Five Conclusions From Matchday 15

By: Jan | December 6th, 2011

The Bundesliga doesn’t get the concept of extra time. On paper the Bundesliga referees get it. It’s up to them to decide, how much time was wasted through substitutions, injury delays, time wasting or excessive goal celebrations. It’s OK for them to routinely add only one or two minutes or call it quits after exactly 90 minutes. But extra time is not just about adding time. It is about adding suspense and drama. At least for me as a fan. In that respect other leagues and international competitions get it right. Saturday’s top of the table clash between the two Borussias had reached a perfect state of back and forth flowing football towards the end. Three to four minutes of extra time would have been a fitting desert. And five substitutions and one goal would have warranted exactly that in any other league. Instead we got one minute. Only in the Bundesliga.

Werder Bremen need to take some anger management classes. Hannover are still leading the league in fouls, but they foul with a clear tactical plan. Werder Bremen come second, but seemingly not for a particular strategic reason. On Saturday in the Allianz Arena it looked like they welcomed Bayern Munich not as an opponent, but as a punching bag for their frustrations. It’s not completely unwaranted. After being beaten by a 10 man Dortmund side at home, and brushed aside by full strength Bayern and Gladbach sides away, they may have realised that their chances in the title and Champions League race are rather slim.

There’s a visible gap between the top three and the bottom fifteen. Pointswise, Bayern and the Borussias haven’t pulled away from the rest yet. Gladbach might be a candidate for an injury induced drop down the table – although they handled the loss of Reus very well against Dortmund. The visibility of the gap is more about the style and dominance expressed on the pitch. The top three are playing on a different level than the rest. Maybe the slow and steady progress of Robin Dutt’s Leverkusen can eventually alter the picture.

Hoffenheim is not a village for a pirate. While Hoffenheim have successfully established themselves in the Bundesliga, they failed to establish an identity. They are still predominantely seen as the pet project of a billionaire and not much else. The “Vorsprung durch Technik” route, taken by Ralf Rangnick and Jan Schindelmeiser, looked promising. Then their high tech scouting led to the signing of a couple of flops. Then their high tech training couldn’t stop the team from looking more and more lifeless. Holger Stanislawski was brought in, to breath some fresh life into the team, and bring a bit of St. Pauli counter culture flair and dirt to the country side. His first steps looked promising, as a clearly improved Hoffenheim side, threatened to be a serious Europa League contender. A couple of weeks and inconsistent or plain bad performances later, Stanislawski is standing rather stunned and puzzled on the sideline. Rather than lighting up the village, it now looks like Hoffenheim sucked the life out of him instead.

Sharing is caring. It’s Christmas time and a season record five Bundesliga clubs decided to amicably share the points between them, instead of dividing the world into winners and loosers. As such Cologne recovered from their derby loss, while Stuttgart’s good form didn’t take a hit. Mainz didn’t loose all momentum gained from the win over Bayern, while Wolfsburg at least aren’t in full crisis mode. Freiburg and Kaiserslautern make babysteps out of the relegation zone without causing Hertha and Hannover too much trouble.