Werder Bremen opened matchday 20 of the Bundesliga with a 1-0 win in opposition to Mainz. On Saturday afternoon, Bayern Munich beat Holstein Kiel 4-3, for the ultimate recreation of Mike Tullburg Borussia Dortmund beat 2-1 Heidenheim, Borussia Mönchengladbach beat VfB Stuttgart 2-1, St Pauli vs Augsburg led to a 1-1 draw and Freiburg beat Bochum 1-0.
Listed below are three issues we learnt:
The race for European locations will get even tighter:
Wins for Gladbach and Dortmund now imply the hole between tenth and fourth is barely three factors. It’s anybody’s guess as to who might presumably make it into any of the European locations this season.
Gladbach continues on an upward pattern due to objectives from Nathan Ngoumou and Tim Kleindienst. The Frenchman, regardless of hyperlinks to a departure this month, could possibly be a superb asset for Gladbach as he provides much-needed tempo, which Die Fohlen drastically lacks of their assault, whereas Tim Kleindiesnt continues to make his case for the signing of the season. A return to any European will probably be a giant step in the correct course after a number of years within the Bundesliga wilderness. Dortmund will probably be hoping that the arrival of Niko Kovac as head coach will assist the staff flip a nook and they’ll really look convincing as a staff as soon as once more (see beneath).
Elsewhere, after the everlasting signing of Xavi Simons, Leipzig can even hope that they will qualify for the Champions League and improve their possibilities of preserving him past this season. Whereas Stuttgart are simply in an odd place in the mean time, they lack consistency however now that they’re out of Europe they’ve an opportunity to construct some form of consistency, first with a DFB Pokal tie in opposition to Augsburg in midweek.
What is evident is that there’ll possible be both some massive shock inclusions within the German delegation for European competitors subsequent season and a few regulars will miss out or it will likely be the identical groups as all the time.
Bayern Munich lack ruthlessness:
Inside 55 minutes it regarded as if Bayern have been going to comfortably beat Kiel on the Allianz Enviornment as they led the guests 4-0. Nevertheless, Kiel have been capable of slowly mount an unlikely comeback to make it 4-3 however their comeback was left too late and so they weren’t capable of salvage some extent.
What this confirmed is after trying like they knew how you can kill video games off in opposition to Freiburg subsequent week, they appeared to overlook all that as we speak. Bayern are missing ruthlessness of their recreation administration of figuring out when to gradual play down and permit the sport to run its course. This was greatest seen after Kiel had scored their third and have been attempting for a fourth, Bayern instantly tried to attain a fifth as an alternative of working the ball to the nook.
Bayern additionally lack this ruthlessness in entrance of objective. They as soon as once more might have scored a boatload of objectives, if it weren’t for Kiel keeper Timon Weiner however they don’t have attackers who’re cold-blooded in how they play, they continuously really feel the necessity to search for the straightforward probability to attain, whether or not that be a cutback, and so forth. As an alternative, they’ve Harry Kane.
If Bayern can’t discover this trait, the truth that they allowed Kiel to attain three in opposition to them at residence needs to be a warning signal that in opposition to higher groups the injury could possibly be lots worse.
Borussia Dortmund reveals Niko Kovac what’s in retailer for him:
For the primary time shortly, Dortmund gained a recreation considerably convincingly. Granted, the win was in opposition to a struggling Heidenheim facet and so they conceded a objective straight from kick-off, however there have been positives to remove from the sport.
They created loads of first rate possibilities and have been sturdy defensively. The efficiency was lots higher than no matter they produced in opposition to Bremen final weekend and in opposition to Shakhtar Donestk in midweek (Cue requires Mike Tullburg to be made supervisor when Kovac is ultimately fired in the summertime).
When Kovac takes over tomorrow, the purpose will most likely attempt to play an analogous model to how he gained the DFB Pokal with Eintracht Frankfurt, which is a powerful defensive facet who’re superb on the counter, this could be doable with Dortmund as they’ve the correct personnel to be deadly on the counter. If Kovac could make Dortmund a tough facet to interrupt down and beat (one thing nobody has achieved for some time), that will probably be a step in the correct course and not less than one of many many issues on the Sign Iduna Park could be solved.
GGFN |