Wow! Dortmund *really* does suck! This has to be the top story in the Bundesliga this season. It seems like a bad dream for BVB fans, as they seemingly had something going. Return of Shinji Kagawa. Ilkay Gündogan back from injury. Many others beginning to recover as well. And after almost going bankrupt a few years ago, the club is now *debt-free* and doing well in the Champignons-League. What is going wrong? Hard to say. Except they suck in the Bundesliga…The match in Frankfurt however gives some clues. Eintracht started quickly on a goal from veteran Alex Meier, and BVB was chasing the rest of the match. The Neons were dominant and had several huge chances, but failed to use them, and then Frankfurt finished them off.
Another win for Bayern München, this time in Berlin. Ho-hum. They dominated the first half, and probably should have had more. Then they were on extended break, and Hertha actually had some play in the 2nd half. Of course, they couldn’t score, as Bayern has given up a ridiculous 3 goals all season.
Stuttgart in desperation brought in re-tread Huub Stevens to replace another re-tread (Armin Veh), but it had the desired result: VfB played well and kicked Freiburg’s ass in a southwestern derby.
Schalke needed to show something after an embarassing 0-5 midweek to Chelssea. Surprise! An impressive performance! Well, actually, it was a three goals and an assist by “der Hunter”, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar that was the key, but overall Schalke played well. Mainz ran around a lot, and took lots of shots, but ultimately didn’t know what they were doing, and get spanked.
A fierce Rhein-derby in Leverkusen against Köln was going as expected, neither side giving ground. But then Hakan Calhanoglu’s free-kick was the signal for an Aspriin assault that left the Goats helpless and they got rolled. Bayer’s fierce attack ripped apart the visitors and established them back as a Bayern also-ran.
Wolfsburg actually is the also-ran leader. The VWs downed Gladbach in a strong performance that goves them the dubious honor of being Bayern’s waterboy. Teh hoemside palyed hard and showed efficiency, and Gladbach was rather clueless for most of the match.
HSV continues to suck, as they got beaten down by Augsburg. Despite a surprise lead, the Hamburgers couldn’t really mount anything, and the Fuggers easily cleaned up for their 5th straight home-win, a club Bundesliga record. Lucky for the Cheeseburgers, Dortmund is even crappier, so they’re not last, but it would be an amazing thing if three of the biggest clubs, Stuttgart, HSV and Dortmund got relegated.
Paderborn has been one of the darlings of the season, as the unheralded club has got off to a good start, and hasn’t really gotten hammered as usually happens to Bundesliga virgins. OK, they got slammed by Bayern, but so does everybody else, so that didn’t count. But now it happened, that “Welcome to the Bundesliga” moment when you get biatch-slapped by a so-so squad. Indeed, Werder Bremen may not even qualify as so-so, but they delivered a sound slapping. Bremen dominated and kicked their ass mercilessly.
Hoffenheim and Hannover played an entertaining match, neither side exhibiting any defense. A bit of a surprise, as they hadn’t been particularily attacking in recent matches.
Total attendence 367,648 (avg 40,850), sellouts in Freiburg, Leverkusen, Berlin, Bremen, Wolfsburg, Frankfurt
SC Freiburg - VfB Stuttgart 1:4 (1:1) 24,000 *
0:1 Harnik (31., Rüdiger)
1:1 Darida (42., C. Günter)
1:2 Gruezo (52., Gentner)
1:3 Ti. Werner (68., Leitner)
1:4 Harnik (76., G. Sakai)
FC Schalke 04 - 1. FSV Mainz 05 4:1 (2:1) 60,904
1:0 Huntelaar (9., Choupo-Moting)
2:0 Huntelaar (25., M. Meyer)
2:1 Okazaki (44., Bell)
3:1 Barnetta (54., Huntelaar)
4:1 Huntelaar (61., Choupo-Moting)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - 1. FC Köln 5:1 (1:1) 30,210 *
0:1 M. Lehmann (4., penalty, M. Lehmann)
1:1 Bellarabi (26., Calhanoglu)
2:1 Calhanoglu (61., direct freekick)
3:1 Drmic (79., Son)
4:1 Drmic (88., Castro)
5:1 Bellarabi (90. + 1, Drmic)
FC Augsburg - Hamburger SV 3:1 (0:1) 30,321
0:1 van der Vaart (45. + 1, Rudnevs)
1:1 Halil Altintop (50., Djurdjic)
2:1 Bobadilla (62., Baba)
3:1 Verhaegh (70., penalty, Djurdjic)
Hertha BSC - Bayern München 0:1 (0:1) 76,197 *
0:1 Robben (27., T. Müller)
Werder Bremen - SC Paderborn 07 4:0 (1:0) 41,800 *
1:0 Junuzovic (10., direct free kick)
2:0 Selke (48., Junuzovic)
3:0 Bartels (50.)
4:0 Aycicek (80., Selke)
TSG Hoffenheim - Hannover 96 4:3 (2:1) 22,716
1:0 Schwegler (19., direct freekick)
2:0 Volland (37., J.-S. Kim)
2:1 Stindl (43.)
2:2 Joselu (52., Briand)
3:2 Polanski (59., Volland)
4:2 Süle (63., Schwegler)
4:3 Stindl (86., A. Sobiech)
VfL Wolfsburg - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:0 (1:0) 30,000 *
1:0 Knoche (12., M. Schäfer)
Eintracht Frankfurt - Borussia Dortmund 2:0 (1:0) 51,500 *
1:0 Meier (5., Russ)
2:0 Seferovic (78.
1 Bayern München (M, P) 13 10 3 0 32:3 +29 33
2 VfL Wolfsburg 13 8 2 3 25:12 +13 26
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 13 6 5 2 25:17 +8 23
4 FC Augsburg 13 7 0 6 18:13 +5 21
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5 Bor. Mönchengladbach 13 5 5 3 16:10 +6 20
6 FC Schalke 04 13 6 2 5 21:18 +3 20
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7 TSG Hoffenheim 13 5 5 3 21:21 0 20
8 Hannover 96 13 6 1 6 13:18 -5 19
9 Eintracht Frankfurt 13 5 3 5 22:24 -2 18
10 1. FSV Mainz 05 13 3 7 3 16:18 -2 16
11 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 13 4 4 5 18:22 -4 16
12 1. FC Köln (N) 13 4 3 6 13:18 -5 15
13 Hertha BSC Berlin 13 4 2 7 17:23 -6 14
14 Werder Bremen 13 3 4 6 18:26 -8 13
15 SC Freiburg 13 2 6 5 14:20 -6 12
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16 VfB Stuttgart 13 3 3 7 18:27 -9 12
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17 Hamburger SV 13 3 3 7 7:17 -10 12
18 Borussia Dortmund 13 3 2 8 14:21 -7 11
1st line: Champions League
2nd line: Europaliga (+ Cup winner)
3rd line: Playoff with 2.Liga 3rd place
4th line: Relegation to 2.Liga
M = Meister, defending Champion
P = Pokalsieger, Cup winner
N = Neuling, just promoted