OK, it’s a bit laughable now, the way Bayern München is just waltzing along. It looks like the opponents are actually playing their “B” squads from the 3.Liga/Regionalliga instead. The latest victim was Wolfsburg, although the score is somewhat misleading. For about 60 minutes the VWs were pretty equal, but then Bayern coach Pep Guardiola realized the current lineup wasn’t working right. So he dumped Shaqiri and Kroos and brought on Mandzukic and Thiago, and the VW collapse was almost immediate. They couldn’t adjust and were ripped to shreds in about 15 minutes. So Bayern continues on their record pace – it’s hard to see anybody beating them. For Wolfsburg, it’s a wasted match, as despite the strong effort for an hour, they probably just have sent in their Regionalliga squad.
Dortmund has strengthened their hold on runner-up with a labored win at Freiburg. The Neons were generally dominate, but they had to work to get the points.
Leverkusen continues to dick around, although at least they didn’t lose. At Hannover the Aspirins hardly looked inspired, but neither were their hosts.
Schalke looks to have recovered from their embarassing previous week. The Blues ripped apart Hoffenheim, and Klaas Huntelaar could even miss a penalty and not worry about it.
Augsburg continues on their path to glory. The Fuggers largely out-toughed Gladbach, by their usual pressing and physical running. The Gladbachers basically ran out of gas and get stuck with a deserved loss.
Mainz and Hertha battled to a hard fought draw that keeps both in the Euro hunt.
The Thomas Schneider era is over in Stuttgart, as he was finally fired when VfB failed to win against tail-end Braunschweig. The hottest rumour is that Huub Stevens is going to take over. Stuttgart looked reasonable at times, but Braunschweig found ways to get them out of shape. Although this match was a sellout, apparently a lot of the tickets were last-minute freebies, because there can’t be too many folks willing to shell out hard-earned euros to watch VfB flop around aimlessly.
HSV continues to struggle, this time against fellow worried club Frankfurt. The Hamburgers made no head way and were osing, although they eventually squared the match. This was one they really needed, since Stuttgart stubbed their toe.
Bremen was a big winner, as they got critical points at Nürnberg. Der Club looked disorganized, perhaps their mini-revival is over. It’s been a bad year for Werder, but this win gives them a nice cushion over the relegation zone, and they can probably now start thinking about rebuilding without that cloud hanging over their head.
Total attendance 391,385 (avg 43,487), sellouts in Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Freiburg
FC Schalke 04 - 1899 Hoffenheim 4:0 (2:0) 60,604
1:0 Huntelaar (6., Matip)
2:0 Huntelaar (28., Draxler)
3:0 Obasi (55., K.-P. Boateng)
4:0 Huntelaar (79., Draxler)
Bor. Mönchengladbach - FC Augsburg 1:2 (1:1) 49,622
1:0 Raffael (5., Nordtveit)
1:1 Halil Altintop (35., Hahn)
1:2 To. Werner (81., Hahn)
VfB Stuttgart - Eintr. Braunschweig 2:2 (2:1) 59,000 *
0:1 Hochscheidt (24., Bellarabi)
1:1 Maxim (30., Harnik)
2:1 Harnik (35., Maxim)
2:2 Bicakcic (82., Kumbela)
Hannover 96 - Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1:1 (1:1) 46,600
0:1 Castro (28.)
1:1 Rudnevs (33., Andreasen)
VfL Wolfsburg - Bayern München 1:6 (1:1) 30,000 *
1:0 Naldo (17., de Bruyne)
1:1 Shaqiri (26., J. Boateng)
1:2 T. Müller (63., Thiago)
1:3 Mandzukic (66., Rafinha)
1:4 Ribery (71., Robben)
1:5 T. Müller (78., Robben)
1:6 Mandzukic (80., T. Müller)
Hamburger SV - Eintracht Frankfurt 1:1 (0:1) 51,191
0:1 Madlung (29., Meier)
1:1 Calhanoglu (72., penalty, Zoua)
1. FC Nürnberg - Werder Bremen 0:2 (0:1) 40,608
0:1 di Santo (39., Hunt)
0:2 Bargfrede (68.)
SC Freiburg - Borussia Dortmund 0:1 (0:0) 24,000 *
0:1 Kehl (58., Großkreutz)
1. FSV Mainz 05 - Hertha BSC 1:1 (0:0) 29,760
0:1 Ramos (51., Skjelbred)
1:1 Choupo-Moting (65., penalty, Park)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 24 22 2 0 72:11 +61 68
2 Borussia Dortmund 24 15 3 6 55:27 +28 48
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 24 14 2 8 40:27 +13 44
4 FC Schalke 04 24 13 5 6 46:35 +11 44
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5 VfL Wolfsburg 24 12 3 9 41:38 +3 39
6 FC Augsburg 24 11 5 8 37:34 +3 38
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7 1. FSV Mainz 05 24 11 5 8 33:36 -3 38
8 Bor. Mönchengladbach 24 10 6 8 41:31 +10 36
9 Hertha BSC Berlin (N) 24 10 6 8 35:28 +7 36
10 1899 Hoffenheim 24 7 8 9 52:52 0 29
11 Werder Bremen 24 7 7 10 28:46 -18 28
12 Hannover 96 24 7 5 12 31:43 -12 26
13 Eintracht Frankfurt 24 6 8 10 27:40 -13 26
14 1. FC Nürnberg 24 4 11 9 27:42 -15 23
15 VfB Stuttgart 24 5 5 14 38:51 -13 20
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16 Hamburger SV 24 5 5 14 39:53 -14 20
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17 SC Freiburg 24 4 7 13 22:45 -23 19
18 Eintracht Braunschweig (N) 24 4 5 15 19:44 -25 17
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga