Five Conclusions from Matchday 29

Sorry for my recent absence. Been moving places. Little time to catch up with Bundesliga footy. Luckily, next to nothing has been decided in the meantime – except for Kaiserslautern’s relegation, which is a mere mathematical formality now. In fact, things have been opening up quite a bit – most promisingly, at the very top.

The new rivalry between Bayern and Dortmund needs a name.
Klassiko, Derby Germania, something like that. What looks like to be the biggest game in German football for the foreseeable future surely deserves a name. So, any suggestions? In the meantime we’ll have to let their slogans clash: Bayern’s mia san mia vs Dortmund’s we are football. Everything is set up for a fantastic title showdown on Wednesday. And while it may turn out to be a borefest with either Dortmund or Bayern sneaking out a win or both drawing, it’ll give us plenty to discuss. What does or doesn’t it mean for the current and future hierarchy in the Bundesliga? These things. See you Wednesday evening.

Raul needs to sign a new contract.
Preferably from Schalke and not from an oil-rich Quatar based club of course. I’m all for Schalke’s recent forays into financial responsibility and wage bill cuts, but I’m also for seeing more of Raul’s mastery of the beautiful game every weekend. Time for Horst Heldt to find a compromise. Maybe there are still some Magath signings hidden in some abandoned locker on Schalke’s training ground, that can be sold at some garage sale, to finance the deal?

In Cologne it’s nature vs nurture and nature wins.
Chronic chaos has been in Cologne’s DNA for decades now. At the beginning of the season Volker Finke and Stale Solbakken set out to prove nature wrong, and inject a cool headed professional approach into the club’s culture. The long term goal: develop the club into a contender for the European places. The short term result: the president resigned. Sporting director Finke was fired. The team is in the middle of another relegation battle. Coach Solbakken just about held on to his job. Yet, his team’s precious signs of improvement against Bremen at the weekend, were immediately overshadowed by (another) episode of a player having a little bit too much to drink and getting in trouble with the police…

Reports of Kaiserslautern’s demise have been greatly accurate.
Much more accurate than their finishing, which is letting them all the way down to Tasmania Berlin dimensions. A measly 18 goals in 29 matches could probably only earn you points with a Lucien Favre trained defense. Summer signings Sukuta-Pasu, Wagner or Shechter, on paper, could all be labeled promising talents. Unfortunately for sporting director Stefan Kuntz, not one of them managed to deliver on the promise.

If you miss the old Werder Bremen gung-ho football, consider enyoing some of Stuttgart’s recent disregard for defense.
While Bremen are in a bit of an identity crisis, Stuttgart have been scoring and conceding their way up to fifth place. They could have lost against Dortmund by eight goals to four, and they could have drawn against Mainz 4-4, so they are riding their luck and depending on their opponents inefficiency a bit. But they are scoring lots of goals in the process and are fun to watch. Not sure where Labaddia is going with this in the long term, but in the short term, it looks like returning the club to Europe.

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Category: Bundesliga