OMG! Dortmund really sucks! It seems like inferior sides have figured out how to win. Basically defend and wait for BVB to commit defensive hara-kiri and surrender a goal. And it works. The Neons as usual dominated play, and their strikers (no Marco Reus) can’t hit the side of a barn. So they waste a zillion opportunities and then do something stupid on defensive and lose. This time it was Neven Subotic with a hospital pass, ruining an otherwise solid performance. So this time Hertha BSC, who have been struggling, was the benficiary and get a huge win against a relegation rival. Amazing that Dortmund is in this position, but I guess they really, really miss Lewandowski. There are a couple more matches until winterbreak, and then Jürgen Klopp is going to have a month to come up with the solution. Sounds like “buy guy that can kick ball into net” might be a good idea, followed by “pay Health Insurance premiums” and “get another shrink”.
No surprise in the Bavarian clash in Augsburg. Bayern München was in no mood to be upset this time, and dominated from start to finish. The Fuggers fought a desperate rear-guard action, but the dam broke after about and hour, and Bayern then wrapped up the game viciously in a few minutes. Ho-hum. It’s getting boring. And look at Bayern’s ridiculous “Goals Against”…3. Extra ridiculous, because Manfred Neuer is usually good for at least a couple of “Neuerisms” a season where he runs around like a prat from the goal and gets punished. FCA will get back to serious work next round.
Hoffenheim and Frankfurt met in a regional derby, and it proved to be an entertaining affair. Timo Hildebrand was GK for Eintracht, having bounced around all over the place. The Hoppers had a slight edge and just seemed to want it more, as both sides displayed offensive football.
Schalke has been playing well recently, and just advanced out of Group Stage in the Champions League. Köln has been sucking. So easy win for “die Knappen“, no? Of course not, this is Schalke we’re talking about. Instead they got kicked in the balls by Köln, who deserved their win. The hosts pressed in the 1st half, but got nothing. Köln defended well, and then realized the emperor had no clothes, and jumped out quick in the 2nd half. Schalke looked tired and without ideas, and aside from a last gasp run, were basically a beaten side. Great points for Köln.
The relegation battle in Freiburg was pretty boring, all things told. Neither SCF nor Hamburg had anything, although you could argue that the Breisgauer should have got a win. Drobny stopped a penalty from Darida in the 3rd minute, which gave HSV some relief in what could have been a disaster.
A wild northern shootout in Bremen, as Werder and Hannover battled to a draw. Both sides showed strength in attack and shaky defense, so it was an entertaining match. Overall, the draw was the fair result, which really doesn’t help Werder that much.
Mainz has been slipping into the relegation zone. Stuttgart props up the league. So a dire relegation battle would be expected. Both sides had their moments, and Mainz had an edge for most of the match. However only Tobias Geis direct freekick was the reward. Stuttgart raised their game in the 2nd half and managed to escape with a valuable point.
Leverksuen and Gladbach delivered an exciting Rhein-derby that ended in a fair result. The Aspirins were slightly dominant, but Gladbach was dangerous on counters, especially since the Bayer defense was shaky at times.
TSG Hoffenheim - Eintracht Frankfurt 3:2 (1:0) 28,331
1:0 Volland (43., Roberto Firmino)
1:1 Aigner (58., Oczipka)
2:1 Szalai (66., Schwegler)
2:2 Seferovic (77., Piazon)
3:2 Roberto Firmino (87., Szalai)
FC Schalke 04 - 1. FC Köln 1:2 (0:0) 61,516
0:1 Ujah (47., Gerhardt)
0:2 M. Lehmann (67., penalty, Olkowski)
1:2 L. Sané (85., Uchida)
FC Augsburg - Bayern München 0:4 (0:0) 30,660 *
0:1 Benatia (58., Ribery)
0:2 Robben (60., Rode)
0:3 Lewandowski (68., Schweinsteiger)
0:4 Robben (71., Rode)
Hertha BSC - Borussia Dortmund 1:0 (1:0) 75,254
1:0 Schieber (40., Skjelbred)
Werder Bremen - Hannover 96 3:3 (1:1) 40,932
0:1 Stindl (12., Joselu)
1:1 Junuzovic (36., direct freekick)
2:1 Lorenzen (55., Bartels)
2:2 Joselu (62., Kiyotake)
2:3 Kiyotake (64.)
3:3 Selke (88., Galvez)
SC Freiburg - Hamburger SV 0:0 (0:0) 24,000 *
1. FSV Mainz 05 - VfB Stuttgart 1:1 (1:0) 29,279
1:0 Geis (36., direct freekick)
1:1 Kostic (72., Maxim)
Sunday:
Bayer 04 Leverkusen - Bor. Mönchengladbach 1:1 (1:1) 30,210 *
1:0 Calhanoglu (18., Kießling)
1:1 Brouwers (40., Hazard)
VfL Wolfsburg - SC Paderborn 07 1:0 (1:1) 26,044
1:0 Rafa (17., own goal, Vieirinha)
1:1 Meha (51., penalty, Strohdiek)
1 Bayern München (M, P) 15 12 3 0 37:3 +34 39
2 VfL Wolfsburg 15 9 3 3 29:14 +15 30
3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 15 6 6 3 26:19 +7 24
4 Bor. Mönchengladbach 15 6 6 3 19:12 +7 24
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5 FC Augsburg 15 8 0 7 20:18 +2 24
6 FC Schalke 04 15 7 2 6 26:20 +6 23
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7 TSG Hoffenheim 15 6 5 4 24:24 0 23
8 Eintracht Frankfurt 15 6 3 6 29:29 0 21
9 Hannover 96 15 6 2 7 17:24 -7 20
10 SC Paderborn 07 (N) 15 4 6 5 20:24 -4 18
11 1. FC Köln (N) 15 5 3 7 16:21 -5 18
12 1. FSV Mainz 05 15 3 8 4 18:21 -3 17
13 Hertha BSC Berlin 15 5 2 8 20:26 -6 17
14 Hamburger SV 15 4 4 7 9:18 -9 16
15 SC Freiburg 15 2 8 5 15:21 -6 14
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16 Borussia Dortmund 15 4 2 9 15:22 -7 14
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17 Werder Bremen 15 3 5 7 23:34 -11 14
18 VfB Stuttgart 15 3 4 8 19:32 -13 13
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