Monday 17 September 2007

Bundesliga: Day Five - Big clubs in trouble

Borussia Dortmund - Werder Bremen 3:0
VfB Stuttgart - Energie Cottbus 3:0
Bayern München - FC Schalke 04 1:1
Bayer Leverkusen - VfL Bochum 2:0
1. FC Nürnberg - Hannover 96 2:2
Arminia Bielefeld - Hansa Rostock 4:2
Eintracht Frankfurt - Hamburger SV 2:1
VfL Wolfsburg - Karlsruher SC 1:2
MSV Duisburg - Hertha BSC 1:2

I didn't have any chance to watch a match this weekend so I will just rely on what the press is saying. But it seems that Bayern Munich have lost the magic touch the had in the first three rounds. After winning three in a row without conceding a goal the now drew two in a row, albeit against teams which are more of their level than the previous three ones. Schalke meanwhile were abkle to stop their skid downwards, still what they need is wins. The have four draws now and just one win (no loss).
Dortmund on the other hand now seem to be rolling. They crushed Werder Bremen 3-0 sending them down to the bottom of the table. In this match there seemed to have been wuite a few very brutal fouls one which I was able to see on TV and that looked really dangerous. The Dortmund player should have been sent off. The are in good company down there though. Last season's cup winners Nuremburg are struggling as well, being only one place away from a relegation spot.
Elsewhere Bielefeld continues to be the surprising team of the season so far. They are in 2nd place once again. Also up there are Frankfurt and Karlsruhe. And Hertha BSC Berlin seem to pick up the pace a little bit as well after playing really badly during the first two matches.
The most interesting thing though is Wolfsburg. They acquired former Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath before the season giving him unlimited powers in the club. He is now more like what Alex Ferguson is at ManU than what the usual coach in German football is doing. Magath now has full control over all transactions on the player's market and is in complete charge of the team. in fact he's even holding the spot which would have the power to fire him from coaching the team. Now, as always, when a single person has so much power alone there will always be critizism. So because he has nowhere to hide when the team plays bad it always falls back to him. And Wolfsburg are really playing bad. They are on a relegation spot after losing to last season's 2nd division champions Karlsruhe 1-2 at home on Sunday. Although the team is as good as new they don't seem to play together at the moment. Maybe there are too many new players. This will be interesting to watch and I don't think that Magath will last until the end of the season.

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