The league already seems to be splitting off at the top, as the triumvirate looks to be Dortmund, Bayern and Leverkusen. They’ve already opened a slight gap at the top, and no one else has shown any consistency to challenge.
Bayern München was impressive as they kicked Schalke’s ass in the weekend’s big match. Not too surprising, despite the build-up and Schalke’s recent return to form: The Blues have lost something like 6 straight to Bayern. The home side started brightly, but Bayern then viciously struck with a double that knocked the Schalkers silly. For all intents and purposes the match was over! In teh 2nd period, Schalke tried to get back in, with München waltzing along wasting time. Then the champions decided they had enough and kicked their hosts in the balls a couple more times to turn things into a rout.
Dortmund dropped their first points in Nürnberg, where der Club actually put perhaps their best performance of the season. FCN fought hard and showed little respect for the Neons. Superior talent gave Dortmund the lead, but Nürnberg remained in the match and eventually were rewarded with a deserved point. Borussia was still somewhat suffering from the hangover in Napoli and didn’t seem to have the iron will to win.
Leverkusen was solid, and Mainz was a disaster. Needless to say, the Aspirins ripped their hosts to shreads, getting an easy victory. Mainz defense was terrible, and their offense was hardly better in what was their worst performance of the year.
Gladbach had little trouble with Braunschweig. The home side dominated the 1st half and had things wrapped up, but obviously they had too many pints at half-time, becuase they were completely out of synch. Kudos to Braunscweig who seized the chance and got back into the match. Gladbach was able to weather the storm and then took control again, eventually ending up with a clear rout. The visitors perhaps deserved a better scoreline, but thats what happens when you’re out of your league.
A crap match in Hannover, but the 96ers did just enough to get the points against Augsburg. The fans were generally yawning, when they were not yelling at the ref for some handballs. Neither side can be too happy with their performances, but obviously Hannover gets the points, so they at least got something. Augsburg has been playing hard, but never looked like would get something out of this, unless their hosts remained asleep.
Overall, a good win for Wolfsburg, their 3rd home win in a row. Hoffenheim was a worthy opponent, and after the VWs were somewhat unforunate to fall behind, a double by Olic turned the match. However Wolfsburg then had to display an organized defense, which is something they usually struggle with. The VWs did the job, despite continual Hoffenheim pressure, and get the points.
Two struggling teams in the northern derby, and Hamburg is now in crisis, whereas Bremen has righted their ship. Werder was just a lot more clever, and after taking the lead, waited patiently as HSV ran around like a chicken with it’s head cut off.
Freiburg continues to struggle. As with their midweek Euroliga match (2-2 vs Liberec), the Breisgauer had an edge but couldn’t put the match away. Hertha came to an equalizer and did enough to earn a point.
Weird match in Stuttgart. The guests from Frankfurt jumped out stringb and grabbed a lead, but VfB fought back and soon equalized. Then there was a long period of Stuttgart “dominance”, which basically meant they passed the ball around a lot, since they couldn’t find a break in Eintracht’s solid defense. At the end, things opened up and both sides could have lost. The amazing thing is that in injury time Stuttgart’s ace Vedad Ibisevic missed a penalty, but overall the draw is a fair result.
Total attendance 381,084 (avg 42,343), sell-outs in Schalke and Nürnberg
Bor. Mönchengladbach - Eintr. Braunschweig 4:1 (2:0) 50,064
1:0 Wendt (22., Arango)
2:0 Raffael (31., M. Kruse)
2:1 Boland (58., Bellarabi)
3:1 M. Kruse (72., penalty, Arango)
4:1 Raffael (76., M. Kruse)
Hannover 96 - FC Augsburg 2:1 (0:0) 39,200
0:1 Verhaegh (51., hand penalty)
1:1 A. Sobiech (60., Huszti)
2:1 Huszti (89., hand penalty)
VfL Wolfsburg - 1899 Hoffenheim 2:1 (1:1) 29,837
0:1 Modeste (15.
1:1 Olic (44., M. Schäfer)
2:1 Olic (48.)
1. FC Nürnberg - Borussia Dortmund 1:1 (0:1) 50,000 *
0:1 Schmelzer (37., direct freekick)
1:1 Nilsson (50., Plattenhardt)
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:4 (0:3) 30,000
0:1 R. Kruse (19., Sam)
0:2 L. Bender (38., R. Kruse)
0:3 R. Kruse (45. + 1, Rolfes)
0:4 Kießling (59., Rolfes)
1:4 Malli (82.)
Hamburger SV - Werder Bremen 0:2 (0:1) 52,000
0:1 Petersen (32., Fritz)
0:2 Petersen (90. + 4, Gebre Selassie)
FC Schalke 04 - Bayern München 0:4 (0:2) 61,973 *
0:1 Schweinsteiger (21., Robben)
0:2 Mandzukic (22., Alaba)
0:3 Ribery (75., Alaba)
0:4 Pizarro (84., T. Müller)
Sunday:
SC Freiburg - Hertha BSC 1:1 (1:1) 23,200
1:0 Mehmedi (6., Freis)
1:1 Skjelbred (38., Ronny)
VfB Stuttgart - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:1 (1:1) 44,810
0:1 Russ (14., Aigner)
1:1 Ti. Werner (16., Gentner)
1 Borussia Dortmund 6 5 1 0 16:5 +11 16
2 Bayern München (M, P) 6 5 1 0 13:2 +11 16
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 6 5 0 1 15:7 +8 15
4 Hannover 96 6 4 0 2 10:8 +2 12
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5 Bor. Mönchengladbach 6 3 0 3 15:11 +4 9
6 VfL Wolfsburg 6 3 0 3 9:8 +1 9
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7 1. FSV Mainz 05 6 3 0 3 9:12 -3 9
8 FC Augsburg 6 3 0 3 6:9 -3 9
9 Werder Bremen 6 3 0 3 5:8 -3 9
10 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 6 2 2 2 9:6 +3 8
11 1899 Hoffenheim 6 2 2 2 15:15 0 8
12 VfB Stuttgart 6 2 1 3 10:8 +2 7
13 Eintracht Frankfurt 6 2 1 3 7:9 -2 7
14 FC Schalke 04 6 2 1 3 7:13 -6 7
15 1. FC Nürnberg 6 0 4 2 6:9 -3 4
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16 Hamburger SV 6 1 1 4 10:17 -7 4
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17 SC Freiburg 6 0 3 3 8:12 -4 3
18 Eintr. Braunschweig (N) 6 0 1 5 3:14 -11 1
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