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
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