge in physics and chemistry.

The problem is that all people need a basic economic knowledge. I may be very bad at physics and I cannot understand chemistry but I know economics. This is the tool in my everyday life. Knowing some basic economic aspects will help you manage your everyday life. Our everyday life is constantly linked to economics and law. Individuals don’t need to be experts but they can save so much money if they consider some basic principles before acting.

This is the goal of this blog. To give advice on treating everyday plain economic problems. To make people understand how a company is operating. To give them insight on how they can earn money back just by changing the way they present their tax report. To give them an idea how mortgages and credit cards are working and whether is better to buy or rent a house. To make them Homo economicus, a rational economic thinker.