Five Conclusions From Matchday 14

By: Jan | November 29th, 2011

Bayern are catching up with Barcelona. Philipp Lahm may speak the truth but his sense of timing is really a bit off this season. Whether it is publishing memoirs in the middle of his career, or making bold claims a day ahead of embarrassing defeats for both Barcelona and Bayern. He just can’t get it right. And following Bayern’s recent performances in the Bundesliga, you need to wonder whether Bayern are really catching up with anyone, or whether they are actually slowly loosing their rhythm and dominance. Or maybe they really just lost Bastian Schweinsteiger and realize that it is him and not Robben, who is Bayern’s undisputed and irreplaceable key player.

Gladbach are catching up on goal differential. Lucien Favre quoted Gladbach’s ability to create three to four times more chances per match, compared to last season, as the key behind their current success. Early in the season they had the tendency to only put one, or at most two, of those into the back of the net, making them one of the most wasteful and inefficient teams in the league. That has changed, and while Gladbach games in general where quite entertaining to watch, I might go as far and say, that at this moment they are even better to watch than Dortmund and Bayern. I may, of course, be proven completely wrong next weekend, when they take on Dortmund – possibly without Marco Reus, who broke his toe.

Dortmund no longer need catching up. They suddenly lead the Bundesliga again, emerging with six out of nine points from their week of truth. And while they have to accept the sad truth, that they can’t handle the new terrain of the Champions League yet, they have mastered their fiercest rivals in the Bundesliga. The team isn’t yet on par with the performances orchestrated by Nuri Sahin, but that probably just means, they won’t simply run away with the league this time around.

Central defenders are catching up with strikers. Lukas Podolski didn’t see much of the ball against Mönchengladbach. Klaas Jan Huntelaar didn’t see much of the ball against Dortmund. Mario Gomez didn’t see much of the ball against Mainz. Marco Reus saw much of the ball, but decided against scoring another brace or hat-trick. Claudio Pizarro saw much of the ball, but it was from the stands. In a season dominated by free scoring strikers, last weekend was a rather odd exception. Seven goals by central defenders (Santana, Bungert, Naldo, Toprak, van Buyten, Bruma) compared quite favorably to the ten goals scored by strikers. In fact, since Lewandowski and Hanke played in a slightly different role, you could say it was a tie between the defense and the classic poacher.

Augsburg are catching up with the other teams. There still is a dearth of talent in Augsburg’s squad and a dearth of money to change that. But Augsburg seem willing to run and fight and give it a serious try and they are finally getting some results. Their first home win was against Wolfsburg, who along Cologne, are the most erratic in the league, so maybe we shouldn’t read too much into it. But with eleven points and three matches to go this year, Augsburg could at least move into a position, where hopes for Bundesliga survival are not completely unfounded. Who knows where some clever loan deals in the winter could eventually lead them.