Midweek action, Round 19,Feb 3-4
Interesting matches in this “Englischer Woche” with midweek action, but the resounding news is that Dortmund continues to suck. This really is the main story of this season, “How can Dortmund suck so much?”. It is unbelievable, but you seriously have to consider them the top relegation candidate. You keep on thinking that they’ll turn things around, but then they seem to find another way to suck and lose. Thus the mighty Neons managed to drop once again, this time against Augsburg at home. Once again they didn’t play terrible, and indeed had a edge throughout the match. But Augsburg stood firm and made no mistakes, and the Neons wasted their chances. A shock visitor lead was then neutralized when Janker got his ass tossed after 64 minutes. Surely with a man advantage Klopp’s troops would pull this one out? But despite running around, nothing.
Leaders Bayern München haven’t really started well after the break, getting pounded by WOlfsburg and not getting anything against Schalke. They’re probably bored, and the Schalke game was going to be difficult, since Boateng managed to get red-carded after only 17 minutes. (But Neuer stopped Choup-Moting’s penalty) So Bayern was down a man most of the match, and couldn’t exert their usual pressure. They did take the lead, but Schalke didn’t have too much difficulty gaining a point, which is always a good result in München.
Wolfsburg didn’t look impressive at Frankfurt. Coming off their stirring victory over Bayern, you’d expect the VWs to be flying high, but it was Frankfurt that looked better early. Wolfsburg eventually got the upper hand, but wasted a few promising chances. Only a late goal by de Bruyne salvaged a point.
Gladbach got a win they hardly deserved against Freiburg. After falling behind, the visitors dominated the rest of the match and were unlucky not to get at least a point. SCF certainly looks battled hardened for the relegation battle. Gladbach is looking to hold on to a Champions League spot, and sometimes you need some luck and grinding to get the points when you aren’t your best, so mission accomplished for them.
Hannover started brightly against Mainz, but lost control of the match as it wore on. Mainz applied constant pressure and might have had a win with some luck.
Bremen has bounced back after winter, and got a huge away win at Hoffenheim. It wasn’t a great match, but it was pretty exciting, and Werder just wanted it more. They’ve now given themselves some breathing room and look like they have enough to stay up.
Disappointing match in Berlin. Hertha was too defensive, risking nothing. Leverkusen was only going to do enough to perhaps snatch a win, which they did. With Berlin playing like a relegation candidate, the Aspirins figured that sooner or later they’d get a chance, and didn’t want to work too hard for it. Hertha is where they belong (relegation), and I suppose Leverkusen is too (Euroliga).
Snoozer in Köln as 1.FC and Stuttgart basically just went through the motions. With VfB in dire straights, I suppose they’re happy with a road point.
The big winner this week was Hamburg. HSV kicked Paderborn’s ass to rise from the relegation zone. They were helped by a penalty after only 8 seconds (!), as Jansen was chopped down in the box. Van der Vaart put HSV head, and then they bunkered down defensively. Paderborn ran around aimlessly and got nothing, so down the stretch HSV struck again and finished off the match. Great win for them. Paderborn seems to have hit reality. They seem likely to go down, although at least for the moment they’re still above the drop.
Total attendance 364,335 (avg 40,482), sellouts in München and Dortmund
Bayern München - FC Schalke 04 1:1 (0:0) 75,000 *
1:0 Robben (67., Xabi Alonso)
1:1 Höwedes (72., Sam)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - SC Freiburg 1:0 (1:0) 37,091
1:0 Herrmann (23., Rechtsschuss, Hrgota)
Hannover 96 - 1. FSV Mainz 05 1:1 (1:0) 30,500
1:0 Briand (26.)
1:1 Soto (77., Brosinski)
Eintracht Frankfurt - VfL Wolfsburg 1:1 (0:0) 34,400
1:0 Aigner (58., Inui)
1:1 De Bruyne (88., M. Schäfer)
Borussia Dortmund - FC Augsburg 0:1 (0:0) 80,667 *
0:1 Bobadilla (50., Linksschuss)
TSG Hoffenheim - Werder Bremen 1:2 (1:1) 23,631
0:1 di Santo (8., Selke)
1:1 Bicakcic (34., Szalai)
1:2 Bargfrede (52., di Santo)
Hertha BSC - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0:1 (0:0) 34,646
0:1 Kießling (49., Wendell)
1. FC Köln - VfB Stuttgart 0:0 (0:0) 48,400
SC Paderborn 07 - Hamburger SV 0:3 (0:1)
0:1 van der Vaart (2., penalty, Jansen)
0:2 Jansen (72., N. Müller)
0:3 Stieber (90. + 1, Rudnevs)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 19 14 4 1 43:9 +34 46
2 VfL Wolfsburg 19 11 5 3 38:19 +19 38
3 Bor. Mönchengladbach 19 9 6 4 27:16 +11 33
4 FC Augsburg 19 11 0 8 26:22 +4 33
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5 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 19 8 8 3 29:20 +9 32
6 FC Schalke 04 19 9 4 6 30:22 +8 31
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7 TSG Hoffenheim 19 7 5 7 31:30 +1 26
8 Hannover 96 19 7 4 8 22:28 -6 25
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 19 6 6 7 36:39 -3 24
10 1. FC Köln (N) 19 6 5 8 19:23 -4 23
11 Werder Bremen 19 6 5 8 30:40 -10 23
12 1. FSV Mainz 05 19 4 10 5 25:24 +1 22
13 Hamburger SV 19 5 5 9 12:21 -9 20
14 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 19 4 7 8 21:34 -13 19
15 SC Freiburg 19 3 9 7 21:27 -6 18
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16 VfB Stuttgart 19 4 6 9 20:33 -13 18
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17 Hertha BSC Berlin 19 5 3 11 24:38 -14 18
18 Borussia Dortmund 19 4 4 11 18:27 -9 16
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted