die Tabelle lügen nicht! (02/07)

By: Johnny on the Spot | February 7th, 2008

1. Bayern Munich
Late in their match victory over Hansa Rostock, Hitzfeld switched Klose for Ottl and finally reverted from the toothless 4-4-2 to the dynamic 4-5-1 (or in their case a 4-2-3-1). Is he finally seeing the light?

2. Werder Bremen
A blatant offside for the first goal. A harsh red on Naldo. Did they lose the title on two terrible calls in their 2-1 defeat at home to Bochum?

3. Bayer Leverkusen
This team is going to need to hang onto this position for dear life if they hope to keep hold of Rene Adler, Tranquillo Barnetta and Gonzalo Castro this summer.

4. Hamburg SV
Am I the only neutral hoping that this is Hamburg’s final position? Considering manager Huup Stevens will be leaving, as well as talisman Rafael van der Vaart, and possibly budding star Vincent Kompany, I can’t help but imagine that they will have a tough time in Champions League next year. And we desperately need to boost the UEFA coefficient.

5. Schalke 04
Their ability to score, as in the 4-1 victory over Stuttgart, seems poised on the ability of a team without natural wide players to stretch the field. Westermann did a good job of overlapping on the left, the forwards played from the center out and Rakitic and Kobiashvili did a good job of playing wide on the weekend. Their dearth of draws have come from playing exclusively through the middle.

6. Karlsruhe
It is time that we all start to recognize that Edmund Becker’s left back Christian Eichner is one of the best in the Bundesliga. He scored a sublime goal in Karlsruhe’s 2-0 win against Nurnberg.

7. Hannover 96
It was another gritty performance for the Reds, drawing away to HSV, as they continue to impress this campaign. On a lighter note, next year they will be the first major professional team to be outfitted by America’s newest sporting line Under Armor. It’s tight fitting, so work on you pecs and abs.

8. Eintracht Frankfurt
Well somebody made the best move in the January window and I can tell you 17 teams that aren’t that someone. Martin Fenin, who snubbed a move to Juventus, joined and immediately scored a hat-trick for his new club. If the Czech starlet continues to shine, Frankfurt could be chasing Europe by year’s end.

9. Stuttgart
Slotting in at left-back, youth team call-up Christian Träsch performed admirably in his first game for Armin Veh at a position crippled by the ANC and injuries. He was the only positive for the Swabians in their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Schalke.

10. Wolfsburg
This has become the hardest team to judge on a weekly basis. While that epitomizes a mid-table team, their upset of Schalke in the DFB Cup makes me suspect this team could be making another 1995 run.

11. Bochum
You know that somebody somewhere threw a €10 spot on Bochum in the 70th minute, even though they were trailing in Bremen, which is a place they have never won since joining the Bundesliga in 1971. In their 31st attempt and trailing the mighty Green and Whites, they did the unthinkable and some drunk won a lot of money somewhere. I imagine he lost the slip.

12. Borussia Dortmund
Having lambasted Roman Weidenfelder mercilessly, it now seems that I have to admit to being wrong. His injury and Jens Lehmenn’s snub might leave the giants struggling for the remainder of this season as Marc Ziegler looked inept in goal during the 3-3 draw with bottom-dwelling Duisburg.

13. Hertha Berlin
The goals have dried up, and while they added new forwards in the January window, they did little to find link play, which is what they are lacking right now. The home loss to Wolfsburg has them teetering on the edge of relegation after a promising start.

14. Arminia Bielefeld
At this point, I am starting to believe they only fired Ernst Middendorp so that they could rehire him for the umpteenth time to save them.

15. Hansa Rostock
They may have well deserved a point against the Bavarian giants for their tenacious second half performance, especially Stein and Kern. But as well we all know you can’t miss your chances against Bayern.

16. Nurnberg
You know how some teams just play better when reduced to 10 men? When Andreas Wolf was sent off in the 57th for a string of cynical fouls during their 2-0 loss to KSC, Nurnberg was definitely not one of those teams.

17. Energie Cottbus
I never think firing a manager early in the season is intelligent; however, the move from Petrik Sander to Bojan Prašnikar has seen their offense start to perform in spades. If the timing of two late runs had been a fraction better, they could have well upset Leverkusen.

18. Duisburg
Dropping a two-goal lead twice against a mid-table club at home is a pretty good indication that they should be preparing for life in Zwei next year.