Five Four Conclusions From Matchday 6

The Bundesliga was on its’ worst behavior ever. According to the referees, who dished out a league record 5 straight red cards. Tim Wiese kicked off proceedings with a foul outside the box, following one of his kamikaze excursions. He equalled Oliver Kahn’s 3 career total red cards in the Bundesliga and is only two away from Jens Lehmann’s five red cards. A worthy inductee to the Mad German Goalkeeper Hall of Fame.

Michael Oenning still has a job. One of the biggest surprises to come out of this weekend. Less surprising was the fact that Borussia Mönchengladbach deservedly won 1-0. Hamburg conceded just one goal, which presumably qualifies as an improvement in Frank Arnesen’s reality distortion field. Next up for Hamburg: a loss against Stuttgart, more improvements and, probably, hopefully, if you have any sympathy for the club, a new coach.

Dortmund suffer the champions blues. Everybody tipped Dortmund to overcome the recent trend of surprise Bundesliga champions crashing down the table and barely qualifying for Europe the next season. I still think this will be the case, but it won’t happen without some hard work and the return of Lucas Barrios from injury. Dortmund don’t really play all that bad, but they just have nobody Lewandowski to convert all their chances.

Lukas Podolski scores a rare win over Andre Schürrle. Which was part of an even rarer win of Cologne in Leverkusen. The first in 15 years. Andre Schürrle has been getting all the plaudits and praise for his goals and performances for both club and country – deservedly so. While Lukas Podolski has been subject to quite a bit of criticism – deservedly so. Saturday roles were reversed for once, as Lukas Podolski scored two and assisted one, while Andre Schürrle capped off a miserable day for Leverkusen with a late sending off.

Bayern can’t be bothered by the madness surrounding them. Drama and upsets are everywhere in the Bundesliga, except for the games Bayern play that weekend. Following the early stumble against Mönchengladbach and a rocky game against Wolfsburg, the Bavarians have quickly found their rhythm and are starting to dictate the pace in the title race. Leverkusen, Dortmund or Schalke already have quite some catching up to do – if they are legitimate title contenders anyway. Maybe we’ll rather see a surprise comeback of Bremen or Stuttgart. Or Lucien Favre does what he did with Hertha in 2009.

Some Related Bundesliga Posts:

• Five Conclusions From Matchday 5
• 5 Conclusions from Matchday 2
• Five Conclusions From CL/EL Matchday 1
• 5 Conclusions From the Champions/Europa League Play-Offs 2nd Leg

Category: Bundesliga