BUNDESLIGA, Round 2

Pep Guardiola’s evil plan of renaming the club to “Bavaria Munich” and transfer them to La Liga seems to be working. The latest Spanish import is Xavi Alonso, who went straight into the starting eleven as they faced Schalke on the road. A huge match, especially since Schalke had a shaky start. Bayern was clearly better in the first half and probably should have decided the match. I don’t know that Robert Lewandowski could be any more unpopular in Gelsenkirchen: first a Dortmund hero (strike one), now with Bayern (strike two) and he scored the opening goal (strike three). Bayern were cruising. Luckily for Schalke they took their foot off the gas and began to tiki-taka around. Of course, it’s after the World Cup, so that means it’s time for Neuerisms. The Bayern ran way out of goal and his clearance sucked, but Ayhan missed the open net from 50 meters as his shot was inaccurate. Ironically it was Xavi who gave Schalke their goal, an lucky clearance that looked to bounce off Höwedes hand (albeit unintentional hand ball). Further irony is that the Spaniard was actually one of the better players on the pitch. Overall a fair result, as nothing really happened in the 2nd half and both teams seemed content with a split.

Bayer Leverkusen is the leader, but it was not without a struggle. The Aspirins figured to beat Hertha without breaking a sweat, but instead found themselves in a fierce battle. They eventually were able to get the edge thanks to their constant attacking waves. Berlin played well and provided a test for Leverkusen, but could not hold them off. The highlight was probably Karim Bellarabi’s game ending goal: a perfect volley across the box into the corner off a perfect high cross from Calhanoglu.

Dortmund showed some decent form after their opening loss, as they dominated Augsburg and looked to have a nice crushing away win. However they fell apart in the dying minutes and were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, desperately holding on and getting the win.
BVB did get a bit of good news, as apparently Folk hero Shinji Kagawa is coming back. The Japanese midfielder never fit in at Manchester United and the Neons swooped in and picked him up – for 50% of what they had sold him for. If he can reach his old form with Dortmund, that would be a huge boost.

Wolfsburg and Frankfurt battled to a draw, but the match was more influenced by mistakes rather than sterling play. The VWs began to exert some pressure, but Eintracht were good for their point.

Bremen and Hoffenheim divided the points. The guests were the better team in the first half, and probably should have have extended their lead and gained control. Instead they failed, and Werder came roaring back in the 2nd period. Overall, quite entertaining and the end result was fair.

Köln has Stuttgart’s number. They hadn’t lost in Stuttgart in 18 years, and shockingly continue the run with a solid away win. The promoted side was disciplined and well organized, whereas VfB ran around aimlessly and rarely threatened. A solid away with for Köln, who need to grab points when they can to lay a foundation for avoiding relegation.

Shocking result in Hamburg. HSV is back to their last season’s tricks as they absolutely stunk up the joint and got rolled at home. By who? SC Paderborn!! SCP gets their first ever Bundesliga victory, and they had an easy time doing it. HSV was horrible and deservedly get spanked.

Mainz and Hannover were pretty even. The hosts were better early, but seemed to run out of gas, giving the 96ers control of the game as the match wore on. But they weren’t too sharp in their finishing, so no goals.

Freiburg and Gladbach gave us a rather timid match. The visitors showed nothing at all, and SCF didn’t start to press until later in the match. Rather disappointing, since both sides are known for rather attacking football. Not surprising that this one ended scoreless.

Total attendance this weekend 348,151 (avg 38,683), sellouts in Augsburg, Freiburg and Schalke.

FC Augsburg	     -   Borussia Dortmund	2:3 (0:2)   30,660 *

                    0:1  Reus (11., Großkreutz)
                    0:2  Sokratis (14., Reus)
                    0:3  Ramos (78., H. Mkhitaryan)
                    1:3  Bobadilla (82., Baba)
                    2:3  Matavz (89., Baba)
 
Bayer 04 Leverkusen  -   Hertha BSC	        4:2 (0:1)   27,890

                    0:1  Jedvaj (24., own goal, Schieber)
                    1:1  Jedvaj (50., Castro)
                    1:2  Schieber (60., N. Schulz)
                    2:2  Spahic (62., Calhanoglu)
                    3:2  Brandt (74., Bellarabi)
                    4:2  Bellarabi (86., Calhanoglu)

VfL Wolfsburg	     -   Eintracht Frankfurt	2:2 (1:1)   27,528

                    1:0  Naldo (15., direct freekick)
                    1:1  S. Jung (23., own goal, Inui)
                    2:1  Arnold (79., De Bruyne)
                    2:2  Kadlec (86., Ignjovski)

Werder Bremen	     -   TSG Hoffenheim	        1:1 (0:1)   38,900

                    0:1  Roberto Firmino (19., Rudy)
                    1:1  Galvez (59., di Santo)

VfB Stuttgart	     -   1. FC Köln	        0:2 (0:2)   55,000

                    0:1  Osako (22., D. Halfar)
                    0:2  Ujah (33.)
 
Hamburger SV	     -   SC Paderborn 07	0:3 (0:1)   54,553

                    0:1  Kachunga (29., Koc)
                    0:2  Vrancic (68.)
                    0:3  Stoppelkamp (87., Brückner)

FC Schalke 04	     -   Bayern München	        1:1 (0:1)   61,973 *

                    0:1  Lewandowski (10., Rode)
                    1:1  Höwedes (62.)

1. FSV Mainz 05	     -   Hannover 96	        0:0 (0:0)   27,647
 
SC Freiburg	     -   Bor. Mönchengladbach   0:0 (0:0)   24,000 *



 1  Bayer 04 Leverkusen	  	2    2 	0  0 	  6:2 	+4    6 
 2  SC Paderborn 07 (N)	  	2    1 	1  0 	  5:2 	+3    4
--------------------------------------------------------------- 
 3  TSG Hoffenheim	  	2    1 	1  0 	  3:1 	+2    4
---------------------------------------------------------------
 4  1. FC Köln (N)	  	2    1 	1  0 	  2:0 	+2    4
 5  Eintracht Frankfurt	  	2    1 	1  0 	  3:2 	+1    4 		
 6  Bayern München (M, P)	2    1 	1  0 	  3:2 	+1    4
 7  Hannover 96	  	        2    1 	1  0 	  2:1 	+1    4 
 8  Borussia Dortmund	  	2    1 	0  1 	  3:4 	-1    3 
 9  Werder Bremen	  	2    0 	2  0 	  3:3 	 0    2 
10  1. FSV Mainz 05	  	2    0 	2  0 	  2:2 	 0    2 
11  Bor. Mönchengladbach	2    0 	2  0 	  1:1 	 0    2 
12  VfL Wolfsburg	  	2    0 	1  1 	  3:4 	-1    1 
13  FC Schalke 04	  	2    0 	1  1 	  2:3 	-1    1 
14  SC Freiburg	  	        2    0 	1  1 	  0:1 	-1    1 
15  Hertha BSC	  	        2    0 	1  1 	  4:6 	-2    1
16  VfB Stuttgart	  	2    0 	1  1 	  1:3 	-2    1
---------------------------------------------------------------
17  Hamburger SV	  	2    0 	1  1 	  0:3 	-3    1 
18  FC Augsburg	  	        2    0 	0  2 	  2:5 	-3    0
	

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

4 thoughts on “BUNDESLIGA, Round 2

    • It certainly looks that way. I must admit I was pretty astounded the way HSV stunk last season, and figured that they would straighten out and at least be mediocre. But getting owned by Paderborn(!) at home suggests that they could be pretty sorry this campaign as well. I’ve never been much of a HSV fan, but I hope that they stay up, since the “Bundesliga clock” is pretty cool. As for Stuttgart, I can’t figure them out either. They seem capable of good efforts, and then can be totally flat. I rate them higher than HSV, but thats not saying much.

      • I think this is the season that the clock in Hamburg finally stops. They were lucky last year and Paderborn won easily atbthe weekend so I think they will finish in the bottom 2 this year.

        • It certainly is a logical conclusion. Last year HSV was lucky to survive on away goals in the playoffs. Somehow I figured that they would use the offseason to clean house and strengthen the squad, but it hasn’t looked too promising so far…

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