BUNDESLIGA, Round 15

The top clash between Bayern München and Borussia proved to be a tense, hard fought match. In reality, it probably wouldn’t matter, given the way Bayern has been playing, so they could play for a draw. But Dortmund has been a boogey-man for Bayern the last couple of years, so the Müncheners would be determined to win. For Dortmund, it seems they would need a win, else they’re essentially conceding their title to Bayern.

Bayern looked the better side, as Dortmund largely seemed content to let them come. Toni Kroos had a nice distant shot to put Bayern up, but the Neons answered with Mario Götze’s hammer. At the end, bayern was pressing for the win, and GK Roman Weidenfeller had to be sharp to preserve the draw. Overall, probably a fair result. The worst part for Bayern is that Holger Badstuber looked to have twisted his knee and had to be carted off.

Leverkusen has quietly moved up, but they were lucky against Nürnberg, winning on an offsides goal that the ref missed. The Nürnbergers showed no respect to their hosts, and took the game to them, but wasted their chances. The Aspirins weren’t in best form, but were just solid enough to get the win, albeit undeservedly.

Schalke – Gladbach is a classic, but the visitors are quite shaky compared to last season. So they buckled down and defended. In fact, they basically scored on their first shot – but only after an hour. Schalke ran up and down, but basically were banging their heads against Gladbach’s wall. A late goal by youngster Draxler saved a point, but they probably should have won this one.

Gutsy win for battling Mainz against Hannover. The hosts just wanted the match more. They were down a man for half the match (GK Wetklo handling the ball outside the box), but they kept fighting and were rewarded with a late win on Szallai’s goal. The 96ers should be scratching their head (or ass) wondering how they lost this.

Düsseldorf had been sinking after a decent start. Frankfurt had kept their outstanding start going. So in the match of promoted clubs, what would happen? Well, Fortuna has revived their season and they kicked Eintracht’s ass. The Frankfurters were on the back foot from an aggressive Düsseldorf, and then when Matmour got his ass tossed, they basically collapsed. The “english week” brought 7 points to Fortuna, getting them back on track.

Augsburg and Freiburg split the points in a low quality match. Lots of running around, especially by Augsburg, but not much skill on disaply. FCA tried to press for the win, but they’re just not good enough. Freiburg was apparently only interested in getting a point, so mission accomplished.

Greuther Fürth was probably the better team, but Stuttgart gets the points. The Greuther haven’t won in 13 matches, and not at all at home. And VfB was going to be very acoomodating, as Tasci got his ass tossed for a nasty foul after 53 minutes. But not enough to even get a point. Okazaki put in the rebound when Ibisevic missed a penalty, and the Stuttgarters made it stand up for the rest of the match.

UPDATE:
Bremen got a great performance from Austrian striker Marko Arnautovic, but since Hoffenheim was totally crap, perhaps it wasn’t even necessary. The hosts were terrible, so Werder had an easy time. Although the Hoppers played better in the 2nd half to look like they at least cared, Bremen only needed an average effort to spank their opponents.

It was two different halves in the northern derby. Hamburg was clearly better in the initial phase, but Wolfsburg came on strong and deserved the equalizer in the 2nd. Despite pressing for the win, the VWs fell just short. Overall, the draw was fair. Simon Kjaer, another of Felix Magath’s castoffs, got the Wolfsburg equalizer, once again rubbing in the faulty player policy of the ex-boss.

Total attendance was 330,203 (avg 36,689), two sellouts.

 	
Fortuna Düsseldorf     -   Eintracht Frankfurt	 4:0 (2:0)   51,345

                      1:0  Reisinger (38., Bodzek)
                      2:0  O. Fink (42.)
                      3:0  Rafael (58., Balogun)
                      4:0  Bellinghausen (85.)

FC Schalke 04	       -   Borussia M'gladbach	 1:1 (0:0)   61,373 *

                      0:1  de Camargo (62., Marx)
                      1:1  Draxler (85., Pukki)

Bayer Leverkusen       -   1. FC Nürnberg	 1:0 (1:0)   22,000

                      1:0  Kießling (37., Schürrle)

1. FSV Mainz 05	       -   Hannover 96	         2:1 (1:1)   28,277

                      1:0  N. Müller (10., S. Parker)
                      1:1  C. Schulz (28., Stindl)
                      2:1  Szalai (89., Polanski)

FC Augsburg	       -   SC Freiburg	         1:1 (1:1)   27,144

                      1:0  Werner (9., Callsen-Bracker)
                      1:1  Schmid (28., Rosenthal)

SpVgg Greuther Fürth   -   VfB Stuttgart	 0:1 (0:1)   17,443

                      0:1  Okazaki (45., Ibisevic)

Bayern München	       -   Borussia Dortmund	 1:1 (0:0)   71,000 *

                      1:0  Kroos (67., T. Müller)
                      1:1  M. Götze (74., Reus)

Sunday:
1899 Hoffenheim	       -  	Werder Bremen	 1:4 (0:2)   23,500

                      0:1  Prödl (21., de Bruyne)
                      0:2  Arnautovic (29., de Bruyne)
                      1:2  Salihovic (50., Roberto Firmino)
                      1:3  Arnautovic (73.)
                      1:4  Arnautovic (79., Akpala)
 
VfL Wolfsburg	       -  	Hamburger SV	 1:1 (0:1)   28,121

                      0:1  Beister (26., Rudnevs)
                      1:1  Kjaer (68., M. Schäfer)
 	


 1  Bayern München	  	15    12   2   1    41:6   +35 	  38
 2  Bayer Leverkusen	  	15     9   3   3    28:19  +9 	  30 
 3  Borussia Dortmund (M, P)	15     7   6   2    30:16  +14 	  27
 4  FC Schalke 04	  	15     7   4   4    25:19  +6 	  25
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt (N)	15     7   3   5    27:26  +1 	  24 
 6  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	15     7   2   6    21:18  +3 	  23
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 7  VfB Stuttgart	  	15     6   4   5    17:24  -7 	  22 
 8  Werder Bremen	  	15     6   3   6    26:24  +2 	  21 
 9  Hamburger SV	  	15     6   3   6    16:18  -2 	  21 
10  Borussia M'gladbach	  	15     5   6   4    22:25  -3 	  21 
11  SC Freiburg	  	        15     5   5   5    20:17  +3 	  20 
12  Hannover 96	  	        15     6   2   7    28:27  +1 	  20 
13  Fortuna Düsseldorf (N)	15     4   6   5    18:19  -1 	  18
14  1. FC Nürnberg	  	15     4   4   7    14:21  -7 	  16 
15  VfL Wolfsburg	  	15     4   4   7    14:23  -9 	  16
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16  1899 Hoffenheim	  	15     3   3   9    22:36  -14 	  12
--------------------------------------------------------------------
17  FC Augsburg	  	        15     1   5   9    11:26  -15 	  8 
18  SpVgg Greuther Fürth (N)	15     1   5   9    10:26  -16 	  8

M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokal, defending Cup winner
N = Neuling, newly promoted

1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga

10 thoughts on “BUNDESLIGA, Round 15

  1. First three places already seem grabbed by Bayern, Dortmund, and Leverkusen, respectively.
    Fourth Champions league spot is up for grabs and I hope that club gets it which will be able to win the qualification matches. Schalke and Gladbach seem probable candidates.
    Slomka is becoming a disappointment!
    Hoffenheim would be joining Furth and Augsburg in relegation if they fail to get a good new coach.
    Thomas Tuchel is the next Jurgen Klopp, lets see which club are farsighted enough to get him.
    Hope Herr Bader signs Madlung, along with a couple of new and effective strikers/center-forwards during winter break. Wir Sind Der Club.

    • P.S.
      Eintracht bubble might burst up dangerously since their strikers still haven’t scored much at all, they have relied on midfielders so far, the way they got relegated in 2011, and the way Armin Veh lead his out-of-form teams down to the bottom in the past.

      • Eintracht has strikers? I thought they were playing 4-6-0…Hehehehe. But you’re right, they’ve been relying on their midfielders to score, perhaps they’ll need make a move in the transfer window, assuming they have some money. Certainly for this year they don’t have much to worry about, but next season could be a problem…

    • I pretty much agree with everything you’re saying. I wouldn’t ride Slomka too heavy, I’d say he’s a known type. He’s done a decent job with Hannover, but I think that’s as far as they can go. Tuchel is doing a fine job with Mainz….

    • Considering that established Bundesliga coaches like Babbel and Skibbe are allowed to dangle from one failure to the other, Tuchel’s work (whose previous job was that of a U-18 coach) is truly remarkable. I’d be interesting to see what he could do with a club that has more financial power…

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