Teutonic Tuesday: The Plot Thickens In The Bundesliga

A leader emerges, the pack thickens, a sleeping giant awakens, a prince scores, and more in this week’s edition. 

I almost had the pleasure of marvelling over a one-point gap between first and fifth place, but then Andriy Voronin scored three unanswered goals to reverse Hertha Berlin’s early 1-0 deficit against Energie Cottbus and give them a four-point lead in the Bundesliga. I recall a December editorial in which I discussed Hertha’s improbable rise. In recent weeks, a new reason for Hertha’s success has emerged in Voronin. Although the Ukrainian striker was quiet for much of the first half of the campaign, he has emerged as one of the Bundesliga’s best forwards in recent weeks, having netted seven times in his last five matches. His team-mates have managed a combined two goals in that same period, which seems to indicate a heavy reliance on the Liverpool loanee. He scored both goals in Hertha’s impressive 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich, and last weekend was a one-man offensive show against Cottbus as he bagged a hat-trick. How important is Voronin to Hertha? The one recent match in which he failed to score was Hertha’s first league loss since December, a 2-1 defeat to Wolfsburg. 

Speaking of Wolfsburg, Felix Magath’s men are now involved in a four-way tie for second place, along with Hamburg, Hoffenheim and Bayern. The race is so tight that three of the teams have the same goal difference, and two have the same goals scored/conceded record. And they say German football isn’t exciting… 

And now, a tale of two Bayerns: 

The first Bayern travelled over the Danube and through the Black Forest to Duesseldorf. Playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, they somehow managed to concede two goals, and went 3-0 down shortly after switching to 4-1-3-2. The only players who genuinely appeared interested in playing were Lucio, Miroslav Klose, Ze Roberto and Franck Ribery. Massimo Oddo was hopelessly out of position (take a close look at the whole play) for Bayer Leverkusen’s opener, Mark van Bommel totally failed to mark Arturo Vidal and needlessly set up Patrick Helmes’ goal, and Martin Demichelis gifted Stefan Kiessling a fourth. All credit to Leverkusen for good finishing, but each and every goal they scored was preventable. 

Most frustrating was the fact that Bayern have, of late, appeared totally unmotivated. Without a doubt, they have more quality than any of their domestic opponents and are rivalled by few teams in Europe. Their coach, Juergen Klinsmann, took a poor Germany side and in months turned it into the unit that took third place at the 2006 World Cup. And yet, it seems that Bayern lack motivation. To me, this just doesn’t make sense. As I recall, Klinsmann’s greatest asset as coach of Germany were his motivational speeches. What’s more, Bayern spent €36 million in the summer, remodelling the Saebener Strasse to make it more accommodating and inviting to players. Klinsmann’s vision was to replace the military barracks used under Ottmar Hitzfeld (the General) with a more comfortable setting, complete with Buddha statues and herbal teas. Klinsmann knew he had enough talent in his team to win the league; he just wanted to bring the very best out of his team throughout the year. But somehow, Klinsi’s plans have failed miserably. 

The second Bayern went down a goal for the ninth time this year—this time to Hannover, the team with the Bundesliga’s worst away record—only to come back and win 5-1. Many critics have been quick to say that Bayern relied on set pieces (and thus poor defending) to produce four of their five goals, and have written off Bayern’s win as 'unconvincing'. I agree to a point. For the opener, Oddo was yet again horribly out of position, forcing Lucio to play out on the flank and leaving Bayern’s defence with no central cover. And certainly, a team with Bayern’s quality should be able to make their own goals against Hannover, even without Franck Ribery and Luca Toni. That said, their defence solidified after the opener, and the only free header from which Bayern scored was Klose’s goal; nods from Martin Demichelis and Daniel van Buyten came following good runs, and Lukas Podolski’s goal wasn’t undefended either. It may have even been better for Bayern that they scored on set pieces because, before Saturday, their conversion rate in such situations was abysmal. But at any rate, Bayern won, and Klinsmann still has his job… for now.

Match of the Week: Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 VfL Bochum 

A 1-1 draw, yes, but it was very excitingly played and, due to Duesseldorf’s close proximity to Bochum, had the atmosphere of a derby. Statistics will show that Leverkusen dominated the match. The visitors counterattacked well, however, and held the lead for 34 minutes following Christoph Dabrowski’s early opener. Dabrowski’s strike forced Leverkusen to move forward more, and gave Bochum space to use on the counterattack. Mimoun Azaouagh put on a tremendous performance and nearly doubled the advantage on 61 minutes when his long-range strike beat Rene Adler to the left post but rebounded wide of goal. It was heartbreak for Bochum when Mergim Mavraj needlessly raised his arm to knock down an otherwise benign cross, resulting in his sending off and a penalty kick, which Patrick Helmes superbly struck to level the score. Over the last 25 minutes, the home team had the better opportunities on goal, but Bochum continued to threaten on the counterattack, and Daniel Fernandes’ heroics denied Henrique twice late to secure the draw. 

Goal of the Week: Andriy Voronin, Cottbus 1-3 Hertha 

The Liverpool loanee just can’t stop scoring. After netting a brace against Cottbus, Voronin completed his hat-trick with this goal. I’ll be the first to admit that he only made it into the penalty area due to shambolic defending. His dribbling, however, was flawless and his shot perfectly threaded between the defender and the goalkeeper. A great run and a fantastic finish. 

Gaffes of the Week: Jaroslav Drobny, Roman Weidenfeller 

Remember what I said last week about goalkeepers turning into uebermenschen when facing Bayern? Here and here are examples of what happens when they face lower-ranked competition. The videos speak for themselves. 

Surprises of the Week: Lukas Podolski scored, Dortmund lost 

Much to the delight of Paris Hilton and some nostalgic fans, Prinz (will he ever earn the title 'king'?) Poldi scored his first non-penalty goal since his strike against Koeln in September. Bravo, Lukas! Encore!  Encore! Please, make an encore before we all write you off as a 23-year-old has-been! 

In other news, Borussia Dortmund lost their fourth league match of the year. Sounds title-worthy, right? Wrong: Dortmund have won just seven matches. And as they have yet to play Hertha, Hamburg and Wolfsburg, I’ll make a prediction: the team(s) that beat(s) Dortmund qualifies for the Champions League. 

The Little Engine that Could Award for Perseverance: Tobias Levels 

Check this out. I have a feeling that many of Europe’s elite strikers would lose concentration after the initial shot. Full-back Levels, however, maintained focus and scored after Frank Rost’s initial save. 

The (Almost) Cristiano Ronaldo Award for (Almost) Pointlessly Flamboyant Play: Vicente Sanchez 

It was indeed a pretty pass, but never had enough pace to reach Jefferson Farfan (presumably the intended target) on the far side of the penalty area. That said, it was a great assist to Ivan Rakitic, who then assisted Jermaine Jones’ 17-yard strike. 

Clark Whitney, Goal.com