Adam Szalai emerges as a contender to the top scorer crown:
Last week, Mainz defeated Freiburg 3-0. A young man called Adam Szalai scored a hat-trick. Szalai is a crowd favourite at Mainz. Everyone knows Szalai is talented. However, few had expected him to be at the top of the scorer’s table. Mario Mandzukic has plenty of help when it comes to scoring at Bayern. Szalai doesn’t have as much help as Mandzukic.
Szalai struck against Bremen this week. He shares the top of the scorers’ table with the Bayern man currently. Szalai’s side is not looking to win the title. However, a personal accolade for Szalai would perhaps feel like a title to his club.
Aaron Hunt is finally showing his worth:
Hunt struck twice against Bremen to gift his side three much needed points. Hunt has been the main man for Bremen this season more often than not. Bremen has become prone to losing an important star almost every season. They will hope to hold on to Hunt. Hunt has satisfied Thomas Schaaf surely this season.
Hunt had played wonderful games in previous seasons too. However, he was never consistent. He hasn’t had too many bad days this season. Schaaf will want to hold on to the German at the end of the season.
Leverkusen shows the brilliance of their attack.
The nature of Leverkusen’s win over Düsseldorf was nervy, especially due to the sending off of Simon Rolfes, 75 seconds after his introduction into the match. However, Leverkusen showed just how lethal their attack is as they picked apart Düsseldorf’s back four. Sidney Sam scored the first and could have set up a couple more with a better touch on the day. Andre Schürrle grabbed a second. Gonzalo Castro added a third following a wonderful counter-attack.
Question marks will always hang over the Leverkusen back-line. They almost gave a two goal lead away in ten minutes. However, if the front-line continues to produce, Leverkusen will beat most of their opponents.
Louis Van Gaal produced an extremely special Bayern side in 2010.
Louis Van Gaal is largely and rightfully credited with changing the hallmark of Bayern München. He created a side which plays perhaps the most wonderful football in the league. They passed their way through to two Champions League finals in the past three seasons. Van Gaal produced perhaps one of the best sides in the history of German football in 2009-10.
Bayern struck three special goals against Hamburger SV as they demolished them en route to a 0-3 victory. HSV is not the only side Bayern has demolished. They are certainly not the last either. This Bayern team might be accused of lacking a winning mentality. However, based on technique and style, they are indeed very special.
HSV proves that the only way to beat Bayern is to defend.
HSV is the first team this season which tried to play Bayern rather than sit back and defend. They did well enough in the first half but once they were behind, the consequences of open play were rather disastrous. HSV conceded two goals quickly.
Hence, Leverkusen’s way is perhaps the best way to play Bayern. The counter-attack is what Bayern is most vulnerable to even though they did not have much trouble in that department against HSV. Bayern’s next opponent is Eintracht. May be they will show the Bundesliga a new way to get at Bayern.
They are of-course the Bundesliga’s surprise package so far…...
