Running Commentary: Bundesliga Matchday 19

By: Jan | February 8th, 2009

Waking this blog from its’ winter sleep was long overdue and what better way to do it, than with a completely experimental feature, which I might immediately scrap again in time for the next matchday.

A while back we had a Bundesliga forum complementing this blog. Theoretically it’s still there actually, but realistically the only people caring enough to post there anymore are spammers. Back when this forum was still complementing we had matchday threads, which people could use to discuss the matches and results as they happened without waiting for our blogger’s clever recaps. The whole thing never really took off. But who knows, maybe it can work inside this blog.

I collect some thoughts on the weekend’s action whenever I find the time. You comment on the weekend’s action whenever you find the time.

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Friday

Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 Hertha BSC Berlin
A typical Hertha match. Half of the squad was injured, the other half surrendered possession and shots on goal stats to their opponent. What was atypical was that Hertha somehow didn’t win it with a late goal. Nothing to worry about yet, as Nicu and Chermiti had two excellent opportunities to steal all three points near the end of the game. Hertha’s basics are still there. Nothing new: any Hertha defensive lineup not consisting of the magic Simunic-Friedrich-Drobny triangle is doomed to fail. A stupid yellow card for Cicero means, he’ll miss the Bayern match. Chermiti looked quite promising and he’s fast. Hertha are still on track to completely emulate their first half of the season results. Expect a heavy loss against Bayern next week.

Elsewhere Artur Wichniarek is slowly closing in on Vedad Ibisevic.
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Saturday

Karlsruhe 3-2 Hamburg
Hamburg throw away a 2-0 lead and those 3 points against Bayern are basically worthless now. Jol has no good track record when it comes to adding new players to Hamburg’s central defense. Reinhardt replacement Gravgaard teamed up with Mathijsen and was involved in Karlsruhe’s first and third goal. To make matters worse Petric got a rather soft red card. Post match quote Jol (as far as I remember): “Bla bla bla Gravgaard bla bla Gravgaard.” The good news is that Hamburg were otherwise in control of the match and had some nice build up play.

Mönchengladbach 1-1 Hoffenheim
A deserved draw based on the performance of both teams. An undeserved draw based on the fact that Hoffenheim’s last minute equaliser came from an offside position. One point doesn’t help Gladbach that much, but at least their football has improved. They are still losing a bit of ground, with Bielefeld and Karlsruhe both grabbing unlikely victories this and last weekend. Hoffenheim have lost their mojo. Not so much sexy football from them at the moment. They’ll top the Bundesliga table for at least one more week nonetheless.

Leverkusen 2-4 Stuttgart
To quote from Bittersweet Symphony, which Leverkusen play ahead of each match: No change, I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change. To quote from the Mario Gomez season stats: 28 games, 20 goals, 6 assists. And a modified quote for Jogi Löw ahead of the match against Norway: what happened in Austria and Switzerland stays in Austria and Switzerland.

Schalke 04 1-0 Werder Bremen
Fred Rutten said after the match that he couldn’t give a shit whether people thought that this was a miserable match or not. Which sums up both the action on the pitch and the fact that Schalke got the big point. Thanks to Leverkusen they are even within three points of the Europa League spots. It didn’t look like this team is ready to go on a winning streak but you never know. You never know about Werder either. The media is slowly starting to question Thomas Schaaf which is close to a revolution. It would be close to an apocalypse if Werder themselves actually started to question Thomas Schaaf. Hasn’t happened of course, so we can all sleep safely for now.

Wolfsburg 2-0 Bochum
Wolfsburg and Bochum both haven’t won a single match on the road this season. Unfortunately for Bochum, they were on the road this weekend.

Frankfurt 2-2 Cologne
Novakovic helps to keep Cologne fans entertained while they impatiently wait for Lukas Podolski.

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Sunday

Cottbus 3-1 Hanover
Cottbus with three very valuable points and Hanover are back in the inconsistent and underperforming mess in which they’ve been in most of the season.

Bayern 3-1 Dortmund
Two very late Miroslav Klose goals seal the victory for Bayern and they move within one point of Hoffenheim. Bayern fans who felt the whole world had conspired against them last weekend, should be appeased by the fact that Bayern’s equaliser was scored from an offside position. Florian Kringe has a bit of Luca Toni in him – the misfiring bit though.

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Summary
Bayern’s competition rolled out the red carpet and Bayern didn’t refuse the invitation, although they were a bit late. The weekend’s biggest loser is probably Mönchengladbach, who came within two minutes of beating Hoffenheim. Karlsruhe, Cottbus and Bielefeld (last week) all grabbed valuable victories, which means Gladbach is now trailing the relegation play-off spot by four points. Our Gladbach blogger Otto is quite cheerful though, given the improved performances of his team. Is someone brave enough to go over there and tell him what the Bundesliga table actually looks like?