Bundesliga – Matchday 12 review

Article by Bundesliga Correspondent Ed Hewings

How many times will we say this – What a weekend in the Bundesliga. We have a new all-time Bundesliga record; an 8 goal thriller, a shock defeat for a title-challenger (again) and one team still awaiting their first league win of the season.

There’s only one place to start, and that’s at the Allianz-Arena in Munich where Bayern, having equalled the longest run of unbeaten games in the Bundesliga, looked to go one further and set a new record against lowly Augsburg. Mario Gotze started again, with Guardiola going for a 4-2-3-1 formation, a departure from the preferred 4-1-4-1 which has been used for most of this season, seeing Lahm and Martninez shielding the back 4. This result was one never in doubt – Bayern have a fortress in Bavaria, and from the 4th minute when Jerome Boateng rifled the ball in from an acute angle. From then on, it was a case of ‘how many’ for Bayern. However, it took until the 42nd minute when Ribery picked himself up from a foul on the edge of the area to smash home to put the Bavarians 2-0 up at the break. It was something of a procession after the break, with Robben, Muller and Kirchoff seeing action, and took until an extremely harsh penalty award in the 95th minute which was duly converted by Muller settled the contest. Bayern head into the showdown with Dortmund next weekend buoyed by excellent form in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League.

However, the same cannot be said for Dortmund. Coming into the weekend off a home defeat against Arsenal in the Champions League, they would have wanted a nice easy game to get them back on track. However, Wolfsburg away is not an easy game (not that there are any in the Bundesliga). And so it proved for Die Schwarzgelben. Despite Marco Reus putting them into the lead at the very death of the first half with a fantastic freekick, Wolfsburg responded in the second half with two quickfire goals from Rodriguez and Olic to which Dortmund could find an answer to ensure that the three points stayed in the Volkswagen Arena. Not the greatest warm up for one of the most hotly anticipated games of the season and the first re-run of the Champions League Final last season.

Last weekend, Leverkusen went down 1-0 away to bottom club Braunschweig, and questions were asked as to whether they really had it in them to mount a title challenge this season. On Saturday afternoon, they hosted Hamburg who came into the game off the back of their first defeat under new coach Bert van Marwijk. The game started fantastically well for Leverkusen, with Son Heung-Min scoring twice in the first 16 minutes. Hamburg came back into it a few minutes later, with Max Beister netting. Shortly into the second half, Pierre-Michel Lasogga (who Jogi Low surely must be taking a look at after his blistering start to the season) netted to bring the scores level at 2-2. However, Leverkusen weren’t finished, Son completed his hat-trick a few minutes later, and Kießling netted to give Leverkusen their 2 goal cushion back. However, Hamburg weren’t having that, and Lasogga scored yet again to leave a nervy final 20minutes, or at least until Castro had the final say for Leverkusen, scoring in the 89th minute to secure a 5-3 victory.

And so we come to Nuremberg. Having had such a good season last year qualifying for the Europe League, they seem to have completely forgotten what made them a good team last season, as they continue to be without a win in the league this season. They had a tough away game against Borussia Monchengladbach, looking to continue to lead the chasing pack in 4th. The game started well for Nuremberg, with Drmic scoring in the 21st minute to take a 1-0 lead into half time. And it stayed that way until the 72nd minute, when Borussia’s pressure paid off and Juan Arango scored – this was quickly followed by an own goal by Niclas Stark, and then Herrmann rounded off a 3-1 victory for Monchengladbach to keep them in 4th and Nuremberg in the relegation spots.

Elsewhere, Hannover looked to bounce back from derby day defeat last weekend against Leverkusen’s conquerors Braunschweig, but they could only manage a 0-0draw (the second in the Bundesliga this season). Braunschweig are beginning to play well and get good results, dare one say it!

Hertha played out an entertaining 3-2 win over Hoffenheim away from the Olympiastadion in Berlin, with Adrian Ramos scoring twice, including the winner in the 84th minute.

Schalke put their disappointing result against Chelsea in the Champions League behind them, Hildebrand keeping his place in goal despite his horrendous howler midweek, but overcoming Werder Bremen 3-1 at the Veltins-Arena. However, it took until the 85th minute for Schalke to take the lead, Kevin Prince-Boateng with his second of the game made it 2-1, before Farfan sealed the points in injury time.

On Sunday, Mainz entertained Frankfurt and ran out 1-0 winners thanks to an 88th minute winner from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting that pushes the Nullfunfer into the top half of the table. Stuttgart dominated a Freiburg team from start to finish, being 2-0 up after 10 minutes, and running out 3-1 winners.

Bayern are now 4 points ahead of Dortmund thanks to Wolfsburg’s victory, and Bayer Leverkusen are now level on points with Jurgen Klopp’s team on 28, with an inferior goal difference. Borussia Monchengladbach lead the chasing pack on 22 points, with Wolfsburg and Schalke close behind. At the bottom, Nuremberg remain in the mire, but Braunschweig, despite having 8 points, are upwardly mobile with 4 points from their last 2 games – Freiburg occupy the final spot in the drop zone.

Next week sees Bayern travel to Dortmund, and Monchengladbach travel to Stuttgart.

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