Clouds gathering at Hoffenheim

Hoffenheim have lost three key players in this transfer window, and look as if their Bundesliga status might be in jeopardy after four short years.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s rise to the Bundesliga has been an incredible story, and it’s one that has been read with appreciation, envy and sometimes hatred in Germany. Disliked and disrespected by many football fans as having no tradition and no fans, Hoffenheim have been seen to have acquired success unfairly. Bankrolled extensively by the deep pockets of Dietmar Hopp, founder of the software company DAP and a childhood fan of the club, they have made an astonishingly swift rise to the top.

At the beginning of the 1999/00 season, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim were in the Verbandsliga Nordbaden – a regional league in the state of Baden-Württemberg and the fifth tier of German football. After winning that division, they advanced to the Oberliga Süd, Germany’s fourth division (until the league system was restructured in 2008). A second consecutive promotion thrust them into the Regionalliga (German third division, and the highest amateur league in Germany at that time) at the beginning of the 2001/02 season. Here their progress was halted, but only momentarily. After finishing 13th, fifth (twice), seventh and fourth, they finally entered German professional licensed football by reaching the 2. Bundesliga in 2007. With new players, new investment and a new manager in Ralf Rangnick, TSG finished 2nd in their first season in Germany’s second tier and again achieved automatic promotion, completing an amazing ascent to the summit of German football.

The rest of Hoffenheim’s recent history is relatively common knowledge. Playing some explosive attacking football and boasting an array of young talent, the club blitzed its way to the top of the Bundesliga and occupied first place at the halfway stage of the 2008/09 season. There was talk of them becoming Bundesliga champions in their first season in the top flight, and matching the feat only ever managed by 1. FC Kaiserslautern of winning the title as a newly-promoted side. However, injuries to key first team players, most notably Vedad Ibisevic, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in January 2009, took their toll on Hoffenheim’s title challenge. After such a strong start to the season, they fell away towards the end of the campaign, managing a still very decent seventh-placed finish. They’ve since become an established Bundesliga side, finishing 11th in 2010 and in the same position in 2011.

With a new, young and exciting manager recruited in the summer – Holger Stanislawski from FC St Pauli – expectation this season was of a push for Europe, or at least a top-half finish. They began the season reasonably well, with four wins from their first six games. But since then, it’s been, on the whole, a rather forgettable time for Hoffenheim fans. They have won just once in their last nine games, and are the fourth-lowest scoring team in the division, with just 20 goals in 19 games. For a team with their reputation, that is an embarrassing statistic indeed. With eight games drawn this season, they’re gaining a reputation as a distinctly boring and uninspiring side. Before their recent game with Hannover, 1899 had had the least amount of shots on goal this season. Coupled with their comic and – they sometimes flatter the Blackpool back four of last season – teams are relishing playing against Hoffenheim right now. They can’t score, and they’re easy to score against.

That’s the on the pitch story. Off the pitch, things look just as bleak. In late November infighting broke out in the squad after a drab 1-1 draw at home to Freiburg. Goalkeeper Tom Starke publicly criticised Ryan Babel (who displays weekly why Liverpool were right to get rid of him) and questioned his performances, to which Babel retorted, “As far as my performances go, I won’t let anyone criticise me.” It may all have been a storm in a teacup, but it required the intervention of manager Stanislawski and Sporting Director Ernst Tanner to defuse the situation. Barely a few days later, Chinedu Obasi and Roberto Firmino, two recognised first team players, were made to train by themselves and struck off the matchday squad to face Bayer Leverkusen after arriving late to training. And there's also club captain Andreas Beck, strongly targeted by Juventus in the summer, but over whom Hoffenheim dug their heels in. One gets the feeling that the German international believes he could and should be playing in a better team.

Hoffenheim’s activity in the recent transfer window points to a club looking in the wrong direction. In the 2010-11 season, Gylfi Sigurdsson, known to fans in England from his time at Reading, was Hoffenheim’s player of the year. But after an injury-interrupted first half to this season, he has been loaned to Swansea City, where he is already showing better form. Chinedu Obasi, a name synonymous with Hoffenheim’s ascent to the big time, has also been loaned out to Schalke, playing a large part in their last two wins and looking a far better player than he did a month or so ago. And then there was the sale of Ibisevic to local rivals Stuttgart last week. This really was a symbolic event for Hoffenheim, and said a lot about where the club is heading. Ibisevic was perhaps the player who best epitomised Hoffenheim. After Carlos Eduardo and Demba Ba, he was the last in their great attacking triumvirate to leave the club. With the exits of Sigurdsson and Obasi (albeit temporary), and the sale of Ibisevic, the phrase ‘leaving a sinking ship’ springs to mind. Srdjan Lakic has been brought in on loan from Wolfsburg until the end of the season, as well as youngsters Sandro Wieser from FC Basel and Stefan Thesker from FC Twente, both on permanent deals. But those hardly seem adequate replacements for three established players, and neither do they send out that big a message as to the club’s expectations.

Indeed, the previously deep pockets of owner Hopp have been well and truly tightened in recent years. In the same interview where he hinted of his regret at not being allowed to join Juventus, Beck said, "The club can't buy players like Raul or Robben, so we have to pursue success another way." TSG made €37 million Euros from the sales of Carlos Eduardo to Rubin Kazan and Luis Gustavo to Bayern München in the 2010-11 season. Since then, their most expensive purchases have been Ryan Babel, bought for €7 million from Liverpool and Sigurdsson, signed for €5.2 million as a replacement for Eduardo. Their most expensive acquisition this season has been Knowledge Musona, a little-known Zimbabwean forward signed from Kaizer Chiefs in the summer. With no marquee signings to freshen up the squad and give players like Beck some encouragement, the final few months of the season may make it very difficult for Hoffenheim's modest fan base to get excited.

Hoffenheim face newly-promoted FC Augsburg at home in the league this weekend. On paper it pits eight against 17th. But this is a much bigger game than the league table suggests. Augsburg, despite a squad of limited quality, have given some of the best teams in the division a real game this season, and if I had to pick a team which looks up for a fight at present, it would most definitely not be Hoffenheim. This is a real crossroads for 1899. They look like a team with little or no confidence and, without the addition of a quality player to boost confidence in the camp, could certainly see themselves dragged into a relegation scrap. A good cup run might give fans more reason to smile – Hoffenheim have a quarter final at home to Greuther Fürth next week. But with Bayern, Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach still all in the hat, winning it will be a tall order. It could also distract the team from their league predicament, which should be their priority now.

There would, of course, be plenty of people in Germany happy to see the back of Hoffenheim. They don’t have a proper history to speak of, and their games are rarely sold out unless they play Bayern or Dortmund. A recent German Cup last 16 tie against Augsburg attracted a crowd of just 10,375. To be sure, Holger Stanislawski’s project at the club is a work in progress. After the sale of Ibisevic last week, ‘Stani’ said in a press conference, “We have embarked on a process where we are integrating young players into the team, but also keeping to the rules which our financial situation permits.” It certainly will take time before we see results on his project. But treading a new path like this may just come at a big, big cost.

Germany's 'well of talent' helps rejuvenate game domestically and internationally - The Fundesliga - FourFourTwo

Germany's 'well of talent' helps rejuvenate game domestically and internationally - The Fundesliga - FourFourTwo

Matchday 12: Freiburg on top in basement battle

Hi everyone. It was another entertaining fix of Bundesliga action last weekend. Mainz and Stuttgart got us underway last weekend with a highly entertaining game, in which Mainz ran out 3-1 winners; Jürgen Klopp got one over on Felix Magath as Dortmund thrashed Wolfsburg 5-1; Bayern won another Bavarian derby away at Augsburg on Sunday evening; and Werder Bremen again stayed true to their gung-ho approach by beating Köln 3-2 at the Weserstadion.

But of all those dramatic, high-scoring matches, I’m going to focus this week’s post on SC Freiburg’s 2-1 win away to Nürnberg.

Considering their impressive perfomance last season, when they finished 9^th in the table, Freiburg have been poor in the current campaign. They do create chances in games, and in Papiss Demba Cissé they have one of the best strikers in Europe leading their attack. But they had lost eight of eleven league matches going into the weekend’s game and were on the back of three successive defeats, with a ‘goals against’ column of 27, the worst in the division. They had shipped seven at Bayern Munich, five at Bremen and four at Schalke. But Nürnberg away was a winnable game, with the home side on a six-match winless run themselves, and having taken three points at home just once in their nine previous matches.

The home side had the better of a rather turgid opening quarter to the game. Winger Alexander Esswien was denied from close range by Freiburg keeper Oliver Baumann after the erstwhile Celtic defender Andreas Hinkel’s error after eight minutes. Then, on 20 minutes, Czech striker Thomas Pekhart, formerly of Tottenham Hotspur, and once dubbed the next Pavel Nedved upon arriving at White Hart Lane,, contrived to shank his half-volley wide from four yards out. Judging from that miss, it’s not that hard to see why he didn’t make that much of an impact in England.

But ten minutes later Nürnberg opened the scoring. After an amazing piece of skill on the wing by Esswein, his cutback was scuffed towards the goal by Pekhart, whose shot was then nodded in by Mike Frantz. The lead lasted just two minutes, however, as Freiburg equalised with possibly the worst goal of the season so far. Julian Schuster’s hopeful punt into the box was miscontrolled by Jan Rosenthal, whereupon the ball wrong-footed keeper Raphael Schäfer and trickled over the line past Schäfer’s despairing dive. Cissé ran in to follow up and hammered the ball into the net when it was already over the line, making an ugly goal look even uglier.

The second half didn’t see much flowing football either, as neither side had many chances. Nürnberg did have the ball in the net again, but Esswein’s volley was ruled out for offside as two players were ahead of the last defender and deemed to be blocking the keeper’s view. At the other end, Freiburg went close in the 76^th minute, but Cissé missed the target with a wasteful header from seven yards. But the Senegalese international, last year’s second top scorer with 22 league goals, wasn’t to be denied, as Freiburg pinched the three points at the death. A weak back-header by home defender Timm Klose let in Rosenthal, and the forward was brought down by substitute goalkeeper Alexander Stephan. Referee Christian Dingert had no choice but to award a penalty, and Cissé, who’d had a quiet game, stepped up to win it for Freiburg with the last kick of the game.

Nürnberg, who are now yet to win in seven games and sit just two points above the relegation play-off place, looked visibly disconconsolate, especially defender Timm, whose error led to that last-minute penalty. Their main problem is scoring goals, having netted just 13 times in their twelve games this term. Freiburg, by contrast, betrayed all the emotions that just an away win at one of their rivals, and just their third victory of the season so far, would have produced: relief, ecstasy and gratitude to manager Marcus Sorg.

An interesting post-script to the win was the reaction of Papiss Cissé himself, however. His smile at winning three points was notably less zealous than those of his teammates, and he looked rather indifferent as managed Sorg embraced him after the game. It’s no secret that the Senegalese hitman wanted to leave Freiburg this summer, and was apparently the subject of interest from Premier League clubs Fulham and Sunderland. He already has eight goals this season in a struggling team, and I expect he’ll get his wish to move to a bigger club, perhaps Sunderland even, in January.

Matchday 12 – Results:

Mainz 3-1 Stuttgart

Dortmund 5-1 Wolfsburg

Bremen 3-2 Köln

Nürnberg 1-2 Freiburg

Hoffenheim 1-1 Kaiserslautern

Hertha 1-2 Gladbach

Leverkusen 2-2 Hamburg

Hannover 2-2  Schalke

Augsburg 1-2 Bayern

Next week it’s the international break. Germany play two friendly games in that period, away in the Ukraine on Friday and then at home to Holland next Wednesday, a game which I’m certainly looking forward to, as the favourites of many for the Euros next summer, barring Spain of course, go head-to-head. I’ll be back with a review of those two games, as well as a brief look ahead to matchday 13 of the Bundesliga on the weekend of the 18^th/19^th/20^th November. 

Hau rein.

Bernie

Bayern finally lose; Cologne fans are rubbish

Hi everybody. Now that we’ve all had a good laugh about Manchester United losing 6-1 at home to cross-city rivals Manchester City, I thought I’d bring you my weekly supplement of news and action from the Bundesliga. 

Borussia Dortmund bounced back from Tuesday’s defeat at Olympiakos in the Champions' League with a resounding 5-0 win over Cologne; Schalke’s recent good form under new coach Huub Stevens continued with an impressive 1-0 away win at Leverkusen; and new boys FC Augsburg are now two game unbeaten after a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to Thomas Schaaf’s Werder Bremen.

But the most important match of the weekend was undoubtedly the late-kick off on Sunday evening, where Hannover 96 took on league leaders FC Bayern in the AWD-Arena. Much had been made of the superb run that the Bavarians were currently enjoying before this game. They had won seven of their last eight matches and hadn’t conceded a goal since the opening weekend defeat to Mönchengladbach. And Manuel Neuer had also broken Oliver Kahn’s clean sheet record of 1011 consecutive minutes in the recent game with Hoffenheim. But they faced in Hannover a team unbeaten at home this season, and with something of a psychological advantage. In this fixture last season, Mirko Slomka’s 96 team produced one of its best performances last season to win the game 3-1. And having already beaten Dortmund and Bremen at home this season, Slomka’s pre-match interviews exuded confidence in his team’s ability to derail Bayern’s winning run.

The game turned out to be a fantastic spectacle. The home side took the lead on 23 minutes when Bayern captain Philipp Lahm felled opposite full-back and captain Steven Cherundolo in the penalty area. The American international made a meal of the tackle, but it was a foul nonetheless, and Hannover’s man of the moment Mohammed Abdellaoue tucked away the spot-kick with aplomb. That’s the Norwegian’s 7^th league goal, and 11^th in all competitions this season – a fine way to celebrate his 26^th birthday.

Bayern soon went to being a goal and a man down just five minutes later. After a robust challenge on 6 midfielder Sergio Pinto from Bayern full-back Rafinha next to the dugouts, something of a melee ensued. While some pushing and shoving went on between both sets of players, Jerome Boateng was seen by the referee to have raised his hand towards Hannover defender Christian Schulz. Referee Manuel Gräfe then sent the ex-Manchester City defender off for violent conduct, whilst booking Schulz for his part in the fracas.

In the second half, Bayern’s task became even harder when they conceded to a very cruel deflection. Christian Pander, looking like the player he was at Schalke before his numerous injury problems, strode up the field and unleashed a shot at Neuer’s goal. The effort was heading well wide, until the ball hit the foot of Luis Gustavo and rolled agonisingly into the opposite corner, past the despairing dive of Neuer. At 2-0 down, Bayern looked out of the game, and Hannover, renowned for their quality on the counter-attack, sensed an even bigger margin of victory. That was, however, until Cherundolo, who had had a tough time up against Franck Ribéry, was sent off for a second bookable offence after tugging the Frenchman off the ball.

With ten against ten, it was now the home side’s turn to look nervous. Mario Gomez, looking for his eleventh goal in the league this season, was denied on a number of occasions by current German no.3 Ron Robert-Zieler. Jupp Heynckes threw on David Alaba with 20 minutes to go and the Austrian international made an immediate impact. After Lahm’s pass across the box evaded everybody, Alaba powered past substitute Sofian Chahed, surged into the box and arrowed a cool finish past Zieler at his near post.

 Bayern were now just one goal behind, and the teams were even. Ivica Olic and Nils Petersen were introduced as Heynckes played his final cards. With Didier Ya Konan constantly failing to hold up the ball and relieve the pressure on his defence, Bayern were edging closer to an equaliser. Schweinsteiger played a one-two with Thomas Müller and found himself one-on-one with Zieler. This time the keeper was beaten again, but his post came to the rescue, as Schweinsteiger’s shot struck the upright and rolled to safety. 

There was still time in the game for Manuel Neuer to be dispossessed thirty yards from goal. I feel a small anecdote might be useful here, and I’m going to set aside my impartiality here (it’s a blog, after all). Working in an office full of German football fans, I constantly get reminded of England’s apparent shortcomings in producing good goalkeepers, as well as how Neuer is the currently world No.1. So I was desperate for Konstantin Rausch to make Neuer pay for his blunder, but he somehow missed the target with the goal gaping. The final whistle sounded and Bayern’s run was at an end.

Before this game I’d posited this season that Hannover are currently punching above their weight. Last season they managed a fantastic fourth-place finish to qualify for Europe for the first time since 1992. They did so, however, by generally grinding out results. They scored 49 goals in their 34 games, and most of their 19 victories came by a single goal. Being in Europe this season, I wondered whether their squad would be able to cope with the added burden of matches; whether, with a couple of injuries to first team players, they’d be able to maintain the standards they set themselves domestically last season. But one look at the league table and you see that they’re more than maintaining them. Fourth place in the Bundesliga and just two league defeats is a great position to be in with the amount of games they’ve had to play this season. They’re also top of their Europa League group as well. 

Mirko Slomka is certainly doing a good job at Hannover. I reckon that with a little more quality to their squad, they could definitely maintain their current position and match last season’s finish, which, incidentally, would give them a Champions League qualification place. Their chairman Martin Kind has spoken of his desire to amend the 50+1 rule for club ownership, in order that his club might attract more overseas investment. I don’t see that happening due to the opposition that other clubs would have towards the idea, but it does make you wonder what a club like Hannover, with a large fan base, good infrastructure and regular crowds of over 40,000 might achieve with more investment.

Matchday 10 – Results

Augsburg 1-1 Bremen

Dortmund 5-0 Köln

Nürnberg 2-2 Stuttgart

Kaiserslautern 1-0 Freiburg

Hoffenheim 1-0 Gladbach

Hertha 0-0 Mainz

Hamburg 1-1 Wolfsburg

Leverkusen 0-1 Schalke

Hannover 2-1 Bayern

Before I end this piece, I’ll leave you with a word on some strange goings-on at Signal Iduna Park after Dortmund’s game with Köln. After the game, the Dortmund players did their customary celebration with joined hands for the home faithful . Then Kevin Groβkreutz proceeded to wave and celebrate with the opposing Köln fans, who promptly joined in the celebrations with him, despite that fact that their team had just lost 5-0. What are we to make of that? I was traditionally led to believe that German football fans were passionate about their teams, and yet Cologne’s fans seemed in a good mood that their team had just been hammered, even joining in the celebrations of a player on the opposing side. A German friend of mine saw the footage and told me that Cologne fans have a reputation for confusing their loyalties. In a game against Bayern a few seasons ago, Lukas Podolski returned to haunt his former club with two goals as the Bavarians won 3-0. But Cologne fans again decided to celebrate with him when he scored, not after the game, but during it. The same friend used the word erbärmlich to describe it, which translates to pathetic. I think that’s about right. Maybe it was a ironic cheering; German’s aren’t known for their humour.

Next week sees some more juicy games on the agenda, as Gladbach take on Hannover and Dortmund travel to Stuttgart, Bayern have an opportunity to return to winning ways with a home game against struggling Nürnberg.

Hau rein,

Bernie

Schürrle rescues point for Bayer

Hi there everybody. So, after some underwhelming games, poor refereeing decisions and some comedic own goals during the international break, the Bundesliga thankfully returned last weekend. Matchday 9’s football got off to a superb start on Friday night, as current champions Borussia Dortmund travelled to free-scoring Werder Bremen. In a dramatic game, Jurgen Klopp’s side managed a clinical 2-0 win, despite having striker Ivan Perisic sent off after just five minutes in the second half. At the Coface Arena on Saturday, Augsburg won their first Bundesliga match away at Mainz, and at the Veltins Arena, Schalke suffered a shock 2-1 home loss to Kaiserslautern. Uninterestingly enough, Bayern continued their dominant form with a 4-0 win over Hertha Berlin.

This week I’ve decided to feature two sides that both have ambitions of challenging Bayern at the top: Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen. 

This game instantly struck me as one to watch. Gladbach began their campaign with a superb 1-0 away win at Bayern. This wasn’t just a smash and grab job; they actually made Schweinsteiger, Ribery, Robben et al look decidedly pedestrian, and the win was comfortable. Since then, however, the word to describe their performances has been ‘reliable.’ There were good wins against Wolfsburg and Hamburg, coupled with two narrow losses against Freiburg and Schalke. They seem to have taken over Hannover’s role from last year, being miserly in defence but without scoring too many goals. Before Saturday’s game, they had scored nine goals in eight games, while conceding just four. Leverkusen’s last league game before the international break was a 3-1 home win over Wolfsburg, a game lit up by a quite superb overhead kick from Leverkusen’s Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok. Aside from a 6-3 home defeat against Gladbach this time last season, Robin Dutt’s team had the better record going into the game, and were unbeaten at Gladbach for 22 years. 

The game itself was a superb spectacle from start to finish, and it was interesting to note the amount of home-grown German talent on show.  After Bernd Leno dived at the feet of Marco Reus to deny the newly-crowned Germany international an opening goal, Leverkusen took the lead when Michael Ballack’s flick-on at a corner was turned in at the back post by defender Stefan Reinartz. The home side reacted to the setback in impressive style and took the game to their opponents, coming close to an equaliser on a number of occasions. First Mike Hanke slammed an angled shot against the bar after being played in by Juan Arango, and then Reus’ attempted curler whistled past the post. In the second half, Reus finally got his goal and a deserved equaliser for Gladbach when he rounded Leno to slot into an empty net. Leverkusen defender Gonzalo Castro (also German) was then given a straight red by referee Markus Merk (always a referee to apply the laws of the game as rigidly as possible) for showing dissent towards the linesman. 

Soon the Foals’ numerical advantage began to show. Leno stood up fantastically to keep Reus out when the forward went clean through, but could do nothing about substitute Robert Hermann’s delightful chip 20 minutes from time to make it 2-1. Leverkusen were playing poorly and their hosts should have been out of sight. Hanke, Reus and Hermann were all guilty of further misses. Then, three minutes before the end of normal time, another German international, Leverkusen’s André Schürrle, dribbled across the box to plant a sumptuous finish into the top corner. Dutt’s side were able to hold out for the final few minutes and seal a point that was barely deserved, but one achieved thanks to an outstanding last-minute save by Leno (with his face), and some terrible finishing from Gladbach.

Lucien Favre, the Gladbach manager, cut a frustrated figure in his post-match interview, repeating that the points should have been sealed long before Schürrle’s equalising goal. The game really seemed to typify Gladbach’s shortcomings this season, the most obvious of which is scoring goals. Hanke, signed from Hannover in January, was never the most prolific of strikers in the Bundesliga, and he had a day to forget. The home side were, incidentally, without current top scorer Igor de Camargo, who was injured while on international duty for Belgium against Germany, and his absence told. But even he has scored just three goals this season. Gladbach have a squad of modest size and quality, and they are, without doubt, over-achieving right now. One worries how they will replace players such as Reus Arango should they suffer injury, as well as Brazilian centre-half Dante, who has become a fixture since signing from Standard Liege two years ago and is turning the heads of a few Bundesliga clubs (Stuttgart and Hannover, for example) with his performances so far this season. 

There was also something to be learned about Leverkusen form this game, namely the calibre of players they have in their squad. In their starting eleven were established internationals Stefan Kießling and Ballack, as well as Castro and Sven Bender (who, together with his twin brother Lars, now playing at Dortmund, look set to challenge for a national team place for the next few seasons). They were also able to bring on Simon Rolfes, another established German international, and Switzerland forward Eren Derdiyok. And we should also mention the incredible season that goalkeeper Bernd Leno is having. He was brought in as an emergency loan signing from Stuttgart in the summer, when first choice keeper Rene Adler was injured. Since then he’s played every game in the league and has saved his team with some fantastic performances; last Saturday, and the 0-0 home draw against Dortmund, have been particular highlights for him. They have a squad with a lot of depth, and seem to be coping relatively well with the added burden of Champions League football. I would root for them to win the title, but only because of the reflexive ‘anyone-but-Bayern’ feeling that seems to come over me every weekend. In any case, they’re a little bit soulless, being backed by pharmaceutical giants Baer AG and not really having a proper fan base to speak of. 

A neat sub-plot to this match was the duel between Gladbach’s up-and-coming young German attacker Reus and Leverkusen’s Schürrle. Reus won his first senior cap for Germany in last Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Belgium, and he certainly didn’t look overawed by the occasion. Schürrle, meanwhile, has looked every inch a German international since winning the first of his ten caps. Remarkably, for a 19-year-old who is new to international football, he has five goals to his name, already a better ratio than FC Bayern’s Thomas Müller, who famously lit up last year’s World Cup in South Africa. I touched on this in a recent article, namely just how strong Germany’s squad seems to be looking, and the deep pool of talent that Joachim Löw can content himself with when picking his side. Things look good for the German team right now, and I’d bet that were their star player to get a three match ban for the Euros next year, they’d cope with it a damn sight better than most nations. 

Matchday 9 Results

Bremen 0-2 Dortmund

Bayern 4-0 Hertha

Mainz 0-1 Augsburg

Stuttgart 2-0 Hoffenheim

Wolfsburg 2-1 Nürnberg

Gladbach 2-2 Leverkusen

Schalke 1-2 Kaiserslautern

Freiburg 1-2 Hamburg

Köln 2-0 Hannover

Next week the pick of the fixtures look like Leverkusen at home to Schalke and Dortmund hosting Köln. In the meantime, let’s hope for some good results for Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen, who are all in Champions league action this week. 

Hau rein.

Bernie

Hattrick hero Abdellaoue sinks Bremen

Hi everyone. Today it’s the Tag der Deutsche Einheit, a public holiday, which the lovely Oktoberfest-organisers have used as an excuse to extend the Wiesn for one more day. But before I look forward to a last supper of beer, sunshine and dirndls (on the company of course), it’s time for my weekly review of the Bundesliga results.

Some might say it’s typical, but just as Bayern drop points in the league for the first time in a long while, their closest challengers can’t take advantage. After their impressive win over Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday, Jupp Heynckes’ side were held to a 0-0 draw by a spirited Hoffenheim side on Saturday afternoon; but they were let off the hook as Mönchengladbach surprisingly went down 1-0 at Freiburg and Werder Bremen lost the derby against Hannover 3-2 in the AWD-Arena. As someone who now takes a keener interest in Hannover 96 than I would normally, I’ve decided to focus on the Reds’ derby win yesterday afternoon.

Under manager Mirko Slomka, Hannover 96 are probably punching above their weight. They finished in 4^th place last season and qualified for the Europa Leugue this year, the first time they have appeared in a European competition for 19 seasons, since winning the German cup in 1992. They started this season off with two wins, and twice could have gone top of the league, but dropped point in home games against Hertha Berlin and Mainz 05.

As Bundesliga games tend to be, this was a frenetic affair, made all the more entertaining due to the huge significance placed on this fixture by both clubs and their fans. After two minutes, the home side were ahead thanks to a penalty from Norway striker Mohammed Abdellaoue. On 38 minutes Abdellaoue grabbed his second after a terrific cross from Jan Schlaudraff. Werder pulled one back on the stroke of half-time through the tattoo-clad Marko Arnautovic. But Abdelloue’s hat-trick gave the home side an unassailable 3-1 lead, which Claudio Pizarro’s late consolation wasn’t enough to cancel out. Thanks to a superb hat-trick from Abdellaoue, and a bit of luck, Hannover won the first of the season’s northern derbies.

In the build up to the game the German press had focused on a ‘reversal of roles’ between these two sides. Before last season, it was common to see Hannover struggling to force their way into the top half of the table, while Bremen, with players like Diego, Claudio Pizarro and Miroslav Klose, would challenge the top sides for silverware. This time around, however,  the two sides have traded places, with Hannover playing in the Europa League and Werder Bremen able to concentrate on just domestic football, courtesy of their 13^th-placed finish last season, just five points above the relegation zone. The fact that 96 were now had the type of fixture list that Werder have enjoyed in recent years begged another question: would the size, quality and experience of Hannover’s squad stand up to the burden of three competitions? As Borussia Dortmund have discovered this season, the physical and mental burden of playing in Europe in midweek can adversely affect league performances. After drawing Arsenal in the champions League, Dortmund then conceded two goals in the final five minutes to throw away three points against Hannover the following Saturday. They are currently in 6^th place, with 13 points from a possible 24, but already six points behind Bayern Munich and with three defeats to their name; last season they only lost five matches in the whole campaign.

It was feared that Hannover would suffer a similar fate. They made some small additions to their squad (such as ex-Schalke defender Christian Pander and Austrian international Daniel Royer, signed from SV Ried). But their squad is largely the same as last year, minus DaMarcus Beasley who is now, incidentally, at CF Puebla. But so far, 96 seem to be coping well with the extra burden of games. You could be forgiven for thinking Hannover might struggle against a talented Bremen side with players such as Marko Marin, Aaron Hunt, Arnautovic and Pizarro in their ranks. Additionally, Hannover had just travelled to the Ukraine on Thursday night to play FC Vorskla Poltava in the Europa League. They ran out 2-1 winners in that one, thanks to another superb goal from Abdellaoue, but eight of the side that started the game on Thursday also started yesterday’s game. Having far less time than their opponents to prepare for such an important game, yesterdays win was therefore an impressive won for 96, and fully justified Mirko Slomka’s exuberant celebrations at the final whistle. After having beaten Dortmund and Bremen in their last three games, the Reds are now in a respectable 5^th in the league, and just four points off the top.

There might be one possible area of concern for Hannover fans and that will be the ‘goals for’ column. Last season the club scored with 49 goals from their 34 games, with a goal difference of +4. This season it’s a similar story: they have 15 points, but have managed eleven goals from their first eight games, while conceding ten. The Reds’ aren’t setting the league alight, but they are going along nicely, much like last season.

Werder Bremen, for their part, played exactly like they always do: scoring freely but defending dangerously. In yesterday’s game they had plenty of chances to force an equaliser, and were on the end of some cruel decisions, but with the quality they have in attack they’re a sure bet to challenge for the European places this season. This season they have scored 16 and conceded ten, and are currently 2^nd in the table, three points behind Bayern. Werder only ever play one way – to score more goals than their opponent – and it’s refreshing to see a club which stays true to its principles. That’s probably due to the faith which the President Klaus-Dieter Fischer has shown to manager Thomas Schaaf. The ex-Bremen defender is now in his 13^th full season in the Bremen hot-seat. Apart from a vey select few, managers in England, Spain or Italy could only dream of owners with as much patience as that. 

Elsewhere, matchday 8 threw up some other interesting results. Dortmund bounced back from Tuesday’s defensive horror-show away at Marseilles in the Champions League to thump Augsburg 4-0, leaving Jos Luhukay’s side still without a win in the League this year; Bayer Leverkusen also managed a win after a European game, beating Wolfsburg 3-1 at home; and Schalke, with new manager Huub Stevens back at the club, ground out a 2-1 away win at Hamburg, thanks to two superb goals from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Hamburg’s troubles continue.

Results

Kaiserslauterm 0-2 Stuttgart

Dortmund 4-0 Augsburg

Leverkusen 3-1 Wolfsburg

Nürnberg 3-3 Mainz

Freiburg 1-0 Gladbach

Hoffenheim 0-0 Bayern

Hertha 3-0 Köln

Hannover 3-2 Bremen

Hamburg 1-2 Schalke

Next week it’s the international break. Germany have already qualified, but I’ll be in touch to bring you some news on how they get on – hopefully we’ll see a few untried players get a game or two for the national side. Here’s to also hoping/expecting that England put in a professional display against Montenegro on Friday and get the point we need to begin speculating about whether or not we can actually win a major tournament.

Servus!

Bernie

Schalke start life after Rangnick with a win

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.