Good day everybody. I’m here as ever to assess the last round of Bundesliga matches. Please excuse the tardy entry; Oktoberfest, enough said…
The big story of the weekend was the way in which Bayern swept aside title rivals Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday evening. They won by three goals to nil, have won their last six league matches and haven’t conceded in their last nine – all rather depressingly familiar. Elsewhere, Hertha Berlin’s unbeaten away record in 2011 came to an end after a 2-1 defeat to Werder Bremen, Claudio Pizarro bagging another couple; Dortmund returned to winning ways by scraping a last-minute goal of their own away at Mainz; and Schalke got off to a winning start without Ralf Rangnick (who resigned last Thursday) by beating SC Freiburg 4-2 at the Veltins Arena. It’s these two teams I’ll be focusing on this entry.
Last week, football fans here were shocked and puzzled in equal measure when news first broke that Ralf Rangnick had resigned as manager of Schalke, citing burnout and mental exhaustion. He’d been in the job since the end of March this year, and managed to save the club from what would have been a very unexpected relegation on the final day of last season. He also led them to the semi-finals of the 2011 Champions League, where they were beaten by Manchester United. The aim for this season was to write off their disappointing finish in the league last year and challenge Dortmund, Bayern and Leverkusen for the title. So far this season the club has been rather inconsistent. From their first six games, they had taken 9 points; the games they had lost were away at Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, and at home to Bayern, who seem to be hammering everyone at this moment in time.
In retrospect it’s not surprising that Rangnick decided to step down. He did the very same thing at the start of 2011, leaving the manager’s post at Hoffenheim, again citing the pressures of top-level management. On taking the job at Schalke in March, he admitted to a sense of obligation for the team he had managed in 2005-06. Since last Thursday, however, he has admitted that succumbing to that feeling of nostalgia in wanting to help out old friends was a mistake and an opportunity which came too early for him. Despite leaving Schalke somewhat in the lurch, his decision has been positively received by his ex-colleagues. Joachim Löw praised him for taking the job in the first place, while for Horst Held, Schalke 04 General Manager, Rangnick’s health was undoubtedly the priority.
I thought the situation made an interesting parallel with that of Steve Coppell, former Manchester United winger and Premier League manager. He took over as manager of Manchester City in 1996, but resigned six games and 33 days later due to the pressures of the job. And in 2010 he was appointed manager of Bristol City manager, but resigned after three months, this time citing a lack of passion for football management altogether. The two men, Coppell and Rangnick, are similar ages (56 and 53), and, while Steve Coppell is no longer involved in management, I wonder what the future holds for Rangnick. He has retained the respect and sympathy of other Bundesliga managers, and, should a managerial vacancy in the Bundesliga arise in the next few months, I can imagine his name will be on column writers’ lips. It’s currently Bundesliga 2-0 Premiership if we’re counting managerial casualties.
On the pitch, at least, Schalke seem to have got over the shock of losing their manager. Despite conceding inside two minutes to Freiburg (Demba Cissé, a recent transfer target for Fulham and Sunderland, added to his transfer fee with a well-taken goal after an error from keeper Ralf Fährmann), Schalke came back to win 4-2. Freiburg actually created a host of chances and should have won the game themselves. Cisse has scored six goals already this campaign, but the club is struggling. They’re currently second from bottom, level on points and goals conceded with Hamburg. Encouragingly, however, the performance against Schalke on Saturday was far better than their recent displays, especially the 7-0 annihilation at the hands of Bayern two weeks ago. Manager Marcus Sorg should be encouraged by that.
What he might be more concerned is the fact that Hamburg’s season is underway, finally. After sacking Michael Oenning, who, in truth, looked like a dead man walking, HSV won their first game of the season away at Stuttgart of all places, under the stewardship of interim boss and assistant to Oenning, Rodolfo Cardoso. Buoyed by superb displays from Jeffrey Bruma and Gökhan Töre, both signed from Chelsea, Hamburg came from behind to win and can now start focusing on climbing the table, starting with their next game at home to Schalke. Incidentally, Schalke today confirmed the appointment of veteran coach Huub Stevens, another one who has managed the club previously, as Rangnick’s successor.
Matchday 7 – Results:
Stuttgart 1-2 Hamburg
Schalke 4-2 Freiburg
Mainz 1-2 Dortmund
Wolfsburg 1-0 Kaiserslautern
Gladbach 1-0 Nürnberg
Augsburg 0-0 Hannover
Bayern 3-0 Leverkusen
Köln 2-0 Hoffenheim
Bremen 2-1 Hertha
Until the weekend then. Here’s to a heavy defeat for Man City tonight, and that Hannover actually entertain a few people in the Europa League this Thursday.
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