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 4th 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 13th-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 6th 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 5th 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 2nd 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 13th 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
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