Bundesliga Bulletin: Bayern sense blood
March 3, 2019
Good week for: Bayern Munich, the title race, Frankfurt, Karneval football fans, Stuttgart
Bad week for: Borussia Dortmund, Schalke and Domenico Tedesco, Nuremberg, Hannover
The lowdown:
- It's exciting at the top! Dortmund made errors that Augsburg punished and then couldn't find a way past Gregor Kobel. Despite the return of Marco Reus, Dortmund weren't ready for the fight that Augsburg brought and not even another spirited display from Mario Götze could save them. This opened the door for Bayern Munich, who kicked their way through by hammering Gladbach 5-1. Niko Kovac's side are hitting their stride at exactly the right time. It's all level on points at the top now. Bayern are just two goals - that's right - back.
- Oh, Schalke. After a poor defeat away to Mainz last week the home game against Düsseldorf was supposed to be the turning point (yet another one). Instead, the newly-promoted side scored four and left Domenico Tedesco begging an angry Nordkurve to show patience. The club is in full blown crisis mode. Tedesco deserves credit for facing up to the fury, as did his players, but the eternal question surrounding Schalke has returned: what now? As for Düsseldorf, they're probably safe which is remarkable. Mind you, 22 points from their last 10 games is why. Well done Friedhelm Funkel.
- Frankfurt are so much fun to watch. They led against Hoffenheim, then found themselves 2-1 down with time running out. Sebastien Haller headed in an equalizer as the 90 ticked over, and then in the sixth minute of added time Goncalo Paciencia scored the winner to send the home crowd wild. This has been quite the season for Adi Hütter and his men, and the joy just keeps coming.
- Peter Bosz's early success at Leverkusen suggests that perhaps he was jthe right man at the wrong time at Dortmund. A 2-0 win against Freiburg sees Leverkusen move into the top six and leaves them third in the form table over the last 10 games. Bosz is back.
- Crisis? What crisis? Stuttgart's fears of relegation were eased with a huge win over relegation rivals Hannover. In what was a bonafide six-pointer, Stuttgart never looked like losing against an insipid Hannover, whose fate appears to have been sealed with that result. It's a long way back for them, but Stuttgart are five points clear of Sunday's opponents with Augsburg and Schalke in their sights.
The quotes:
- "We are small players, Schalke is a big club." - Benjamin Stambouli, with tears in his eyes, after Schalke's defeat to Düsseldorf
- "I'm not someone who abandons ship." - Domenico Tedesco after Schalke's defeat
- "I don't need a special reason to drink alcohol." - Leverkusen keeper Lukas Hradecky when asked whether he'd treat himself to a beer after Leverkusen's win
- "In bed tonight, he should think about what he's done. I think a captain should behave properly. He didn't do that on a number of occasions." - Julian Nagelsmann on Frankfurt's Makoto Hasebe, who lambasted Nadiem Amiri for wasting time and then celebrated in front of Hoffenheim's bench
- "We were longing for a break. You can tell that a weight has fallen off us," Stuttgart sporting director Thomas Hitzlsperger.
The stats:
- Dodi Lukebakio has now scored 12 goals in all competitions this season. Of his 8 in the Bundesliga, 7 have come against teams competing in European competitions.
- RB Leipzig have not lost any of their nine Bundesliga games against newly-promoted sides. Perhaps Dortmund should take a leaf out of their book...
- Only two Brazilians (Neymar and Gabriel Jesus) in the top five leagues in Europe have been involved in more goals this season than Hoffenheim's Joelinton (18 - 11 goals, 7 assists).
- Robert Lewandowski is now Bayern Munich's third highest Bundesliga goalscorer (121) of all time. Only Gerd Müller (365) and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (162) have more.
- Since Mario Gomez has played in the Bundesliga (May 2004), only Robert Lewandowski (195) has scored more goals than the German striker (169). During this period Gomez has scored once every 134 minutes – the best ratio of all German players.
- For the first time, Werder Bremen have scored in the Bundesliga on each of the first 24 match days. In the Top 5 European leagues, only PSG and Juventus have achieved this feat this season.
The weird/fans:
Karneval vibes...
After Schalke's heavy defeat, some of the ultras talked to Schalke's players on the pitch. One even took the captain's armband off Benjamin Stambouli...