Bundesliga Team Of The Week: Round 6

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German Cup: Hamburger SV - Vfl Bochum, Mladen Petric (firo)

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The weekend witnessed a second consecutive loss for Bayern Munich as they were downed by a magical Huszti free kick.  Werder hit five goals for the second successive game, but we were pushed all the way by a Hoffenheim side that scored four.  

Schalke were put to the sword on Friday at the hands of Köln, which gave Hamburg the chance to go top of the table with a 1-0 win over Mönchengladbach.  Bayer Leverkusen kept up their high scoring start to the season with three against Bochum, while Cottbus climbed off the bottom with a win over Hertha Berlin.    

Goalkeeper  

(1) Ralf Fährmann (Schalke)  

Friday’s match against Köln may have been back-up keeper Ralf Fährmann's last between the posts for a while with Manuel Neuer reaching full fitness.  However, trainer Fred Rutten will have absolute faith in the youngster in the future should he be needed again after another fine display for the Königsblauen.  Schalke may have lost 1-0, but without him the score line could have been a lot worse.  

Defenders  

(2)  Mariusz Kukielka (Energie Cottbus)  

Opponents Hertha Berlin may not have had the best of afternoons as an attacking force, but Cottbus defender Mariusz Kukielka was a rock throughout for the Lausitzer and kept things tight at the back for Bojan Prasnikar’s side.  

(3)  Youssef Mohamed (1.FC Köln)  

Köln’s strikers had plenty of chances against Schalke at the Rhein-Energie Stadion on Friday, but it was centre back Youssef Mohamed who came up trumps with the only goal of the game to down the league leaders.  His first Bundesliga goal capped a fine performance both in defence and in attack.   

(4)  Vinicius (Hannover)  

All eyes were as usual on Bayern striker Luca Toni at the AWD Arena as Bayern were expected to show a reaction to last week’s loss at home to Werder Bremen.  Instead the Italian was kept quiet all afternoon by Vinicius, who didn’t put a foot wrong all day.   

(5)  Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich)  

Bayern Munich have now lost their last two games in the Bundesliga, but Argentine defender Martin Demichelis is one of very few players to have come out of the last two defeats with any credit.  When all around him seem to be losing their heads, ‘Micho’ is showing his class.   

Midfielders  

(6)  Petit (1.FC Köln)  

The Portuguese midfielder was immense against Schalke on Friday as Köln secured an important 1-0 win.  He seemed to relish the battle against the likes of Jermaine Jones and Orlando Engelaar and was full of running and important tackles.  He played through the pain in the second half after an injury, which kind of summed up his battling performance.    

(7)  Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen)  

19 year old Özil turned on the style again on Saturday and makes a second successive appearance in the Goal.com ‘Bundesliga Team of the Week’.  He fired Werder in front with a fantastic finish, which was reminiscent of his goal last week against Bayern.  He then scored the winner for the Green and Whites after Hoffenheim had fought back to 4-4.  

(8)  Renato Augusto (Bayer Leverkusen)  

Leverkusen look to have signed a real gem in Brazilian Renato Augusto.  The former Flamengo star has settled quickly into life in the Bundesliga and scored a superb goal against Bochum as well as setting one up.  The Man of the Match at the Rewirpower Stadion as the Werkself continued their good start to the season.   

(9)  Sejad Salihovic (Hoffenheim)     

Bosnian Salihovic is the third midfielder to make a second successive appearance in the ‘Team of the Week’.  He was brilliant against Werder and his left foot caused massive problems for Tim Wiese at free kicks.  The goal he scored was just sublime and the Werder keeper could only stand and watch it nestle in the back of the net.  He hit the bar twice, forced two great saves out of Wiese and set up a goal- superb throughout.   

(10)  Szabolcs Huszti (Hannover)  

A sublime free kick from the Hungarian midfielder sent Bayern Munich crashing to their second consecutive defeat at the AWD Arena.  His direct free kick left the Bayern defensive wall redundant and gave keeper Michael Rensing with no chance to save the ball.   

Forwards  

(11)  Mladen Petric (Hamburg)  

Croatian striker Petric followed up his double strike in the DFB Pokal with the winner against Borussia Mönchengladbach, which saw the ‘Rothosen’ go top of the table.  He has had a slow start to his career at the HSH Nordbank Arena but he seems to be finding his best form.      

Fährmann  

Kukielka   Demichelis   Mohamed   Vinicius  

Renato   Özil   Petit   Salihovic  

Huszti  

Petric      

Honourable mentions:  

As always there are a number of players, who deserve a special mention despite having not made it into the final XI.   

Köln defender Geromel and midfielder Vucicevic both had very good games in the Geißböcke win over Schalke on Friday, while Tamas Hajnal had a major part to play in Dortmund’s 3-0 win over Stuttgart.  

Werder’s 5-4 victory over Hoffenheim provided plenty of entertainment and the home side’s Diego, Hunt and Pizarro deserve a mention for their all-round performances and goals.  The visitors saw excellent games from both Vedad Ibisevic and Demba Ba as they caused Werder all sorts of problems.  

German international goalkeeping hopefuls Rene Adler and Robert Enke both played very well as did Gerhard Tremmel of Cottbus.  

Goal.com welcomes your opinion…  

Mathew Burt