Is the Bundesliga over? Sure beginning to look like it, with Bayern kicking ass and nobody else stepping up to the plate. If you look at the table, Frankfurt is offiically chasing the Bavarians, but let’s be serious. Eintracht is off to a great start, but you’ve got to figure they’ll come back to earth. The squad is decent, and they have great spirit, but that’s not enough over the long season. Schalke looks pretty strong, but they’re already 7 points back, and they’re never a team to be ruthless, so they’d need Bayern to start stinking. Champions Dortmund have been disappointing, and they are capable of winning non-stop, but they’re already 12 points back, which is pretty massive.
I usually hammer Leverkusen (not sure why), but I think they’re much improved over last season, at least in approach. They seem to want to attack, but usually give up after scoring. They probably have an upside if they can figure that out.
The other Bundesliga trend is who’s sucking, and it’s got Wolfsburg all over it. Two goals?! Pathetic. They are truly crap, perhaps proof that no matter what, Felix Magath should have never come back. He would be a legend in Kraftdurchfreudestadt, in fact VW would probably name a car after him. (Now it would be the “VW-Maggot”, and not-so-successor to the Beetle). If you look at the squad on paper (and look at the money spent), you’d have to say it’s pretty decent, but clearly unmotivated. Clubs like Greuther or Augsburg lack the talent, but they’ll fight till they drop.
FSV Mainz announced some good news. They made a profit of 5.7 million euros after taxes for 2011/12. Total player salaries were about 22.7 million. For the current season, they’re expecting about 53 million income, with player salaries flat. Their next plan is to build a new stadium, so let’s see how that goes.
In the 2.Liga, the big story is not who’s playing well, but who is sucking. And it’s some big names, Bochum, St.Pauli and Duisbrug, all of whom you might have expected to be in the upper half, or actually contending. Obviously Köln has sucked too, but they seem to have some light at the end of the tunnel. (They hope it’s not a train of course…) The biggest positive story is Braunschweig, who were relegated from the Bundesliga in 1985 and haven’t been back. They certainly are off to a fine start and are in a good position for promotion.
As usual, the 3.Liga looks like a dogfight, with several clubs in contention and no real surprises yet, except maybe Karlsruhe and Aachen sucking.
Wouldn’t be counting chickens just yet. Man City were 8 points clear last year, then swapped with Man U before finishing off winners in the last game.
Bayern have got European matches, but then so do Schalke and Dortmund. Early days yet. Several seasons ago, Hoffenheim were Herbstmeister and dropped off to finish about 6th or 7th. Lots of games to be played yet.
I have a nasty feeling tho that after being embarressed so badly by Dortmund last season, Bayern will be looking to win the league ahead of the Champions League this year. (Plus the final is not in München this year either)
However I look forward to bing proved wrong and that Schalke will finally win the title…..
Agreed, it’s not over yet. However, the noose is getting tight. Bayern is not Hopelessheim or some over-priced Hühnerhaufen like Man City, hehehe. Of course, it would be nice to have them stall or get taken down to make the league exciting. I just don’t see Schalke really rising to the occasion. Close maybe, but no cigar. Schalke and Luserkusen are undoubtedly the two clubs that Uli Hoeness had in mind when he (in)famously stated “The other clubs are just too dumb to win the title from us…”