Matchday 25: Never Say Never

Leverkusen lose at last and do it in style. Bayern drop points and keep the top spot. Schalke emerges from the shadow. Hannover stop the downward spiral for the moment.

Leverkusen. In hindsight, it’s easy to say it had been coming. What’s certain though is, that Leverkusen’s defeat at the hands of Nuremberg (2-3) was preceded by a number of draws and victories, that were no longer confident, but rather bumpy and lucky at times. Leverkusen topped this off against Nuremberg with some unusually uncoordinated defending by Hyypiä and Friedrich, and after 55 minutes the invincibles were trailing by three goals. With a bit of luck this was the cliched wake-up call for the run-in, as Leverkusen answered with a spirited comeback, that ended one goal short after 90 minutes, but maybe the team can carry it over to their game against Hamburg. Something they will certainly be carrying over now is the Neverkusen label, which is probably one of the most unfair psychological baggage you can saddle on a young team.

Bayern. Cologne decided not to get involved in the title race and just pick up a point each from Leverkusen and Bayern instead. In Leverkusen they relied on their infamous and feared team bus. At home against Bayern they relied on a 4-3-3 with Novakovic, Podolski and Frei putting unexpected pressure on Bayern in the first half. That Lukas Podolski would be the one to put Cologne one nil up and end his epic goal drought on the other hand, feels very predictable – in hindsight. You can only fool Louis van Gaal for 45 minutes though, and after some half-time adjustments Bayern fought back, equalised, hit all sorts of woodwork and then were lucky not to lose on a counter attack. Not the best of preparations for their Champions League match against Fiorentina, but at least they got to keep the top spot in the league.

Schalke. Leverkusen were the kings of set pieces in the Hinrunde, but that title is now being contested by Felix Magath’s unassuming Schalke side. Newly ambitious Eintracht Frankfurt invited Schalke, so they could test their new and improved organization and passing game, which was then comfortably rendered useless by the league’s best defense and goalkeeper. In turn, two set pieces in the first fifteen minutes were enough to already put the game beyond doubt and let Schalke roll out a few counter attacks for a comfortable 4-1 victory. Frankfurt fans left the stadium disillusioned and with their small Europa League hopes crushed. Everybody else meanwhile looks at Felix Magath and wonders whether this man has once again assembled an unexpected dark horse come from behind title winner.

Hamburg. Friedhelm Funkel summed it up nicely after the game, when he said that Hamburg probably have no clue either how they ended up winning this game. Hamburg hosted rock-bottom Hertha, but were the ones looking the much more likely team to be about to hit rock bottom with their performance – except for maybe Marcell Jansen and Frank Rost. The injury excuse is starting to phase out as most players are back on board and Ruud van Nistelrooy can no longer distract the fans. Hamburg look tired and out of ideas. If this trend continues into the Europa League game against Anderlecht and the crucial Champions League play-off against Leverkusen, it’ll be time to rehash the story of Bruno Labbadia’s past accomplishments – or lack of.

Hannover. The game between Freiburg and Hannover can probably be regarded as the most error prone and chaotic game of the season – at least with two instead of one team contributing the errors and chaos in equal measures. Hannover’s players and management couldn’t care less at the moment though as they grabbed their first three points since Robert Enke’s death. The defense is still shaky and error prone. The run-in for Hannover is still very difficult. But the positive psychological effect could prove priceless – as long as you pretend to yourself that Freiburg is still a competitive member of the Bundesliga and not pure cannon fodder.

Stuttgart. Those hoping that Stuttgart could continue to gatecrash the Europa League party at the top and deliver an away game performance, that makes you confident ahead of the Barcelona game, were disappointed. Although on second thought, a 2-2 draw would send Stuttgart through as well. In the table, the draw sees Stuttgart and Bremen losing ground to Dortmund and Hamburg though.

Dortmund. It was a low-key first half of the season for Dortmund’s Mohamed Zidan, but the African Cup of Nation trophy seems to have had a welcome revitalizing effect. Since returning from Angola, Zidan racked up three goals and four assists in five games and was man of the match in Dortmund’s comfortable 3-0 dismantling of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Hoffenheim. Village + billionaire + exciting football + top of the able = interesting story. Village + billionaire – exciting football + midtable mediocrity = boring 0-1 home defeat against Mainz.

Results: Cologne 1-1 Bayern, Bremen 2-2 Stuttgart, Hamburg 1-0 Hertha, Frankfurt 1-4 Schalke, Freiburg 1-2 Hannover 96, Wolfsburg 4-1 Bochum, Dortmund 3-0 Mönchengladbach, Nuremberg 3-2 Leverkusen, Hoffenheim 0-1 Mainz

Some Related Bundesliga Posts:

Category: Bundesliga