Browsing the 1.Bundesliga: Matchday 18

Chomping at the Bit for a Move to Real Madrid

Back in the Saddle Edition

It’s been a while, but Bundesliga was back this weekend to see if Borussia Dortmund could continue its fantastic run atop the league table. And much like this post, the play was clunky with little fanfare and fewer goals scored than normal.  As Ray Hudson said, “It’s challenging to get the right horses for the right courses.”  With that, let’s get on the trot.

Gone in Six Minutes

Much like that elusive Shelby Mustang named Eleanor–she is a beaut, isn’t she?–Borussia Dortmund revved up and turned a tight affair at the BayArena into a runaway 3 goal lead against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the span of 6 minutes.  A consolation goal from Stefan Kießling made the final line 3-1, but by then Juergen Klopp had his young stallions back in the stable preparing for next matchday’s contest with VfB Stuttgart.

Leverkusen might have been doomed from the off given its 4-4-2 formation that included Lars Bender in the middle in Arturo Vidal’s stead and Renato Augusto partnering on the right.  While the tactic seemed intended to narrow the pitch against BvB and maintain greater possession–which Bayer did at a 56% rate–Renato Augusto is not incredibly proficient at helping out defensively and left RB Daniel Schwaab out on an island often.

Further, while the twinkie battle between Sven of Dortmund and Lars of Bayer was lovely for Mrs. Bender to put in her scrapbook, why leave arguably the club’s best midfielder on the subs bench?   Oh Jupp, you played right into Klopp’s hands!

Skipping ahead to the 2nd half, these tactical errors bore out in the 1st two goals Dortmund scored.  On the throw deep in Leverkusen’s end, Kevin Großkreutz was able to latch onto a loose ball dealt with poorly by Schwaab and hammer home his shot past GK Adler for a 1-0 lead in the 49th minute.

Where was Augusto?  The Brazilian was much further upfield awaiting a clearance that never came.  Typically, Vidal is back covering in those instances and the extra body to screen out Großkreutz was certainly lacking.

For the 2nd, Großkreutz was able to run onto a ball headed back by CB Stefan Reinartz, beat the other CB Friedrich, and slot it home just a few minutes after his first goal.  Where was Bender?  Why, he was standing near the midfield stripe, asking Sven what he should bring round mom’s house for Sunday lunch apparently.

By the time Heynckes was able to get Vidal up and onto the pitch to replace Bender in the 60th, Mario Goetze had already scored the 3rd goal–off a nice bit  of passing by Großkreutz while sat on his backside–and the match was done.

Matchday 18 ended with Dortmund 12 points clear of all challengers while the Werkself saw themselves drop down to 4th position.  Unconfirmed reports indicate the Bender family enjoyed a wonderful Sunday meal that included a cake where the words “Neverkusen” were written in black and yellow icing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy7AuxIOSh4

Kraftwerk and Cold Play

Bundesliga newbie GK Thomas Kraft proved Louis van Gaal’s faith in him while his Bayern mates played as flat as Chris Martin yells out the word “yellow” as Die Roten gave away 2 points late in a 1-1 draw against Wolfsburg in the Volkswagen Arena.

Two minutes after Mario Gomez had a 5th minute effort rattle out behind Wolfsburg GK Benaglio,   Kraft collected the ball and punted upfield to Thomas Mueller–who was streaking toward goal all by himself.  Benaglio was caught out while his defenders had fallen asleep and his effort at a clearance simply struck off Mueller and the ball ricocheted into his own empty net. It was a 7th minute lead for FCB and Wolfsburg were stuck in the position of chasing the game.  Benaglio redeemed himself somewhat with a great reaction save from a Bayern corner around the 18th minute–and after that is when the wheels fell off for Bayern.

Franck Ribery limped off the pitch around the 19th minute with an apparent knee injury–it seems he landed awkwardly after a relatively innocuous challenge with Josue–and Bayern played down a man while Arjen Robben pulled on his leggings.  Wolfsburg midfielder Dejagah attempted to forcibly remove LB Danijel Pranjic’s R knee in the box and a penalty shot was called for around the 21st minute.

But Philipp Lahm missed the penno!  He banged it just on the inner part of Benaglio’s R post and out.  Robben entered the match a few minutes later and took over the R flank–moving Mueller to the other side of the pitch.  Overall, this completely threw off any balance to the Bayern formation.  Schweinsteiger got a bit lost in all the kerfuffle and Gomez began styling himself a nice pair of pants.

Mr. Easy Mac was called into action again when Wolfsburg were awarded a penalty in 1st half stoppage time.  Dejagah was bundled over by Holger Badstuber in the penalty area and Grafite stepped up to try and level things.  Kraft denied the Brazilian and Bayern maintained it’s 1-0 advantage going into the changing rooms.

The 2nd half began with Wolfsburg playing a bit loose in the back as  new captain Marcel Schaefer played a bit further upfield on the left and Kjaer moved up through the middle while Arne Friedrich settled in the center of Wolfsburg’s defense.  This allowed Bayern several chances but neither Schweini nor Gomez were positioned well enough to take advantage.

That ‘triffic Croatian lad Mandzukic–along with Josue–were clipping at Robben’s heels most of the 2nd half defending rather than being able to contribute to much offensively.  Neither could deny Robben’s scorcher of a shot in the 57th minute that was just turned away by Benaglio.

Kraft punched the ball off Kjaer’s head around the 60th minute to deny a Wolfsburg chance created by another Diego free kick. Gomez stopped sewing his pants long enough to take a shot in the 68th, but the level of play indicated that Bayern thought it had 3 points in the bag.

Four minutes from time though, Die Woelfe got its equalizer.  Marcel Schaefer turned Schweini like a windmill deep in the corner and crossed into the middle for Sascha Riether to drill the shot home.  Riether was being marked by Badstuber–who overall had a bit of an uneven return to the line-up.

You might be wondering why Schweini was out on the right to defend against Schaefer rather than Lahm.  Lahm was simply too busy practicing his moves for the next Lollipop Guild get together.  With the draw, Bayern remained in 5th position while Wolfsburg earned its 7th consecutive draw–one short of the Bundesliga record.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mzsXi3_ZLM

Sometimes Repetition is The Key

Marco Pezzaiuoli unveiled a flat 4-3-3 formation in his first match as Hoffenheim’s gaffer and his lads came close to starting 2011 with a well earned draw at the Weserstadion.  Your favorite German though–Torsten Frings–snatched victory for the home side as Werder Bremen took a 2-1 win ahead of its pivotal match next against FC Koeln in Matchday 19.

Die Hoff‘s defensive intentions were revealed quite early.  While midfielders Sebastian Rudy and David Alaba–the player that went the other way in the Gustavo transfer–had more lateral passes to one another than forward, CB Isaac Vorsah and LB Andreas Beck had more hoofs up the pitch than a non-Sam Allardyce managed club should have.

Werder nearly had the opening goal in the 10th minute as a set piece header from lanky CB Sebastian Prodl smacked the crossbar but landed down rather than inside the net. Prodl had another chance in the 20th and seemed to be the only offensive-minded player inside of the opening 30 minutes for Bremen.

And when we’re talking about center backs being the only offensive-minded players in the match, that gives you an impression of how events transpired.

As Torsten Frings continued to murder any potential scoring chances for Werder by taking all of the free kicks and corners, club malcontent Marco Arnautovic began to develop a good relationship with center forward Claudio Pizarro and this understanding led to the Werder’s goal in the 36th minute.

Arnautovic laced a lovely short pass through the middle for Pizarro to slot low into the right corner past Hoffe’s GK Starke.  Thomas Schaaf might have actually smiled for once as–now that he is without Hugo Almeida and forced to play Toni Kroos’ younger brother on the other wing–a productive Pizarro-Arnautovic pairing might see the club through to safety.

The 2nd half brought out the worst from 2 sides that committed 43 total fouls and earned 5 yellow cards.  Free kicks became important if either side were to take control of the match.  From the atrocious spot kicks by Frings and 1899′s belief it could score without taking shots–only 2 on goal–Bremen held onto its tentative 1 goal lead late into the match. Arnautovic forced Starke into a fantastic save around the 64th minute and Hoffenheim’s captain Beck escaped sanction for a handball in the 74th minute.

Even if Werder had been awarded a penalty for Beck’s handball, though, Frings would have likely dribbled the ball into Starke’s waiting gloves.  Did I mention his dead ball kicks were bad in this one?

Three minutes from time, though, the richest little village club surprised Werder with the equalizer.  Beck  cracked a shot from near the midfield that was deflected, but Hoffe CB Marvin Compper launched it upfield once more and found Boris Vukcevic able to settle and convert past a diving GK Tim Wiese.  Vukcevic looked a tad offsides, but it seemed just desserts for Werder GK Wiese, who hadn’t been punished up to that point for being caught out of position in front of goal.

In stoppage time, Hoffenheim’s kicky-fouly tactics finally turned against it like a beaten mule though, as Frings finally had his only good kick of the night.  Just on the outside of the penalty area, Frings launched a rocket of a shot that GK Starke could do nothing with, and the match ended 2-1 in favor of Werder.

With the full 3 points, Werder Bremen nudged itself further away from the drop zone–back up to 13th position–whereas 1899 look to begin its gradual descent to mid-table mediocrity.  Enjoy that transfer surplus Dietmar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md9xHNeoddM

How Much for that Horseface in the Transfer Window?

Schalke 04 sought to begin 2011 just as it had ended 2010–by turning Veltins Arena into a 3 point fortress.  Die Königsblauen were a bit unfortunate though as the 3 points on Matchday 18 went to Hamburg SV instead through a mess of a goal by Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Klaas Jan-Huntelaar made his only contributions within the 1st 4 minutes and for the remainder of the match opted to impersonate a piece of balsa wood while his strike partner Raul ran about in vain.  Jefferson Farfan stopped belly dancing enough to put in an excellent shift for Felix Magath’s side, dragging Hamburg CB Heiko Westermann into action early and forcing Ze Roberto to play back in defense a bit more.  As the Hunter didn’t threaten much, Roberto concentrated more on helping Westermann and LB Aogo with “La Foquito.”

Schalke were a bit shaky in the back early as well, with Manuel Neuer having to make a quality save in the 8th minute and covering up for some shoddy play by his central defenders.  Christoph Metzelder’s clearances were pants early goings, Jonathan Pitroipa was wild on the R side for Hamburg on the day while Schalke LB Schmitz looked better going forward in attack than tracking back to defend.

While at first it appeared Neuer might have felled Pitroipa around the 12th minute to earn Hamburg a penalty, replay showed the Burkinabe was touched only by the wind and the referee rightly denied Pitroipa’s appeals for a penalty. This was to be a theme of the day–Pitroipa with a fantastic run to goal, then poor acting and flopping on his part denying the Hamburglars a legitimate attacking movement.

Armin Veh needs to show Pitroipa this video prior to him trying to dive for calls again.

The match got a bit hairy midway through the 1st half, with Hamburg CB Gojko Kacar having a header blocked off the line by Mortiz in the 25th minute.  Roberto nearly gifted Die Knappen with an own goal after that, followed by an unintentional handball for Elia in the penalty area that wasn’t called, and Huntelaar actually moved to attempt a shot on Neuer in the 32nd minute.

David Jarolim settled the match down around the 36th minute as Hamburg sought to win control of the midfield.  Westermann likely could have earned a straight red card for taking out Schalke central midfielder Rakitic in the 40th minute, but remained on the pitch with only a yellow.  The first half ended scoreless but Hamburg was beginning to own the center of the park.

The statistics bear this out–Hamburg ended the match with a 57% possession rate to go with an 87% pass success rate.  Jarolim’s dominance of the center was massive–87 touches with a 95% pass efficiency rating whilst Schalke’s midfield hovered somewhere around 76%.

Horseface van NistelRuud scored the winner in the 53rd minute.  Off another bad bit of possession by Schalke, Hamburg RB Guy Demel floated a ball over everyone that found RvN about to crash into Neuer’s near post.  Beating off young RB Joel Matip, Ruud somehow poked the ball past Neuer.  Magath showed just how crazy he is by bringing on newly-acquired teenager Julian Draxler for Rakitic to push for the equalizer.  Christian Pander was re-introduced but his quality was lacking when it came to taking the set piece kicks Farfan had been making earlier in the match.

A single flirtatious shot on goal was all the Royal Blues could muster in the 1-0 loss.  Hamburg SV moved up to 7th position with the 3 points while Schalke ended Matchday 18 down to the 11th position.  Schalke are wedged in with several other clubs stuck on 22 points and with no goal differential–so Magath will need to find a way to turn potential future losses into at least draws for the Gelsenkirchen side to escape its perpetual hamster wheel.

And as for Horseface–Moo Moo wants him back in Spain but after this weekend Hamburg won’t let him leave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqupPCKmR1M

Laziness Personified
In other Matchday 18 action:

VfB Stuttgart 1-0 Mainz 05
Holy cow!  The Swabians kept a clean sheet!  Martin Harnik with a goal in the 79th minute gave Bruno Labbadia’s club 3 desperately-needed points as well as some confidence after the drubbings they took to finish out 2010.  Mainz dynamo Lewis Holtby was suspected of suffering a concussion and had a stay in the hospital after this one for precautions.

1.FC Nuremberg 0-1 Borussia Moechengladbach
Break up Die Fohlen!  M’gladbach earned its first league win since November as an 8th minute goal by Roman Neustaedter held up after Javier Pinola missed a penno late in the match for 1FCN.

FC St Pauli 2-2 SC Freiburg
It’s not a surprise that Papiss Demba Cisse had a brace in this one, but it is surprising St Pauli were able to match him with goals by captain Marius Ebbers and Gerald Asamoah.  Cisse had missed a penalty shot in the 11th minute that appears to have swung momentum in favor of the Buccaneers, as the strike by Ebbers followed 2 minutes later.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-3 Hannover 96
Early goals within the opening 30 minutes for the 96ers forced Eintracht to chase the game–which is something Hannover have become adept at stopping.  Konan tallied his 10th league goal of the season late in the match to round out the scoring.

1.FC Kaiserslautern 1-1 FC Koeln
Srdjan Lakic was sent off early in this one but the Red Devils clawed back to earn a draw despite being down a man for most of the match. Prince Poldi had the goal for the Billygoats.

Champions League Positions After Matchday 18:
1. Borussia Dortmund on 46 points and +31 GD
2. Hannover 96 on 34 points and +1 GD
3. Mainz 05 on 33 points and + 10 GD

Road to the 2.Bundesliga Positions After Matchday 18:
16. FC Koeln on 16 points and -15 GD
17. VfB Stuttgart on 15 points and -2 GD
18. Borussia Moechengladbach on 13 points and -20 GD