Dortmund conquered holders Bayern while ten-men Stuttgart beat Frankfurt.
FC Bayern’s lack of a “Plan B” saw them crash down to earth following a great victory at the San Siro. San Siro was the venue when Bayern hoisted their last European Cup in 2001.
Similarly, the Olympic Stadium was the venue when Dortmund lifted the European Cup in 1997 in Munich. On Saturday, Dortmund battered the bench-mark for all German sides, Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena for the first time since 1991.
Meanwhile, Stuttgart produced a great display as they earned a much needed three points in the battle for survival. What was special about the win was that they achieved the feat with only ten men.
Louis Van Gaal is a stubborn man. His stubbornness has produced results and this cannot be denied. However, it was his own stubbornness that led to a horrendous loss against German champion-elect Dortmund. Van Gaal decided to play Danijel Pranjic in central midfield next to a tired Bastian Schweinsteiger while the very impressive Luis Gustavo went to left-back. Despite Gustavo’s exploits in midweek, Van Gaal made this change.
The change came back to haunt Bayern. Danijel Pranjic can provide wonderful crosses but isn’t much of a hard-tackling midfielder unlike Mark Van Bommel. Schweinsteiger was almost left on his own to stop Dortmund’s attacks. The defence was suffering- the defence is normally weak; above that following the midweek game, the players were tired. Holger Badstuber and Anatoliy Tymoschchuk had torrid first halves.
This was another mistake Van Gaal made. He allowed ‘Tymo’ to play in the heart of defence rather than allowing a natural defender, Breno, to play in the position. He had another option in midweek which he might have and perhaps should have used. Holger Badstuber was fantastic in the left-back spot in midweek. Badstuber should have perhaps started there considering that his recent performances in central defence have not been good to say the least. Another option would have been to use Hamit Altintop who was left on the bench.
Due to the weakness in defence, Bastian Schweinsteiger was in effect playing two roles. He was having to find team-mates up front from the heart of midfield and also playing as a third central defender to protect the porous defence. Had Luis Gustavo partnered him, the German midfielder wouldn’t have made the mistake that led to Dortmund’s first goal.
Schweinsteiger was unable to track down Nuri Sahin for the second goal as he was trying to assist Bayern’s largely ineffective attack upfront. During the third goal, he was the one having to man-mark a much taller man, Mats Hummels.
Bayern’s lack of Plan B was even more evident as Juergen Klopp’s men showed that neutralizing Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben simply means that Bayern’s attack becomes virtually non-existent. The young Dortmund side double-teamed up on both the wing wizards. Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez rarely even got the ball. Van Gaal’s substitutions were even more baffling. He took off Luis Gustavo, the scorer of Bayern’s consolation goal, when taking off Schweinsteiger was the better option. He introduced a second striker, Miroslav Klose into the game late in the 78th minute when the chances of a comeback were minimal.
Despite having such wonderful players at his exposal, Van Gaal failed to outdo his much younger counterpart, Juergen Klopp in terms of tactical decisions. Michael Skibbe failed to inspire his side to a win similarly. The difference was that his Frankfurt side actually had one extra player to count on for more than 70 minutes.
Frankfurt took on relegation-threatened Stuttgart at the Commerzbank Arena. Stuttgart started the match poorly and lacked co-ordination. With only about 16 minutes on the clock, matters got worse when their captain, Mathieu Delpierre saw red for hitting Maik Franz, who had provoked him by stepping on the Stuttgart man’s toes intentionally.
Stuttgart defended doggedly and hit Frankfurt on the counter-attack. They produced a very good display of football in the second half. They pressurized Frankfurt into losing the ball very close to the penalty area for the first goal. The same tactic was used by Klopp against Bayern. Eventually Martin Harnik only had to send the ball into an empty net.
The second goal saw Tamas Hajnal, a player on loan from Dortmund, lob the ball over Ralf Fahrmann. Stuttgart had held Leverkusen impressively the week before, but conceded two in the last ten minutes. The win over Frankfurt was well deserved.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Stuttgart’s relegation would see the club go away from the limelight for a season and finally achieve some stability. However, there is still hope for survival. If Stuttgart continues to play the way they did against Frankfurt, they will undoubtedly survive.
As for FC Bayern München, Van Gaal must rotate his tired squad for the German Cup tie against FC Schalke 04 on Wednesday. Champions League qualification is Bayern’s main aim and at the moment, the team isn’t occupying a Champions League spot in the table. Christian Nerlinger’s quote best sums up Bayern’s situation:
“We’re in a precarious situation. The Bundesliga is our bread and butter. We have to make sure we finish second.”
Similarly, the Olympic Stadium was the venue when Dortmund lifted the European Cup in 1997 in Munich. On Saturday, Dortmund battered the bench-mark for all German sides, Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena for the first time since 1991.
Meanwhile, Stuttgart produced a great display as they earned a much needed three points in the battle for survival. What was special about the win was that they achieved the feat with only ten men.
Louis Van Gaal is a stubborn man. His stubbornness has produced results and this cannot be denied. However, it was his own stubbornness that led to a horrendous loss against German champion-elect Dortmund. Van Gaal decided to play Danijel Pranjic in central midfield next to a tired Bastian Schweinsteiger while the very impressive Luis Gustavo went to left-back. Despite Gustavo’s exploits in midweek, Van Gaal made this change.
The change came back to haunt Bayern. Danijel Pranjic can provide wonderful crosses but isn’t much of a hard-tackling midfielder unlike Mark Van Bommel. Schweinsteiger was almost left on his own to stop Dortmund’s attacks. The defence was suffering- the defence is normally weak; above that following the midweek game, the players were tired. Holger Badstuber and Anatoliy Tymoschchuk had torrid first halves.
This was another mistake Van Gaal made. He allowed ‘Tymo’ to play in the heart of defence rather than allowing a natural defender, Breno, to play in the position. He had another option in midweek which he might have and perhaps should have used. Holger Badstuber was fantastic in the left-back spot in midweek. Badstuber should have perhaps started there considering that his recent performances in central defence have not been good to say the least. Another option would have been to use Hamit Altintop who was left on the bench.
Due to the weakness in defence, Bastian Schweinsteiger was in effect playing two roles. He was having to find team-mates up front from the heart of midfield and also playing as a third central defender to protect the porous defence. Had Luis Gustavo partnered him, the German midfielder wouldn’t have made the mistake that led to Dortmund’s first goal.
Schweinsteiger was unable to track down Nuri Sahin for the second goal as he was trying to assist Bayern’s largely ineffective attack upfront. During the third goal, he was the one having to man-mark a much taller man, Mats Hummels.
Bayern’s lack of Plan B was even more evident as Juergen Klopp’s men showed that neutralizing Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben simply means that Bayern’s attack becomes virtually non-existent. The young Dortmund side double-teamed up on both the wing wizards. Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez rarely even got the ball. Van Gaal’s substitutions were even more baffling. He took off Luis Gustavo, the scorer of Bayern’s consolation goal, when taking off Schweinsteiger was the better option. He introduced a second striker, Miroslav Klose into the game late in the 78th minute when the chances of a comeback were minimal.
Despite having such wonderful players at his exposal, Van Gaal failed to outdo his much younger counterpart, Juergen Klopp in terms of tactical decisions. Michael Skibbe failed to inspire his side to a win similarly. The difference was that his Frankfurt side actually had one extra player to count on for more than 70 minutes.
Frankfurt took on relegation-threatened Stuttgart at the Commerzbank Arena. Stuttgart started the match poorly and lacked co-ordination. With only about 16 minutes on the clock, matters got worse when their captain, Mathieu Delpierre saw red for hitting Maik Franz, who had provoked him by stepping on the Stuttgart man’s toes intentionally.
Stuttgart defended doggedly and hit Frankfurt on the counter-attack. They produced a very good display of football in the second half. They pressurized Frankfurt into losing the ball very close to the penalty area for the first goal. The same tactic was used by Klopp against Bayern. Eventually Martin Harnik only had to send the ball into an empty net.
The second goal saw Tamas Hajnal, a player on loan from Dortmund, lob the ball over Ralf Fahrmann. Stuttgart had held Leverkusen impressively the week before, but conceded two in the last ten minutes. The win over Frankfurt was well deserved.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Stuttgart’s relegation would see the club go away from the limelight for a season and finally achieve some stability. However, there is still hope for survival. If Stuttgart continues to play the way they did against Frankfurt, they will undoubtedly survive.
As for FC Bayern München, Van Gaal must rotate his tired squad for the German Cup tie against FC Schalke 04 on Wednesday. Champions League qualification is Bayern’s main aim and at the moment, the team isn’t occupying a Champions League spot in the table. Christian Nerlinger’s quote best sums up Bayern’s situation:
“We’re in a precarious situation. The Bundesliga is our bread and butter. We have to make sure we finish second.”
