Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Total Soccer Show. I'm your host Taylor Rockwell. Daryl Grove is somewhere in England. He is not with me today. Presumably he is sipping tea and disliking Europe because that's the English way now. That's just how it works. So since he obviously wouldn't want to talk about continental things, I spent about an hour asking questions to Manuel Faith, a contributor to Forbes, pro-sucker

USA, many other publications.

I'm specifically saying that I asked him questions instead of I chatted with because

Manuel's knowledge is insane and his knowledge of German soccer is extra insane.

So I basically just sat back and let him explain all of the many, many things.

So he explained how Byron had been so dominant for so long, but also why maybe they've fallen off this season, why coaches from the Red Bull system are so in demand, why the hiring of Uring Klinsman at Herta could be excellent, but maybe also disastrous, time will tell. Plus, there's lots of praise for Tyler Adams, Weston McKenney, Giorina, many, many other clubs discussed.

Those are just a few, in fact, of the many things we get into. So I will leave it there in my rambling introduction and instead say, joining me on the line. I've got a new friend to the show whom we met in Germany. It's Manuel Faitz, spelled VETH, if you want to follow him on Twitter. He's German football expert who contributes to Forbes, Pro Soccer USA, amongst other outlets. Manuel, thank you very much for taking the time to chat with me today. Well, thank you for having me on, Taylor. Yeah, it's nice to get to chat with you again. We had a good time in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, even though I know you're not the biggest fan of Dusseldorf, but you put up with their press box, which I did appreciate. I'm a fan of the club and the people that run it. I'm not a fan of their food. Yeah, it was, I've thought about you many times since then, because like for MLS Cup, Seattle really splurged. Seattle have a Starbucks in their press box, which is pretty impressive.

And I thought of you the entire time and how unhappy we all were with the stuffed pepper made of questionable materials.

It was supposed to be meat, I think.

Well, aside from your dietary thoughts and contributions, I did want to talk German football with you because it has been a strange season in my mind. I'm wondering if that is the case for you.

Is this one of the strangest Bundesliga seasons you've covered in recent memory?

It's definitely, I would say, the strangest season I've covered, but not the strangest season I've experienced.

Growing up as a kid, this was quite normal, I would say, that we had.

Do you mean the balance?

They had the balance of power.

I mean, I almost would, we never had the seven-year run that Bayern had before on the history of the Bundesliga.

It never existed, right?

No team before the seven-year run won it more than three times in a row, right?

And I think the closest club that actually came to that kind of dominance were Gladbach in the 70s.

They won five out of 10.

So they're the closest that we had to this.

But when I was a kid, this was normal.

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