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A Look Back at the Bundesliga Season that Was
Köln’s seasons went up in flames as a Bundesliga giant managed to keep their status despite a season of struggles.
Since the inception of the Bundesliga in 1963, only one team has represented it every season- Hamburger SV. Their status as the Bundesliga’s ‘dinosaur’ was being seriously threatened as Frank Arnesen brought along a line of Chelsea youngsters to represent the Germans. Arnesen almost contradicted the statements he had earlier made about...
An Exciting Weekend awaits us in the Bundesliga
‘Exciting’ is the only word which can describe the Bundesliga action which will take place tomorrow.
Köln always is a very entertaining side- regarding matters on and off the pitch. After having been absolutely thumped 4-1 by Hanover last week, they take to the pitch against the holders Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund was in action in mid-week in the DFB Pokal. It took them a full 120 minutes to dispose of SpVgg Greuther Furth with Ilkay Guendogan scoring the winner in the final minute of extra time.Other matches include a contest between Hoffenheim and Monchengladbach, who were also in cup action during the week. Bayern takes on Hanover, a contest which has seen Hanover come out on top in the previous two meetings. The biggest match of the weekend takes places between two of the most exciting sides of the league, fourth placed Schalke and fifth placed Leverkusen.
Bundesliga Mid Season Review 2011-12
The Final Weekend of 2011 in the Bundesliga ended with plenty of drama as Markus Babbel was sacked as coach of Hertha Berlin.
Markus Babbel is an ambitious man. He spent long years as a player with Bayern and Liverpool and thus has a winning mentality. He perhaps saw Hertha as a club that was not going to move forward. As a result, he opted not to extend his contract and he said as much to Hertha’s general manager Michael Preetz. Preetz according to Babbel refused to be truthful to the media. Babbel was sacked this week. He will be replaced by Michael Skibbe. Hertha’s final result under Babbel was a 1-1 draw against Hoffenheim in Sinsheim. Hertha is seated not too securely in mid table. Babel’s former team meanwhile secured the Autumn Championship in Bavaria.
Prinz Poldi reigns supreme- Reflections on the Bundesliga Weekend
Prinz Poldi’s performance against Freiburg lit up the league on a weekend that saw Bayern increase the gap between themselves and their rivals.
When Cristian Molinaro saw red about 15 minutes before half-time at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart’s afternoon turned completely sour. Stuttgart started the day brightly by grabbing an early goal. Bayern equalized soon afterwards through none other than Mario Gomez. Gomez grabbed the winner in the second half. He also scrambled the ball away from the goal-line, preventing a Stuttgart equalizer.Bayern, after taking the lead, shifted down to third gear. Stuttgart came within inches of scoring an equalizer. Daniel Van Buyten’s giveaway to Cacau led to the Stuttgart man aiming towards an empty net only to send the ball slightly over the net and into the stands. Due to other results, Bayern now has a three point lead over their rivals and a superior goal difference to go along with the lead.
A Title Race Finally Seems to be on in Germany following weeks of Dominance by Bayern
The title race in the Bundesliga seems to have taken off as Hanover 96 pulled off a shocking victory over favourites FC Bayern München.
Play-acting isn’t a common incident in the Bundesliga. Also, a player from FC Bayern rarely sees red. Both these incidents saw Bayern lose for the first time since August. The match in itself was highly entertaining but will be remembered more for play-acting and two red cards.Dortmund to add spice to Bayern’s loss absolutely hammered Köln 5-0. Michael Rensing had a good day at the office- this should properly describe BVB’s dominance. BVB sits in second, three points behind Bayern.
I have a question for everyone- who is faster: Usain Bolt or Jefferson Farfan? The easy answer would be Usain Bolt but there is some doubt over that after Farfan’s sprint from his penalty area to the Leverkusen penalty arena at the Bay Arena. He scored an absolutely wonderful winner for his side to take Schalke to third place, four points behind leaders Bayern.
Dortmund’s Resilience pays off while Bayern Continues Winning- Reflections on the Bundesliga Weekend
The mark of a champion is the ability to win under any circumstance. Borussia Dortmund proved exactly why they are German champions on Friday.
Against Bremen, Dortmund was under pressure from the get go. They took the lead somewhat against the run of play through a stunning goal by none other than Ivan Perisic. Shortly after the second half began, they lost Perisic to a red card. However, they defended stoically and tried to hit Bremen on the break. They looked the more likely to score and doubled their lead through Patrick Owomoyela. Owomoyela played really well on the day. What will be worrying Juergen Klopp is that he will have to manage without Perisic for at-least one match. Perisic has been one of the best transfers of the Bundesliga season so far.
The win saw Dortmund go up to third, close to FC Bayern in terms of position but not in terms of points.
Leverkusen’s Robin Dutt leaves a few heads shaking in Germany
Robin Dutt praised his team for fighting in a match they lost 3-0. Seemingly, he might have feared that Bayern might do to his side what they did to his former side, Freiburg, when they went up by two goals in twenty minutes.
Schalke’s Ralf Rangnick stepped down earlier in the week. He wasn’t up to coaching for the entire season. The pressure had got to him. He needed a break. He wished Schalke the best for the rest of the season. Under Seppo Eickhorn, the deputy, Schalke beat Freiburg 4-2, coming back from 0-1 down. Recent rumours suggest that Huub Stevens will take over the club.Hamburg sacked Michael Oenning earlier in the week. Under the tutelage of deputy Rodolfo Cardoso, they beat Stuttgart 1-2, coming back from 1-0 down. Both the goals were classy. Robert Tesche’s winner was one Hamburg fans won’t forget soon. Hamburg will seemingly appoint Marco Van Basten or Louis Van Gaal in recent weeks according to recent rumours.
Borussia Dortmund Stammers Again: Reflections on the Bundesliga Weekend
Football is a game of goals. No team knows this fact better than BVB at the moment.
Hanover knows how to earn results from matches with minimum amount of possession. They would rather be under-dogs than favourites. They were playing BVB on the back of a 0-0 draw with Standard Liege in the Europa League, a game they were expected to win. Dortmund dominated for 85 minutes. Football, however, happens to be a game of ninety minutes.Two goals in the last five minutes saw Dortmund lose a game again, a game which they should have wrapped up much earlier. Dortmund isn’t playing poorly. They are not suffering from the label of ‘Bundesliga Champions’. Dortmund’s main problem at the moment is compensating the loss of Lucas Barrios. As many chances as Barrios seems to miss, he does get many goals. The same cannot unfortunately be said about Robert Lewandowski.
Five-Star Schalke; Gritty Bayern: A Reflection on the Bundesliga Weekend
Schalke thumped the current basement club Köln 5-1 this weekend.
Schalke last week was almost painful to watch. They started well against Stuttgart on Match-day 1 but basically gave up after they conceded the first goal. A strong Stuttgart side ripped them apart. Schalke was by no means convincing this weekend. However, Köln, as we all know, is seemingly a disaster waiting to happen almost every season. With the score at 1-1, Lukas Podolski and co gave up and just allowed Schalke to run, rather walk, over them. Bayern, meanwhile, was primarily saved by the referee. However, the win was deserved as contrary to popular (anti-Bayern) opinion as they were marginally the better side.