Bundesliga Review – Bayern Resigned To Losing The Title?
Resignation – something tendered by the now former President Christian Wulff on Friday morning. No one at Bayern Munich will offer theirs yet but in deepest Badem-Wuttemberg, Germany’s most successful club slipped further behind Borussia Dortmund in the race for the title.
The Reds are now third, the same position they finished last season after another tepid away showing. Jupp Heycnkes, who was in charge last year at runners up Bayer Leverkusen, is unfamiliar to poor showings on the road. With his previous employers, he enjoyed the best away record in the division in the 2010/2011 season.
However, Bayern’s off colour showing at lowly Freiburg means his side have only won two of their last eight away matches in the Bundesliga. Their opponents on Saturday evening deserve credit for their determined performance. It might just irk Freiburg fans though that they’re the bottom placed side in Germany’s elite, in the knowledge their team can perform to that standard.
Two of their relegation rivals also had the challenge of trying to upset another two of the division’s high fliers. However, neither the recently wretched Hertha Berlin nor Kaiserslautern were able to overcome either of the league’s Borussias. Both victories were narrow which is of credit to the basement battlers. Hertha were greeted with the news on Friday that Otto Rehhagel would take over the vacant manager’s position or should it be Captain Otto?
He told Bild: “The Hertha ship has not sunk, but it has a large leak. I always have the last word. I am now there for Hertha, day and night, and I am always punctual.” His imminent arrival was unable to prevent Kevin Grosskreutz from grabbing a 1-0 win for Dortmund, maintaining the Champions position at the top.
Monchengladbach moved into second meanwhile as they emerged victorious at the Betzenberg, in a game which had two outstanding goals. Hermann put the away side ahead before a beautiful intricate move ended in Arango using the outside of his left foot to curl the ball past Kevin Trapp. Leon Jessen’s 30 yard thunderbolt halved the deficit but the counter attacking demons of Gladbach held on, meaning the Foals moved ahead of Bayern Munich for the first time since August.
The one place where Bayern have found consistency is at home, winning nine of their eleven at the Allianz Arena. However, Schalke visit next weekend.They’re now the top scorers in the Bundesliga having beaten Wolfsburg 4-0 on Sunday. Next weekend’s match-up will see the league’s top goalscorers, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Mario Gomez go head to head. Should the Royal Blues win, they’ll move above their hosts. Huub Stevens must seek inspiration from the forces above – no, nothing supernatural, just Gladbach and Dortmund who have both won in Munich this season
Each of the top four have key players missing currently and the table shows who’s currently coping the best. Lying just four points off the top, it would be foolish to rule Bayern out of the title race, although they are starting to lose vital ground on leaders Borussia Dortmund.
However, they haven’t had the panache of Champions. As Captain Philip Lahm stated after Saturday’s game, “If we continue to play like we did today, it will be hard to win the title.” Whilst they are not resigned to losing the title just yet, anyone connected with Bayern Munich will have felt more than an air of resignation after their latest performance.
For more on the Bundesliga, follow @arhindtutt on Twitter.
Matchday 22 Results:
Hoffenheim 1-1 Mainz
Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Augsburg
Hamburg 1-3 Werder Bremen
Hertha Berlin 0-1 Borussia Dortmund
Kaiserslautern 1-2 Gladbach
Nuremberg 2-1 Cologne
Freiburg 0-0 Bayern Munich
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Schalke 4-0 Wolfsburg
Hannover 4-2 Stuttgart
Bundesliga Table
Rank
Club
Matches
W*
D*
L*
G*
GD*
PTS*
1
Borussia Dortmund
22
15
4
3
47:14
+33
49
CL*
2
Borussia Mönchengladbach
22
14
4
4
36:13
+23
46
CL*
3
FC Bayern Munich
22
14
3
5
49:14
+35
45
CL*
4
FC Schalke 04
22
14
2
6
50:28
+22
44
CL* Qual.
5
SV Werder Bremen
22
10
6
6
37:36
+1
36
EL* Qual.
6
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
22
9
7
6
32:29
+3
34
EL* Qual.
7
Hannover 96
22
8
10
4
27:27
0
34
8
VfL Wolfsburg
22
8
3
11
27:42
-15
27
9
VfB Stuttgart
22
7
5
10
33:32
+1
26
10
1899 Hoffenheim
22
6
8
8
24:26
-2
26
11
Hamburger SV
22
6
8
8
27:37
-10
26
12
1. FC Nuremberg
22
7
4
11
21:32
-11
25
13
1. FSV Mainz 05
22
5
9
8
30:36
-6
24
14
1. FC Köln
22
7
3
12
30:43
-13
24
15
Hertha BSC Berlin
22
4
8
10
25:37
-12
20
16
1. FC Kaiserslautern
22
3
9
10
16:28
-12
18
Play-offs
17
FC Augsburg
22
3
9
10
20:37
-17
18
Relegation
18
SC Freiburg
22
4
6
12
27:47
-20
18
Relegation
Table thanks to Bundesliga Official Website
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