5 Conclusions From Matchday 4

By: Jan | August 28th, 2011

Bayern stopped reinventing and are themselves again. A premature autobiography by the captain keeps everybody busy off the pitch. Games are routinely won on the pitch. The table is topped. Jupp Heynckes is the coach. Sounds like a short best-of compilation from the past 20 years of Bayern Munich. After plans to give the club a new football philosophy failed twice – due to plenty of incompetence and then plenty of surplus ego – this should be a welcome return to form for Bayern fans.

Some matches should be played without a referee. Starting with those assigned to Wolfgang Stark. Now, in Stark’s defense: he didn’t dramatically alter the outcome of Saturday nights clash between Dortmund and Leverkusen, he just seemed to get almost all of the bigger decisions wrong, in which case having a referee is surplus to requirements. In particular when his intervention means we won’t be able to watch Mario Götze for a couple of matches. While Stark struggled to rise to the occasion, both Dortmund and, in particular – and more surprisingly – Leverkusen delivered an entertaining match – that is if good saves and near misses are enough to keep you happy.

Hannover can dominate a match. Hannover may have won many and controlled a few games under Slomka, but they usually don’t dominate their opponent. In that respect, Hannover’s second half performance against Mainz, where the team had 58% possession and 11:2 shots on goal, was both an unusual and impressive sight. And ironically it wasn’t enough to win. Still, this club is steadily outgrowing the underdog/surprise tag and starts to establish itself in the top third of the Bundesliga pecking order.

Hamburg vs Cologne was not a match for coaches with pacemakers. As Stale Solbakken concluded. Well, Cologne – the club – as a whole probably isn’t the ideal place for a coach with a pacemaker. Though, Cologne’s dramatic last minute win will give the Norwegian some welcome quiet days during the international break. Time that Frank Arnesen will badly need to sign some more Chelsea players, while Michael Oenning could try to build on the positives of what was still Hamburg’s best performance this season.

Wolfsburg is the Bundesliga’s player disposal facility. Dump your old or no longer needed players at Wolfsburg and let Felix Magath refurbish them with his trademark fitness drills. As things stand, he’ll then conveniently take them all down to the second division – so you’ll never have to be bothered by them again. Endorsed by Eintracht Frankfurt.